“The Sons of Jacob”

Sunday, August 11, 2024

God labels the gates of the New Jerusalem, symbolic of both the church and of heaven, with “the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel” (Re 21.12).

Reuben

You’d expect Jacob’s firstborn to be a natural leader, and the most favored.  Reuben was not.  He raised frail objections to his brothers’ hateful plans to dispose of Joseph (Ge 37-21-22), and long before that, he “went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine.” (Ge 35.22).  On his deathbed, Jacob was still upset about this (Ge 49.4).  Reuben’s descendants settled on the east side of the Jordan.

Simeon

After his sister Dinah was raped, Simeon “came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males” (Ge 34.25), including the rapist and his father.  Jacob was furious about this.  Simeon’s descendants settled in the south of Israel, and their land eventually was absorbed by the tribe of Judah—as Jacob predicted in Genesis 49.7.

Levi

Levi acted alongside Simeon in the events surrounding Dinah’s rape.  Practically nothing else is recorded about him, but among his descendants were Moses and Aaron, and therefore the priesthood.  The tribe inherited no cohesive territory, but had cities all over Israel, and the sole right and responsibility to serve at the tabernacle and temple.

Judah

The fourth son of Leah pushed to sell Joseph, rather than killing him.  Whether this came from brotherly affection or greed is not told (Ge 37.26-27).  He later treated his daughter-in-law so badly that she seduced him and humiliated him in order to get some relief.  Yet, over the course of the family’s dealings with Joseph in Egypt, he emerged as the de facto leader of his brothers.  He was ready to sacrifice his own freedom in order to save Benjamin from slavery, and spare Jacob the loss of another son, and his growth was rewarded.  Jesus descended from Judah.

Dan

Born to Rachel’s servant Bilhah on Rachel’s behalf, Dan is otherwise unknown.  Jacob said, “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path” (Ge 49.17), which was reflected in a mass murder perpetrated by Dan’s descendants in Judges 18, combined with the tribe’s general apostasy.

Naphtali

Bilhah’s other son receives even less attention in the Bible.  Even about Naphtali’s descendants very little is known except that they settled in the northern parts of Israel.

Gad

Once again, nearly nothing is known about Gad, except that he was born to Zilpah, on Leah’s behalf.  Gad’s descendants settled on the east side of the Jordan, and included some especially adept warriors (1Ch 12.14). 

Asher

Zilpah’s other son likewise receives almost no attention in the Bible.  His progeny settled on the northern coast, near the Phoenicians.  Jacob predicted, “Asher’s food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies” (Ge 49.20), which suggests they became entangled with these seafaring Canaanites and indulged in the material gains brought by commerce.

Issachar

The birth of Leah’s fifth son is an interesting, if odd, story in Genesis 30.  Continuing the pattern, almost nothing else is known of him, but his tribe settled in the south of the region later called Galilee.  A few leaders came from this tribe, but little is known about them, too.

Zebulun

The sixth and final son of Leah is another whose life story is unknown.  His descendants settled next to the tribe of Issachar.

Joseph

Finally, a son for Rachel!  Joseph’s brothers resented the favor Jacob showed him, and sold him as a slave, yet he ended up ruling Egypt, by God’s providence.  While the tribe of Judah was given hegemony, Joseph got the firstborn’s double portion in the inheritance.  The tribes descended from Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph’s two sons, each got a generous allotment of land, in the center of Israel and east of the Jordan. 

Benjamin

As she lay dying, Rachel named Jacob’s final son Ben-oni—“son of my pain.”  Jacob vetoed his favorite wife’s last wish, and instead called the child Ben-jamin—“son of the right hand,” associated with strength and blessing.  Both names seem appropriate.  The boy was sheltered by his father, until he found himself at the center of the drama when his family went to Joseph for food.  His descendants settled just north of Judah’s territory, and were nearly exterminated by the other tribes in an overreaction to horrible sins committed by Benjaminites.  Among Benjamin’s descendants were Saul—the first king of Israel—as well as Saul—the last Apostle of Jesus.  They were known as formidable warriors, and had plenty of opportunity to prove it.

§

Many of our earthly expectations are subverted in the stories of the twelve sons of Jacob.  Those who rose to prominence are generally not the one’s we’d expect, and some of the most prominent are also guilty of the worst sins!  It all serves to illustrate God’s ways.  The Father told Moses,

“I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”

(Exodus 33.19)

And his Son tells us,

“behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

(Luke 13.30)

Jeremy Nettles

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