Identifying the Danish with the Tribe of Dan
The Ten Tribes are to be found in western areas. This includes Scandinavia and Denmark. The Land of Denmark is named after Dan the Forefather of the Tribe of Dan. Descendants of Dan settled in Denmark as shown by Biblical and Secular sources.
Contents:
1. Danes from Dan of Israel
2. Dan in Scandinavia According to the Bible
3. Dan symbolized by a lion and a serpent
4. Places and Peoples Named "after Dan their father."
5. Sea-goers
6. Ephraimite Criteria
7. History of the Danes and Danish Settlements
8. Historical Characteristics of the Danes
Drinkers of Alcohol; Very Strong
9. Personal Characteristics of Dan:
Rabbinical Descriptions compared to Modern Ones.
10. Dan of Denmark and Bert Otten
11. The Jutes, Judah, and Dan
12. Summary
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1. Danes from Dan of Israel
Jacob (aka Israel) begat Dan (Genesis 36:6) and Naphtali from Bilhah (Genesis 35:25) the handmaiden of Rachel mother of Joseph and Benjamin.
In "The Tribes" we found elements, the Scioldings of Shutelach, from Ephraim among the Danes as well as the Jutes from Judah, and possibly others. Nevertheless, most of the Danes of Denmark pertain to Dan. We also find descendants of Dan in northeast England, in southwest and west Britain, and in Ireland. In Biblical times there were two main centers of Dan, one on the coast by Jaffo (Joppa) and the other in the Galilee as well as other enclaves of Dan further north. Even so Dan in Denmark and Dan in Ireland and southwest Britain parallel the two main locations of Dan in the Land of Israel.
In the encampment around the Tabernacle while Israel was in the Wilderness aftter coming out of Egypt Dan was in the north. The Tribe of headed the trio of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali (Numbers 2:25-31). This reflects the present geographical arraignment in Scandinavia.
Saxo Grammaticus in ca. 1240 CE wrote the first known history of the Danish People.
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Danish History, Books I-IX, by
Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Learned")
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1150/1150-h/1150-h.htm
# Now Dan and Angul, with whom the stock of the Danes begins, were begotten of Humble, their father, and were the governors and not only the founders of our race. (Yet Dudo, the historian of Normandy, considers that the Danes are sprung and named from the Danai.) ...
# Of these two, Angul, the fountain, so runs the tradition, of the beginnings of the Anglian race, caused his name to be applied to the district which he ruled. This was an easy kind of memorial wherewith to immortalise his fame: for his successors a little later, when they gained possession of Britain, changed the original name of the island for a fresh title, that of their own land.....[i.e. they named the area "Angle-Land" aka England].
# From Dan, however, so saith antiquity; the pedigrees of our kings have flowed in glorious series, like channels from some parent spring. #
What is Saxo saying?
Dan and the Angles (who became the English) were brothers, sons of Humble.
The name of Humble father of Dan and Angul may be considered another form of the name Yaacov (Jacob) who name derives from AKEV meaning "heal" (of the foot) and thus connoting humility.
When SAXO wrote hits history he would not have been aware that Humble (father of Dan) was another name for Jacob aka Israel!
The name Angle is derived from an ALTERNATIVE PRONUNCIATION of the Hebrew "aegel" meaning "Bull-Calf" which was a nickname for Ephraim (Jeremiah 31:18, cf. Rashi).
Another Danish source ("Vetus Chronicon Holsatiae" quoted by Sharon Turner,. 1768-1847) says expressly that the Danes, Jutes, Angles and Saxons were descendants of Israel.
Sven Aggesen (ca. 1185) said that a mythical King Dan gave his name to the Danes.
From the above we see that the Danes were named after a forefather called Dan. This person may well be Dan of Israel. The equation of "Humble" with Jacob and the Danish legend also indicate this. This does not nullify the possibility of the name Dan also having been given to a later King (or several of them) who became famous as a leader of his people, the Danes.
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2. Dan in Scandinavia According to the Bible
It had been prophesied that Dan would occupy areas of Bashan northeast of the Jordan.
