MAHANEH-DAN (1-117p, 'camp of Dan ;' flapc430M lido ; Castro Dan), the name given to the place where the Danites assembled and en.
camped before setting out on their expedition against Laish. It is described as in, that is, ry within the territory of Kirjath-jearim, and situated ' behind' erg) the town. Now Kirjath-jearim stands on the north-eastern slope of a hill, and probably the situation of the camp was above the city on the top of the hill (Judg. xviii. 12). The position is a most commanding one ; and being a short march from the principal cities of the Danites, on the line of route which they were to take, it formed an excellent gathering-place. It was apparently on this same hill that the house of Abinadab stood, to which the ark was brought from Bethshemesh—' And the men of Kirjath jearim came, and fetched up the ark, and brought it into the house of Abinadab, in the hill' (or in Gibeah,' I Sam. vii. i ; cf. 2 Sam. vi. 2, 3). There' may have been some ancient sanctuary there, to which even the Israelites attached a cer tain amount of sacredness.
In Judg. xiii. 25 we read of a camp of Dan,' or Ilfahaneh-Dan (the Hebrew being the same as in xviii. 12, as are also the LXX. and the Vulgate), where the Spirit of the Lord began at first to move Samson. This can scarcely be the same, however,
as the Mahaneh of Kirjath-jearim, because the former was situated between Zorah and Eshtaol. Zorah is about eight miles south-west of Kirjath jearim ; and Eshtaol, which is probably identical with Yeshua [ESIITAOL], lay only two miles from Zorah, towards Kirjath-jearim. But whether Eshtaol be identical with Yeshua or not, we can not suppose it to have been situated north-east of Kirjath-jearim, and thus far within the proper ter ritory of Judah ; and, consequently, the Camp of Dan,' which lay between Zorah and Eshtaol, could not have been identical with the Mahaneh Dan situated at Kirjath-jearim. The former appears to have been the stated and permanent gathering-place' of the tribe in their wars with the Philistines, while the latter was chosen as the point of departure for the great northern expedi tion. Besides, we can scarcely suppose that the burial-place of Manoah, which was evidently at the Camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol,' could have been beside Kirjath-jearim (Judg. xvi. 31 ; see Handbook, i. 282 ; Robinson, B. R., ii. 1z; iii. 153).—J. L. P.