Twelve or Fourteen Tribes?

There are fourteen Tribes of Israel listed in scripture, where they are identified and given the scriptural title the Twelve Tribes of Israel. 

After the first twelve sons were born to Jacob, there are two sons of Joseph named Manasseh and Ephraim that were adopted by Jacob.  Joseph is one of Jacob's sons where Jacob's act was elevating Manasseh and Ephraim from grandson status to son status.  The two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, were born of Joseph in Egypt, where the adoption is read in Genesis 48:5.   

Regarding the use of the title and phrase "The Twelve Tribes" in Scriptures, the title and phrase is always referring collectively to all of the Tribes, but there are many cases when the names of specific Tribes are listed and with omissions of specific other Tribes. 

When using the phrase, the "The Twelve Tribes", notice in Exodus 24:4 where Moses calls the Tribes: "The Twelve Tribes of Israel".  At the time of Moses, the Fourteen Tribes had already existed for 400 years as slaves in Egypt, plus the good years.  Moses knows there are fourteen tribes and speaks prophecies over thirteen of the fourteen tribes before his death with the exception of Simeon. 

Twelve and Fourteen Significance

In some Biblical commentaries, when dealing with the Tribes of Israel, will sometimes try to emphasize the adoption by giving a synonym type of name of Thirteen tribes or a "baker's dozen - means buy 12 and get one free", because when speaking of the Tribe of Joseph, it means both Manasseh and Ephraim.  Additionally, if speaking about Manasseh and Ephraim, then this means the entire tribe of Joseph.  This author is mentioning this in case the reader comes across this thirteen tribes' analogy.

When potentially using a different analogy for the title of the tribes, it will become confusing in this author's opinion.  Furthermore, Christians should use the scriptural nomenclature, "the Twelve Tribes", as the Holy Spirit directed Moses and other writers in the scriptures to use the title of "the Twelve Tribes". 

For the scriptural student, when looking for more:

• Insights,
• Patterns, and
• Prophetic scriptures

with the use of the names of the Tribes, then it is important to recognize there are fourteen Tribes that are correctly called the Twelve Tribes, in our studies for a deeper understanding in this author's opinion.

How does the Scripture handle this nomenclature?

When scripture is referring to the Tribe of Joseph, it will sometimes only mention one or both of the Tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim as being included, which means half of the tribe of Joseph is omitted.  

One of the underlying reasons for God's "Twelve" is the Holy Spirit's use of patterns in numbers throughout the scriptures which are consistent and proving expositional consistency of the harmony of over forty authors, spreading thousands of years who wrote sixty-six books in the Bible.  This is not discussed in this topic.

When reading through this topic, a list of the scriptural references of the Tribes is given where there are times that specific Tribes were omitted which points to something that is important that God wants us to recognize and understand. 

Twelve Tribes

Isaac, who later becomes Israel, has twelve sons born in this order as listed in Genesis 29:32 through Genesis 30:24 and Benjamin in Genesis 35:18.

For more on ensigns of the Tribes, see notes from Mazzaroth.

Brief Notes concerning the sons of Jacob.  Jacob was renamed to Israel by God in Genesis 35:10.

• Reuben lost the First-Born Rights after having sex with Bilhah, Israel's concubine and servant of Rachel whose Jacob's fifth and sixth son came from.  See Genesis 35:22. The thought is he was trying to exert his right to take over as leader when Jacob dies and this was a type of Tribal practice in that period of time.  Some rabbinical sources have given an alternate/traditional view that after Rachel's death, Jacob had his primary bed in Bilhah's tent where Reuben moved Jacob's bed into Leah's tent because that was his mother along with feeling that Leah was the primary wife of Jacob. 

  Genesis 35:22

  While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.

• Simeon and Levi, in an act of revenge of the raping of their sister Dinah by Shechem, Genesis 34, the two brothers kill all of the males in Shechem's village.  These two sons lost their eligibility to First-Born Rights after Reuben lost his First Born Rights. All of the men of the tribe of Levi regained blessing for their act of standing with Moses in Exodus 32:26 when Aaron was forced into making the Golden Calf where there was idolatry in the camp that resulted in those who were idolaters being killed by sword by the tribe of Levi.

  Genesis 34:25	Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male.
  Exodus 32:26	So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.

