Pursuing until Dan

In Lech Lecha, Bereishit 14:14, Avraham hears that Lot has been captured, gathers his men, and pursues the enemy until “Dan”.

But what is Dan? Is this a known place? Is it the location of the eventual tribe of Dan, one of Avraham’s descendants?

Rashi writes, channeling a midrash in Sanhedrin:

עַד־דָּֽן. שָׁם תָּשַׁשׁ כֹּחוֹ, שֶׁרָאָה שֶׁעֲתִידִין בָּנָיו לְהַעֲמִיד שָׁם עֵגֶל (סנה’ צ”ו):

until Dan. There he became weak, for he saw that his children were destined to erect a calf there (Sanh. 96a). The reference is to I Kings 12:29: “And he (Jeroboam) placed one in Beth-el, and the other he placed in Dan.”

Sanhedrin 96a is in perek Chelek in Sanhedrin, and recall that the Rambam argues that anyone who takes the midrashim in perek Chelek literally is foolish.

Here is the gemara in Sanhedrin 96a:

״וַיִּרְדֹּף עַד דָּן״. אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: כֵּיוָן שֶׁבָּא אוֹתוֹ צַדִּיק עַד דָּן, תָּשַׁשׁ כֹּחוֹ. רָאָה בְּנֵי בָּנָיו שֶׁעֲתִידִין לַעֲבוֹד עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה בְּדָן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת הָאֶחָד בְּבֵית אֵל וְאֶת הָאֶחָד נָתַן בְּדָן״. וְאַף אוֹתוֹ רָשָׁע לֹא נִתְגַּבֵּר עַד שֶׁהִגִּיעַ לְדָן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״מִדָּן נִשְׁמַע נַחְרַת סוּסָיו״.

With regard to the previous verse: “And he pursued as far as Dan” (Genesis 14:14), Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Once that righteous person, Abraham, came to Dan, his strength weakened. He saw through the Divine Spirit that his descendants were destined to worship idols in Dan, as it is stated: “And he fashioned two calves of gold…and he set one in Bethel, and the other one he placed in Dan” (I Kings 12:28–29). And even that wicked person, Nebuchadnezzar, did not prevail until he reached Dan, as it is stated: “From Dan the snorting of his horses is heard” (Jeremiah 8:16).

There is what I like to call a “hidden drasha” in this gemara (and possibly Rashi), because the connection is not in any of the verses that ended up being explicitly cited. That is, it is not just a pointer to where Dan occurs elsewhere, in sefer Melachim, about the placement.

Rather, there is a gezeira shava. The next verse is I Melachim 12:30, which reads:

וַיְהִ֛י הַדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּ֖ה לְחַטָּ֑את וַיֵּלְכ֥וּ הָעָ֛ם לִפְנֵ֥י הָאֶחָ֖ד עַד־דָּֽן׃

That proved to be a cause of guilt, for the people went to worship [the calf at Bethel and] the one at Dan.

So it is the parallel language of ad dan, “to Dan”, which makes the text by Avraham into a Scriptural allusion. Then we read that context in Melachim and see it was a sin.

That is a very midrashic way of reading the text.

Meanwhile, there is a chronological problem with this being the current name of the city of Dan, if it is the same as the eventual city of Dan. That is, in Shofetim 18, we see it was first called Laish.

וְאֵ֨ין מַצִּ֜יל כִּ֧י רְֽחוֹקָה־הִ֣יא מִצִּיד֗וֹן וְדָבָ֤ר אֵין־לָהֶם֙ עִם־אָדָ֔ם וְהִ֕יא בָּעֵ֖מֶק אֲשֶׁ֣ר לְבֵית־רְח֑וֹב וַיִּבְנ֥וּ אֶת־הָעִ֖יר וַיֵּ֥שְׁבוּ בָֽהּ׃

There was none to come to the rescue, for it was distant from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone; it lay in the valley of Beth-rehob.
They rebuilt the town and settled there,

וַיִּקְרְא֤וּ שֵׁם־הָעִיר֙ דָּ֔ן בְּשֵׁם֙ דָּ֣ן אֲבִיהֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יוּלַּ֖ד לְיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְאוּלָ֛ם לַ֥יִשׁ שֵׁם־הָעִ֖יר לָרִאשֹׁנָֽה׃

and they named the town Dan, after their ancestor Dan who was Israel’s son. Originally, however, the name of the town was Laish.

and in sefer Yehoshua 19, first called Leshem:

וַיֵּצֵ֥א גְבוּל־בְּנֵי־דָ֖ן מֵהֶ֑ם וַיַּעֲל֣וּ בְנֵי־דָ֠ן וַיִּלָּחֲמ֨וּ עִם־לֶ֜שֶׁם וַיִּלְכְּד֥וּ אוֹתָ֣הּ ׀ וַיַּכּ֧וּ אוֹתָ֣הּ לְפִי־חֶ֗רֶב וַיִּֽרְשׁ֤וּ אוֹתָהּ֙ וַיֵּ֣שְׁבוּ בָ֔הּ וַיִּקְרְא֤וּ לְלֶ֙שֶׁם֙ דָּ֔ן כְּשֵׁ֖ם דָּ֥ן אֲבִיהֶֽם׃

But the territory of the Danites slipped from their grasp. So the Danites migrated and made war on Leshem. They captured it and put it to the sword; they took possession of it and settled in it. And they changed the name of Leshem to Dan, after their ancestor Dan.

(Rashi explains Leshem and Layim are the same.)

In last week’s post, I noted how Shadal argued that the Torah could not have been during the Monarchic era and on, because of the people’s lack of sophistication coupled with dibra Torah kilshon benei Adam.

Now, here’s a problem. Assuming the Torah was written well before the period of Judges, when Dan was named Dan, why does the Torah refer to the area as Dan? We could answer that:

1. This shows the Torah was written later.

2. The Torah was written prophetically, based on the eventual naming, or the eventual portion.

3. We are talking about a different place called Dan.

4. The Torah was edited and Layish was emended to Dan.

Shadal (following Chizkuni’s lead) takes position 3. He writes:

Unto Dan: This is not Layish which was renamed Dan in the period of the Judges, but another place. Because even according to those who say that it (or things) were added after a time, in this instance it is not possible. For if so, it would have been fitting to have written “and he pursued until Layish, that is Dan”, and then it would have been possible to say that the words “that is Dan” was added. But, for a person to emend and substitute a word in the Torah, we have not seen and not heard.

This is in line with how I understand Shadal’s position on Biblical Criticism. For Lower Biblical Criticism, he is OK with saying that a text needs to be emended because of some scribal error. But, while he even suggests one himself (ברום instead of ברוך), he generally looks down on it because he thinks the people doing it are not competent.

Here, this is along the lines of Higher Criticism, attributing some bits of text to a different author. But he does not like the suggestion here. He is perhaps OK with saying that some Redactor, acting later, inserted comments into the Biblical text to clarify and bring it up to date. However, substitution (or say, deletion) editing operations are harder than simple insertion operations, and he does not see a precedent for it.