About Dan he said, “Dan is a lion’s cub that leaps out of Bashan.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 22. Basan. As the Jordan rushes with impetuosity ( Bible.) from Lais, which was seized by some of this tribe; (Judges 18) and as a lion falls on its prey from the mountains of Basan, so shall this tribe give birth to Samson, who was stronger than a lion, ( Calmet.) and terribly harassed the Philistines. Judges 14:5. 14, and so forth When the Danites found themselves straitened for room, they sent a colony, ( Bible.) which took possession of Lais, and called it after their own name: one of the fountains of the Jordan was in this place, the other was called Jor, ( Menochius.) though the river may have a more distant and obscure source in the lake of Phiala, whence Josephus says ( Bible.) it runs, by a subterraneous passage, to a fountain of Dan. As it then takes its course through the promised land, of which it is the principal river, Dan may thus be said to supply waters abundantly for the whole country. Menochius.—But the Hebrew and Septuagint have, “he shall leap from Basan,” which must be understood of the lion, since the territory of Dan was very remote from that mountain. Bible.