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Twelve Tribes of Israel

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The Twelve Tribes of Israel were the tribes said by the Hebrew Bible to have descended from the patriarch Jacob (who was later named Israel (Genesis 35:10). Jacob had 12 sons and at least one daughter (Dinah) by two wives and two concubines. According to the biblical tradition, the twelve sons fathered the twelve tribes of Israel.

The tribes were:

  1. Tribe of Reuben
  2. Tribe of Simeon
  3. Tribe of Levi
  4. Tribe of Judah
  5. Tribe of Issachar
  6. Tribe of Zebulun
  7. Tribe of Dan
  8. Tribe of Naphtali
  9. Tribe of Gad
  10. Tribe of Asher
  11. Tribe of Joseph
  12. Tribe of Benjamin

Jacob elevated the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh (the two sons of Joseph and his Egyptian wife Asenath) (Genesis 41:50) to the status of full tribes in their own right, replacing the tribe of Joseph (Genesis 48:5).

Before his death, Genesis 49:1–27 recounts how Jacob blessed or foretold the destiny of each of his sons, the editor concluding:

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him (Genesis 49:28, wording from English Standard Version).

Deuteronomy 33:6–25 and Judges 5:14–18 present parallel listings of the twelve tribes.

From after the conquest of the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in around 1050 BC, the tribes formed a loose confederation living in the midst of the other nationalities who retained occupation of Canaan and its surrounding areas. In Judges 20:1 and 20:10–12, the "tribes of Israel" refers to the confederated tribes who fought against the Tribe of Benjamin at the Battle of Gibeah.

Living in exile in the sixth century BC, the prophet Ezekiel has a vision for the restoration of Israel (Ezekiel 47:13) which will include "the ideal reallotment of the land to the twelve tribes of Israel".

New Testament

In the Christian New Testament, the twelve tribes of Israel are referred to twice in the gospels and twice in the Book of Revelation. In Matthew 19:28, paralled by Luke 22:30, Jesus anticipates that in the Kingdom of God, His followers will "sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel". In the vision of the writer of the Book of Revelation, 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were "sealed" (marked and protected), 12,000 from each tribe and in his vision of the New or Heavenly Jerusalem, the tribes' names were written on the city gates:

The names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west

References

  1. Barnes' Notes on the Bible on Ezekiel 47, accessed 14 October 2016
  2. Revelation 7:1–8
  3. Revelation 21:12–13

See also

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