16-21. Dan, Gad, Asher, and Naphtali.
16 Dan shall judge his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Be Dan a serpent on the way,
A horned snake on the path,
That bites the hoofs of the horse,
And the rider tumbles backwards!
18 [I wait for thy salvation, Yahwe!]
19 Gad—raiders shall raid him,
But he shall raid their rear!
20 Asher—his bread shall be fat,
And he shall yield dainties for kings.
21 Naphtali is a branching terebinth (?)
Producing comely tops (?).
16. Dân . . . judge] See on 306.—his people] Not Israel,
but his own tribesmen. The meaning is not that Dan will
produce a judge (Samson) as well as the other tribes (TOJ),
nor that he will champion the national cause (Ew. De. Di.
al.); but that he will successfully assert an equal status
with the other tribes. Note that in Ju. 182. 11. 19 the Danites
are spoken of as a 'clan' ((
Hebrew characters)).—17. The little snake,
concealed by the wayside, may unhorse the rider as effectually
as a fully armed antagonist: by such insidious, but
not ignoble, warfare Dan in spite of his weakness may
succeed.—(Hebrew characters)] (Greek characters) is probably the cerastes cornutus,
whose habits are here accurately described (see Dri., and
Tristram, NHB, 274).—18. An interpolation, marking (as
nearly as possible) the middle of the poem (so Ols. Ba.
Siev. al.). The attempts to defend its genuineness as a sigh
of exhaustion on Jacob's part, or an utterance of the nation's
dependence on Yahwe's help in such unequal conflicts as
those predicted for Dan, are inept.—Dan was one of the
weakest of the tribes, and perhaps the latest to secure a
permanent settlement (Ju. 134f., Jos. 1947, Ju. 18). Its
migration northward, and conquest of Laish, must have
17. (Hebrew characters)] G (Greek characters), taking the (Greek characters) as an adj.—(Hebrew characters)] Ba. (Hebrew characters)
(after S (Syriac characters)).
