The name of the fifth son of Jacob, and of the tribe descended from him. Dan was the first son of Bilha, Rachel's maid, and own brother to Naphtali, and in a sense connected with Joseph and Benjamin. There is no record of his life; and only one son is attributed to him, though his name Hushim is of plural form, and perhaps indicates not an individual but a family. When the people were numbered near Sinai, Dan was the largest tribe except Judah, containing 62,700 men able to serve; and on entering Canaan they had increased 1,700. It was the last tribe to receive its portion of land, which, though fertile, was the smallest of the twelve, lying in the S. W. part of the country, near the Mediterranean. This ground was disputed by the remnant of the Canaanites, and the Danites became necessarily a rude warlike people, and their principal settlement was called Mahaneh-Dan (the encampment of Dan). The tribe is mentioned as late as the time of David, but after that seems to have lost its identity, its people mingling with the other tribes.

II. A city in the northern part of Palestine, familiar in the expression "from Dan even to Beersheba." The city was originally called Laish, and was inhabited by people connected with Sidon. A wandering tribe of Danites, tired of their harassed life at home, captured it, and named it after their ancestor, setting up a graven image which they had stolen on their way, and establishing a line of priests who were of the tribe of Levi, but not descended from Aaron. After this settlement it became the recognized northern outpost of Israel. Jeroboam subsequently established an idolatrous worship in Dan. The city was finally laid waste, with other northern cities, by Benhadad.