1.
Twelve Tribes of Israel
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The Twelve Tribes of Israel or Tribes of Israel were the tribes said by the Hebrew Bible to have descended from the patriarch Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons and at least one daughter by two wives and two concubines, according to the biblical tradition, the twelve sons fathered the twelve tribes of Israel. Before his death, Jacob blessed or foretold the destiny of each of his sons and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. The confederation of tribes lived in the midst of the nationalities who continued to occupy Canaan. Modern scholarship has called into question the beginning, middle, the account of the conquest under Joshua has largely been abandoned. The Bibles depiction of the period of the Judges is widely considered doubtful, the extent to which a united Kingdom of Israel ever existed is also a matter of ongoing dispute. Living in exile in the sixth century BC, the prophet Ezekiel has a vision for the restoration of Israel which will include the ideal reallotment of the land to the tribes of Israel. In the Christian New Testament, the tribes of Israel are referred to twice in the gospels. In Matthew, paralled by Luke, Jesus anticipates that in the Kingdom of God, His followers will sit on thrones, israelites Leaders of the tribes of Israel Ten Lost Tribes The Twelve Tribes at the Jewish Encyclopedia The Twelve Tribes of Israel at the Jewish Virtual Library
2.
Tribe of Reuben
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According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Reuben was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. From after the conquest of the land under Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in c.1050 BC, no central government existed, and in times of crisis the people were led by ad hoc leaders known as Judges. According to the Book of Chronicles, Adina and thirty Reubenites aided David as members of his mighty warriors in conquering the City of David. However, on the accession of Rehoboam, Davids grandson, in c.930 BC the northern tribes split from the House of David to reform a Kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom. Reuben was a member of the kingdom until the kingdom was conquered by Assyria in c.723 BC, from that time, the Tribe of Reuben has been counted as one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. According to Kenneth Kitchen, following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BC, however, almost all scholars have abandoned the idea that Joshua carried out a conquest of Canaan similar to that described in the Book of Joshua. In the case of the Tribes of Reuben, Gad and Menasheh, Moses allocated land to them on the side of the Jordan River. On that basis, some have suggested that the territory of Reuben was an enclave in the territory of Gad. According to the Torah, the tribe consisted of descendants of Reuben, the first son of Jacob, however, Peakes commentary viewed this as a postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation. The territory of Reuben encapsulated the territory of the kingdom of Sihon. As part of the Kingdom of Israel, the territory of Reuben was conquered by the Assyrians, and the tribe exiled, Israel The Making of the Pentateuch This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Easton, Matthew George
3.
Tribe of Simeon
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According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Simeon was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. In the biblical account, following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes, kenneth Kitchen, a well-known conservative biblical scholar, dates this event to slightly after 1200 BCE. However, the view of modern scholars is that the conquest of Joshua as described in the Book of Joshua never occurred. Simeon was one of the significant tribes in the Kingdom of Judah. With Leah as a matriarch, scholars believe the tribe to have been regarded by the authors to have been part of the original Israelite confederation. According to this narrative, the tribe of Judah invited the tribe of Simeon to fight them in alliance to secure each of their allotted territories. Further verses state that about 500 men from the tribe migrated to Mount Seir, according to the Midrash, many families in the other Israelite tribes were descended from women from Simeon, which had been widowed from their original Simeonite husbands. Simeon was one of the strongest tribes during the wandering in the desert and its symbol is that of a gate representing the city of Shechem. This seeming contradiction can be explained in the following way, the tribe of Simeon, like Levi, was decreed to be scattered throughout as punishment for massacring Shechem. Levi was scattered throughout all of Israel whereas Simeon was scattered in towns only within Judah, in the Blessing of Jacob, this punishment appears to be prophesied, with the tribe being predicted to become divided and scattered. Nevertheless, an apocryphal midrash claims that the tribe was deported by the Babylonians to the Kingdom of Aksum, to a place behind the dark mountains
4.