Deuteronomy 33:
22 And of Dan he said: 'Dan is a lion's whelp; He shall leap from Bashan.
This could refer to Dan in the northern Galileee or to a later settlement further north such as Luash (Northwest Syria) of the Dananu of Dan. The Bashan in Aramaic was known as "Bathan." In the Geography of Ptolemy we find in this area the territories of Bathanaei and the Kingdom of Bathanaea. Scandinavia in old editions of Pliny is called "Scatanavia" (i.e. "Land of the Scyths") and "Basilia" (Pliny N.H. 27;35). The Royal Scythians had been named "Basiloi". In addition to this the Hebrew-language Encyclopedia Biblica tells us that Ancient Mesopotamian sources referred to the Bashan as "Basil."
We could therefore understand an additional meaning of the Prophecy of Moses (Deuteronomy 33:22) to be that Dan would use Scandinavia (i.e. Basilia) as a springboard to leap from like a lion. This is what happened.
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3. Dan symbolized by a lion and a serpent and a griffin
Genesis 49:
9 Judah is a lion's whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
Deuteronomy 49:
22 And of Dan he said:
'Dan is a lion's whelp;
He shall leap from Bashan.'
The Coat of Arms of Denmark depicts three lions.
Genesis 49:
16 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path.
Serpent symbols have been found from Scandinavia.
The term "serpent" could also refer to a dragon and the head of a dragon was often carved on the forefront of Viking ships.
One of the symbols of Dan was a griffin (Abraham EPSHTEIN, "Kadmoniot HaYehudim; Braytot Atikot. Eldad Ha Dani," Jerusalem 1957).The Griffin is described as "a creature partly lion and part eagle. The "Hyksos" Shepherd Kings whom we identify with Israelites and who have been identified as the Danaoi founders of Greek Mycenean civilization incorporated the HYPERBOREAN Griffin as a regal symbol (Martin BERNAL, 'Black Athena', Vol. II, pp. 42, 353, 375-388). The griffins were believed to be guardians of the gold in the FAR NORTH...THE COUNTRY OF THE HYPERBOREANS..." (Howe HARRER, "A Handbook of Classical Mythology", p. 110). The Hyperboeans were considered to be the dwellers of the British Isles and/or of Scandninavia.
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4. Places and Peoples Named "after Dan their father."
A characteristic of the Tribe of Dan was to name places "after Dan their father."
Joshua 19:
47 And the border of the children of Dan went beyond these, because the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem and took it; and they struck it with the edge of the sword, took possession of it, and dwelt in it. They called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father.Judges 18:
12 Then they went up and encamped in Kirjath Jearim in Judah. (Therefore they call that place Mahaneh Dan [Camp of Dan] to this day. There it is, west of Kirjath Jearim.)
Judges 18:
29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However, the name of the city formerly was Laish.
Some have interpreted the phrase "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path" (Genesis 49:16) as referring to a Tribal Trait of leaving their namesake everywhere along the path they went just as a snake leaves the trail of his crawling in the dust of the path, e.g. "Mahaneh Dan" (i.e. Camp of Dan, Judges 18:12), Dan by Joppa, Dan in the Galilee, Dananu (in southeast Turkey), Danaoi (in Greece), Don, Dneister, Dneiper, Danube, Denmark, Dana (ireland), Dannonia (Devon). The king of Sma'al in the valley north of ASI (Orontes embouchement) on the edge of LUASH (LIASH) called himself "KING of the DANIM" i.e. in Hebrew "King of the Dans." Cyprus was conquered by the Dananu of Dan and the Assyrians referred to it as "Ydnna" i.e. Isle of the Danes.
So too we have Danmark (Denmark, area of Dan) and in the Viking area of England the Danelaw (Rulership of Dan) and the Danes who called themselves after "Dan their father."
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5. Sea-goers
The Prophetess Deborah describes Dan as a sea-going entity (Judges 6:7). This was a Phoenician characteristic. We find Israelites from Dan in Tyre the Phoenician city (1-Kings 7:13).
The Prophet Ezekiel linked Dan together with Javan (i.e. Ionia in west Anatolia or Greece in general) as trading with Phoenician Tyre:
"Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in the fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market" (Ezekiel 27:19).
The above verse is alternatively translatable (from the Hebrew) as saying:
"Dan and Yavan from Uzzal [or "going to and fro"] were your sub-contracting intermediaries, they brought you manufactured iron, alloyed, and in bars. They were amongst your guarantors" (Ezekiel 27:19).
The Israeli Naval Historian Tsvi Herman ("Amin, Yamim, Oniot", Hebrew, 1962) said the later Viking longship of Scandinavia was in effect almost identical in both structure and appearance with the Phoenician small long range ship, known to the Greeks as "Hyppo", i.e. the "horse".
