Genesis 49:16

16 Dan will handle matters of justice for his people; he will hold his own just fine among the tribes of Israel.

Genesis 49:16 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 49:16

Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
] There is an elegant paronomasia, or an allusion to the name of Dan in those words, which signifies to judge, and the sense of them is, there should be heads, rulers, and judges of it, as the other tribes had; and this is the rather mentioned of him, because he is the first of the children of concubine wives as yet taken notice of; and what is here said of him is also to be understood of the rest of the sons of the concubines; for the meaning is not, that a judge should arise out of him as out of the other tribes, that should judge all Israel, restraining it to Samson, who was of this tribe, as the Targums and Jarchi; for no such judge did arise out of all the tribes of Israel; nor was Samson such a judge of Israel as David, who, according to Jarchi, is one of the tribes of Israel, namely, of Judah; for David did not judge as Samson, nor Samson as David, their form of government being different.

Genesis 49:16 In-Context

14 Issachar is one tough donkey crouching between the corrals;
15 When he saw how good the place was, how pleasant the country, He gave up his freedom and went to work as a slave.
16 Dan will handle matters of justice for his people; he will hold his own just fine among the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan is only a small snake in the grass, a lethal serpent in ambush by the road When he strikes a horse in the heel, and brings its huge rider crashing down.
18 I wait in hope for your salvation, God.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.