While I have no problem with Bethel, the story in Genesis 28 happened
well before Abraham's sons died, possibly before they wrote about
Abraham's life (assuming the "toldot" referred to "biography" (or
something like it), but does the toponym "Dan" refer to the same
place? I don't think so.
First of all, "Dan" was not an unusual name in the ANE. Over the
years, I have read of different places in Semitic speaking areas that
were named "Dan".
Secondly, the impression I get in Genesis 14 is that Abraham pursued
the kings along the main highway heading north from Sodom, while Laish
was described as an out of the way place in Judges.
Thirdly, there is the time element: if Genesis was written well before
the events in Judges, there is no way that the same place was referred
to in both books. Of course, that is taken as evidence by some people
that Genesis was "pious fraud" in that it claimed earlier authorship
than it actually had.
My conclusion is that there were two different places that were named
"Dan" and mentioned in Tanakh, The former place was heading north up
the Jordan River, the later place in northern highlands. The former
forgotten, maybe because the latter was more important to Israel.
Karl W. Randolph.
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