Tribe of Levi
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The Tribe of Levi is one of the tribes of Israel, traditionally descended from Levi, son of Jacob, or high priest of the Israelites. Moses and his brother, Aaron, were descendants of the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi served particular religious duties for the Israelites and had political responsibilities as well, in return, the landed tribes were expected to give tithe to the Cohanim, particularly the tithe known as the Maaser Rishon. They performed the work in the Temple, the Levites who were not Cohanim played music in the Temple or served as guards. Notable descendants of the Levite lineage according to the Bible include Miriam, John the Baptist, Samuel, Ezekiel, Ezra, the descendants of Aaron, who was the first kohen gadol, high priest, of Israel, were designated as the priestly class, the Kohanim. The tribe is named after Levi, one of the sons of Jacob. Levi had three sons, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, kohaths son Amram was the father of Miriam, Aaron and Moses. The descendants of Aaron, the Kohanim, had the role as priests in the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The remaining Levites were divided into three groups, Gershonites, Kohathites, and Merarites, each division filled different roles in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple services. Levites principal roles in the Temple included singing Psalms during Temple services, performing construction and maintenance for the Temple, serving as guards, Levites also served as teachers and judges, maintaining cities of refuge in Biblical times. The Book of Ezra reports that the Levites were responsible for the construction of the Second Temple and also translated and explained the Torah when it was publicly read. During the Exodus the Levite tribe were particularly zealous in protecting the Mosaic law in the face of those worshipping the Golden Calf and they are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting. And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, Considerest thou not what people have spoken, saying. Jeremiah 33, 22-24 The prophet Malachi also spoke of a covenant with Levi, Know then that I have sent this commandment unto you, that My covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace, and I gave them to him, and of fear, and he feared Me, and was afraid of My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips, he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, but who may abide the day of his coming. And who shall stand when he appeareth, the Levites are not mentioned by the Song of Deborah considered one of the oldest passages of the Bible. Jahwist passages have more language, traditionally interpreted as referring to a person named Levi they could also be interpreted as just referring to a social position titled levi
5.
Tribe of Judah
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According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Judah was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel. According to the account in the Book of Joshua, following a partial conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes. Judahs divinely ordained portion is described in Joshua 15 as encompassing most of the portion of the Land of Israel, including the Negev. However, the consensus of scholars is that the conquest of Joshua as described in the Book of Joshua never occurred. According to the narrative in the Book of Judges, the tribe of Judah invited the tribe of Simeon to fight them in alliance to secure each of their allotted territories. As is the case with Joshua, many scholars do not believe that the book of Judges contains reliable history. In Samuels account, after the death of Saul, all the other than Judah remained loyal to the House of Saul. The Book of Kings follows the expansion and unparalleled glory of the United Monarchy under King Solomon, a majority of scholars believe that the accounts concerning David and Solomons territory in the united monarchy are exaggerated, and a minority believe that the united monarchy never existed at all. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the House of David and these tribes formed the Kingdom of Judah, which existed until Judah was conquered by Babylon in c.586 BCE and the population deported. When the Jews returned from Babylonian exile, residual tribal affiliations were abandoned, bethlehem and Hebron were initially the main cities within the territory of the tribe. In biblical times, this region was subdivided into three sections – the wilderness of En Gedi, the wilderness of Judah, and the wilderness of Maon. The hill country – the elevated plateau situated between the Shephelah and the wilderness, with rocky slopes but very fertile soil and this region was used for the production of grain, olives, grapes, and other fruit, and hence produced oil and wine. According to the Torah, the tribe consisted of descendants of Judah, some Biblical scholars view this as an etiological myth created in hindsight to explain the tribes name and connect it to the other tribes in the Israelite confederation. With Leah as a matriarch, Biblical scholars regard the tribe as having been believed by the authors to have been part of the original Israelite confederation. As depicted by the Deuteronomists and post-exilic writers, the tribe of Judah was the tribe of the Kingdom of Judah. David and the line belonged to the tribe, and the line continued after the fall of the Kingdom of Judah in the Exilarchs. The traditional Jewish belief was that the Messiah would be of the Davidic line, indeed, many of the Jewish leaders and prophets of the Hebrew Bible claimed membership in the tribe of Judah. For example, the literary prophets Isaiah, Amos, Habakkuk, Joel, Micah, Obadiah, Zechariah, and Zephaniah, all belonged to the tribe
6.
