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by Peter Salemi, British-Israel Church of God, Canada
When the 12 tribes of Israel actually took possession of the promised land, the tribe of Dan was allotted its tribal inheritance in the South Western area of that land. Dan was situated west-Northwest of Judah; Dan's territory extended westward to the Mediterranean Sea, and included the busy port of Joppa, next to modern Tel-Aviv (Joshua 19:40-48).
Now the Danites migrated Northwards to Laish, and called the city Dan, after their father, see Judges 18. The northern city Laish, now called Dan, by the tribe of Dan, was about thirty miles inland from the ancient busy port of Tyre. Thus the ancient Danites must of had frequent contacts with the people of Tyre, which was in fact occupied by their brethren the tribe of Asher, see Joshua 19:29. So since their Israelite brothers occupied the land of Tyre, they had access to Tyre at anytime. These people of Tyre were a people of sea trade and navigation, see Ezekiel 27. These people built Tyre and Sidon on the Lebanese coast.
In the 1200's B.C., before Dan went to Laish, in a song commemorating a great Israelite victory, the Judge Deborah lamented that during the battle, the "men of Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan [River], and [asked] why DAN REMAINED IN SHIPS?" (Judges 5:17). The Danites were so preoccupied with the Sea and sea trade that they chose to remain in their ships than help their brethren. So even before the time they went to Laish, the Danites were already engaged in sea-faring activities.
J.C. Gawler quotes from the Chronicles of Ireland and says: "Again (p.123), 'The Danites ruled about two centuries until the arrival of the Milesians, which took place, 1000 years before the Christian era.' Thus the date of the arrival of the FIRST COLONY OF DANAANS WOULD BE 1200 B.C., or 85 years after Deborah and Baraks victory, when we are told Dan had ships...The early connection with Greece, Phoenician and Egypt is constantly alluded throughout the Chronicles [of Ireland] and records of the Irish Dannans" (Dan Pioneer of Israel, pp.30-31, emphasis added). After the first batch of Dannans left for Ireland, the remaining Danites migrated North 30 miles away from Tyre. These Danites that migrated North to Laish are the 3RD BATCH OF DANAANS THAT WENT TO IRELAND. These Danites worshipped Idol gods at that time, and brought them to Ireland, and Gawler points out, "The Psalter at Cashel says that the Tower of Tara [In Ireland] was built for the preservation of the fire of Baal, and was called Bel Theine...and that the mark of Phoenicia and Israel [was] Baal worship" (ibid., p.31).
What route did the first batch of Danaans take? Irish Historian Thomas Moore says that one of the earliest resident peoples of Ireland-the Firbolgs-were dispossessed by the Tuatha de Danaans, "who after sojourning for some time in Greece...proceeded thence to Denmark and Norway" (History of Ireland, vol.1, p.59) Then the Danaans proceeded to Ireland. So we see a time span of about 85 years, after Deborah, the judge of Israel uttered those words about Dan in ships!
The word "Tuatha" simply means "tribe"-"Tuatha...Irish history...A 'Tribe' or 'people' in Ireland"' (New English Dictionary on Historical principles, vol.10, pt 1, p.441). The word Dan means Judge in the Hebrew. "Dan [Heb "Judge"] shall Judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel" (Gen 49:16). "It is certainly no coincidence that the Irish Gaelic word Dun or Dunn means Judge..."' (America and Britain in Prophecy, Raymond McNair, p.25, emphasis theirs).
Another Irish Historian Geoffrey Keating mentions the SECOND BATCH of Danites of Judges 18, who were the THIRD BATCH OF DANAANS that went to Ireland AFTER THE MILESIANS, and he says: "...the Danaans were a people of great learning and wealth; they left Greece after a battle with the ASSYRIANS and went to Ireland; and also to Denmark, and called it 'DAN-mares,' Dans' country" (History of Ireland, vol.1, pp.195, 199, emphasis added). When the Assyrians attacked in the 8th century, the Danites of the promised land, left and joined their brothers in Ireland, who already settled there in different waves of immigration. They left to get away from the battle with Assyria.
The Encyclopedia Britannica tells us that the ancestor of the Danaans was "According to late Danish tradition...Juteland [mainland Denmark] was acquired by DAN, THE ANCESTOR OF THE DANES FROM WHERE THEIR NAME DERIVES (under article 'Denmark,' vol.8, 11th edition, emphasis added). Like the Danites of old, they named Denmark after their father Dan.
Testimony of Josephus, the Jewish Historian
Jewish Historian Josephus shows that the Lacedemonian (Spartans of Greece) were actually Danites, and therefore closely related to the Jews. Josephus relates an incredible letter from Sparta to Judah: "
"Jonathan the high priest of the Jewish nation . . . to the ephori and senate and the people of the Lacedemonians, send greeting:
"When in former times an epistle was brought to Onias, who was then our high priest . . . we have discovered that both the Jews and the Lacedemonians are of ONE STOCK, and are derived from the KINDRED OF ABRAHAM...concerning the KINDRED THAT WAS BETWEEN US AND YOU, a copy of which is here subjoined, we both joyfully received the epistle . . . because we were well satisfied about it from the SACRED WRITINGS, yet did not we think fit, first to begin the claim of this RELATION TO YOU, the glory which is now given us by you. It is a long time since this relation of ours to you hath been renewed, and when we, upon holy and festival days offer sacrifices to God, we pray to Him for your preservation and victory . . . . You will, therefore, do well yourselves to write to us, and send us an account of what you stand in need of from us, since we are in all things disposed to act according to your desires...This letter is foursquare: and the seal is an eagle, with a dragon [snake or serpent] in its claws" (Antiquities of the Jews, bk 12 chapter 4 sec 10; XIII, 5, 8, emphasis added).
