Bibliography
| Title: The lists of the twelve tribes of Israel Type: Generic Year: 1990 Abstract: "There are twenty-eight lists of the sons of Jacob/tribes of Israel in the OT. Only the list in Numbers 2 is repeated (in Numbers 7 and 10). Every other list presents a different order of the names. In many instances, these lists also differ in the number and selection of the names. There are six lists in the ancient versions that differ in order from their counterparts in the MT. Eleven lists with unique orders are found in various extrabiblical works (T. 12 Patr., Jubilees, 11QTemple, Philo, Josephus, and Biblical Antiquities). The one NT list in Rev 7:5-8 has yet another order. There are various lists of gemstones associated directly or indirectly with the tribes. Each of these differs from the others in the order, number, and selection of names. The critical study of the scholarly work done on the lists (Chapter One) and the literary analysis of the OT texts of the lists (Chapters Two through Seven) find that (1) in no instance is the order of the tribes in any list accidental or haphazard; (2) the lists do not give evidence of the rising and falling political and social fortunes of the tribes (the tribal-history theory); (3) the differing orders are not evidence of changing memberships in an amphictyony of tribes in the period of the Judges; (4) the lists respond entirely to literary phenomena. In nongeographical lists, these factors are: (1) the birth order and maternal origin established by the JE birth narrative in Gen 29:31-30:24; 35:16-18; (2) the requirements of the narrative in which the list occurs (e. g., the author's theological interests and literary skill); (3) literary dependence on another biblical list. In some geographical lists, the locations of the tribes in Pelestine, as reflected in Josh 13:15-19,51, are decisive for order. Other geographical orders are dependent on their contexts. These same factors are also shown to have influenced the lists in the ancient versions and extrabiblical literature (Chapters Eight through Eleven) and in Rev 7:5-8 (Chapter Twelve). No correlation can be drawn between an individual tribe and a specific gemstone or between either of these and a sign of the zodiac." Keywords: Jewish History: Old Testament Period |