Tribe of Dan
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The Tribe of Dan, meaning, Judge, was one of the tribes of Israel, according to the Torah. They were allocated a portion of land when the people of Israel entered the Promised Land. According to the Torah, the tribe consisted of the descendants of Dan, in the biblical account, Dan is one of the two children of Bilhah, the handmaid of Jacobs wife Rachel, the other child of Bilhah being Naphtali. Scholars see this as indicating that the authors saw Dan and Naphtali as being not of entirely Israelite origin. Some have noted that the territory of the handmaid tribes happens to be the territory closest to the north and eastern borders of Canaan, thus exposing them to Assyria and Aram. In the Biblical census of the Book of Numbers, the tribe of Dan is portrayed as the second largest Israelite tribe. Some textual scholars regard the census as being from the Priestly Source, dating it to around the 7th century BC, and more likely to reflect the biases of its authors. According to the narrative, following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE. Dan was the last tribe to receive its territorial inheritance, the land originally allocated to Dan was a small enclave in the central coastal area of Canaan, between Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and the Philistines. On the north the territory of Dan ended opposite Joppa, the modern Jaffa and this territory, not very extensive originally, was soon diminished by its dangerous neighbors, the Philistines. The tribe was able to camp in the hill country overlooking the Sorek Valley. The region they were trying to settle extended south into the Shephelah in the area of Timnah, as a result, the modern state of Israel refers to the region as Gush Dan. From after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the first united Kingdom of Israel in c.1050 BC, no central government existed, and in times of crisis the people were led by ad hoc leaders known as Judges. The most celebrated Danite was Samson, a Danaite judge from the period of settlement in the lands allotted by Joshua, pnina Galpaz-Feller sees similarities between the story of Samson and Denyen tribal legends. Thus their territory in the end lay northeast of that of Naphtali, east of the upper Jordan River, near its eastern sources, a number of biblical texts thus refer to All Israel, from Dan to Beersheba. However, on the accession of Rehoboam, Davids grandson, in c.930 BC the northern tribes split from the House of David to re-form a Kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom. As part of the Kingdom of Israel, the territory of Dan was conquered by the Assyrians, and exiled, the manner of their exile led to their further history being lost. Simon Magus, also known as Simon the Sorcerer, and Simon the Magican, came from the village of Gitta in Samaria, according to Justin Martyr, a site settled by the tribe of Dan according to Josephus
7.
Tribe of Naphtali
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The Tribe of Naphtali was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. In the biblical account, following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes, kenneth Kitchen, a well-known conservative biblical scholar, dates this event to slightly after 1200 BCE. However, the view of modern scholars is that the conquest of Joshua as described in the Book of Joshua never occurred. The most significant city was Hazor, from after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in c.1050 BC, the Tribe of Naphtali was a part of a loose confederation of Israelite tribes. No central government existed, and in times of crisis the people were led by ad hoc leaders known as Judges. However, on the accession of Rehoboam, Davids grandson, in c.930 BC the northern tribes split from the House of David to reform a Kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom. In c.732 BCE, Pekah allied with Rezin, king of Aram, threatened Jerusalem, and Ahaz, king of Judah, appealed to Tiglath-Pileser III, the king of Assyria, for help. After Ahaz paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser, Tiglath-Pileser sacked Damascus and Israel, annexing Aram, according to 2 Kings 16,9 and 15,29, the population of Aram and the annexed part of Israel was deported to Assyria. The kingdom of Israel continued to exist until c.723 BC, when it was invaded by Assyria. From that time, the Tribe of Naphtali has been counted as one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, according to the Torah, the tribe consisted of descendants of Naphtali, a son of Jacob and Bilhah, from whom it took its name. However, Biblical scholars view this as a postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation, militarism is featured in Naphtalis history. In the Blessing of Jacob, which textual scholars date to 700-600 BC - and thus a postdiction, Naphtali is compared to a hind let loose, and commended for giving goodly words. Centuries later, the Assyrians invaded Israel, which, though it had been a tributary, had also defaulted, with the land taken, the tribe were exiled, the manner of their exile led to their further history being lost. The symbol of the tribe is a very quick animal. The people of Naftali were famous for being great runners, there has been speculation that the Bukharian Jews of Central Asia are the descendants of the Naphtali tribe. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Easton
8.
