Dan (Patriarch)

The fifth son of the Jewish patriarch Jacob. Dan’s mother was Bilhah, who was the servant of Jacob's wife Rachel (Genesis 30:1–6). Dan’s descendants settled in Israel, overlooking the Huleh Plain. The settled in territory that was actually assigned to Naphtali, Dan’s full brother (Genesis 30:7–8; 35:25; Joshua 19:32–48). The two brothers are mentioned together in many references in the Bible (for example, Exodus 1:4).

Dan's name was given to him not by his mother Bilhah but by Rachel, who considered the child her own. Rachel had been unable to have children for a long time (which was considered shameful for women in ancient cultures). She was jealous of Jacob's other wife, Leah, who had already given birth to four sons. Rachel saw the birth of Bilhah's son as taking away her shame and as God's approval of her position as wife. The name Dan (which means "he judged") meant that God had judged her situation and had supported her through the child's birth (Genesis 30:6).