The Danes of Denmark have always been a maritime nation and are now believed to have reached North America in the Viking Era.
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6. Ephraimite Criteria
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/biblical-proof/criteria.html
Biblical and Empirical Evidence has supplied us with Parameters to determine whether or not a paticular nation belongs to Israel by Ancestry.
These are the Ephraimite Criteria.
Their applicability needs to be moderated by the degree of Edomite Domination that has afflicted on Hebrew Peoples.
1. Blessings: Economic and Physical Blessings as promised to Israel in Scripture.
2. Indications of Scripture.
3. Groundwork: Historical, Archaeological, and Related Proofs showing paths of migration.
4. Judah: Affinity with the Jews.
5. Originality: Innovation and Intellect.
6. Bravery, Military Prowess.
7. Empathy: The Doing of Social Justice.
8. Israelite Self-Identification.
9. Family Connection.
10. Tribal Affiliation.
The Danes fulfill all the above requirements, in some cases very much so and in others to a more than reasonable degree.
This shows that the Danes are descedned from the Lost Ten Tribes whether from the Tribe of Dan or not. The indications available show an identification with the Tribe of Dan as most appropriate.
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7. History of the Danes and Danish Settlements
Danes (Germanic tribe)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danes_(Germanic_tribe)
The Danes were a North Germanic tribe inhabiting southern Scandinavia, including the area now comprising Denmark proper, and the Scanian provinces of modern southern Sweden, during the Nordic Iron Age and the Viking Age. They founded what became the Kingdom of Denmark. The name of their realm is believed to mean "Danish March", viz. "the march of the Danes" in Old Low German, referring to their southern border zone between the Eider and Schlei rivers, known as Danevirke.
Danes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danes
Denmark has been inhabited by various Germanic peoples since ancient times, including the Angles, Cimbri, Jutes, Herules, Teutones and others. The first mentions of "Danes" are recorded in the mid-6th century by historians Procopius and Jordanes (dan ), who both refer to a tribe related to the Suetidi inhabiting the peninsula of Jutland, the province of Scania and the isles in between.Frankish annalists of the 8th century often refer to Danish kings. The Bobbio Orosius from the early 7th century distinguishes between South Danes inhabiting Jutland and North Danes inhabiting the isles and the province of Scania.
The Jutes came from Jutland in Denmark. They had accompanied the Angles and Saxons in an earlier conquest of England. The Angles had come from an area in Northern Germany just to the south of Denmark.
The Danes together with the Norwegians comprised the sea-raiders known to history as the Vikings.
The Danes following their Viking raids settled in areas that included "the Danelaw in England and countryside and newly established towns in Ireland, the Netherlands and northern France. "
# The Danes first arrived in Ireland in 795 AD, at Rathlin Island, initiating subsequent raids and fortified trade settlements, so called longphorts. During the Viking Age, they established many coastal towns including Dublin (Dyflin), Cork, Waterford and Limerick and Danish settlers followed. There were many small skirmishes and larger battles with the native Irish clans in the following two centuries, with the Danes sometimes siding with allied clans. In 1014 AD, at the Battle of Clontarf, the Vikings were eventually defeated and the remaining Danish settlers gradually assimilated with the Irish population. #
The Danes in northern England settled in area where namesakes indicate that previous elements among the Celts also named after Dan had settled.
In Celtic Britain we also found Dan in Devon, and southern Wales. In Ireland the Tribe of the deity Dana also came from Dan. They were probably in the region of northern Ireland whereas the Danes from Denmark who settled in Ireland were more on the eastern side.
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8. Historical Characteristics of the Danes
Drinkers of Alcohol
# I know the wantonness of the Danes: never would they have left jars full of wine had not fear forced them to flee. They would rather have sacrificed their life than their liquor. # Saxo Bk 2
Very Strong
The Danish History by Saxo Grammaticus .Bk 4:
# To banish his affliction and gain some comfort, he bent his thoughts to warfare, and decreed that every father of a family should devote to his service whichever of his children he thought most contemptible, or any slave of his who was lazy at his work or of doubtful fidelity. And albeit that this decree seemed little fitted for his purpose, he [RAGNAR] showed that the feeblest of the Danish race were better than the strongest men of other nations. #
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9. Personal Characteristics of Dan:
Rabbinical Descriptions compared to Modern Ones.
