Q. verse J. A. How is it that Dan is not included in the tribes mentioned in Revelation 7?
A. God here draws back the curtain, so to say, and shows us that in the midst of these courses of judgment He remembers mercy, and thinks of His ancient people — sealing a perfect number, that is, 12 x 12 x 1000 = 144,000) for preservation for the millennial earth. But judgment being then in course He is silent about Dan. He was the first tribe that went into idolatry (see Judg. 18 passim). It was a son of a Danite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, who blasphemed the name of Jehovah, and cursed, and who was stoned. (Lev. 24:10-16). This apostate is said to be typical of the Antichrist in the end. Of Dan, Jacob a-dying said, “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward” (Gen. 49:17). The deceit of the serpent and the treachery of the adder characterized his history.
How sweet to find that when grace restores these long scattered people after judgment has been satisfied under the government of God, that Dan has his portion and his ordered place in the land amongst the tribes. Ezek. 48 prophesies of this, and even counts him first in the order given. Jacob prophetically touched on his future blessing, even before he spoke of his apostasy (Gen. 49:16), in the words, “Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.”