בראשית מט:טז-יח - דן ידין עמו, כאחד שבטי ישראל. יהי דן נחש עלי דרך שפיפן עלי ארח, הנשך עקבי סוס ויפל רכבו אחור. לישועתך קויתי ה'.
Dan also does not seem to receive his blessing in the “correct” order of the children of Yaakov. Firstly, Dan’s blessing is not recorded in conjunction with Naftali his “full” brother (both are the sons of Bilha), whose blessing is recorded in 49:21. Secondly, it would have been expected that Yaakov’s blessings to the sons of Zilpa, Gad and Asher, would have been mentioned after the sons of Lea, since Zilpa was Lea’s “maidservant,” 29:24, but instead Yaakov’s blessing to Dan is interposed between his blessings to the sons of Leah and the sons of Zilpa.
In order to suggest answers to these questions, we will start by trying to understand the last verse of the blessing to Dan, 49:18, which records, "I wait for your deliverance, G-d." What is the meaning of the verse? The word "I" indicates that Yaakov is the one waiting, but who is the "your deliverance" referring to? Who was being saved by G-d? How does this verse relate to the blessing for Dan?
Rashi, following the Midrash (see Kasher, 1992, Torah Shelemah 49:249), explains that the verse is referring to Shimshon, who was from the tribe of Dan and who prayed to G-d to help him defeat the Philistines, (Judges 16:28). With this approach, the words "your deliverance" in 49:18 refer to G-d hearing Shimshon's prayers.
Rashbam (on 49:16) rejects the idea that Yaakov was prophesying regarding Shimshon, but he follows the idea that 49:18 refers to the tribe of Dan. He suggests that since Dan was in the rear of the camp when the people were in the desert (Bemidbar 10:25), it always had to fight other nations, and hence Yaakov was praying for the deliverance of the tribe. Yet, the Torah never mentions any battle by the tribe of Dan, but maybe according to the Rashbam, this was due to Yaakov's prayer.
On the other hand, some commentators argue that 49:18 is an introduction to the blessing for Gad, which is recorded in the following verse, 49:19. R. Menachem Kasher (Torah Shelemah, 49:254) quotes a Midrash that when Yaakov saw that Shimshon died, he realized that the redemption was not going to come from Dan, so he said that he was waiting for the true redemption which would be heralded by Elijah who the Midrash states was from Gad.
Luzzatto (on 49:18, translation in English in Leibowitz, 1976, p. 552) also follows the idea that 49:18 is an introduction to the blessing by Gad. Luzzatto explains:
When Yaakov came to bless Gad he was prompted, as in the case of Dan to employ a pun and exploit the association of the word Gad with its etymological meaning of luck. But he immediately thought better of it, emphasizing, on the contrast that it was proper to trust in G-d alone and not in the stars. He therefore proclaimed, "I wait for your deliverance, G-d," and not in that of fortune. And then he immediately bethought himself of another association of the word gad in the sense of troop (in 49:19).
With this approach, the waiting for deliverance mentioned in 49:18 is not referring to any specific event, but a general statement that Yaakov waits for G-d and does not depend on luck. The verse could then introduce the blessing to Gad in which Yaakov suggested a new meaning to the name Gad.
N. Leibowitz (1976, pp. 548-555) rejects Luzzatto’s explanation, but she does not give a reason only stating that "it sounds forced." Instead, she suggests that if 49:18 refers to the blessing by Gad, then maybe Yaakov was invoking G-d's help for Gad when they would live on the Jordanian side of the Jordan River. I doubt this idea and all attempts to relate this verse to future events since the verse does not seem to be a type of prophecy.
A third approach to understanding 49:18 is that the verse is independent of the statements/ blessings to Dan and Gad. Bekhor Shor (49:18, also see second explanation in Hizkuni on 49:18) writes that the verse means that Yaakov was stating his belief that G-d would deliver the people. Does the Bekhor Shor mean that Yaakov was praying that G-d would save the people from the exile in Egypt? Luzzatto (on 49:18) quotes from Solomon Dubno (1738-1813) that Yaakov was praying to G-d for the strength to finish the blessings before he died, but Luzzatto does not like this idea since living for just a few more minutes would not be considered as being saved by G-d.
