tribe Summary and Overview

a collection of families descending from one ancestor. The "twelve tribes" of the Hebrews were the twelve collections of families which sprang from the sons of Jacob. In Matt. 24:30 the word has a wider significance. The tribes of Israel are referred to as types of the spiritual family of God (Rev. 7). (See ISRAEL, KINGDOM OF T0001909; JUDAH, KINGDOM OF T0002126.)

TRIBE . The posterity of each of the twelve sons of Jacob is called a tribe. Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, founded, Gen 48:5, two tribes, and are therefore mentioned in the list of the families in Num 26:28. In the distribution of the Promised Land, however, only twelve shares were made, for the tribe of Levi were to minister in the temple and to be supported by the contributions of the rest. See Levites, Tithes, etc. The twelve tribes continued to be one people until after the death of Solomon, when ten of them revolted and became a separate monarchy under Jeroboam, and were called the kingdom of Israel, leaving the tribes of Benjamin and Judah under the government of Rehoboam, with the name of the kingdom of Judah. See Hebrews, Israel, Kingdom of, Judah, Kingdom of. Each was headed by a prince - an arrangement which lasted, it would seem, during the monarchy. Num 1:16; cf. 1 Chr 27:22. The tribes possessed considerable independence; they were a confederacy rather than a union. Thus they waged wars separately. Judg 1:3; 1 Chr 4:41, 1 Chr 4:43; 1 Chr 5:10, 1 Chr 5:18-22. The judges were, in some instances at least, of only local jurisdiction. The period preceding the monarchy contained more than one outbreak of hereditary jealousy between the tribes, especially between the powerful tribes of Judah and Ephraim, 2 Sam 2:4-9; 2 Sam 19:41-43, in so much that it was deemed best to anoint Rehoboam in Shechem. 1 Kgs 12:1. We see further confirmation of this state of feeling in the fact that when the disruption took place the rallying-cry of the ten tribes was "Israel!" as if this shout was territorially understood. The tribal idea is kept up in the N.T. Our Lord appointed twelve apostles, and in the Revelation the seer of Patmos carries the division into heaven itself in the number of the seals, the gates, and the foundation. Rev 7:4-8; Rev 21:10-21. The names of the twelve tribes were, arranged alphabetically and not according to seniority: Asher, Benjamin, Dan, Ephraim, Gail, Issachar, Judah, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun. The tribe of Levi, as already remarked, was scattered among the other tribes.