Introduction
Dan is a son of Jacob, one of the twelve sons who become the eponymous ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. He is a son of Jacob by Rachel's servant Bilhah, whose name Rachel explained as meaning God had 'judged' her case and given her a son.
This article follows the biblical account in Genesis. Where later Jewish, Christian or Islamic tradition adds detail not found in the text itself, the article identifies it as such.
Family
- Father: Jacob
- Mother: Bilhah
- Siblings: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dinah
Birth and name
Genesis 30:6 records Dan's birth and the reasoning given, in the text's own etiological style, for his name.
Later significance
As one of Jacob's twelve sons, Dan becomes the ancestral eponym of one of the tribes of Israel in the later biblical narrative, a status the Genesis text itself anticipates but does not fully develop, since the tribal territories and identities are elaborated more fully in later books such as Numbers, Joshua and Judges.