On 14 Feb 2024, I had outlined the spiritual significance of the birth-names of the tribes. In Genesis 48, 49, before Jacob dies, he gives a prophetic outline, which I now add:
From Leah (From La’ah – weary/impatient) with delicate (rakkoth) eyes (Gen 29:31-35)
1. Reuben – rabah saw + b’ani to my troubles:
The self indulgent folk with no family model
49:3 Reuben, firstborn, you are my endurance and my first might, superior dignity and superior strength. 4: Reckless as water, you are made not to remain for you had ascended to your father’s bed and had pierced my couch. He had ascended. Phew!
2. Simeon – shma heard + shnuah hated
3. Levi – lvah- attached to / joined
The angry violent religious folk
49:5: Brothers Simeon and Levi are vessels of violence and in their furnaces / stabbers . 6: My soul does not traverse their secret councils. My glory is not one with their assembly. For in their temper, they had slain a man and in their favour, they had uprooted an ox. 7: Cursed be their temper, for (it is) strong and their wrath for (it is) severe. I bisect them in Jacob. And I disperse them in Israel. Pause and think about that!
4. Judah (Odeh from Yada – cast on / praise).
The privileged folk
49:8: Judah, your brothers praise (yoduka) you. Your hand (yadeka) on nape of neck. Your enemies make themselves bow themselves to sons of your father. 9: Lion cub Judah, from torn-up-prey, my son, you had ascended. He had crouched and stretched out like a lion and like a lioness. Who makes him stand up? 10: A staff / tribe does not turn aside from Judah. And an inscription from between his feet till if he traverses Shiloh (tranquil -after-accomplishment, temporary resting place of ark Josh 18:1, Samuel ministered there 1 Sam 3:21, where God pitched His Tent amongst men Psalm 78:60, till the ark was taken into battle and Israel lost the ark to the Philistines 1 Sam 4:10, modern Kheirat Seilun has evidence of being destroyed 1050BC ) and for him is obedience of peoples 11: His vine-harnessed donkey (?is) his choice vine (soreq Isaiah 5:2, Jer 2:21), the son of a docile/female- donkey. He had washed his garment in wine and his robe in blood of grapes. 12: His eyes reddened from wine and his teeth whiter than milk.
From Bilhah (Rachel’s maidservant) (Gen 30:5-8)
5. Dan (Dani – God has judged my case – from dheen – justice).
The judgemental folk
49:16: Dan judges his people as one tribe in Israel. 17: Dan, be a serpent ( nakhas as in Gen 3:14) on a way, a horned viper (safifun from suf – to bruise Gen 3:15) on a path stinging a horse’s heel (akev Gen 3:15, also root of Yakov – Jacob, opportunist heel grabber). And his rider falls down afterwards/ backwards. 18: For Your Yshua I had waited, Yehoweh.
6. Naphtali – Nifal of Fathal (twisting) – with godly wrestling I am twisted/wrestled with my sister and have won (Gen 30:8). A despatched doe, the giver of beautiful sayings (49:21)
From Zilpah (Laban and then Leah’s maid servant Gen 30:9-12)
7. Gad – Good luck
The Raiders
49:19: Gad – a raider (gadud) raids (yigud) and he raids (yagid) a heel.
8. Asher – I am happy (from Ashar – to go ahead / advance)
The connoisseurs
49:20: From Asher, fatness (butter) for bread and he gives royal dainties.
From Leah again (Gen 30:17-21)
9. Issakhar – from Yiktol of sakar – this is God’s hire / wages (Gen 30:18).
Folk so laid back that they eventually are slave labour
49: 14: Issakhar, a donkey bone (? Lazy bone) lying resting between cattlestalls ( mishfah). 15: And he sees rest as good and the/ time of the land as pleasant. And he spreads out a shoulder to burden- bearing and he becomes a bond labourer. Pause and think about that!
10. Zebulun – from Zabal – dwell – with my 6th son, Jacob will now dwell with me.
Stay-home sea tradesmen
Zebulun dwells by sea coast, a haven for ships and his border till Tsidon (49:13).
{1} Dinah – from Dheen – to judge
From Rachel (ewe)
11. Joseph- from Yasaph – to add but also vs Asaph – to take away ‘kharaf’ (reproach) Gen 30:23,24.
The children of God and their generations
49:22: Joseph is a son of fruit-bearing (phari from which younger Ephraim’s name comes), a son of fruit-bearing. Over an eye / spring (ayin), daughters march over an obstructing-wall. 23: Lords of arrows are bitter to him and shoot arrows at him and hate him.