Tribe of Gad
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According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Gad was one of the tribes of Israel who, after the Exodus from Egypt, settled on the eastern side of the Jordan River. From after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in c.1050 BC, no central government existed, and in times of crisis the people were led by ad hoc leaders known as Judges. However, on the accession of Rehoboam, Davids grandson, in c.930 BC the northern tribes split from the House of David to reform a Kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom. Gad was a member of the kingdom until the kingdom was conquered by Assyria in c.723 BC, from that time then, the Tribe of Gad has been counted as one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE, however, in the case of the Tribes of Gad, Reuben and Menasheh, Moses allocated land to them on the eastern side of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. The Tribe of Gad was allocated a region to the east of the River Jordan, according to the Torah, the tribe were descendants of Gad the seventh son of Jacob, from whom it took its name. However, some Biblical scholars view this also as a postdiction, furthermore, 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. These details seems to indicate that Gad was originally a nomadic tribe. Though initially forming part of the Kingdom of Israel, from the biblical account it appears that under Uzziah and Jotham the tribe of Gad joined with the kingdom of Judah instead. The manner of the led to the further history of the tribe being lost
9.
Tribe of Asher
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According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Asher was one of the Tribes of Israel. According to the biblical Book of Joshua, following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes, according to biblical scholar Kenneth Kitchen, this conquest should be dated slightly after 1200 BC. However, the consensus of scholars is that the conquest of Joshua as described in the Book of Joshua never occurred. The Blessing of Moses appears to prophesy this allocation, although textual scholars view this as a postdiction. From after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in c.1050 BC, no central government existed, and in times of crisis the people were led by ad hoc leaders known as Judges. On the accession of Rehoboam, Davids grandson, in c.930 BC the northern tribes split from the House of David to reform a Kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom. Asher was a member of the kingdom until the kingdom was conquered by Assyria in c.723 BC, from that time, the Tribe of Asher has been counted as one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. In the New Testament, Anna the prophetess and her father, critical 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. According to the Torah, the tribe consisted of descendants of Asher the fourth son of Jacob, critical scholars view this as an eponymous metaphor. A group named Aseru, living in a region to Asher in the 14th century BC, are mentioned in Egyptian monuments of the period. Identification with the tribe of Asher is plausible according to views that place the Exodus at the end of the Hyksos period and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Easton, Matthew George
10.
