Category:Twelve Tribes (subject)
According to Jewish (Christian, and Islamic) traditions, the ancient People of Israel was made of Twelve Tribes. A portion of the Land of Israel was given to the descendants of each of the Twelve Patriarchs (see map), with the exception of the House of Levi who was granted the priesthood, and the House of Joseph, which was divided between his two children, Manasseh and Ephraim.
< Tribe of Reuben -- Tribe of Simeon -- Tribe of Judah -- Tribe of Dan -- Tribe of Naphtali -- Tribe of Gad -- Tribe of Asher -- Tribe of Issachar -- Tribe of Zebulun -- Tribe of Manasseh -- Tribe of Ephraim -- Tribe of Benjamin; see also House of Levi and House of Joseph >
Overview
The Twelve Tribes do not corresponds exactly to the Twelve Patriarchs, sons of Jacob. The picture was complicated by the fact that in Genesis 49, Jacob doomed Levi and Simeon to be scattered. Consistently, the Sons of Levi were not regarded as a Tribe (later, it would be conveniently said that they were set apart to serve as priests). The status of the Sons of Simeon remained somehow in limbo; although "scattered" among the Sons of judah they were counted as one of the Twelve Tribe, at least until the time of David). The number of Twelve was kept by doubling the House of Joseph into two Tribes-- the Tribe of Ephraim and the Tribe of Manasseh. With the events following the Babylonian exile all Tribes, except the Tribe of Judah, the Tribe of Benjamin and the priestly House of Levi, we considered "lost"; the restoration of the ten Lost Tribes thus became one of the distinctive marks of the eschatological times.
The vision of Ezekiel divides the Land of Israel according to the Twelve Tribes (with Ephraim and Manasseh in place of Levi and Joseph), but the gates of the new Temple are one for each of the Twelve Patriarchs, including Levi and Joseph.
While foretelling the restoration of the Twelve Tribes, the Revelation of John provides a list of the Twelve Tribes that includes Levi, Joseph and Manasseh but quite inexplicably, neither Ephraim nor Dan. The tribes are listed as follows: Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin.
Related categories
External links
- [ Wikipedia]
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