When the Israelites “set out from the Desert of Sinai” in Numbers 10:12, each tribe had its allotted place in the huge column of people as it “traveled from place to place.”
“Judah went first” (14), followed in their assigned order by the other tribes (15-24), until “Finally, as the rear guard for all the units” came the tribe of Dan (25). So Judah the largest tribe, with 186,440 (2:9), led the way, and Dan the second largest tribe, with 157,600 (2:31), brought up the rear. When it came to taking the fight to their enemies up front Judah was God’s choice (Judges 1:1-11), but Dan was God’s choice to protect them from enemies striking at the rear.
And that was a hugely important job, because in Deuteronomy 25:17 Moses reminded Israel of what the Amalekites had done to them right after the Israelites “came out of Egypt.” It was when the Israelites were at their weakest – “weary and worn out” – that the Amalekites attacked them from the rear and “cut off all who were lagging behind” (18).
It became Dan’s job, then, to protect the rear where the weakest people were. They made sure no one was left behind, or left to fend for themselves. And the entire company of Israelites knew that. They knew that God had provided them with protection at their weakest spot, so that stragglers from any of the tribes would be cared for.
And the Israelites were well protected too, because of the second part of Jacob’s prediction about his son Dan back on Genesis 49:17, that “Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward.”
The tribe of Dan would deal with any sneaky attacks on Israel from the rear with “viper-like” swiftness and venomous results. They were constantly on the lookout for danger, and if attacked would fight to the death to protect the most vulnerable. And being such a large tribe, they had the numbers as well as their God-given gift of sensitivity for the most needy to inspire confidence in those struggling to keep up.
God had provided a powerful partnership in Judah at the front and Dan at the back to protect the Israelites on their travels. Their partnership would make “Judah and Dan: brother lions” in other crucial ways too….(next blog)
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