24: But the arms of his hand and his bow dwell in strength, and leap in the hands of the mighty one of Jacob.
From there, a shepherd, a rock of Israel 25: from God, your father. And He helps you. And in the/time of The-Almighty-destroyer (Shaddai) and He blesses you with blessings from heaven above, blessings from below, lying underneath, blessings of breast and womb.
26: Your Father’s blessings were greater than my conceived’s blessings. They happen to be on Joseph’s head till the utmost everlasting hills for a crown, prince of his brothers. Phew!
12. Benjamin – Son of right hand Ben + Yamin (Rachel dying in childbirth called him son of trouble – Benoni Ben + Aven Gen 35:18).
The lone wolf
49:27: Binyamin, a wolf at dawn, tears and eats prey and at dusk divides spoil.
These became 12 tribes in Numbers 1:4-16.
Ezekiel 48 then has two lists – one list is for the physical land of Israel with borders (1-30), and another list is for the 12 gates of the city (30-35):
Geographic tribal territories from north to south, with east-to-west latitudinal bands (starting from the north of Damascus to the coast), match the Genesis list:
Dan
Asher
Naphthali
Manasseh
Ephraim
Reuben
Judah
Place for a central sanctuary and Zadok
Levi
Place for a city called Yehoweh Shamma for all tribes including leaders and a house sanctuary surrounded by pasturelands and working suburbs
Benjamin
Simeon
Issachar
Zebulun
Gad
The 12 city gates (not geographically linked to their positions or lists, and Joseph and Levi replace Ephraim and Manasseh) are:
North gates:
Judah
Reuben
Levi
East gates:
Joseph
Benjamin
Dan
South gates:
Simeon
Issachar
Zebulun
West gates:
Gad
Asher
Naphthali
But Revelation 7:4-8 instead lists the tribes (Joseph and Levi replace Dan (not Manasseh as in Ezekiel) and Ephraim) as:
Judah
Reuben
Gad
Asher
Naphtali
Manasseh
Simeon
Levi
Issachar
Zebulun
Joseph
Benjamin
Why does the list in Revelation differ from the one in Numbers? The above are not the tribes of natural Israel, because there was never a tribe of Joseph, the tribes of Dan and Ephraim are not included in the list, and the Levites were set aside for service in the temple and were never considered one of the twelve tribes.
What is the possible spiritual significance of this?
The reference for non Jews is the (non-existent) tribe of Joseph – “added on” to the tribes of Israel.
But even elder Manasseh and younger Ephraim might tell us more about the typology:
11.1. Manasseh (for nashani – Piel perfect – Forgot) – because he forgot all his labour (amali) and all his father’s house Gen 41:51. But though older, Jacob chooses not to bless him as elder 48:17 and says though great, younger Ephraim will be greater 48:19.
11.2. Ephraim could be from apher – covered one or what Joseph says in Gen 41:52 from Hiphrani (Hifil of Phara – to make fruitful). 48:19 a greater people whose seed becomes the fullness of unbelieving nations though younger 48:20. 49:22 Jacob actually calls Joseph Ben-Phari, son of fruitfulness,
And so a tribe which was covered and made fruitful despite being younger, disappears and a previously nonexistent tribe is added on to replace it.
A tribe which did not “remember” its human works and adverse generational harm stayed.
(Both Ephraim (Telugu baptist jews from Kotha Reddy Palem, a village outside Chebrolu, Guntur district, and in Machilipatnam, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, Ezek 37) and Manasseh (Mizo, Chin, Kuki tribes) have been potentially identified for aliyah)
Prayer:
Lord, may we never depend on our works or lineage for our salvation. May we never consider our fruitfulness and Your blessings in our lives as a surrogate for salvation. We can only be saved if You add us to Your family through our Saviour, our Yshua. Amen.
Glossary of names:
Jacob Yakov from Aqev- prominent hind part / heel, crafty opportunist
Laban – white
Rebekah – Rivkah – fattened or strutted stall
Zilpah – fragrance droplet
Rachel (ewe)
Bilhah – troubled
Asenath (belonging to goddess neith) Joseph’s wife and daughter of Potipherah (priest of Rah)
Fig tree – Israel Is 66:8 Nation born in a day Matt 21:19 (early fruit comes before leaves – before the season)
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