Herbert Rand (1989/90) makes the interesting suggestion that Yaakov was praying for his deliverance for tricking his father, that these words in 49:18 were "to relieve his soul of guilt and to pray for forgiveness before he died." Rand suggests that he made this prayer at this point since in the blessing for Dan, Yaakov had referred to the heel of horses, 49:17, which would remind him of his name, heel (ekev, see 25:26), and also Yaakov had referred to Dan as a judge in 49:16.
Rand's insight suggests a new interpretation of 49:17. In in the first part of 49:17, Yaakov seems to refer to Dan as a snake, but this is a very troubling association as 3:14 records that the snake is the most cursed animal. Why would a father refer to his son as a snake? (Note Rashi and Ibn Ezra on 49:17 relate the second to a snake in the verse to the curse of the snake in the garden of Eden.)
Maybe in 49:17, Yaakov was referring to himself as a snake. The word dan in the beginning of 49:17 should then be understood as being to judge and not to the person Dan. The idea being that Yaakov was feeling guilty for his actions to Esav and Yitzhak and he was saying that he should be judged as a snake. Furthermore, the two reference to snakes in 49:17 could be because twice Yaakov did not act in the most exemplary manner to Esav, first when he sold him the nezid adashim instead of giving it to him, 25:29-34 and then when he went to Yitzhak to receive the blessing intended for Esav, 27:18-30.
In the second half of 49:17, Yaakov refers to the snake biting at the heels of a horse, and the horse could be Esav. If the first half of 49:17 is referring to Yaakov’s actions by the selling of the nezid adashim and stealing the blessing intended for Esav, then the biting at the heels in the second half of 49:17 could refer to Yaakov grabbing at Esav’s heal at birth, 25:26, which was the beginning of their fight. The reference to the snake biting in 49:17 also recalls the curse to the snake in the Garden of Eden who was cursed to bite at the heels of people, 3:15.
The last line in 49:17 refers to the rider on the horse falling. The rider could be Yitzhak who trembled greatly after he realized that Yaakov had tricked him, 27:33. Yaakov was fighting with Esav, and this led him to wrong his father. This would be similar to the actions of the snake in 49:17 who bit the horse and caused the rider to be harmed. This understanding of 49:17 then leads into 49:18 that Yaakov prayed for his salvation for his actions to Yitzhak and Esav.
One could vary this approach to 49:17, while still maintaining that Yaakov was referring to events in his lifetime. Maybe, Yaakov was trying to take the blame for deceiving Yitzhak from Rivka. Rivka had convinced Yaakov to act in a deceitful manner, 27:5-13, just like the snake convinced Havva to eat from the tree of knowledge, 3:1-5. However, in 49:17, Yaakov was saying that he was the snake, that he was the one who tricked Yitzhak, he “bit” into the horse, Esav, and hence he should be blamed and not his mother. With this idea, again in 49:18, Yaakov was praying to G-d for forgiveness.
According to these ideas, both 49:17 and 49:18 are not referring to Dan but to Yaakov. Dan’s blessing is then 49:16, one verse, just like most of his brothers. What does 49:16 mean?
Most people understand that 49:16 means that Dan was to be a judge of all the people, which could give him a very important role in the nation, something which is not evident in the book of Bereshit. On the other hand, Altar (2004, p. 287, and in a lecture on the Internet, he said that he heard this idea from Amos Funkenstein) notes that the first half of 49:16 could be understood as meaning that the people will judge Dan, as the word Dan would be the object of the word judging and not the subject. This reading requires one to pause after the word Dan in 49:16, and would be similar to the two possible readings of 25:23, the oracle to Rivka. This explanation accords with the second half of 49:16 that the people would judge Dan as one of the tribes of the nation. Yaakov’s blessing to Dan would then be that the tribe of Dan would not disappear, and the fear that this would happen was because Dan was the only son of Yaakov who had only one son, 46:23. This perilous state of the tribe of Dan could also be why Yaakov moved Dan “up” in the order of the blessings to give him and his tribe more prominence. It is possible that this change in order was one of the reasons that Dan would become a leader of his set of tribes in the desert, Bemidbar 2:31.
Leibowitz, Nehama (1905-1997), 1976, Studies in Bereshit, translated by Aryeh Newman, Jerusalem: The World Zionist Organization.
Rand, Herbert, 1989/90, The testament of Jacob: An analysis of Gen. 49:18, Jewish Bible Quarterly, 18:2, pp. 101-106.