Genesis chapter 46 enumerates Jacob’s children and grandchildren by name, arriving at a total of seventy souls who came to Egypt. All is as expected until we arrive at Jacob’s fifth son, Dan.
Dan’s sons: Chushim.
(Genesis 46:23)
That’s right, Dan’s “sons” suggests a plural, yet there is only one—Chushim. Strangely, his name ends in the manner that masculine plural nouns end in Hebrew—IM. SoyeladIM means boys; sefarIM means books, and susIM means horses. Though Dan only has one son, ChushIM, there is a hint in the ending of his name that he is actually plural—two people.
We see one additional hint at a duality in the tribe of Dan:
