D(2)

See also Da


A city familiar as marking the northern limit of the land of Israel in the common phrase "from Da even to Beer- sheba" (Jud 20:1; 1Sa 3:20, etc.). Its ancient name was Laish or Leshem (Jud 18:7, etc.). It was probably an outlying settlement of Tyre of Sidon. Its inhabitants, pursuing the ends of peaceful traders, were defenseless against the onset of the Danite raiders. Having captured the city the Danites gave it the name of their own tribal ancestor (Jud 18). It lay in the valley near Beth-rehob (Jud 18:28). Josephus places it near Mt. Lebanon and the fountain of the lesser Jordan, a day’s journey from Sidon (Ant., V, iii, 1; VIII, viii, 4; BJ, IV, i, 1). Eusebius, Onomasticon says it lay 4 Roman miles from Paneas on the way to Tyre, at the source of the Jordan.

It was to this district that Abraham pursued the army of Chedorlaomer (Ge 14:14). For Dr. G. A. Smith’s suggestion that Da may have been at Banias see HGHL1, 473, 480 f.