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And he bent his shoulder to bear,
And became a tributary servant.
The allusion in the case of Dan, or "judgment," is again to the name. Although Dan
was only the son of a bondmaid, he should not be behind his brethren, but "give
judgment" to his people, that is, to Israel - the reference being possibly to such men
as Samson, though also generally to the character of the tribe. There is another
mysterious and most important allusion here, to which we shall immediately advert:
Dan shall give judgment to his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan shall be a serpent by the way,
An adder in the path,
Which biteth the heels of the horse
So that backwards falleth his rider.
We shall not presume to offer an authoritative explanation of this comparison of Dan
to a serpent, and to that kind of adder which, being of the color of the sand, remains
unobserved till it has given its deadly bite. We only put it as a suggestion, whether
this may not contain an allusion to apostasy or to the Antichrist,^89 at the same time
noting that the name of Dan is omitted from the list of the tribes in Revelation 7:5-8.
It is also significant that, immediately after the mention of these contests in
connection with Dan, Jacob bursts forth in a prayer, intended, as says Calvin, not
only to express his own personal faith and hope, but his confidence for his
descendants. Quite the oldest Jewish commentary, or rather paraphrase,^90 puts it this
way: "My soul waiteth not for the deliverance of Gideon, the son of Joash, for it was
only temporal; nor for that of Samson, for it was but transient; but for the redemption
by the Messiah, the Son of David, which in Thy word Thou hast promised to send to
Thy people, the children of Israel; for this, Thy salvation, my soul waiteth."
For Thy salvation wait I, oh Jehovah!
In reference to Gad, we have a threefold allusion to a kindred word, signifying
oppression. To the prediction itself we cannot attach any definite historical
fulfillment:
Gad - a press presseth upon him,
But he presseth on their heel.
(^)