The Tribes Go Marching

In the Exodus story we have thirteen tribes, each named for a son or grandson of Jacob. Thirteen? No, no, we all know there are twelve. Well, yes, but read on.

Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham, had thirteen children with his four wives. His legacy comes from his twelve sons (ignoring his one known daughter, Leah’s daughter Dinah). His second youngest son, Joseph, ended up in Egypt (courtesy of his elder brothers selling him into slavery) and the rest immigrated to Egypt later on, along with their living parents and families.

In some places in Torah, the twelve tribes are named after the twelve sons. In other places, there is no tribe of Joseph but rather two tribes named after Joseph’s sons. The tribe of Levi drops out of the count at this point as they are the priests and not destined to have their own territory in Israel once the Exodus is over. In all cases, there are always exactly twelve tribes.

My novel focuses almost entirely on the Levites, more specifically, Jochebed and her descendants. People from other tribes are sometimes characters, like Joshua, or have married in to the family, like Elisheba.

Jochebed’s three children (Miriam, Aaron, and Moses) not only lead the Hebrews out of Egypt but they also literally lead the way when the Hebrews are on the move. The order of the rest of the tribes can vary though, depending on what we’re focusing on. There are four main ways to sort:

1. Jacob’s sons’ birth order.
2. The order in which they march in the desert.
3. The placement of the tribes while camping at Mt. Sinai.
4. The allotment of land once the Hebrews make it to the land of Israel.

Jacob’s Children by Mother

Let’s first sort the children by mother (listed by descending age within each line):

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve in number.

The sons of Leah: Reuben—Jacob’s first-born—Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali.

And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

Genesis 35:22-26

Birth Order

Reuben
Simeon
Levi
Judah
Dan
Naphtali
Gad
Asher
Issachar
Zebulun
Dinah
Joseph (his two sons were Ephraim & Manasseh)
Benjamin

Transition of the Tribes

After a bit more than two years at Mount Sinai, the Hebrews got ready to leave. But first they reorganized.

On the first day of the second month, in the second year after the exodus from the land of Egypt, GOD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying:

Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head.

You and Aaron shall record them by their groups, from the age of twenty years up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms.

Numbers 1:1-3

This gave us a total of 603,550 potential soldiers. Joseph is no longer a tribe but we now have the two tribes that are “the descendants of Joseph.” The Levites are now separate, as they are not soldiers.

The Levites, however, were not recorded among them by their ancestral tribe.

For GOD had spoken to Moses, saying:

Do not on any account enroll the tribe of Levi or take a census of them with the Israelites.

You shall put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Pact, all its furnishings, and everything that pertains to it: they shall carry the Tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall tend it; and they shall camp around the Tabernacle.

When the Tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the Tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up; any outsider who encroaches shall be put to death.

The Israelites shall encamp troop by troop, each [household] with its division and each under its standard.

The Levites, however, shall camp around the Tabernacle of the Pact, that wrath may not strike the Israelite community; the Levites shall stand guard around the Tabernacle of the Pact.

Numbers 1:47-53

Marching Order

Numbers 10:13-28 describes the order in which the tribes marched out of the Wilderness of Sinai. First Judah, then Issachar, Zebulun, the Gershonites and the Merarites (Levites), Reuben, Simeon, Gad, the Kohathites (Levites), Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. As you can see, Joseph is absent but his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, are included. The tribe of Levi is no longer part of the twelve tribes as listed, but is instead broken into three sets of clans. Two such clans, the Gershonites and the Merarites (as one unit) and the Kohathites march in the midst of the other tribes.

This chart comes from the time after the Mishkan was created and the Hebrews left Mt. Sinai. On their way from Egypt to Mt. Sinai, we can place the Levites in front. The order here is:

Levi
Judah
Issachar
Zebulun
Reuben
Simeon
Gad
Ephraim
Manasseh
Benjamin
Dan
Asher
Naphtali

Arrangement at Mt. Sinai

Numbers 2 describes the encampment arrangement of the tribes (but not of Levi).

The children of Israel shall encamp each man by his division with the flag staffs of their fathers’ house; some distance from the Tent of Meeting they shall encamp. Numbers 2:2

At Mt. Sinai the Levites camped near the Tent of Meeting and the other tribes camped around them.

East (the front of the camp):
Judah
Issachar
Zebulun

South:
Reuben
Simeon
Gad

West:
Ephraim
Manasseh
Benjamin

North:
Dan
Asher
Naphtali

Allotment of Land in Canaan

References

• Israelites. Wikipedia.