DAMNATION (dam-na'shim), (Gr. cilra'Aega, ap oh' lei-ah, destruction, losing away), a word gener ally used, in a theological sense, to express a total loss of the soul; but this is not its proper import in all places where it occurs in Scripture; and the use of it is in some passages of our translation extremely unfortunate.
We read, John v:29, of the "resurrection to damnation ;" of "eternal damnation" (Mark iii: 29) of "the damnation of hell" (Matt. xxiii :33), where the stronger sense of the word is exacted by the context : but in Matt. xxiii:14, we read of the "greater damnation," which evidently implies a lesser damnation; and in Rom. xiii :2, t Cor. xi :2g, and t Tim. v :I2, we should read "condem nation," or "judgment" (Rom. xiv :23). "He that doubteth is damned," should be read "self condemned." DAN (clan), (Heb. dawn, a judge).
(1) Son of Jacob. Dan was the fifth son of Jacob by the concubine Bilhah (Gen. xxx :3 , xxxv :25), and founder of one of the tribes of Israel. Dan had but one son, called Hushim (Gen. xlvi :23) : notwithstanding which, when the Israelites came out of Egypt, this tribe contained 62,70o adult males (Num. i :30, which made it the second of the tribes in number, Judah only being above it. Its numbers were less affected in the desert than those of many other tribes ; for at the census, before entering Canaan, it mustered 64,4o0 (Num. xxvi:43), being an increase of 1,700, which gave it still the second rank in population. But there is nothing in the history of the tribe corresponding to this eminence in population: the most remarkable circumstance in its history, how ever, is connected with this fact.. The original settlement assigned to the tribe in southwestern Palestine being too small for its large population, a body of them went forth to seek a settlement in the remote north, and seized and remained in per manent occupation of the town and district of Laish, the inhabitants of which dwelt in greater security and were more easily conquered than the neighbors of the tribe in its own proper territory (Josh. xix :47; Judg. i:34; xviii). The district regularly allotted to the tribe, although contracted, was very fertile. It had the country of the Philis tines on the west, part of Judah with Benjamin on the east, Ephraim on the north, and Simeon on the south. The territory proved inadequate chiefly from the inability of the Danites to expel the Philistines and Amorites, who occupied parts of the land assigned to them. There is no doubt that the territory as allotted, but not possessed, extended to the Mediterranean through the coun try of the Philistines. Samson was of this tribe. and its proximity to the Philistines explains many circumstances in the history of that hero. It ap pears from that history that there was an under current of private and social intercourse between the Philistines and the Danites, notwithstanding the public enmity between Israel and the former (Judg. xiii; xvi).
(2) Town of Dan. The town, anciently called Laish, or Leshem, mentioned in the preceding article as having been conquered by a warlike col ony of Danites, who named it after their tribe. The terms in which the condition of Laish is de scribed, previously to the conquest, indicate that the place belonged to the Sidonians. -_nd that the
inhabitants lived quiet and secure. 'after the man ner of the Sidonians.' enjoying abundance of all things (Judg. xviii :7). They seem to have de rived their security from the absence of any ad verse powers in their neighborhood, and from con fidence in the protection of Sidon, which was, however, too far off to render aid in the case of such a sudden assault as that by which they were overpowered. This distance of Sidon was care fully noted by the Danite spies as a circumstance favorable to the enterprise; and it does not appear that Sidon ever made any effort to dispossess the intruders. Dan afterwards became a chief scat of Jeroboam's idolatry, and one of the golden calves was set up there ( t Kings xii:28, 29). It was conquered. along with other towns, by the Syrians (t Kings xv :2o) ; and the name is familiar from the recurrence of the proverbial expression, 'from Dan to Beersheba, to denote the extent of the Promised Land ( Judg. xx :t ; t Sam. iii :2o; 2 Sam. xvii:ti). (See BEERSIIEIIA.) In the days of Eusebius, Dan was still a small village, which is placed by him four miles from Paneas, towards Tyre. As this distance corresponds to the position of the fountain at Tel el-Kady, which forms one of the sources of the Jordan, and is doubtless that which is called Dan by Joscphus (Artily. i:to, 2), the situation of the city of Dan could not therefore have been that of Paneas itself, with which it has been in later times confounded. (See C.ESAREA Pitmen.) There are no longer any ruins near the spring at Tel cl-Kady, but at about a quarter of an hour north, Burckhardt noticed ruins of ancient habitations; and the bill which overhangs the fountains appears to have been built upon, though nothing is now visible (Burckhardt. Syria, P. 42; Robinson, Researches, iii:351-358). The mound rises out of a close jungle of tall bushes and rank reeds, with larger trees on the higher slopes. until an irregular oblong plateau is reached, about forty feet high on the north side and eighty feet on the south, and resting upon one of the broad fringe-like terraces with which the skirts of Hermon sweep down towards the plain of Hula ( Lake \lerom). G. A. Smith pre fers to locate Dan at Banias.
(3) An Arabian City. There was apparently a city named Dan in Southern Arabia, associated with Jason, from which the Phcrnicians obtained wrought iron, cassia, and salamis (Ezek. xxvii: to). This is not certain, however.
(4) Camp of Dan. (Judg. xiii:25; A. V. "Mahaneh-dan"), the name given to the portion of country in which the Danitcs pitched before emigrating northward ; or probably the lo cation of some Danite families which remained.
(5) Dan Even Unto Beersheba. Dan being the northern boundary of Canaan, and Beersheba its most southerly town, this proverbial saying ex pressed the extreme length of the land ( Judg. xx :t ; t Sam. iii (6) There is a reference in Ezek. xxvii:io in the A. V. to " Dan also" I I leb. i:;1), but the R. V. has it correctly " Vedan." This is supposed to he Aden in Arabh, formerly the chief trading port of Arabia before the rise of .Mochar.