Some English speaking Jewish groups view the pronunciation, English transcription, and Hebrew spelling, of the tribal names to be extremely important; these transcriptions and spellings are as follows: Origin of the Tribes According to the Torah, each tribe was descended from one of the twelve eponymous sons of Jacob, apart from two tribes (Manasseh and Ephraim) whose eponymous founders were the sons of Joseph, the remaining son of Jacob. However, the biblical account is viewed by Biblical scholars as an aetiological postdiction rather than as history, and neglects to acknowledge changes in the membership of the tribal confederation. The changing form of the Israelite confederation is, according to textual and biblical scholars, evident from the variation in the treatment and appearance of each tribe between various Biblical passages. In particular is the text of three biblical poems - the Song of Deborah, Blessing of Jacob, and Blessing of Moses - with the Song of Deborah being the oldest and Blessing of Moses the youngest. Comparison between these three, archaeology, and other passages, raises several points: - The tribes which later became the Kingdom of Judah (Judah and Simeon) are unmentioned in the oldest poem, and when Simeon does appear it is as a scattered group, rather than a clear territorial entity. A majority of archaeologists have concluded from their findings that the territory occupied by these tribes was little more than a rural backwater compared with the remainder of Canaan, too insignificant for the remaining tribes to form a confederation with, until well after the 9th century BC.
- The Levites are not mentioned by the oldest poem; also, the parts of the Torah attributed by textual scholars to the Elohist, seem to treat Levite as a descriptive attribute for someone particularly suited to the priesthood, rather than as the designator of a tribe, and refers to Moses and Aaron as part of the Joseph group rather than being part of a tribe called Levi. Jahwist passages have more ambiguous language; traditionally interpreted as referring to a person named Levi they could also be interpreted as just referring to a social position titled levi. In the Blessing of Jacob (later than the Song of Deborah), Levi is treated as a tribe, cursing them to become scattered; scholars regard this as an aetiological postdiction to explain how a tribe could be so scattered, the simpler solution being that the priesthood was originally open to any tribe, but gradually became seen as a distinct tribe to themselves. In the Priestly Source and Blessing of Moses, which textual scholars view as originating centuries later, the Levites are firmly established as a tribe, and the only tribe with the right to be priests.
- Although Machir and Gilead, as individuals, are described in biblical genealogies as father and son, and as son and grandson of Manasseh, in the Song of Deborah Machir and Gilead are treated as the names of tribes which are different to one another. Additionally, Manasseh is noticeable by its absence from the poem; in the Elohist and Jahwist texts Manasseh is also frequently absent, while Machir is clearly mentioned. Though there is a temptation to conclude that Machir is simply used in these passages as an older or alternative name for the tribe of Manasseh, in the Book of Numbers Machir is described as conquering a region named Gilead, and settling there, thus could only account for the eastern half tribe, and doesn't account for why Gilead is portrayed in the poem as a seperate group to Machir.
