Dan
דָּן
Where was biblical Dan? At Tel Dan, at the Dan spring, about 50 km north of Tiberias. I mark it certain.
The tribe of Dan took a quiet town called Laish by surprise, burned it, rebuilt it and gave it their ancestor's name. Later Jeroboam set up a golden calf here, so the people of the north would stop going up to Jerusalem.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tel Dan, at the Dan spring
- How sure
- Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
- Other names
- Laish, Leshem, Tel Dan, Tell el-Qadi
- Location
- 33.2485° N, 35.6513° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The Danites had been squeezed out of their allotment near the coast. Their spies came north and found Laish living carefree beside rich springs, far from Sidon and with no allies. The springs are still here. The mound sits on the Dan spring, the largest source of the Jordan.
The Arabic name of the mound is Tell el-Qadi, "mound of the judge." That is Dan in translation, because dan means judge. Eusebius placed Dan near Paneas, at a source of the Jordan, which is right here. This was the north end of the country. "From Dan to Beersheba" meant all Israel, top to bottom. Even Abraham's pursuit of the kings who took Lot is told as reaching "as far as Dan."
Then the ground spoke for itself. Excavators found a gate of mud brick with its arch still standing, an Israelite gate complex, and a large platform identified with Jeroboam's sanctuary. A bilingual inscription in Greek and Aramaic reads "to the god who is in Dan." That settled the name.
In the gate area they also found pieces of an Aramaic victory stele, a stone monument an enemy king set up to celebrate his wins. It mentions the "House of David." That is the earliest mention of David's dynasty outside the Bible, and it was carved by Israel's enemies.
Visiting today
Tel Dan Nature Reserve has shaded trails along the spring-fed streams. You can walk to the arched mud-brick gate and the Israelite gate, and stand beside the platform of Jeroboam's sanctuary.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Dan on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Abel Beth Maacah 7 km west
- Kedesh Naphtali 19 km southwest
- Mount Hermon 24 km northeast
- Hazor 27 km south
- Geshur 38 km south
- Zarephath 40 km northwest