SECTION XVII.

Prophecy on Dan.

“Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel." (v. 16.)

"Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path; that biteth the horse-heels, so that his rider shall fall backwards." (v. 17.)

"I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord." (v. 18.)

SECTION XVII.

Fulfilment.

Samson was son of "Manoah, of the family of the Danites." (Judges xiii. 1.) And he judged Israel twenty years.

The serpent is described in Genesis as more subtle than any beast of the field "-and the prophetic character of the tribe of Dan was fulfilled in the remarkable history of Samson. He married a woman of the Philistines, against the remonstrance of his parents; but " they knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines." (Judges xiv. 4.) The whole history of Samson, in the various incidents of his marriage at Timnath; his riddle of the honey; the fire-brands and foxes; the deceptions practised on Delilah; and, finally, his petition that he might rest himself by leaning on the pillars in the temple of Dagon; was a continued series of artifices, with a view to circumvent his enemies.

Like a serpent in the way, or an adder in the path, he bit the horses' heels of his foes: and, in his last achievement, the Philistines, in a literal sense, fell backwards.

The children of Dan, on their way to establish themselves in the country of Laish, stole away from the house of Micah his teraphim and ephod, and the young Levite, who officiated as priest. They smote the people of Laish with the edge of the sword, and burned the city with fire, because they knew that the people of Laish "were quiet and dwelt secure," and "had no deliverer," and were far from Zidon," and "had no business with any man."

Thus, in the person of Samson, and in their invasion of Laish, did the tribe of Dan fully realize the character, which had been predicted by the patriarch Jacob. (Judges xvii and xviii.)