The text of the Torah explains that the name of Dan derives from dananni, meaning "he has judged me", in reference to Rachel's belief that she had gained a child as the result of a judgment from God.

[5] In the Book of Jeremiah, the north of Canaan is associated with darkness and evil,[6] and so rabbinical sources treated Dan as the archetype of wickedness.

[5] In the apocryphal Testaments of the Patriarchs, Dan is portrayed as having hated Joseph, and having been the one that invented the idea of deceiving Jacob by the smearing of Joseph's coat with the blood of a kid.

[10] Early Christian writers, such as Irenaeus and Hippolytus, even believed that the Antichrist would come from the Tribe of Dan.

[13] Instead of Dan, the tribe of Joseph appears twice (being also represented by Manasseh).