The biblical genealogy The biblical genealogy of the tribes splits them into groups: - The Leah tribes - those said to descend from Leah
Northern group - Reuben, Zebulon, Issachar - Southern group - Judah, Simeon
- Levi
- The Joseph tribes - those said to descend from Rachel - Manasseh, Ephraim, Benjamin (the first two of which form the house of Joseph)
- The handmaid tribes
- Bilhah group (said to descend from Bilhah) - Dan, Naphtali
- Zilpah group (said to descend from Zilpah) - Gad, Asher
According to biblical scholars, the biblical genealogy reflects an attempt to determine the source of Israelite tribal structure after the fact, rather than reflecting the true origin. The handmaid tribes thus were those which the genealogy's authors felt had a sense of otherness, not being of entirely Israelite origin, hence being described as descending from handmaidens rather than actual wives. It is worth noting that the territory of the handmaid tribes happens to be the territory closest to the north and eastern borders of Canaan; they were the most exposed to Israel's immediate enemies - Assyria and Aram. A number of biblical scholars additionally suspect that the Joseph tribes are differentiated from the Leah tribes because the Joseph tribes (including Benjamin) represent a second migration of Israelites to Israel, later than the Leah tribes. According to this view, the story of Jacob's visit to Laban to obtain a wife began as a metaphor for the second migration, with Jacob's new family, possessions, and livestock, obtained from Laban, being representations of the new wave of migrants, and with Jacob's prior residence in Canaan being a later insertion into the story. It is notable that according to textual scholars, the passages of this narrative which were written by the earlier sources - the Jahwist and Elohist - do not mention Bilhah or Zilpah, who are only mentioned in the later Priestly Source, and that the Jahwist passages don't even mention Leah, but instead only recount Jacob as having met Rachel. According to those scholars who regard the Joseph tribes as a later addition to the Israelites, it was only the Joseph tribes which went to Egypt and returned, while the Leah tribes emerged as a subculture from the Canaanites who remained in Canaan throughout. Foreign Gods From the point of view of textual scholars, Asher is quite indistinct as a tribe, having unclear geographic boundaries to the extent that it is uncertain whether Asher even had continuous territory . Sites which according to the bible were allocated to Asher, whose locations have since been identified, appear to be a distribution of settlements rather than a compact and well-defined tribal region. Asher appears, throughout its history, to have been fairly disconnected from the other tribes of Israel, and seems to have taken little part in the antagonism portrayed in the Bible between the Canaanites and the other tribes; as a result, scholars generally conclude that Asher consisted of certain clans that were affiliated with portions of the Israelite tribal confederation, but were never incorporated into the body politic. In the biblical etymology, Asher is explained as meaning happy, however, biblical scholars disagree as to whether the name originates from an external or Canaanite source; the name is cognate with that of the chief Assyrian deity Asshur. A group named Aseru, which were living to the west of Galilee, in the 14th century BC, is mentioned in Egyptian monuments of the period; though it is probable that the name of Asher derives from these Aseru, it is inconvenient for a literalist interpretation of the Bible under the traditional Biblical chronology, as it places Asher in Canaan before the Israelites left Egypt. In these features, Gad, the full brother to Asher in the biblical genealogy, shares some similarities. Lands declared to be part of Gad in some parts of the text, such as Dibon, are declared to belong to other tribes, in other parts of the text; similarly the boundaries are inconsistent between parts of the text, and Gilead variously includes Gad and doesn't. Furthermore, the Mesha Stele (also known as the Moabite Stone) seemingly differentiates between the kingdom of Israel and the tribe of Gad, presenting Gad as predating Israel in the lands east of the Jordan River. Sea peoples The tribe of Dan is suspected by some biblical scholars to have evolved from the Denyen, one of the groups of Sea Peoples; thus the reason that in the time period in which the Book of Judges is set, the Song of Deborah describes the tribe of Dan as residing in ships, and another narrative describes how the tribe were without a fixed abode until they conquered Laish (Dan). The Philistines are also regarded by scholars as having been one of the Sea Peoples, specifically the Peleset, and so the particular enmity between the Philistines and Dan, as portrayed in the narrative of Samson, could simply be one in which each group views the other as traitors. In a similar vein to the etymological link between the term Philistine and the term Peleset, Denyen is thought by some scholars to be the origin of the name Dan, the biblical etymology being a later guess at the name's origin. Origin and development of the Israelites Main article: History of ancient Israel
