va-Yakhel Pekudey 5766: The Tribe of Dan
Benjamin Fleischer
va-Yakhel Pekudey 5766: The Tribe of Dan
va-Yakhel Pekudey Exodus 35:1 - 38:20, Exodus 38:21 - 40:38Exodus 38:22 Now Bezalel, son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, had made all that the Lord had commanded Moses; 23 at his side was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, carver and designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and crimson yarns and in fine linen.
For a long time, Biblical criticism cast doubt on the existence of a desert Tabernacle. In particular, this was because of the number of Israelites purported to have left, the sheer raw materials needed, the expert craftsman required, and the many parallels to the Temple built by Solomon. In this week's parashah, we learn that the Tabernacle משכן was built by a member of the tribe of Judah and by a member of the tribe of Dan. As is well know, Judah is the Davidic and hence Messianic line. It would make sense that just as Solomon, David's son, built the first Temple, a descendent of Judah built the Tabernacle. But what do we know about the tribe of Dan? Do they have a great part in Israelite history?
First of all, from the Bible, the tribe of Dan seems to be a rebellious or lowly tribe. And there are hints that they intermarried (see 2 Chronicles Chapter 2). In Leviticus Chapter 24, the son of Danite woman and Egyptian father blasphemed the Divine Name in a fight with a full Israelite. The Danite was imprisoned and stoned.
When Joshua allotted the land of Israel to the tribes, every tribe got borders except for Dan. Dan got cities in the central west of the country where the Amorites then Philistines ruled (Joshua Chapter 19, Joshua Chapter 21 ). This area was never conquered until David. The Amorites forced them from their given cities into the hills (Judges Chapter 1). The Judge Deborah wonders why Dan did not help Barak fight, but rather stayed in ships ( Judges Chapter 5). Dan then moved northwards where they settled at the cultic site they named Dan (Judges Chapter 18 ).
The tradition is replete with references to Dan being in the north, even though that was not their allotted territory. Dan is described as a lion's whelp in the north, in Bashan, even in Deuteronomy, ostensibly before Joshua divided the land and the Amorites pushed them out (Deuteronomy Chapter 33). Also in Deuteronomy, Moses looks at the land of Israel and sees as far north as Dan, Naphtali, and Ephraim, all in the North (Deuteronomy Chapter 34). Abram also went to Dan (probably in the north) when saving Lot ( Genesis Chapter 14). And Dan is seen as being the northern pole across from Beer Sheva in the south (Judges Chapter 20, 1 Samuel Chapter 3, 2 Samuel Chapter 3, 2 Samuel Chapter 17, 2 Samuel Chapter 24, 1 Kings Chapter 15, 1 Kings Chapter 5, Ezekiel Chapter 48, Amos Chapter 8, 1 Chronicles Chapter 21, 2 Chronicles Chapter 30). Jeremiah sees the North as a source of wickedness (Jeremiah Chapter 4) and in a state of unrest ( Jeremiah Chapter 8). Dan is one of the two places where the "rebellious" Israelite King Jeroboam places the golden calves. The calves are placed in the north of Israel (Dan) and the south (Beth El). This would make it an important cultic site in the "wayward" northern kingdom of Israel and possibly the source of the Exodus story or an eerie coincidence (1 Kings Chapter 12, 2 Kings Chapter 10 ).
Dan was the rearward of all the camps in the desert wanderings (Numbers Chapter 10). Dan was the son of Rachel's handmaiden Bilhah, making him a "second-class" son ( Genesis Chapter 35) and was kept near his brother Naphtali (Exodus Chapter 1, 2 Chronicles Chapter 16).
When Dan was born, Rachel said "God hath judged me and heard my voice"(Genesis Chapter 30). The judgment may have been that Dan is a punishment of Rachel for her being barren. In Jacob's blessing, we learn that Dan shall judge, and be a serpent biting the horse's heels, then concludes "I wait for thy salvation, O LORD" (Genesis Chapter 49). What does it mean that Dan shall judge? Could this be a reference to Samson, a story from when Dan still lived in its tribal cities (Judges Chapter 13)? Perhaps that is the serpent biting at the horse's heels. However even Samson was corrupted and broke his Nazirite vows because of his vanity. The salvation of Samson's corruption may be the meaning of the end of the blessing.
On the other hand, a Danite was a captain in David's army (1 Chronicles Chapter 27), which means Dan must have been a respected tribe. Dan (a representative of the post-Solomon northern kingdom) must have been as important as Judah (a representative of the post-Solomon southern Kingdom) because they have chief roles in building the Tabernacle (Exodus Chapter 31, Exodus Chapter 35, Exodus Chapter 38). Interestingly, the tribe of Dan was also involved in building Solomon's Temple (2 Chronicles Chapter 2).
The question is then, where do the two traditions come from of Dan as rebellious and as important? I began thinking about this Dvar Torah because of a lesson I had learned from my teacher Esther Israel, about how some Biblical scholars suggest Dan may be a reconstructed tribe of Dinah, Jacob's daughter. I remember at the time feeling entirely uneasy with the idea that the Bible could so extensively cover up the origin of one of the twelve tribes. Without having read that essay, I still decline to rearrange the Biblical genealogy so drastically. However, given what I have written so far, one must admit that something systematically strange is going on.
This Dvar Torah is more of an exploration of a theme than a sermon. I can't really answer the question of whether the tribe of Dan was good or bad, real or not. What I can say is, that we see here how deep some of the Bible's mysteries can be, even something as simple as where a tribe lived. Because the Bible is our only primary source for many of these stories and because the Bible was not written as a history book, we will likely never know. But we must never cease asking the questions.