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What are Tribes?
        TRIBES
     Characteristics and Prominent Members of each of the Twelve Tribes. - In this article will be contained in a condensed form information about each tribe additional to and of a different kind from that given under the respective titles, which see. Asher. - The tribe of Asher was descended from the eighth son of Jacob, the second son of Zilpah, Leah's maid. The name means "happy," in reference to Leah's feeling at his birth. Gen 30:12-13. Our definite knowledge of Asher is of the slightest. Four sons and one daughter, besides two grandchildren, accompanied him into Egypt. Gen 46:17-18. He stood in the remarkable group around Jacob's deathbed, and received the promise of a fruitful land: "Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties." Gen 49:20. The tribe went out of Egypt under Moses, and sent its spy from Kadesh-barnea. Num 13:13. Its position on the march was between Dan and Naphtali, on the north side of the tabernacle. Num 2:27. The territory of Asher has already been described. See Asher. It is noticeable that the blessing of Moses. Deut 33:24-25, like that of Jacob, related merely to fruitfulness and general prosperity, so the tribe was never distinguished for mental qualities, although it was possessed of a rich territory and increased very rapidly. Comp. Num 1:40 with Num 26:47. With the exception of Simeon, it is the only tribe west of the Jordan which furnished no hero or judge to the nation; the prophetess Anna, however, was an Asherite. Luke 2:36. Benjamin. - As in the case of Asher, so with Benjamin, the prophetic blessing of Jacob was fulfilled. Gen 49:27. Fierceness, courage, cunning, and ambition were tribal traits. On the other hand, it was not distinguished for zeal for Jehovah, like the tribe of Levi. The fact that the tribe produced Ehud, Jud 3:15; Saul, 1 Sam 9:1; Shimei. 2 Sam 19:16, and the nameless but infamous libertines of Gibeah, Judg 19. shows that Benjamin was all through its history inclined to lawless conduct. But there is a light upon the dark cloud. Out of Benjamin came Mordecai, the deliverer of the Jews, Esth 2:5, and no Christian can utterly condemn a people which produced, though late in its history, so grand a man and so great a leader as the apostle Paul. Rom 11:1; Phil 3:5. As he was proud of his own Benjamite birth, we must give the tribe credit for some excellence, inasmuch as it produced one of Israel's first judges, her first king, and the great apostle to the uncircumcision. The political fortunes of Benjamin were linked with those of Judah, and cannot well be separated. But, although these two tribes were so closely united, they differed greatly. One minor but distinguishing characteristic was the prevalence of left-handed slingers. Jud 20:16. The city of Jerusalem was partly on Benjamite territory. The tribe did not at first acknowledge the kingship of David, 2 Sam 2:8-9, although afterward the situation of the capital was a strong reason for fidelity to the Davidic kings. Dan. - These descendants of Jacob's concubine Bilhah were admitted to full tribal standing. Gen 49:16. Their great man is Samson. Jud 13:2, Jud 6:24. In numbers in the wilderness they ranked next to Judah, the largest of the tribes. Num 1:38. It was the last tribe to receive its inheritance. Josh 19:48; and, although among the largest tribes, it was assigned the smallest territory, and even all of that did not come to them. The divine intention in this may have been to incite them to further conquests; at all events, this was the effect, for we soon find them sending out five men upon an expedition to the northward with a view to new settlements on their report. The city Laish was afterward taken by the tribe. Judg 18. The chapter explains "the warlike and independent character of the tribe, betokened in the fact, specially insisted on and reiterated, Matt 18:11, Judg 18:16-17, of the complete equipment of their six hundred warriors, and in the lawless and freebooting style of their behavior to Micah." Ephraim. - This tribe was the great rival to Judah, the chief fomenter of trouble, and the staunch supporter of revolt from the yoke of Rehoboam. It was energetic, restless, conscious of its strength, and full of conceit, wishing to have the lead in every matter. Ephraim and Manasseh were usually interested in the same enterprises, but the former, though really the smaller tribe, was the more important. Deut 33:17. Ephraim acted badly toward every leader who did not take special pains to please them - e.g., toward Gideon, Jephthah, and David, Jud 8:1; Neh 12:1; 2 Sam 19:41-43. In one instance, however, they nobly interposed to clothe, feed, and restore to freedom their captive brethren of Judah. 2 Chr 28:9-15. The seventy eighth Psalm was designed to soothe their tribal soreness at the transference of the religious capital from Shiloh to Jerusalem. David had numerous Ephraimites among his state officers- e.g., 1 Chr 27:10, 1 Chr 27:14, The political history of Ephraim after the disruption is treated under Israel, Kingdom of. Gad. - One of the tribes on the east side of the Jordan, because predominantly shepherds, but who joined, according to agreement, in the Conquest. Josh 1:16. They were very warlike, men of might and of war, fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were the faces of lions, and as swift as the roes upon the mountains. 1 Chr 12:8. The tribe produced three men famous in different ways - Jephthah, the conqueror and judge, Jud 11:1; Barzillai, the noble-hearted friend of David, 2 Sam 17:27-29; 2 Sam 19:31-40; and that meteor, the prophet of evil, who appeared and departed so abruptly, Elijah, the man of God. 1 Kgs 17:1. The territory of Gad was for a long time the battlefield between Syria and Israel. 