The Danites and Kenaz

Now it happened that the tribe of Dan suffered much as the tribe of Benjamin had, and this is how it came about. The Israelites had by now given up the practice of arms for war and were intent on their farming. The Canaanites despised them and raised an army — not because they expected to suffer anything at their hands, but because they wanted the sure prospect of mistreating the Hebrews whenever they pleased, and so of living more securely in their own cities from then on. So they got their chariots ready and gathered their soldiers. Their cities also joined forces and drew over to their side Ashkelon and Ekron, which lay within the tribe of Judah, and many more of the cities in the plain. They forced the Danites to flee into the hill country and left them not the smallest piece of the plain to set foot on. [a]

Since the Danites could not fight them, and did not have enough land to live on, they sent five of their men into the interior to look for a land they could move to. These men went as far as the neighborhood of Mount Lebanon and the springs of the Lesser Jordan, by the great plain of Sidon, about twenty miles from that city. They looked the land over, found it good and extremely fertile, and reported this to their tribe. The tribe then marched out with its army and built a city there, Dan, named after the son of Jacob and after their own tribe.

The Israelites grew so lazy and so unwilling to take trouble that misfortunes fell on them more heavily. This came partly from their contempt for the worship of God. Once they had fallen away from the order of their government, they gave themselves more and more to living as they pleased and by their own will, until they were full of the evil practices common among the Canaanites. So God was angry with them, and through their luxury they lost the happy state they had won by countless labors. For when Cushan-rishathaim, king of the Assyrians, made war on them, they lost many of their soldiers in battle; when they were besieged, they were taken by force; and some even submitted to him of their own accord, out of fear. The tribute laid on them was more than they could bear, yet they paid it, and they endured every kind of oppression for eight years. After that they were set free in the following way. [d]

There was a man of the tribe of Judah named Kenaz, an energetic man of great courage. He was told by an oracle not to stand by while the Israelites were in such distress, but to make a bold attempt to win them their freedom. He found some to help him in this dangerous undertaking — and few they were who felt shame at their present condition and a desire to change it. First he destroyed the garrison Cushan-rishathaim had set over them. When it was seen that his first attempt had not failed, more of the people came to his aid. They then joined battle with the Assyrians, drove them back completely, and forced them across the Euphrates. After this Kenaz, having given such proof of his courage, received from the people authority to judge them; and when he had ruled over them forty years, he died. [e]