Mahaneh-Dan

The name means "camp of Dan." It attaches to two distinct sites in Judges, both of them associated with the tribe's restless movement at the western edge of its allotment. One marks where Yahweh's Spirit first stirs Samson; the other marks the staging ground from which a Danite war-party sets out to seize Laish.

The Spirit Stirs Samson

The first place the name appears is between Zorah and Eshtaol, the home country of Samson's family: "And the Spirit of Yahweh began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol" (Jud 13:25). The site is the seam between Dan's allotment and Judah's, and it is here, on Danite ground, that the Spirit's stirring of Samson begins.

The Camp Behind Kiriath-Jearim

Later, when six hundred Danite warriors march north to take Laish, they bivouac in Judah and a second site receives the same name: "And they went up, and encamped in Kiriath-jearim, in Judah: therefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan, to this day; look, it is behind Kiriath-jearim" (Jud 18:12). The narrator's "to this day" preserves the local memory — the camp's name outlives the campaign.