The Lacedemonians received the Jewish ambassadors carrying the letter kindly and made a decree of friendship and mutual assistance with the Jews, and then sent the letter to their Lacedemonian kinsmen.
In Ancient Mythology, Bryant relates that Stephanus Byzantium shows that Alexander Polyhistor and Claudius Jolaus also speak of a direct relationship or kindship between the Spartan Greeks and the people of Judaea (vol.5, p.51-52, 60).
Dan -- A Serpent's Trail
Jacob prophesied that Dan would be a "Serpent by the way, an adder by the path," (Gen 9:16-17) meaning that he would leave a trail wherever he would go. In the Bible we have seen evidence of this naming everything after their father "Dan," see Joshua 19:47; Judges 18:12, 27-29. When the Danites migrated to Ireland, they left a trail of names throughout Europe. The city of Troy was located at the mouth of the Bosporus DarDANelles. From their they migrated into Europe and left names all over and into DANmark and Norway.
In Hebrew there are no vowels, so the name Dan is written DN, or its Hebrew equivalent. Thus words like Dan, Din, Don, Dun, Den, or Dn, correspond to the name of Dan.
Just west of the Black Sea, ancient geographers designated a region by the name of Moesia, which means the land of the "Moses-ites." These people revered a person whom they called Zal-moxis. "Zal" significes "chief," so this person, "chief Moxis" or "leader Moxis" was actually "chier MOSES," the man of God who led Israel to the promised land, and whom these people remembered as their original leader. The tribe of Dan also passed through this region, and the surrounding territory, leaving its name in Mace-DON-ia, and the Dar-DAN-elles, and to the north by the river DAN-ube. In the territory of Sarmatia (or Samaria, meaning the Israelites), were located the rivers DN-iper, DN-ister, and the DON.
Professor Totten declares:
"There is no grander theme upon the scrolls of history than the story of this struggle of the Anglo-Saxons westward. The very streams of Europe mark their resting places, and in the root of nearly all their ancient names (Dan, or Don) recall the sacred stream Jor-dan river of rest-- from whose whose hands, so far away, as exiles, they set out. It was either the little colony of Dan, obeying its tribal proclivity for naming everything it cap- turied (Jud.18:1-29) after their father, or else the mere survival of a word and custom; but, none the less, it serves to TRACE these wanderers LIKE A TRAIL. Hence the Dan-ube, the Dan-ieper, the Dan-iester, the Dan-au, the Daci and Davi, the Dan, the Don, the U-Don, the Eri-don, and the THOUSAND OTHER Dans and Dons of ancient and early geography, down to the Danes in Dan-emerke, or 'Dan's last resting place'" (quoted in Allen, Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright, p.263-64).
Denmark, the name of the modern country in Europe north of Germany, means, literally, "Dan's mark." It's people are called "Danes." In fact, because at one time Denmark ruled all the surrounding region, the whole region took its name from them the ScanDINavian peninsula! Clearly, here are remnants of the people of DAN, who migrated westward overland from the Caucasus to their present location in northern Europe!
However, other Danites, who dwelt or abode in ships, and who associated themselves with the sea peoples of Tyre and Sidon, fled westward through the Mediterranean when northern Israel fell. Early Danites fled Egypt migrated through SarDINia, and left their trail along the sea-coasts of the Mediterranean. Thus Dan, who was a "lion's whelp" who would "leap from Bashan," leaped all the way to Ireland, where historians explain that the early settlers were known as the "Tuatha de Danaan" -- literally, the "tribe of Dan." The Greeks called them the Danoi, the Romans called them Danaus.
In Ireland, today, we find their customary evidence -- their place names -- in abundance. Such names as Dans-Lough, Dan-Sower, Dan-Monism, Dun-dalke, Dun-drum, Don-egal Bay, Don-egal City, Dun-glow and Lon-don-derry, as well as Din-gle, Dun-garven and Duns-more, which means "MORE DANS." Of course, the most famous Irish ballad of all time is the song, "Danny Boy." It should be plain that the country of Ireland is replete, filled with names which derive from the ancient patriarch of the Hebrews -- DAN, the son of Jacob! It should be plain that the ancient Danites settled in Ireland, and most of them dwell in that land, today.
The Seal Josephus mentions is revealing because the tribal emblem or ensign, see Numbers 2:2 of the people of Dan included the image of a "snake," see article "Flag," The Jewish Encyclopedia, p.405. This symbolism is derived from what Jacob had foretold: "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder [viper] by the path..." (Gen 49:17). Thus the emblem traditionally associated with Dan is an "adder biting horses heels" (Thomas Fuller, Pisgah Sight of Palestine). However Aben Ezra, a learned Jewish scholar of the 1600's said that the emblem of Dan was an "eagle with a dragon in its claws''' (America and Britain in Prophecy, McNair, p.23).
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