Tribe of the Month

Dan is the Tribe Associated with Aqrab (the Scorpion)

My featured star-family for the month of March is Aqrab (the Scorpion), which is Star-family #3 of the 12 primary constellations and their decans. As I mentioned in my January 11, 2019 blog, "What is the Significance of the 12 Primary Constellations?", each of the 12 primary constellations is associated with one of the 12 tribes of Israel.

The tribe which is associated with the constellation Aqrab (now called Scorpio) is Dan. 

We will deepen our understanding of the Heavenly Message in this star-family by looking at the prophecies of Dan, given in the Scripture by both Jacob and Moses.

When Jacob was near the end of his life, he called his sons before him and spoke a prophetic word over them, which is found in Genesis chapter 49. His death-bed prophecies for his sons were not just prophetic words to the 12 tribes while his twelve sons were still alive, the prophecies were to have an ultimate fulfillment in the Last Days. We know this, because Jacob said so himself, in verse 1 of that chapter:

Genesis 49:1  "And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the Last Days."

So, as we find a message for our personal sanctification and spiritual growth in the 12 star-families of the Mazzaroth, that message is deepened by echoing it with the tribal prophecies of Jacob, which are meant for Israel in the Last Days- Scripturally called the "Seed of Abraham" (for Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob begat 12 sons who formed the 12 tribes of Israel). 

In Jacob's prophecy from Genesis 49, his prophetic word for Dan is found in Genesis 49:16-18:

Genesis 49:16-18  "Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for Thy Salvation, O Yahweh." 

In Genesis 49, Jacob talks about each of his children and their futures. When he gets to Dan, he likens him to a serpent. Obviously, a serpent is not a good thing. Serpents, in the Bible, are connected to Satan, sin, and judgment.

Notably, the tribe of Dan is mentioned in the Old Testament listing of the 12 tribes of Israel, but it is not found in the Revelation listing of the 12 tribes (Revelation 7:4-8). What happened to the tribe of Dan? 

In the Book of Judges, the tribe of Dan was setting up a priest just for their tribe. The priest that they got was called “father” and had taken a vow of poverty (Judges 17:10). This priest was also an idol-worshipper (Judges 18:20). 

If we move forward to the time of the kings, we notice that when the kingdom was split in two, Jeroboam, the king of the Northern Kingdom (Israel), made 2 golden calves to keep his subjects from going to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh. This was done in response to his concerned that traveling to Jerusalem might lead to reuniting the kingdom under Rehoboam. He put one calf in Bethel and the other up in Dan. All of this is found in 1 Kings 12, and verse 30 says:

“And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.”

Dan became the center of pagan worship for the 10 tribes in the north.

Finally, the last time the name Dan is mentioned in Scripture is found in Amos 8:14. 

Amos 8:14  "They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again." 

Again the context of this verse connects Dan to idolatry.

What we learn from all of this is that Dan was the first tribe to practice idolatry, and their history was dominated by graven images. Yahweh does not tolerate that kind of thing as Deuteronomy 6:14-15 attests—

“Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; For Yahweh thy God is a jealous (zealous) God among you lest the anger of Yahweh thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.”

Dan was born to Jacob by Rachel's handmaid, Bilhah. His name means "judge" - Genesis 30:6. Judgment is supposed to be a good and godly work. It is a special calling and ministry. Samson was a Judge of Israel. In fact, one of Moses' many roles was "Judge". It wasn't through righteous judgment that Dan lost his place among the final listing of the 12 tribes of Israel. It was because Dan failed to overcome the serpent's temptations. Dan fell into idolatry. Instead of leading Israel into righteousness, as a godly Judge of Israel should, Dan became a leader into idolatry.

Because of Dan's idolatry, and his connection with the serpent in Jacob's prophecy, Iraeneas and Hippolytus of Rome believed that the final Anti-Christ would be from the tribe of Dan. Whether or not this is correct, we cannot now know.

But the tribe of Dan was replaced by the tribe of Manasseh, descended from Joseph's older son. It is of this new tribe, that Moses' victorious prophecies of Dan now apply:

Deuteronomy 33:22  "And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan."

Bashan was the home of Og, who was the giant (12’ tall) king of Bashan – Deuteronomy 3:11. Og was defeated by the Holy-Spirit empowered Children of Israel. His 60 massive cities were claimed and inhabited by Israel. 

The Amorite king, Og, was described as the last “of the remnant of the Rephaim” (Deut. 3:11). He would have been about twelve feet tall. (See the picture below for scale). We know this fact because the Bible says that his iron bed was 13½ feet in length. The terms Amorite and Canaanite seem to be used, more or less, interchangeably, Canaan being more general and Amorite a specific component among the Canaanites who inhabited the land. (Called to Canaan Vol 3, p 200)

Amos 2:9 “Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks...”

Just as Israel destroyed these cities and this giant pagan king, leaving them as “dunghills,” so the people of Yahweh, will conquer the "impossible" giants of our time, in our conquest of ultimate Canaan. We need not be of defeated and lost Dan - but of victorious and translated Manasseh. 

And just as this constellation family shows, the victory, is "not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit saith Yahweh of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).

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