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See:
Dan and the Rabbis
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/tribes/dan/danrabbis.html
Rabbi Rizeman:
Dan had the qualities of a judge.
Dan had an egalitarian approach.
Rabbi Tana: Dan is a Second-in-Command Type of Person and knows How to Wheel and Deal
Dan is very strict not to encroach on the monetary rights of others.
When Dan would find something that others had lost they would pick it up, mind it, and return it to its owners.
Rabbi Senior
The Tribe of Dan had a hidden barely evident hankering after sexual indulgence which led it to incline towards idolatry.
This trace of weakness within them was also a source of strength. They understood spiritual weaknesses in other Israelites and so had the ability to correct them and lead them back on the right track.
Rabbi Fishel Mael
The Children of the Handmaidens (including Dan): These are characterized by the quality of "Tiferet" i.e. truth, glory, and honor. These were mostly in the north.
Dan was crafty. Jacob the Patriarch compared Dan to a serpent and a snake was depicted on his Tribal Standard. The snake (serpent) represents idolatry. Its essence is pride.
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Modern Psychological Evaluations of the Danish, cf.
4 CULTURAL TRAITS ABOUT DANISH PEOPLE THAT EXPLAIN THEIR ODD BEHAVIOUR
4. May 2018
https://proacteur.com/en/4-cultural-traits-about-danish-people-that-explain-their-odd-behaviour/
By Anna Balk-Moller, Principal Consultant
Extracts:
#1 AUTHORITIES, DECISIONS AND ORDERS WILL BE CHALLENGED
The Danes are schooled from an early age to ask questions, challenge ideas and debate positions. As virtues such as 'Democracy' and 'Freedom of speech' are highly valued in Denmark, it is no mystery that the Danes are competent in making up their own mind and speaking freely. ... Management in Denmark is, to a large extent, about developing your employees to take initiative and make good decisions. ... If you are an employee with a Danish manager, it will be expected that you engage in the assignment by asking questions and filling in the gaps in instructions yourself..... Egalitarianism is precious to the Danes and therefore respect is shown by being at eye level.
#2 DANISH TRUST WILL SURPRISE YOU
In Germany, facts and information inspire confidence, while in Japan it is relations. In the U.S. it is performance, in France, it is honesty and in Saudi Arabia it is authority. In Denmark, honouring agreements build confidence.
#3 YOU CAN BE THE BEST OF COLLEAGUES, BUT YOU ARE NOT NECESSARILY FRIENDS
In Denmark, a good neighbour is a neighbour that keeps to himself.
#4 THEY HONESTLY THINK THAT THEIR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM/HEALTH SYSTEM/PARENTAL LEAVE/BUTTER IS THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD
.. though they might be smug about anything Danish, but they will not brag about personal achievements. And they do not appreciate others' self-promotion either.
No matter which cultural preference you choose, the Danes are likely to be found in the extreme end of the scale. This means that Danes are consistently the most, or the least. This also means that regardless of where you are from, they will be more extreme than what you have encountered before.
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Danish National Identity: A Historical Account Uffe Ostergard
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137026064_3
These national characteristics were clearly expressed in the guidelines distributed to officers serving in the German occupation forces in April 1940. This text demonstrates an astute understanding of Danish national character that to a large degree still holds true today...:
Extracts:
1 . Danes have a strong national feeling. Furthermore, they feel close to the Scandinavian peoples. As a consequence, avoid all actions that may hurt the national pride.
2. The Dane loves freedom and is selfassured. He rejects all coercion and subordination. He lacks respect for military order and authority. As a consequence, avoid commands, don't shout, that only provokes aversion and does not work. Inform and convince with factual arguments. A humorous tone is most effective. Unnecessary severity and commands hurt self-esteem and should be avoided.
3. The Dane is wily and crafty, bordering on unreliability.
4. The Dane is industrious. His interests mainly concern material life. He reacts particularly hard to restrictions on his material needs. As a consequence avoid as much as possible all interference with private property. Taking the law into one's own hands, levying and other like measures are forbidden.
5. The Dane loves a cosy home life. You can win him over by friendliness, small signs of appreciations and personal recognition.
6. Commercial peoples such as the Danish have English sympathies. It detests war. With few exceptions Danes have no understanding for the goals of the National Socialist German. As a consequence, avoid all political discussions.