• Judah gets the leadership role because of the actions of the older brothers.  In Genesis 49:10, Jacob will prophecy that the scepter of Judah will not depart until Shiloh comes, which is the Messiah.  Scepter is a Tribal Rod conveying Office / Leadership.  This is confirmed by the Targum Onkelos, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Targum of Yerusahlmi.

  Genesis 49:10

  The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. See the topic on Scepter of Judah will not depart until Shiloh comes for more information.

• The Tribe of Levite became the Priests of the nation of Israel.

  Numbers 3:11-13	11 The Lord also said to Moses, 12 “I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine,
  Deuteronomy 18:1	The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the LORD’s food offerings as their inheritance.

• The Tribe of Dan, because they were a leader in apostasy under Jeroboam in Judges 18:30-31; 17:9-10; 1 Kings 12:26-31; 2 Kings 10:29, lose out on protection in the Tribulation Period and are also omitted in many scriptural passages.
• Benjamin was originally named Ben-oni by Rachel, which means my trouble, and after she dies during the child birth, Jacob renames him to Benjamin , which means son of my right hand, in Genesis 35:18.

  Genesis 35:18

  As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni But his father named him Benjamin.

Two More Tribes Added

In Genesis 48:5, Israel adopts Joseph's two sons as his own.  The scriptures point to Israel using the choice to give the rights of the First-Born to Joseph because of the actions of all the other brothers.  First-Born is a title and the benefits of the first-born is not always given to a son by the birth order as seen in many examples in the scriptures.  Note: First-Born status does not mean other sons are less loved by a parent or God! 

The two additional tribes added:

In the beautiful story of God's providence, restoration and redemption of the concerning the life of Joseph who is hated and sold into slavery by his brothers, where they told Israel that Joseph was killed by a wild beast, Joseph ends up being second in charge over all of Egypt.  In Egypt, Joseph's brothers are reunited, forgiven and prospered until the time after Pharaoh's death which then had 400 years of slavery in Egypt.  The reunion of Israel with Joseph, who Israel thought was dead, is when the adoption occurs.

During the period of the Exodus from Egypt, God is instructing Moses to tell Pharaoh that Israel is God's First-Born, which is a place of honor and is special.  Pharaoh's kingdom suffers the punishment of death of the first born in Egypt including his own after many other tragic events that befell the Egyptians. 

The Exodus event, regarding First-Born, is one example of many in the Scriptures that show the significance of the First-Born honor which can be given to a son who is not necessarily born first in order.  It is also mentioned because it involved Moses as further endorsement of the accounts of the tribes with their blessings and prophecies that are discussed later in this topic. 

Listings Occurrences in the Scripture

The birth-order reference number in the 3rd column is the order they were listed in the identified Scripture. 

Lost Tribes? "No"

There is a legend that there are 10 lost tribes of Israel.  There is an abundance of information that this is not true. 

The belief from the scriptures comes from 2 Kings 17:6-23 where the King of Assyria, Shalmaneser, deported Israelites to various parts of the Kingdom of Assyria after a three-year siege on the capital of the Northern conquered kingdom.  At that time, Israel was divided into a Southern Kingdom and a Northern Kingdom where the Northern was ruled by Hoshea in which 10 of the 14 tribes were located geographically. 

The northern Kingdom had rejected the Southern Kingdom under King Solomon's son Rehoboam.  In the Northern Kingdom idolatry had been setup under Jeroboam in the form of two golden calves or bulls.  The question spoken in Biblical Commentaries is:

 "If you were a believer in Yahweh, do you stay in the north or do you move so that you can continue to go to Jerusalem on the Sabbath, Feast Days and to present offering rather than participate in idolatry in the north?"  

The answer would be move to the Southern Kingdom or often travel to the Southern Kingdom.  There are many Biblical Scholars that have stated this is what happened which is evidenced by other future history, that is written in the scriptures, where people knew what tribe, they belonged.

From the New Testament scriptures listed below, besides Old Testament references which occur after the Northern Kingdom's fall, there is six Tribes specifically listed.  Then in Revelation 12 the twelve tribes are listed of the fourteen tribes which means God knows where they are and they were not lost.   When reading these sixteen examples, there is a number next to the tribe that indicates the tribe numerical identification that was listed above.

