After rebuilding the city, the Danites name it Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, one of Israel’s (Jacob’s) sons. As Jacob was reborn/renamed as Israel (Genesis 32:28), Laish has been reborn as Dan, and the Danites have been reborn, with a land and city to call their own.1 But it is a rebirth outside God’s land. They want to see themselves as part of Israelite history, but they are making an entirely new start in foreign territory, setting up their own inheritance.
29 And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was Laish at the first.