7...according to the German occupation forces, Danes are easy to dominate if you give them the sense that they are in command, address them politely and do not interfere with their material well-being.
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10. Dan of Denmark and Bert Otten
Bert Otten wrote an article in which he identified Dan with Iceland. In his opinion the Danes of Denmark are not from the Tribe of Dan.
See:
Bert Otten and Dan
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/tribes/dan/bottendan.html
His first proof was names recalling Dan in parts of Ireland i.e. 'Dan their father.' This also applies to Dan of Denmark and so does the 2nd clue.
1st Clue: Father Dan: Ancestor Don
2nd Clue: Dan: serpent on the way
The 3rd Clue of Otten is anger, temper. The Irish have this and the Danish do not. The Danish are more calm but comparing their qualities to those that the Rabbis used for Dan we find some compatibility.
Rabbi Fishel Mael noted difference between Dan in the north and Dan in the south.
4th Clue: Dan: humour, sarcasm, riddles
These are qualities of Damson the judge of Dan and they are also found in the Irish.
On the other hand Samson had the gift of strength and so did the Ancient Danes of Denmark.
5th Clue: Dan: practical jokes
This is an attribute of Samson also found by the Irish. The Danes of Denmark may not appreciate this.
6th Clue: Dan: Irish & the Sea. This was an attribute of Dan. It is much more apparent with the Danes of Denmark.
7th Clue: Dan: lying & fantasy. Otten says this is a quality of the Irish and it was also one of Samson says Bert Otten. The Danish of Denmark sometimes go to the opposite extreme. When I was in High School we studied a play by the Danish playwright Ibsen. His message was that the Danish emphasize the quality of always telling the truth to an exaggerated degree and that this can have disastrous results. That the Danes and the Irish may be polar opposites on such a matter does not necessarily prove that they do not both have a shared ancestry.
8th Clue: Dan: weakness for women. Samson of Dan had a taste for females. The Danes of Denmark are reputedly more promiscuous than the People of Ireland. The fact that Samson sought to quench his thirst with Philistine women would also suggest than those of his own Tribe were less easily available!
9th Clue: Dan: Celtic Craft. Scandalization Craftsmanship from the Bronze Age is also of a very high standard.
10th Clue: Dan & the House of David. This point made by Otten is not as self-obvious as he may have supposed. Today it is the Danish who still have a reigning Royal House of their own and not the Irish. "The Danish Monarchy has existed for over 1000 years and is among the oldest in the world."
Queen Margarethe of Denmark with the Prince Consort, Henri Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpezat, of France
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Another point is the association of Dan with Judah. Belzalel from Judah together with Oholiab son of Achisamakh (Exodus 31:6) from Dan were together in building the Tabernacle. Later Hiram from Dan helped Solomon build the Temple. Samson the Judge-Hero of Dan according to the Midrash had a mother from Judah while the future Messiah who will come from Judah will have a mother from Dan. The area of Dan in the southwest by Jaffa adjoined that of Judah. A legend, quoted by Eldad ha-Dani ca. 800 CE, says that when the Ten Tribes under Jeroboam from the Tribe of Ephraim separated from Judah it appeared that armed conflict woudl resuilt. Dan was loathe to engage in fratricidal strife so he left the Land of His own accord long before the Ten Tribes as a whole were exiled by Assyria. This legend may or may not be historically correct but at leasst it does reflect a certain empathy that existed between Judah and Dan. We find contingents from Judah accompanying Dan among the Danuna in the north. So too, in Denmark there once adjoined the Jutes who gave their name to Jutland and later joined the Angles and Saxons in invading England. The term "Jute" in the north is another way of saying "Judah" or Jew and there was a tradition identifying the Jutes as an offshoot from Judah that had been incorporated among the Ten Tribes when they went into Exile.
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12. Summary
Denmark is named after Dan of Israel. There were legends relating the Danish to the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. In Denmark are numerous dolmens and archaeological finds linking the area to ancient Israel. The Danes in general are from the Lost Ten Tribes. Associating them with the Tribe of Dan fits the present reality. It was prophesied that Dan would spread out from Scandinavia. Wherever the Danes went they left the name Dan behind them and this was a trait of the Tribe of Dan. The National Symbol of Denmark is that of Dan. Characteristics of Dan as described by the Rabbis correspond to some degree with those of the Danes. The relative position of Denmark relative to other Israelite Nations parallels that of Dan to other Israelite Tribes.