Main article: Babylonian exile According to the account in the book of Genesis, the term Israelite refers to their descent from Jacob, a patriarch who was renamed Israel by God, though biblical scholars believe that the term has more to do with the matriarch Sarah, wife of Abraham, whose name is cognate with Israel; Israel is the theophory of Isra in El, and in Hebrew, roots are triconsonantal, the roots of Isra and Sarah both being S-R-A. The Israelites are traditionally regarded as being the same as the Hebrews, since many passages in the Bible appear to make the equation, but textual scholars disagree as the term Hebrews only begins to be used in relation to the band of outlaws lead by David; the similarly named Habiru, attested in various ancient records, who may or may not be the Hebrews, appear to be a group wandering outlaws of mixed ethnicity. The Torah portrays the Israelites as originating as the descendants of Jacob, the grandson of Abram (later renamed Abraham by God) from Ur Kasidim (which most scholars believe refers to Ur, in Sumeria. see Sumer); the text then goes on to state that all of the Israelites migrated to ancient Egypt, but were later enslaved there, until they eventually escaped and conquered Canaan, destroying the Canaanite culture that was there and replacing it with their own. However, due to a continuation of many archaeological elements of Canaanite culture in the Israelite era, lack of evidence for a systematic conquest, and lack of any abrupt appearance of new culture, some archaeologists believe that the Israelites simply arose as a subculture within Canaanite society. The Books of Samuel indicate that the Israelites eventually came to be governed by a United Monarchy, but just a few generations later split into two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Israel in the north, and Kingdom of Judah in the south. In the narrative, even during the United Monarchy, there are frequently civil wars between the forces of Israel and those of Judah, with the United Monarchy being represented only by one of these two, and modern archaeological discoveries have indicated that there were always two distinct cultural divisions between the north and the south, roughly corresponding to the borders of Israel and Judah, with the south being very much the weaker and less significant of the two; in consequence a number of biblical scholars have concluded that the United Monarchy is a fiction. The Kingdom of Israel was obliterated in the 720s BC, by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser V and then under Sargon II, who after conquering the land destroyed Samaria, its capital, and according to the bible deported most of the occupants into exile, with the southernmost tribe - Benjamin - managing to survive by joining the Kingdom of Judah; Assyrian chronicles of the time report that only a small number of people were deported. Assyrian policy was for the deportees to be scattered and assimilated into the Assyrian empire, and as a result the deported tribes lost their cultural identity, becoming traditionally known as the Ten Lost Tribes (although there were only 9 - Reuben, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Ephraim - or 8 if Manasseh and Ephraim are counted as one). The Kingdom of Judah survived until 586 BC, when Judah was conquered by Babylon [ ], who ransacked Jerusalem [] , killed the heirs of the King of Judah before his eyes, gouged out the king's eyes so that would be the last thing he saw, and then deported the population into Babylonian exile. Modern descent Several groups claim to be the true descendants of various Israelite tribes. Mainstream Judaism In 539 BCE, the Persians (who had recently conquered Babylon) issued an edict (as inscribed on the Cyrus cylinder) allowing deportees to return to their homeland. Later Ezra was sent there and empowered to rebuild the Temple, and enforce a form of religion, which became Judaism, as according to the book he had in his hand; many textual scholars suspect that Ezra was the individual who redacted together the differing accounts and sources of the Torah into a single text (the Torah). By the end of this era, the returned deportees were culturally of a single common identity rather than a collection of multiple tribes, though the tribe of Levi maintained a distinction in accordance with their religious role. Modern Jews thus see themselves as descendants of the Israelite tribes that returned from Babylon. Samaritans Samaritans, once comparatively large, but now a very small ethnic and religious group (not more than about 700 persons) living in the State of Israel and the West Bank, regard themselves as descendants of the tribes of Ephraim (named by them as Aphrime) and