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 placement of the tribes while camping at Mt. Sinai.
3. The order in which they march and camp in the desert after leaving 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

Jacob’s Children by Birth Order

Reuben (Leah)
Simeon (Leah)
Levi (Leah)
Judah (Leah)
Dan (Bilhah)
Naphtali (Bilhah)
Gad (Zilpah)
Asher (Zilpah)
Issachar (Leah)
Zebulun (Leah)
Dinah (Leah)
Joseph (Rachel)
Benjamin (Rachel)
From Genesis 29:31-30:24

Arrangement at Mt. Sinai

Torah does not record in what order the Israelites marched as they left Egypt, aside from (so we infer) Moses and his kin leading the way.

The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand fighting men on foot, aside from noncombatants.

Moreover, a mixed multitude went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.

Exodus 12:37-38

Nor do we know for sure how the tribes arranged themselves while at Mount Sinai. We don’t hear about placement until they are ready to leave.

On the first day of the second month, in the second year after the exodus from the land of Egypt.

Numbers 1:1

Numbers 2 describes the encampment arrangement of the tribes (but not of Levi) in great detail. But this was how they were to do it as they left Mount Sinai.

The Israelites shall camp each [household] with its standard, under the banners of their ancestral house; they shall camp around the Tent of Meeting at a distance.

Numbers 2:2

At the point the passage above tells us the Hebrews were to camp around it, the Tent of Meeting was the newly constructed inner part of the Mishkan (aka the Tabernacle) where only priests (and, in the beginning, Moses) could enter. Before that, there was a temporary Tent of Meeting, that only Moses entered. Moses set this up this after the incident with the Golden Calf and erected it outside of the camp entirely. Not long after this, construction on the Mishkan began and took about six months. The temporary Tent of Meeting was in use during this time, then discarded once the Mishkan was complete.

Since the Hebrews left Mount Sinai less than two months after completing the Mishkan, nearly all of the camping around it took place while on the road. The temporary Tent of Meeting wasn’t in a location to camp around it, as it wasn’t in the camp. But there was still a central area to the camp, where the Mishkan was being built. Presumably that area was left empty when the Hebrews first arrived at Mount Sinai.

It makes sense that Moses, Miriam, and Aaron and their family would have their tents nearby. What we don’t know is where the rest of the Levites and the other tribes set up their tents, or if they were even in any sort of formation at all.

Transition of the Tribes

Once they had the Mishkan, completed on the first day of the first month of the second year, the Hebrews got ready to leave Mount Sinai. 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,” Ephraim & Manasseh. 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

In Numbers 2, we get the instructions of how the tribes were supposed to arrange themselves when the camped during their journey. We don’t know if this applied to the camp layout while at Mount Sinai (those first two years).

The Israelites shall camp each [household] with its standard, under the banners of their ancestral house; they shall camp around the Tent of Meeting at a distance. 

Camped on the front, or east side: the standard of the division of Judah. Camping next to it: The tribe of Issachar. The tribe of Zebulun. These shall march first. 

On the south: the standard of the division of Reuben. Camping next to it: The tribe of Simeon.  And the tribe of Gad.  These shall march second. 

Then, midway between the divisions, the Tent of Meeting, the division of the Levites, shall move. As they camp, so they shall march, each in position, by their standards. 

On the west: the standard of the division of Ephraim.  Next to it: The tribe of Manasseh.  And the tribe of Benjamin.  These shall march third. 

On the north: the standard of the division of Dan.  Camping next to it: The tribe of Asher.  And the tribe of Naphtali. These shall march last. Those are the enrollments of the Israelites by ancestral houses. 

The Israelites did accordingly; just as GOD had commanded Moses, so they camped by their standards, and so they marched, each [household] with its clan according to its ancestral house. 

Numbers 2, edited to show only the highlights.

Marching Order

Numbers 10 also describes the order in which the tribes marched out of the Wilderness of Sinai, with a few more details about how the Levites are divided. 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, the tribe of Joseph is absent but those of 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. (Numbers 10:13-28)

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

After entering the land of Canaan, aka Israel, the Hebrews receive their land allotments. Nine and a half tribes were to live west of the Jordan River, with two and a half tribes to the east. The tribe of Manasseh being split in two. The Levites were given towns but no large expanses of land.

The book of Joshua details the peoples the Hebrews took the lands from then, beginning in Joshua 13, describes the allotments.

References

• Israelites. Wikipedia.
• Jacob. Wikipedia.
• The Date of the Tabernacle’s Completion and Consecration. Prof. Gary A. Anderson. The Torah.com.
• Twelve Tribes of Israel. Wikipedia.
• Ancient Jewish History: The Twelve Tribes of Israel. Jewish Virtual Library. From: Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2007. The Gale Group.