1. When Babylonians took over the Northern Kingdom, all the Tribes were represented in the Southern Kingdom.  Recall that Isaiah was prophesying to Judah, "House of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel.", in Isaiah 48:1.
2. After the Babylonian captivity, the term Jew and Israelite are used interchangeably.  Ezra uses Jew 8 times and Israel 40 times; Ezra speaks "all Israel" in Ezra 2:70, 3:11; 8:35, 10:25;
3. In Nehemiah 12:47, Nehemiah speaks of "all Israel" being back in the land.
4. In Matthew 10:5-6 and 15:24, there are Tribes other than Judah which are mentioned specifically in the land by Jesus speaking to go to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel".
5. In Matthew 4:13 "and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, with is by the sea, in the region of (10) Zebulun and (6) Naphtali."  Notice there is no scripture stating in the land "formerly settled by".
6. In Luke 2:26 "And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (8)."
7. In Acts 2:36 at the feast of Pentecost, Peter cries out "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain the God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified". 
8. In Acts 4:36 "And Joseph, a Levite (3) .. "
9. In Acts 26:7 where Paul is speaking to Agrippa: "the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain .."  If they were lost it was news to Paul.
10. In Romans 11:1, Paul speaking: "I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin (12)."
11. In Hebrews 8:8 "a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah (4)"
12. In James 1:1, James is a bond servant to Jesus Christ and to the twelve tribes "twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad greetings".  Note James says they are dispersed but not lost and James is sending greeting to them as James expects his writings to reach them.
13. In Philippians 3:5 ".. eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin (12)."
14. If specific Tribes moved, did the following generations forget their ancestry / genealogy? With exceptions from specific peoples taken from their homelands into slavery, most people have ideas of themselves being German, French, Chinese, Vietnamese, Scottish, Grecian, Ukrainian, Ethiopian, Dutch, Nigerian, Venezuelan, Brazilian, etc.
15. In Ezekiel 36, 37, there is the Dry Bones vision of Israel re-gathered in the land.
16. If God names 12,000 from 12 tribes in Revelation chapter 12 then they are not lost in God's viewpoint.

144,000 Virgin Men of 12 tribes in the Book of Revelation

In the Book of Revelation there is a wonderful reference to 144,000 men who will have a special role in the Tribulation Period.  An important point to note is the men are virgin sons and not daughters*, and there are twelve tribes referenced.  The tribes of Dan and Ephraim are omitted from the list. 

• The 144,000 Witnesses will have a mark on their foreheads from God, so that nothing can hurt them while they are on their mission. 
• They are receiving divine protection from God so that they cannot be hurt or killed by the Antichrist and the Antichrist's forces.  
• They will not necessarily originate from the geographical location of Israel.  There will be many who live or start their mission while already being in many other places in the world.

The mission of the 144,000 Jewish "Evangelist" Witnesses, is to spread the good news of Jesus Christ as the Savior of the World.  Many people will be Saved during that period of time.  

All 14 tribes have representatives who make it into the 1,000 year millennium kingdom from the scriptural references in Ezekiel 48 so this means that Dan and Ephraim will have members of their tribes going into that period. 

Regarding the two Tribes not mentioned in the 144,000 Jewish Witnesses.  Biblical Scholars have suggested:

1. The Tribe of Dan is left out of the protection because of the evidence based on the history of the tribe being the first to let in idolatry along with not participating in military actions when they were expected.
2. The Tribe of Ephraim led other tribes in the northern part of Israel briefly against King David and then later under Jeroboam they divided the nation into two kingdoms.  Note that the members of the tribe of Ephraim may be actually included because the Tribe of Joseph is mentioned, where the Holy Spirit chose to not name Ephraim as a sort of penalty from the actions in history.

An additional point by this author is to notice that these 144,000 have a mark (a seal) on them.  This author's theory, which I haven't seen anywhere else, is the mark is exactly the same to what Cain had that protected him from harm and also reminded Cain that he was still loved by God where Cain could exercise Faith because of the mark to not be harmed or killed, which was a type of being "sealed" like the 144,000.

* There is and have been a few religious groups that deny and claim many things that are contradictory to the Scriptures.  One of the groups claim that initially all of their members were part of the 144,000 which included men, women, children, married people and definitely not virgins if they were married with children.  This group had no proof of Jewish Tribal Lineage and also could not prove they were there to oppose the Antichrist in the last three and half years of the Tribulation Period.

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