There were twelve tribes in ancient Israel. They derived from ten sons of Jacob and two of Joseph. Levi, the third son of Jacob, was set aside for the priestly services and, therefore, excluded from candidacy. Jacob's favouritism towards Joseph raised the latter's two son to replace Joseph and Levi.
Open Map to show their Allocation ☰
The twelve tribes, and their population (twenty years old or more) as reported in the census taken just prior to their entry into the Promised Land are (following the order given in Num 26):
Simeon — 22,200
Gad — 40,500
Judah — 76,500
Issachar — 64,300
Zebulun — 60,500
Manasseh — 52,700
Ephraim — 32,500
Benjamin — 45,600
Dan — 64,400
Asher — 53,400
Naphtali — 45,400
It becomes obvious from these figures that their allocation of the conquered Promised Land was not proportionate. Benjamin, e.g., was a quarter more in numbers than Ephraim, yet her allocation was only a fraction of Ephraim's. Dan and Issachar were about equal in population but vastly different in the size of the land they inherited. What accounts for the the differences remains puzzling and uncertain.
The pattern of distribution of the twelve tribes has its origin in Israel's crucial decision at Kadesh-Barnea. From Kadesh-Barnea they were supposed to have conquered the Promised Land. Had they not rebelled against Yahweh command to take possession of the land then, there would not have been the journey into and conquest of Transjordan which the two and a half tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh then asked Moses to allow them to settle in (Num 32).
The allocation of the land in Canaan proper to the other nine and a half tribes was largely due to the decisions of "Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel" (Jos 14:1) and recporte in the last chapters of the book. Whatever may have been the factors taken into consideration by the leaders, the distribution of the land would greatly shape the impact each of the tribes had on the subsequent history of the nation. Separated by a major river, the Transjordan tribes became more and more isolated. They themselves seemed to have recognized this possibility early on. Having settled their families, the men of these tribes had crossed over the Jordan and fulfiled their promises to Moses to help the other tribes take possession of Canaan. On their return to their homes after the completion of the conquest, they built an memorial altar by the river which gave grave offence to those living on the Canaan side. Confronted, they explained why they had built the altar,
"We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours,'What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the Lord.' So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the Lord." (Jos 22:24-25).
Sadly, what they feared soon came to be and the glue that held them together in their journey from Egypt soon gave way. Already in the time of the judges, many of them were so caught up in their own affairs that national causes lost its priority. The repeated refrain, "and every man did what was right in his own eyes" spoke truth about the tribes as much as it did about the moral decadence of the populus. Deborah's song, e.g., cries out in despair about the tribes that stayed away at a time of national crisis; "Why did you stay among the campfires to hear the whistling for the flocks?" it asked of Reuben (Judg 5:16).
As Jerusalem became the location of the temple and the main center of the nation's consciousness, both religiously and socially, the more geographically peripheral tribes became even more peripheral culturally and socially. Solomon's unkind treatment of the tribes, forcing them into providing free labour for his building projects further weakened the bonds between them. The break between the tribes of the north to become a separate nation soon after his death accerbated the breakup, made worse soon afterwards when rogues and rascals fought for the throne. As it turned out, those tribes in TransJordan were the first to suffer the disglory of subjection to foreign powers and to be deported to Assyria. With the deportion of the northern tribes to Assyria in 722 BC, only Judah—with Simeon which she had already assimilated—remained. The later history of Israel only had Jews (i.e., descendants of Judah) to speak of.
©ALBERITH
190730lch