Why is the tribe of Dan
not mentioned in the book of Revelation?

Q. Why is the tribe of Dan not mentioned in the book of Revelation?

(Submitted by: T. M.)

A. The quick and easy answer to this is: We don't know. That is, we're left with guessing why the enumeration of the tribes in Revelation 7:4-8 is different from the standard enumeration given in the Old Testament.

"And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:

"of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed." (Revelation 7:4-8, NKJV)

One standard speculation for why Dan is omitted comes from the belief that Dan had an especially great problem with idolatry. There's an incident described in Judges 18:14-26 in which a gang of Danites stole an idol from an Ephraimite and set it up. They were part of the northern ten tribes of Israel (commonly referred to as the 'lost ten tribes of Israel') that later got hauled off into exile by the Assyrian Empire. The northern kingdom of Israel (different from the southern kingdom of Judah) had a much bigger problem overall with idolatry after Jeroboam became its king. Dan was one of these tribes, but that doesn't explain its omission since all the other tribes of the northern kingdom get mentioned somehow.

Another idea to explain Dan's omission is that Dan, situated on the northern border of the area given to Israel, was very slack about driving out the pagan Canaanites in their midst. They didn't always participate in the collective defense or offense of Israel as they should have. When Deborah sang about her victory over the Canaanite king Jabin, she asked, "And why did Dan remain on ships?" (Judges 5:17). But then, admittedly, Asher was also slack in the same battle according to this same verse, yet gets mentioned in Revelation 7. Samson, the most famous Danite in the Old Testament, was not a very spiritual man for most of his life.

None of this really explains why Dan is omitted from the Book of Revelation. It remains a speculative subject. The real issue then is we who believe in Scripture, when confronted with mysteries like this, still need to live our lives rightly and to have the right faith to ensure we're accounted worthy to enter God's kingdom. The Book of Revelation is especially about the eternal state to come in its final sections. May we strive to be there!