2 Kgs 10:33. Tiglath-pileser finally carried Gad away captive, and the Ammonites occupied their cities. 2 Kgs 15:29; 1 Chr 5:26; Jer 49:1. Issachar. - The "blessing" of Jacob upon Issachar was rather equivocal: Issachar is a strong he-ass crouching down between the cattle-pens, and he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a slave unto tribute. The prophecy indicated an easy-going people who preferred farming and agricultural labors to political distinction, and who would purchase ease at the sacrifice of liberty. And the rich territory of the tribe favored just this life. However, it was not without national feeling, for it responded to the call of Deborah; indeed, some have supposed the battle took place in its tribal limits. Jud 5:15, Acts 1:19. In David's time it was able to furnish 145,000 soldiers. 1 Chr 7:1-5. "The descendants of Issachar," says Dr. Kalisch, "were men of prudence and wise calculation. Having, therefore, gained abundant wealth and resolved to enjoy it, they pursued a domestic and foreign policy calculated to realize this end. Their shrewdness not only enabled them safely to keep aloof from all external dangers and peacefully to yield themselves to secure tranquillity, but to win the esteem and deference of the fraternal tribes by useful and valuable councils." Cf. 1 Chr 12:23, 1 Chr 12:32. Issachar seems to have put itself under the protection of Zebulun. But the tribe produced some men of mark. Tola, one of the Judges, was of Issachar. Jud 10:1-2. The Omri who was prince of Issachar during David's reign may have been the forefather of the Omri who usurped the throne of Israel. 1 Chr 27:18; 1 Kgs 16:16. Baasha, another usurper, and a ferocious man, was also of Issachar. Some men of this tribe responded to the invitation of Hezekiah, and, although not properly cleansed, partook of the Passover. 2 Chr 30:18. Shortly after this came for them the Assyrian captivity. Judah. - See Judah, Tribe of, Kingdom of. Levi. - See Levite. Manasseh. - One of the largest of the northern tribes, and distinguished by its possession of territory on both sides of the Jordan. It did not, however, play a very prominent part, leaving the leadership to Ephraim, with whom it shared. The prominent men in Jewish history who were Manassites are the judges Gideon, Jud 6:11; Jair, Neh 10:3; Jephthah. Dan 11:1. Manasseh joined the side of Ish-bosheth, but finally submitted to David. 1 Chr 12:31. After the disruption the people followed the example of Ephraim, fell into idolatry, and so prepared the way for their downfall. There were some, however, in the tribe of better mind, who came to Jerusalem to take part with their brethren in the religious revivals under Asa, 2 Chr 15:9; Hezekiah, 2 Chr 30:1, 2 Chr 30:10-11, 2 Chr 30:18; 2 Chr 31:1; and Josiah. 2 Chr 34:6-9. Naphtali. - "A hind let loose, he giveth goodly words;" so does Jacob describe the tribe, indicating grace and eloquence. Barak is the most noted member of the tribe. The "hind" symbolized a swift warrior. 2 Sam 2:18; 1 Chr 12:8. In Barak these qualities come out. The song of Deborah is also his composition, and, as has been said, "Even if the tribe gave no other proof of its poetical genius, of the careful culture of the mind, and of the artistic conceptions of which it was capable, it amply deserved the encomium bestowed upon it that it uttered 'goodly words' (words of beauty)." The territory of Naphtali belonged to the northern kingdom, and therefore was exposed to all its foes. Ben-hadad, king of Syria, plundered it, 1 Kgs 15:20; Tiglath-pileser took the inhabitants captive. 2 Kgs 15:29. But upon God's book of remembrance there stood his prophecy of a better day for Naphtali, Isa 9:1-2, and God, who "watches the turning of the ages," at last carried it out, and upon the hills of Naphtali walked the Light of the world. Matt 4:3-16. Reuben. - One of the trans-Jordanic tribes, but without a striking point in their history. They fell into idolatry, like their neighbors, were carried into captivity, 1 Chr 5:26, and their territory was occupied by Moab. Comp. Josh 13:16-21 with Isa 15. Simeon. - Although one of the most numerous tribes at Sinai, Num 1:23, they had become the smallest at Shittim. Gen 26:14. They are altogether omitted from Moses' blessing. Both facts are to be traced to the same cause - the shameless conduct of the tribe in the matter of Baal-peor, in which they had the example of their chief. Lev 25:14. Jacob foretold that Simeon would "be scattered in Israel," Gen 49:7, and, as a matter of fact, it was so small that its lot was assigned "within the inheritance of the children of Judah," Josh 19:1-9, although the ostensible reason was that "the part of . . . Judah was too much for them." "No eminent person is recorded as of this tribe, though the Jews have a tradition that it furnished schoolmasters to the rest of the nation." -Ayre. Zebulun. - As already remarked, the fortunes of Issachar and Zebulun were closely united, as in Moses' blessing: "Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents." Deut 33:18. The tribe of Zebulun possessed the fisheries of Galilee's lake. Their bravery received the praise of Deborah. Jud 5:18. Their most noted men were Elon, the judge, Jud 12:11-12, and Ibzan, his predecessor, but the great man was Jonah. 2 Kgs 14:25.


Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'tribes' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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