Joshua 19:40-48--The Inheritance for Dan

Joshua 19:40-48
English Standard Version
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The Inheritance for Dan
40 The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the people of Dan, according to their clans. 41 And the territory of its inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh, 42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, 43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron, 44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, 45 Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon, 46 and Me-jarkon and Rakkon with the territory over against Joppa. 47 When the territory of the people of Dan was lost to them, the people of Dan went up and fought against Leshem, and after capturing it and striking it with the sword they took possession of it and settled in it, calling Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor. 48 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Dan, according to their clans—these cities with their villages.

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The tribe of Dan will receive the last of the tribal allotments before Joshua receives his special inheritance.  I can't say much good about Dan because the LORD didn't have much good to say about Dan.  When the LORD blessed each of the twelve tribes through Jacob in Genesis 48 and 49, all that is said to Dan is,


Genesis 49:16-18
English Standard Version
​16 “Dan shall judge his people
    as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
    a viper by the path,
that bites the horse's heels
    so that his rider falls backward.
18 I wait for your salvation, O LORD.

His name literally means "judge," and comes from his mother saying "The LORD has judged me worthy to bear a son."  However, his name will become synonymous with those who are worthy of the LORD's judgment because the tribe of Dan would be wicked and apostate, and would turn the hearts of the people back to idolatry, witchcraft, and sexual immorality.  They would encourage the people to become just like the former inhabitants of the Land so that the LORD would have to judge them by sending them out of the Land, and we see that the tribe of Dan is the one tribe not counted in the 144,000 that are sealed in the book of Revelation which I think is telling that no apostates will be protected from God's coming judgment (though that is a specific people in a specific place in a specific time and I would not go so far to say that all of the tribe of Dan was accursed and none ever followed after Him).

We do not see all that at this point though, for this passage indicates that the tribe of Dan was faithful to make war against the Canaanites that still dwelt in their allotted land.  At some point, and I'm not exactly sure why or when, the hearts of the tribe of Dan were turned against the LORD and it became a generational issue and became part of the identity of that tribe.  We'll see this progression as we follow them throughout the book of Judges and the other books of History.