THE 12
TRIBES OF ISRAEL
God
chose Abraham, and his
descendants to become the nation that He would use to reach the rest of
mankind.1 He established His Covenant with Abraham’s son:
Ø
Isaac,
and then with
Jacob
had 12 sons and one daughter whose name was Dinah. The 12 sons of Jacob are the
patriarchs of the 12 Tribes of Israel, which means that the twelve tribes were
named after each of Jacobs’s sons:
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Ø The first son of Jacob was named Reuben
which means
Look A Son is born to me - Genesis 29: 32 |
Ø The second son of Jacob was named
Simeon which means He's One Who
Hears - Genesis 29: 33
|
|
Ø The third son of Jacob was named
Levi which means
Being Attached - Genesis 29: 34 |
Ø The fourth son of Jacob was named
Judah which means
Praise be to God - Genesis 29: 35 |
|
Ø The fifth son of Jacob had the name
Dan which means
To Vindicate - Genesis 30: 6 |
Ø
The
sixth son of Jacob was named Naphtali which means He heard My Struggle -My wrestling- Genesis
30: 6
|
|
Ø The seventh son of Jacob had the
name Gad which means He is my Good
Fortune Troop; invader;
Genesis 30: 11 |
Ø The eighth son of Jacob was named
Asher which means
He makes me Happy - Genesis 30: 13 |
|
Ø The ninth son of Jacob was named
Issachar which means He is my Reward Man of hire - Genesis 30: 18
|
Ø The tenth son of Jacob was named
Zebulun which means He is my Honor,
my dwelling - Genesis 30: 20b
|
|
Ø The eleventh son of Jacob was named
Joseph which means May He Increase
or Add to my family - Genesis 30: 24
|
Ø The twelfth son of Jacob was named
Benjamin which means Son Of My Right
Hand - Genesis 35: 18
|
Leah
was the mother of: Rubin, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon and Dinah. Dan
and Naphtali were the sons of Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel. Zilpah was the
mother of Gad and Asher who was the handmaid of Leah; and the last two sons,
Joseph and Benjamin were the children of Rachel; who had been barren for many
years.
Although there were twelve
sons born to Jacob by these women, thirteen different tribes are referenced in
Scripture. This is because Joseph’s two sons:
Ø
Ephraim,
and
The Bible speaks about the tribe of Joseph, but more often it
speaks of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. There are occasions when the tribe of Joseph is referenced.4 Manasseh and Ephraim
became two of the twelve tribes of Israel even though they were not sons of
Jacob because the land allocations of Joseph and Levi were given to them,
preserving twelve as the number
of tribes5. According to this Scripture and others, those
believing that they are a part of the lost
tribes of Israel are mistaken - there is no such thing as lost tribes of Israel.6
Christian does not follow British-Israelism, which is a system that says the
English are descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, and were promised all the
blessings of the Old Testament. Believers are spared the headaches of trying to
claim Old Testament promises. Christ gave us a better Covenant and believing these
things cause Grace Age believers to be unfaithful to Christ Jesus.
A spiritual people were not designed
to seek after material blessings, everything that pertains to Grace Age
believer’s are spiritual. Believers are to seek the thing above not things on
the earth that fade and perish. These earthly things were promised to Israel in
the previous dispensation, and they are not promised to the Church Christ Jesus
is building in the Dispensation of Grace. Jacob had twelve sons, but only
eleven would receive an inheritance of land in Israel. The descendants of Levi, one of Jacob’s twelve sons,
would become the priestly tribe,
and God would be their inheritance. God had 12 portions of land that He would
give. He gave two portions to
Jacob’s favorite son Joseph.
Each of Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and
Manasseh received their own
portion of the inheritance. Tribal heritage was important in ancient Israel.
Some of the well-known descendants of certain tribes were:
Ø
King
Saul, and Paul the Apostle who was known as Saul of Tarsus they were from the Tribe of Benjamin
Ø Moses, and Aaron were from the Tribe of Levi
Ø King David, King Solomon, and our
Lord Christ Jesus, the Messiah;
was from the Tribe of Judah
The New Testament includes genealogies
in Scriptures. The genealogy of Christ Jesus is mentioned in Matthew 1, and in
one of the Apostle Paul’s writings he mentions that he is from the tribe of
Benjamin. It is not disclosed in Scripture why the tribe of Dan is
not mentioned with the 144,000
as part of the twelve tribes
that are mentioned in the Book of Revelation.7 The Book of Judges reveal that Dan, less than 40 years after the
death of Joshua divided the religious unity of the Nation of Israel by becoming the first tribe to openly set up
images for idolatry which caused Israel
to become divided and later dispersed.8 When the Kingdom was divided
into two Kingdoms:
Ø
Jeroboam
ruled The Northern Kingdom of Israel, and
Ø
Rehoboam
ruled the Southern Kingdom of Judah (I Kings 12: 1-17, 20)
Rehoboam was the rightful heir to his
father King Solomon’s throne to the Israelites. He became king at the age of 41
(II Chronicles 12: 13). The people came to him asking that he lighten the tax
burden telling them to go and return in three days. When the people returned in
three days they found that Rehoboam ignored the advice of his elders and he
refused to lighten the tax burden of the northern tribes following the advice
of his friends. When the people returned for Rehoboam's answer, he spoke harshly
to them saying, "You think my father treated you severely? Here's my
answer.... I will tax you more heavily that he did! Now go, and don't bother me
about the matter of taxes again!"
The people in the nation heard that
Jeroboam had returned from Egypt and they sent for him. They made him king over
the northern kingdom that would now be known as Israel. In Rehoboam’s rebellion
Jeroboam was set up as king in his place (I Kings 12: 1-17). Only the tribes of
Judah and Benjamin remained in Jerusalem with Rehoboam. The rebellion reflected
long-time resentments in the north over the centrality of Jerusalem in the
south and Rehoboam was left with a much smaller kingdom. He embraced the tribes
of Judah and Benjamin and was constantly at war with sister kingdoms. Jeroboam
established the Northern Kingdom of Israel, setting up two golden calves that
became idols of worship. One was set up in Bethel and the other was set up in
the territory of Dan.7 The prophecies of Jacob toward these
tribes and the blessings of Moses concerning the Twelve Tribes can be found in the Books of Genesis and
Deuteronomy (Genesis 49: 1-27 Deuteronomy 33: 6-25).
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