The lot of the tribe of Dan was a narrow strip of valley and low hills between the inheritance of Ephraim and Judah. The Danites tried at first to push toward the lowlands, and, under the blessing of God, should have extended their boundaries to the sea. Instead, the native inhabitants drove them back into the hills where they consolidated their position around the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol. It was from this tribe and this district that Samson sallied forth on his exploits against the Philistines (chs. 13 to 16). However, this region was so small that when the tribe grew in population, the main body migrated to the northern part of Palestine around the headwaters of the Jordan, where they captured the city of Laish and renamed it Dan (Judges 18 and 19; see on Joshua 19:47). it should be noticed that the author of the book here designates the native population as Amorites instead of Canaanites. Some believe that the two names refer to the same people. It is held that the native population, known as the Canaanites, came originally from the same area as the Amorites. But it seems that Amorites represent a later migration. Since they had arrived more recently than the Canaanites, their culture was probably more nomadic than that of the older Canaanite culture. An ancient Sumerian poem describes the Amorites thus:

“The weapon is his companion ...

Who knows no submission,

Who eats uncooked flesh,

Who has no house in his life-time,

Who does not bury his dead companion.”

The Amorites of the time of the judges probably had developed a more sedentary culture than that so vividly illustrated in this poem. They were spread all over the Near Eastern area, with Amorite kings ruling over both large and small kingdoms. The famous king of Babylonia, Hammurabi, was an Amorite. The name Amorite means “westerner” and was given this people by the Sumerians, the earliest known inhabitants of Babylonia.