“There the Danites set up for themselves the idols, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land.”
~ Judges 18:30
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you know about the Dan tribal clan? Your grandpaa a couple of days ago did not know much about the Dan tribal clan. Dan was Jacob’s fifth son. Dan’s ma was Bilhah. Bilhah was Rachel’s maidservant. When Dan was born, Jacob had not yet had a kid with Rachel. Jacob and Bilhah would have a second kid together. They named their second kid Naphtali. The Dan tribal clan was one of the original twelve Israelite people group tribal clans. When the Israelite people group guys and gals – who were God’s specially chosen guys and gals, were finally ready to settle in the land area that God told them that they would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . the Dan tribal clan was allotted by lot a portion of this land. The land area that was allotted by lot to the Dan tribal clan was bordered to the west by the Mediterranean Sea, by the Judah tribal clan to the east and by the Ephraim tribal clan to the northeast. Amorite and Philistine people group guys and gals were living in this land area that had been allotted by lot to the Dan tribal clan. It was the Dan tribal clan’s guys’ responsibility to completely purge from this land area these two enemy people groups of guys, gals and kids. When Dan tribal clan guys were not able to wipe out the Amorite and Philistine people groups of guys, gals and kids who were living in the land area that had been allotted to them by lot, five Dan tribal clan warrior dudes were sent out by the Dan tribal clan leadership to look for another site where their tribal clan could settle instead of living alongside Amorite and Philistine people group guys and gals in the land area that had been allotted them by lot. After the five Dan tribal clan warrior dudes traveled north for about a hundred miles, they stopped when they got to the town of Laish. The guys and gals who were living in the town of Laish were similar to the Sidonian people group guys and gals. The Sidonian people group guys and gals lived much further north from where the guys, gals and kids who were living in the town of Laish lived. After the five Dan tribal clan warrior dude got back to their homes that were located in the towns of Eshtaol and Zorah and after they had told their compatriot Dan tribal clan guys about the easy pickings that could be found in the town of Laish, 600 armed guys from the Dan tribal clan headed north for the town of Laish where they killed the peace loving, unsuspecting guys, gals and kids who were living in this town. The Dan tribal clan armed guys then burned the city of Laish. Where the city of Laish had been became the city of Dan to the Dan tribal clan guys and gals. Some of the Dan tribal clan guys and gals apparently did remain in the land area that had been allotted by lot for them to have.
Judges 18 recounts the Dan tribal clan’s cowardness. When the Dan tribal clan was allotted by lot a strip of land that ran along the Mediterranean Sea, Dan tribal clan guys were expected to kill every Amorite and Philistine people group guy, gal and kid who was living in that land area. Even though Oholiab and Samson – two guys from the Dan tribal clan who were ascribed to be judges by the Israelite people group guys and gals, proactively did enemy people group kills, the Dan tribal clan seems to have ended up in obscurity – possibly because they did not do what had been expected of them to do which was to kill every Amorite and Philistine people group guy, gal and kid who were living in the land area that had been allotted by lot to them. When your grandpaa first read a couple of days this tale about the Dan tribal clan, your grandpaa thought that this incident was a strange inclusion to have in the Bible’s canon. While your grandpaa was talking to one of the guys at Adventures in Missions headquarters in Gainesville, Georgia, your grandpaa spotted a book about the end times that Bill had with other books on a shelf in his office. Your grandpaa took the book off the shelf and opened the book up to the book’s last chapter. The book’s last chapter is about the 12,000 guys from each Israelite people group tribal clan – totaling 144,000 guys in all, from the twelve Israelite people group tribal clans who the Apostle John said in a Revelations Book chapter are already sealed by God – as God the Father, to be saved. The Israelite people group tribal clan’s name that was not listed in the list that Apostle John recorded in his Revelations Book was Dan. The Ephriam tribal clan made Apostle John’s list of twelve tribal clans. Because Dan is not included in the Apostle John’s list of twelve tribal clans who already have 12,000 guys who have been sealed by God – as God the Father, to be saved, your grandpaa began to wonder why the Dan tribal clan was not included in Apostle John’s list. Your grandpaa cannot find anyplace a definitive reason why Apostle John did not include Dan in his list of eleven sons of Jacob and one son of Joseph.
Why do you think that the Dan tribal clan does not have from its extended tribal clan of guys, guys sealed to be saved at the end time by God – as God the Father? What does your dad and/or ma do when you do not do something that he, she or they have asked you to do? Do you get punished by your dad or ma when you do not do something that they have asked you to do? Do you think that God is punishing the Dan tribal clan for not doing something that He had asked them to do? Verse 30 has the Dan tribal clan doing something even worse than not killing the Amorite and Philistine people group guys, gals and kids, “There the Danites set up for themselves the idols, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land.” Your grandpaa believes that if the Dan tribal clan guys had done what they were supposed to do by wiping out all the Amorite and Philistine people groups guys, gals and kids, that . . . God always expects to be obeyed or . . .
Judges 18 (808)