God in Control

“All those who were numbered in the camp of Dan were a hundred fifty-seven thousand, six hundred. They shall go last with their banners.” (Numbers 2:31)

God is a God of order. Every tiny detail does not escape His direction. The manner in which the tribes were to travel in the exodus from Egypt was ordered for His purposes. We learn that the tribe of Dan brought up the rear. Their role was to protect the Israelites from attack from the rear and protect those lagging behind for one reason or another. God knew their natural nature and used them to protect the rear as they journeyed to the Promised Land. To understand this better, imagine bringing up the rear of which the Bible records 600,000 men. This didn’t include their families. “And the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the men being about six hundred thousand men on foot, apart from little ones.” (Exodus 12:37)

The tribe of Dan was known as fierce warriors. Samson was a judge from the tribe of Dan. He was fierce on his own in violence to the enemies of Israel. Samson fulfills the blessing of Abraham over the tribe as a judge. “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.” (Genesis 49:16) The prophet Ezra describes the tribe as expert warriors at the time King David was forming his army. “And of the Danites, expert in war, were twenty-eight thousand, six hundred.” (1Chronicles 12:35) Moses described the tribe of Dan as violent. “And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp. He shall leap from Bashan.” (Deuteronomy 33:22) And Abraham described his violent and rebellious ways. “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that its rider shall fall backward.” (Genesis 49:17) They didn’t take up their inherited lot and sought another place. This is written in Judges. They find Laish a quiet place with peaceful people and take it. (Judges 18) And besides that they become idolatrous. “And the sons of Dan set up the engraved image. And Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. And they set up Micah's engraved image for themselves, the image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.” (Judges 18:30-31)

This has implications for us. What are our natural inclinations? God even uses those who are not His for His purposes. As Christians, if we look back on our lives before surrendering to Jesus can see how God used us in our sinfulness for His purposes. It may have led someone to seek God, to turn to Him because of our darkness. Or indivertibly caused one to run from our darkness to God. Maybe our darkness caused someone to seek answers which led them to the Lord. The first example is in the Garden. The consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin caused them to seek redemption. (Genesis 3:1-19) This happened many times to the Israelites. They would sin and the consequences of their sin turned them back to God. The biggest consequence of their sin was the Babylonian captivity. “Look among the nations and behold and wonder marvelously; for I will work a work in your days which you will not believe, not even if it is declared to you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, the bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess homes not their own. He is terrible and fearful; his judgment and his majesty comes forth from Himself. His horses also are swifter than the leopards and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from afar. They shall fly like the eagle hurrying to eat. All of him shall come for violence; the gathering of their faces is forward; and they gather captives like the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the rulers shall be a scorn to them. They shall laugh at every stronghold, for he shall heap up dust and capture it. Then he sweeps on like a wind, and he transgresses and is guilty, crediting his power to his god. Are You not from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Jehovah, You have ordained them for judgment; and, my Rock, You have established them for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look upon vexation. Why do You look upon those who deal deceitfully? Will you be silent when the wicked swallows one more righteous than he? For You make man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things with no ruler over them. He takes up all of them with the hook; he drags him with his net and gathers him with his seine; therefore, he rejoices and exults.” (Habakkuk 1:5-11)

Another ramification that the tribe of Dan shows us is that we may rebel and do what we want like they did, but we will suffer the consequences because God is always in control. The tribe of Dan didn’t take their allotted inheritance and sought it on their own. It was rebellious and led them to idolatry. “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idol-worship. Because you have rejected the Word of Jehovah, He has also rejected you from being king!” (1Samuel 15:23) It’s a sin of the flesh. If we’re weak to the flesh it will manifest in all its aspects. “Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21) The sins of the flesh are not isolated. Weakness in the flesh will be evident in its many forms. We learn from this to be content of our place in the body of Christ. God has given us strengths and wisdom for the place He has made for us. We may rebel as the tribe of Dan did and find what we want, but the spiritual consequences of rebellion are also great.

In the end we see that God used the natural nature of the tribe of Dan for the purpose of protecting the Israelites. But their natural nature also led to their downfall and idolatry, the implications for us is a warning. Rebellion is a manifestation of the flesh. Weakness in the flesh can manifest in its other evidences. (Galatians 5:19-21)