SERIES E --- YHVH’S LAWS --- LESSON 01 --- PART 2

COMMENTARY

THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL
These twelve symbols were often used on the Israelites’ banners. At their stops on the way to the Promised Land, each banner was raised at the place where that tribe was to pitch its tents. No one is sure what these banners looked like.

REUBEN
As the sons and grandsons of Israel increased in number, the Israelites soon needed a way to symbolize each tribe. The symbols identifying the twelve tribes of Israel were taken from Jacob’s blessing of his sons before his death. This blessing is recorded in the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis. Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn son. In his blessing, Jacob referred to him as the {first fruits} of his youth. First fruits are the first of a ripened crop in a harvest season. So, the tribe of Reuben is represented by a branch with leaves.

SIMEON
Simeon was Jacob’s second son. His mother Leah named him Simeon, which means, {YHVH had heard that I was hated.} {Jacob’s favourite wife was Rachel, not Leah.} When the people of Israel arrived in Canaan, the tribe of Simeon received a territory in the north-western part of the Negeb desert. The Negeb desert area contained only nineteen towns and all of these were in the portion of land given to the tribe of Judah. So, the tribe of Simeon settled in very small groups, protecting themselves from Bedouin thieves with city walls. This perhaps is the reason that Simeon is sometimes represented by the picture of a walled town.

LEVI
The priestly tribe of Levi had a special place in Israelite life. The Levites were responsible for the care of the tabernacle and always pitched their tents closest to it. Their symbol shows two snakes twined around a pole. This represents the pole that held up the bronze serpent which Moses made to heal the people from poisonous snakebites. Adonai had sent this plague to punish them for complaining. This symbol has become a sign for healing used by doctors today.

JUDAH
In his blessing, Jacob prophesied that Judah would become the strongest of all the tribes and would be the one to supply Israel with rulers. David was the first to be named king from this tribe. In the end, the sceptre will be given to the King of kings Yeshua Moshiach, Who also came from the family of David and the tribe of Judah. The royal symbol of the Lion of Judah is a well-known and favourite one. This tribe eventually gave its name to all the people of Israel, who came to be called Jews.

ISSACHAR
In Jacob’s blessing, Issachar was compared to a strong donkey and told that he would be given good land in Canaan but would {become a slave.} This tribe lived in fertile land by the Sea of Galilee, but most likely had to pay tribute to their neighbours to be left in peace. The two symbols for this tribe were a donkey and a sun and moon.

ZEBULON
The Israelites’ neighbours used totems to identify their different tribes. A totem was usually a certain animal chosen by a specific tribe to worship. The tribe used that animal as a symbol on its banners and on the staff carried by the tribal leader. But Adonai YHVH had forbidden His people to make any such images. So, the identification of the tribes of Israel came from the word pictures in the blessing of Jacob’s sons. Zebulon was compared to a ship, perhaps because originally, that tribe’s territory in Canaan was to be along the seashore. But actually, the tribe of Zebulon settled in the land next to the tribe of Issachar. This land was at least ten miles from the northern seacoast of Israel.

DAN
The Bible mentions only one son of Dan in its list of the migration of Jacob’s family into Egypt. But at the time of the Exodus, the tribe of Dan numbered over sixty-two thousand. The name Dan means, {YHVH has judged me.} Rachel named her maid’s son Dan because she felt YHVH had given her a son through her maid, since Rachel herself had none. One of the signs for this tribe is the balancing scale of justice. Many of Israel’s judges came from the tribe of Dan. Probably the most famous judge from this tribe was the mighty Samson.

NAPHTALI
When Adonai commanded Moses to take a census of the people of Israel, He assigned Moses a long and complicated task. The Israelite leaders were to count only the men who were twenty years of age and older. (This was the youngest age a man could be to go to war.) Imagine counting six hundred thousand people! The tribe of Naphtali alone had over fifty thousand men. Jacob compared Naphtali to a deer running freely over the hills. So, this tribe used a deer symbol. Perhaps Naphtali lived in the hills and valleys on the east side of the Sea of Galilee.

GAD
The name of Jacob’s son Gad is interpreted in English as {A Raiding Troop.} Jacob made a pun on this name when he said, [Raiders will come and raid Gad, but he will raid them in return.] The symbol for Gad is a camp of tents that a troop on a raid would stay in overnight. When the Israelites arrived in Canaan, Gad received one of the most beautiful pieces of land there. East of the Jordan, this land stretched from the Dead Sea to the Sea of Galilee. Elijah the prophet grew up in Gilead in the land of the tribe of Gad.

ASHER
Like Rachel, Leah also took her maid’s sons to be her own. When Leah’s maid had her second son, Leah named him Asher, which means, {I am happy!} When Jacob blessed this son, he told him he would produce rich and tasty food. This prophecy came to life when the tribe of Asher was given the northern seacoast in the Promised Land. This land is very fertile with grain and olive trees. This is how the tribe of Asher came to have the olive tree as its symbol.

EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH
Since Joseph was Jacob’s favourite son, he received the longest and warmest blessing of all. Instead of having one {tribe of Joseph,} this son became the ancestor of two tribes, named after his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim’s land in Palestine covered the central, wooded hills. These hills were thought to hide wild creatures like unicorns. So, the tribe of Ephraim was shown as a unicorn Manasseh was given a region that included the territory called Bashan. Bashan was famous for its bulls. The symbol for Manasseh was a bull.

BENJAMIN
Jacob’s wife Rachel died while she was giving birth to her second son. With her dying breath, she named him Ben-oni, which meant, {Son of My Sorrow.} But Jacob renamed the baby Ben-jamin, which meant, {Son of My Right Hand.} When Jacob blessed Benjamin, he compared him to a prowling wolf. This son must have been quite an unruly and hot-tempered person! This is why the symbol for the tribe of Jacob’s youngest son is shown as a wolf. From the tribe of Benjamin came two famous Saul’s, the first king of Israel and the great apostle of Yeshua Moshiach who changed his name to Paul.