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In the Old Testament, the tribes of Israel
represent the families of the sons of Israel.
Jacob (later called Israel) had 12 sons. Oftentimes in the Old Testament, the descendents of
Israel are identified as being in twelve groups.
In some cases the 12 groups of tribes correlate to
the names of Israel's 12 sons. In other cases,
the 12 include mainly sons, and some grandson.
There are many lists of the "tribes of Israel"
in the Old Testament. The
following chart illustrates some of the differences
in the groupings, including the list of the 12
tribes found in the Revelation:
|
The Twelve
Tribes of the Sons of Israel |
|
Israel's Sons
(in order by age) |
Numbers
1:4-16* |
Numbers
13:4-15* |
Revelation
7:5-8* |
| 1. Reuben - Genesis 29:32 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 2. Simeon - Genesis 29:33 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
| 3. Levi - Genesis 29:34 |
** |
** |
8 |
| 4. Judah - Genesis 29:35 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
| 5. Dan - Genesis 30:6 |
8 |
9 |
|
| 6. Naphtali - Genesis 30:8 |
11 |
11 |
5 |
| 7. Gad - Genesis 30:11 |
10 |
12 |
3 |
| 8. Asher - Genesis 30:13 |
9 |
10 |
4 |
| 9. Issacher - Genesis 30:18 |
4 |
4 |
9 |
| 10. Zebulon - Genesis 30:19 |
5 |
7 |
10 |
| 11. Joseph - Genesis 30:24 |
6 |
8 |
11 |
| 12. Benjamin (Ben-oni)- Genesis 35:18 |
7 |
6 |
12 |
|
Israel's Grandsons
(not a complete list) |
|
|
|
| Ephraim (son of Joseph) |
|
5 |
|
| Manasseh (son of Joseph) |
|
|
6 |
* the numbers represent the order in which the
tribe is listed in the text.
** the tribe of Levi is commonly excluded from
the listings as this tribe was designated to take
care of the tabernacle. This tribe was excluded from the
census and received no land inheritance
(see Numbers 1:47-54, Numbers 3:6-12, Numbers
18:20-23).
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