The number seems quite small, even if one adds to it an equal number of women and maybe double this number to include children, bringing the total population number to 2,400 (on account of Judges 18:21). The total is small in comparison to other military numbers in the book, such as the 10,000 men from Zebulun and Naphtali that Barak leads into battle against Sisera (Judges 4:14), and the 32,000 whom Gideon recruits from Asher, Zebulun, Naphtali, and Manasseh (Judges 7:3). The small number in the present text suggests a limited response to the call to arms.1 It makes one wonder, If this limited number could take on the great city of Laish, what could the tribe as a whole done in relation to their allotted territory if they went against the Canaanites in faith?
11 So 600 men of the tribe of Dan, armed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol,