Revelation 7 – One Hundred Forty-Four Thousand From “All The Tribes of the Children of Israel” (Rev. 7:4) Why is Dan Not Mentioned? Etc

Notice that Dan is not mentioned in Revelation 7. Revelation 7 adds the name Manasseh,
one of Joseph’s two sons. There were twelve thousand from Manasseh’s descendants and
probably 12,000 from Ephraim’s descendants, as Joseph’s name (Ephraim’s father) is
substituted for Ephraim. These 12,000 were Ephraim’s descendants but also Joseph’s
descendants. There is the absence of the tribe of Dan and Joseph is given a double portion.
From the outset, it should be noted that we are not told why Dan is omitted from the listing
in Revelation 7. Any answer we try to give is speculation because God is silent.
Many think the reason Dan was omitted was because of the horrible history of idolatry that
this tribe was guilty of. The following, by Robert L. Thomas, is found in his commentary on
Revelation (Vol. 1, p. 481):

Being the only tribe that failed to conquer its territory (Judg. 1:34), [Dan] turned to
idolatry as an alternative to obeying God (Judg. 18:14-31). Idolatry in particular was
the blight upon Dan. Deuteronomy 29:18-21 required the blotting out of the name of
anyone who introduces idolatry into Israel (cf. also Deut. 29:24-26). The Scripture
gives regular notice of this tribe’s offensiveness in this regard (Judg. 18:2,30,31; 1
Kings 11:26; 12:28-30). The only narrative in the OT in which Dan played a part is the
one related to the worship of idols in Judg. 18:1-31. Idolaters will be excluded from
the new Jerusalem (Rev. 22:15). Though Dan is included in the future distribution of
the land (Ezekiel 48), it appears that this branch of the family will be excluded from
the protective sealing prior to the trumpet judgments because of the blot upon
Dan’s history caused by idolatry. The other tribes were guilty of the same sin, but
Dan was the leader in idolatrous practices.

William Newell, in his commentary on Revelation (p. 112), says this:
Dan, Bilhah’s first son, is left out altogether here [in Rev. 7]. He was ever a cherisher
of idolatry. Yet Dan is mentioned first, when the land is divided in Ezekiel 48, for the
1,000 year kingdom: which shows God’s grace! And that Dan should be preserved
through The Tribulation, though not publicly sealed, is greater grace still!
There are some, such as L. M. Grant, who believe that the False Prophet will come from the
tribe of Dan and this is the reason Dan’s tribe is omitted. They base this on the prophecy of
Dan given in Genesis 49:16-18. Others believe the Beast (Antichrist) will come from Dan
based on this passage. William MacDonald, in his Believers’ Bible Commentary, suggests
the possibility of this view in his comments under Genesis 49:16-18 and Revelation 7:5-8.
Arnold Fruchtenbaum does not see the removal of Dan as something caused by Dan’s
idolatry but as something that was done simply for the sake of symmetry to have 12 tribes
and not 13 (since Joseph has two tribes). Here is what he writes in The Footsteps of the
Messiah, p. 223:

The actual reason [Dan is left out] is simply to maintain the symmetry of twelve.
When all tribal names are actually listed, the total comes to thirteen and not twelve
because Joseph produced two tribes: Ephraim and Manasseh. In order to maintain
the symmetry of twelve, one name must always be dropped. This is not the only
place this happens. For example, in Deuteronomy 33, Moses presents his twelve
tribal blessings, as Jacob did in Genesis 49. But to maintain the symmetry of twelve,
Moses also had to drop one tribe, and that was the Tribe of Simeon. In Ezekiel 47-48,
in describing the tribal settlement in the Messianic Kingdom, to maintain the
symmetry of twelve, Ezekiel drops the Tribe of Levi, putting this tribe in a separate
place and category. Just as there was no sinister reason for dropping Simeon, there
is no sinister reason for dropping Dan. In all cases, it was merely to retain the
symmetry of twelve.

However, Fruchtenbaum’s view gives no reason why Dan’s tribe was dropped. If it were
merely done for symmetry, then this would mean that God could have chosen any one
the tribes to be dropped. It makes God’s decision quite arbitrary.
The reasons for Dan’s omission in Revelation 7 are all theories and since God has not
revealed the reason for the omission, we can view these suggestions as possibilities
but we cannot be dogmatic