
The particular Hebrews
Israel had 12 sons (through four different women), and all the “children of Israel” are descended from the sons. They’re also known as “the 12 tribes of Israel,” each tribe named for each son. In English, the sons are
- Sons of Leah: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun.
Ge 35.23 - Sons of Rachel: Joseph, Benjamin.
Ge 35.24 - Sons of Bilhah: Dan, Naphtali.
Ge 35.25 - Sons of Zilpah: Gad, Asher.
Ge 35.26
They’re listed in various orders, but Reuben tends to come first, ’cause he was firstborn. However, Israel reassigned the
As birthright holder, Joseph was responsible for the family after Israel died, and received twice the inheritance of his brothers. Hence he’s represented by two tribes, named for Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim. They’re the tribes of Joseph, and you’ll notice Joseph isn’t called a tribe. (Unless you count that one time in Revelation,
So… this actually produces 13 tribes. Which I’ll list alphabetically:
- Asher.
- Benjamin.
- Dan.
- Ephraim.
- Gad.
- Issachar.
- Judah.
- Levi.
- Manasseh.
- Naphtali.
- Reuben.
- Simeon.
- Zebulun.
Not 12. Why aren’t they called 13 tribes? Two reasons.
First and foremost: The writers of the bible, and probably God too, really like the number 12. The ancient Sumerians divided the year into 12 months, marked ’em with the zodiac (whatever constellation is highest in the sky at night), and throughout middle eastern culture 12 became the number of completeness, fulfillment, unity, and perfection. Thirteen? Not so much. Not that it’s unlucky; that superstition came from the Romans. But middle easterners liked 12 way better than 13.
And the L
So geographically, there are only 12 tribes. Thirteen tracts of land (remember, Manasseh had land on either side of the river—yep, there’s a 13 again), designated for the 12 people-groups descended from Israel. The Levite cities were scattered all over these tribes, and really anybody could live in the cities, not just Levites. (Particularly the larger cities, like Hebron, Shechem, or Ramoth-Gilead.)
Geographic tribes.
Where the 12 tribes were meant to be situated, according to Joshua. Historically, they didn’t ultimately end up there. Dan, fr’instance, gave up trying to fight the Philistines and moved to the north part of Naphtali. The Bible Study Site
In the book of Joshua, right about where the conquered land gets divvied up between the tribes, people tend to get really bored (“Wait, is this a land surveying lesson?”) and skim this part. So I’ll summarize.
Three tribes already had land by this point: Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. All had claimed land east of the Jordan before they crossed it.
- Asher’s boundaries.
Js 19.24-31 - Benjamin’s boundaries.
Js 18.11-20 - Dan’s boundaries.
Js 19.40-48 - Issachar’s boundaries.
Js 19.17-23 - Naphtali’s boundaries.
Js 19.2-39 - Simeon’s boundaries.
Js 19.1-9 - Zebulun’s boundaries.
Js 19.10-16
Problem is, these tribes were supposed to finish driving out the other inhabitants so they could take the rest of the land allocated to them. They didn’t.
When the tribes split into northern Israel (“Ephraim”) and southern Israel (“Judah”) round the year 930
Every so often you’ll hear people refer to the “lost tribes of Israel.” When the Assyrians conquered northern Israel in 722
Not that there aren’t hundreds of theories. Every once in a while, anthropologists discover a clan of people whose religion and traditions sound remarkably like that of ancient Israel, so people leap to the conclusion these folks must be one of the “lost tribes,” miraculously still intact (more or less; mostly less) after 25 centuries.
And of course there are all the Christian myths about where they went. In England and the United States, there’s a really popular but stupid belief that the Saxons are descended from the “lost tribes.” (I say “stupid” because it’s largely based on the idea “Isaacson” got shortened to “Saxon.” It’s linguistically impossible. But when people wanna believe something badly enough, they will.) So if you wanna claim the English, or their Anglo descendants in the Americas, are secretly God’s chosen people, there ya go. Why the people who believe this are still so frequently antisemites, is beyond me. But whatever.
But it’s not accurate to say the “lost tribes” are lost, ’cause they weren’t. In Sargon of Assyria’s Annals, he recorded he exiled only 27,290 of the inhabitants of Samaria. Everybody else?—all the inhabitants of all the other cities? Still there. Living under Assyrian rule till the neo-Babylonians conquered Assyria. The neo-Babylonians didn’t deport everyone either.
It’s why we regularly find members of the “missing tribes” in the bible:
- Ephraim was still around after the exiles returned from Babylon.
Zc 7.1, 9.9, 10.7 The apocryphal book of Tobit is about people from the tribe of Naphtali.Tb 1.1 NRSV - One of the prophets whom Jesus’s parents met in temple was Anna, from the “missing” tribe of Asher.
Lk 2.36 - Jesus lived in the Galilee—the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali.
Mt 4.13 - Revelation includes a vision of 144,000 people from 11 tribes: Asher, Benjamin, Gad, Issachar, Judah, Levi, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, and Zebulun.
Rv 7.5-8 (Like I said, “Joseph” likely means Ephraim; Dan isn’t mentioned at all. Doesn’t necessarily mean Dan is extinct though.)
A numerologist’s dream.
Thirteen tribes aside, the tribes of Israel were consistently referred to as 12, and if you like the number 12, you’re gonna love the bible. There are 12s all over it. Just about everything in ancient Israel was centered on twelveness.
- Moses set up 12 pillars.
Ex 24.4 - Twelve jewels in the head priest’s ephod,
Ex 28.21 deliberately for the sake of each tribe. - Twelve loaves of showbread.
Lv 24.5 - Twelve spies sent to scope out Canaan before the invasion,
Nu 13 one from every tribe but Levi. - Twelve stones set up in memory of crossing the Jordan.
Js 4.9 - Solomon had 12 officers,
1Ki 4.7 likely from each tribe but Levi. - Solomon’s “bronze sea” was designed with 12 bronze oxen holding it up.
1Ki 7.25 - Solomon’s throne had 12 lions on the steps to it.
1Ki 10.20 - Elijah’s altar consisted of 12 stones.
1Ki 18.31
Lastly Jesus had 12 apostles, whom he expected to seat on 12 thrones to rule the 12 tribes.
And of course 12 is all over Revelation.
- 12,000 apiece from the 12 tribes are sealed.
Rv 7.5-8 - The woman clothed with the sun has a crown of 12 stars.
Rv 12.1 - New Jerusalem has 12 pearly gates,
Rv 21.2, 21 12 foundations,Rv 21.14 and is 12,000 stadia high, wide, and deep.Rv 21.16 - The tree of life produces 12 kinds of fruit.
Rv 22.2
What can I tell you? Hebrews and Christians—and apparently God too—really like the number. So it’s all over the bible, and in order to conform to it, the 13 tribes of Israel have been rejiggered into 12.