Manasseh (named by them as Manatch). Samaritans adhere to a version of the Torah, known as the Samaritan Pentateuch, which occasionally differs from the Masoretic text, and less so from the Septuagint, sometimes in important ways. Samaritans do not regard the Tanakh as an accurate or truthful history, regard only Moses as a prophet, have their own unique version of Hebrew, and do not regard themselves as part of Judaism. Since 539 BCE, many Jews have rejected outright the claims of the Samaritans to have descent from Ephraim and Manasseh, though some regard them as another sect of Judaism. Karaites Mainstream Judaism regards both the Tanakh and an Oral Law (codified and recorded in the Mishnah and Talmuds) as the foundation of their religion, morality, and other laws. Karaite Judaism are those who regard the Tanakh as scripture, but reject the Oral Law; the consequences, for example, being that Karaites do not require adherents to wear Tefillin in any form, but do require tekhelet in their Tzitzit, in contradistinction to Halakha. There are approximately 50,000 adherents of Karaite Judaism, most of whom reside in the modern state of Israel, but exact numbers are not known, as most Karaites have not participated in any religious censuses. Like the Samaritans, the division between themselves and Mainstream Judaism goes back many hundreds of years. Rastafarians Rastafarians believe that the black races are the true Israelites. They interpret the Bible as implying that Haile Selassie was the returned (Jewish) messiah, who would lead the world's peoples of African descent into a promised land of full emancipation and divine justice (The term Rastafarian comes from Haile Selassie's personal name - Tafari - and rank before becoming emporer - Ras); its important to note that Haile Selassie himself was not Rastafarian, and remained an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian. One Rastafarian sect, named The Twelve Tribes of Israel, imposes a metaphysical astrology whereby Aries is Reuben, Aquarius is Joseph, etc. With his famous early reggae song The Israelites Desmond Dekker immortalised the Rastafarian concept of themselves as the Children of Israel. Messianic Judaism Messianic Judaism considers Jesus as the Messiah, but regards itself as Jewish rather than Christian; Messianic Judaism comes in several forms, some of which accept core doctrines of Christianity and/or Judaism, and some which do not or only in degrees. It is frequently lead by individuals who ethnically are Jewish, but many individuals who are not ethnically Jewish also attend the synagogues and meeting places of Messianic Judaism, especially those embracing the Two House Movement. Ethnic Jews would clearly have the same descent as ethnic Jews in mainstream Judaism, as both are ethnically Jewish, but those adherants of Messianic Judaism who are not ethnically Jewish consider themselves as grafted in to the tribes of Israel, thus regarding themselves as Jewish and/or Israelite, in a similar way to how the descendants of Caleb and those of Ruth (great grandmother of King David) are treated by the Bible as being Jewish, despite both Caleb and Ruth not originally being Jewish by ethnicity. The relationship of Messianic Judaism to other forms of Judaism is sometimes politicised; the Southern Baptist Convention and the Assemblies of God movement actively encourage and aid the establishment of new Messianic Judaism congregations, as part of their efforts to evangelize to and convert the Jewish people. Anti-Semitic Groups A number of groups claim to be the only true Israelites. These groups, such as the British-Israel-World Federation, generally do not recognize the validity of Jews, or any other group that claims Israelite descent. Mainstream historians, as well as religious and secular authorities, dismiss the claims of such groups, since they behave in a manner openly hostile to Jews and Judaism, believing that they supersede them. The Ten Lost Tribes are those from the northern Kingdom of Israel who were deported by the Assyrians in the 8th century BC to Khorason. In Jewish popular culture, the ten tribes disappeared from history, leaving only the tribes of Benjamin and Judah and Levi who evolved into the modern day Jews. According to the Hebrew Bible, after the civil war in the time of Solomon's son Rehoboam, ten tribes split off to create the northern Kingdom of Israel. These were the nine landed tribes: Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and Gad, and some of Levi 1 which had no land allocation. The Bible makes no reference at this point to the tribe of Simeon, and we might conjecture the author had in mind that that tribe had already disappeared due to the curse of Jacob. Judah, the southern kingdom, had Jerusalem as its capital and was led by King Rehoboam. It was populated by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (and also some of Levi and remnants of Simeon). In 722 BC, the Assyrians (under Shalmaneser and then under Sargon II) conquered Israel (the northern kingdom), destroyed its capital Samaria and sent the Israelites into exile and captivity in Khorason, now part of eastern Iran and western Afghanistan. Whatever the historical origin of the Israelite tribes, each tribe had a distinct identity inherited from one's father as recently as 722 BC, when the Assyrians conquered the northern Kingdom of Israel and sent its populace into exile. Individual tribes intermarried extensively throughout history. Many Israelites from the northern kingdom (Kingdom of Israel) fled to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. At this point in time the tribes living in the Kingdom of Judah melded into a single people from all the Israelite tribes. In 586 BC the nation of Judah was conquered by Babylon. About 50 years later, in 539 BC the Persians (who conquered Babylon) allowed Jews to move back to Jerusalem. By the end of this era, members of the tribes seem to have abandoned their individual identities. Today's Jews are mostly descended from the Israelites of Judah, and thus are often identified as Israelites. Note that over time many people married with the descendants of the Israelites. The number of converts is not trivial, but not so large as to swamp out the origin. It is thus fair to say that Jews today are descendants of those Israelites who lived in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, along with many converts who joined them. One should take note of the historical debate over the accuracy of the Bible's account of the origin of the Israelites, discussed more fully in the entry on the History of ancient Israel and Judah. Writing of Hungary in the 1920s and 1930s, Stephen Roth writes, "The word 'Israelite' denoted only religious affiliation and was free from the ethnic or national conotation attached to the word 'Jew', which Jews in Hungary therefore regarded almost as a derogatory term." [Roth, 1992, 132] Some modern religions maintain that its followers are "Israelites" or "Jews" although the meaning of these claims differs widely. Some outside traditional practice of the Law of Moses (see also: Halakha) and with no proven historical connection to the Israelites believe themselves to be the modern descendants and inheritors of the Israelites. Such groups include the Latter-day Saints, adherents of British Israelism and even some anti-semitic groups. Samaritans are a very small ethnic group (not more than about 700 persons) and religious sect living in the State of Israel and the West Bank with many beliefs in common with Judaism. They accept the canonization of the five books of the Torah and the Book of Joshua (but no other books), and that the only prophet is Moses. They also preserve their own unique form of Hebrew, and regard themselves as the descendants of Aphrime (Ephraim) and Manatch (Manasseh). Many regard them as a sect of Judaism, but they regard themselves as distinct from Jews, and do not refer to themselves as Jews. Messianic Judaism is a sect which accepts the core doctrines of Christianity, and stresses adherence to some precepts of the Torah, a feature of Judaism. It is comprised of mostly gentile adherents, although some ethnic Jews have joined the movement. Many of its non-Jewish converts believe they have been "grafted in" to the tribes of Israel, thus, that they are "Jewish". Karaite Judaism, relies on the Tanakh as the sole scripture and rejects the Oral Law (the Mishnah and the Talmuds). It does not require its adherents to wear Tefillin in any form, wear Tzitzit, etc. There are approximately 50,000 adherents of Karaite Judaism, most of whom reside in Israel. However, exact numbers are not known, as most Karaites have not participated in any religious censuses. Like the Samaritans, the division goes back many hundreds of years. References and notes - http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/bamidbar/coh.html "How Fair Are Your Tents, O Jacob", Dr. Gabriel H. Cohen, Bar-Ilan University
- Numbers 10:12-28
- https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/atlas.html; Semino, et al, “Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E and J: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in the Mediterranean Area.” Am J Hum Genet. 2004 May; 74(5).
- Behar, DM; Thomas MG, Skorecki K, Hammer MF, Bulygina E, Rosengarten D, Jones AL, Held K, Moses V, Goldstein D, Bradman N, Weale ME (2003). "Multiple Origins of Ashkenazi Levites: Y Chromosome Evidence for Both Near Eastern and European Ancestries". Am. J. Hum. Genet. 73: 768–779.
- Hammer, M. F.; Karl Skorecki, Sara Selig, Shraga Blazer, Bruce Rappaport, Robert Bradman, Neil Bradman, P.J. Waburton, Monic Ismajlowicz (January 2 1997). "Y Chromosomes of Jewish Priests". NATURE, Volume 385. Article may be retrieved here
- Tacitus: Histories: Book 5
- Richard Elliott Friedman, Who wrote the Bible
- as of 2006
- Guide to LDS scriptural references on Israel
- ibid
- Isaiah 2:2-4, 11:10-13
- ibid
See also: History of ancient Israel, Lost Tribes of Israel, sons of Jacob |