Tribe of Zebulun
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According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Zebulun was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes in the Book of Joshua, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes. According to the Torah, the tribe consisted of descendants of Zebulun, some Biblical scholars, however, view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation. With Leah as a matriarch, Biblical scholars believe the tribe to have been regarded by the authors as a part of the original Israelite confederation. In the ancient Song of Deborah, Zebulun are described as sending to the battle those that handle the sopher shebet, the Tribe of Zebulun plays an important part in the early history of Israel. At the census of the tribes in the Desert of Sinai during the year of the Exodus. This army, under the command of Eliab the son of Helon, encamped with Judah and Issachar east of the Tabernacle, among the spies sent by Moses to view the land of Canaan, Gaddiel the son of Sodi represented Zebulun. At Shittim, in the land of Moab, after 24,000 men were slain for their crime, elizaphan the son of Parnach was chosen to represent Zebulun at the division of the Promised Land. During the rule of Joshua it received no special mention. e, such as recruiting and inspecting officers. The reference is to Baraks campaign against Sisera, the commander of the forces of Jabin and they answered the call of Gideon and joined in battle against Madian, and gave to Israel Elon, who judged it ten years. When Hezekiah made reparation for the abominations of his father Ahaz, at the division of the land of Israel among the seven tribes not yet provided for, the lot of Zebulun was third. The tribes territory started with Sarid, which is supposed to have been Tel Shadud, zebuluns boundaries have not been made out. The historian Josephus assigns to Zebulun the land near to Carmel, to its northwest lay Asher, to the southeast Issachar. It included a part of the Jezreel Valley, and the highway from the sea to the lake. Within the territory of Zebulun, Jesus was raised, and did and said much that is narrated in the Gospels, especially in the Synoptics, about his Galilean ministry. As part of the Kingdom of Israel, the territory of Zebulun was conquered by the Assyrians, and the tribe exiled, israeli Knesset member Ayoob Kara speculated that the Druze are descended from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, probably Zevulun. Kara stated that the Druze share many of the same beliefs as Jews, Zebulun Tribe of Issachar This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Easton, Matthew George. Media related to Tribe of Zebulun at Wikimedia Commons
11.
Tribe of Manasseh
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According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Manasseh was one of the Tribes of Israel. Together with the Tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh also formed the House of Joseph, no central government existed, and in times of crisis the people were led by ad hoc leaders known as Judges. However, on the accession of Rehoboam, Davids grandson, in c.930 BC the northern tribes split from the House of David to reform a Kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom. Manasseh was a member of the kingdom until the kingdom was conquered by Assyria in c.723 BC, from that time, the Tribe of Manasseh has been counted as one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, though some groups claim descent from the tribe. The Bible records that following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes, according to biblical scholar Kenneth Kitchen, this conquest should be dated slightly after 1200 BCE. However, the consensus of scholars is that the conquest of Joshua as described in the Book of Joshua never occurred. In c.732 BCE, Pekah, king of Israel allied with Rezin, king of Aram, ahaz, king of Judah, appealed to Tiglath-Pileser III, the king of Assyria, for help. The population of these territories were taken captive and resettled in Assyria, the diminished kingdom of Israel was again invaded by Assyria in 723 BCE and the rest of the population deported. The riverine gulch, naḥal Ḳanah, divided Ephraims territory in the south from Manassehs territory in the north, the modern Israeli town of Karnei Shomron is built near this gulch, which runs in an easterly-westerly direction. According to the Torah, the tribe consisted of descendants of Manasseh, here the blessing of the first son was conferred by a grandfather rather than by the father, despite prevailing custom. From this it is regarded that originally Ephraim and Manasseh were considered one tribe - that of Joseph. As part of the Kingdom of Israel, the territory of Manasseh was conquered by the Assyrians, and the tribe exiled, however, several modern day groups claim descent, with varying levels of academic and rabbinical support. The Samaritans claim that some of their adherents are descended from this tribe, from 2006 to 2012 Richard Hewitt presented several essays at academic conferences in Kyrgyzstan linking the Kyrgyz hero Manas son of Jakyp to biblical Manasseh son of Jacob. Hewitt also visited Dr. Milui Lenthang Khuplam of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo, additionally, Manasseh is absent from the poem, in the Elohist texts Manasseh is also frequently absent, while Machir is mentioned. Additionally Machir is described as settling on the east of the Jordan, critical scholars argue that the two halves had different origins noting that in the Book of Chronicles that the western half tribe and eastern half tribe historically had separate tribal rulers. Joseph This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Easton
12.
Tribe of Ephraim
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According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Ephraim was one of the Tribes of Israel. The Tribe of Manasseh together with Ephraim also formed the House of Joseph, the etymology of the name is disputed. According to the Bible, the Tribe of Ephraim is descended from a man named Ephraim and this Ephraim is recorded as the son of Joseph, the son of Jacob. The descendants of Joseph formed two of the tribes of Israel, whereas each of the sons of Jacob was the founder of only one tribe. The Bible records that the Tribe of Ephraim entered the land of Canaan during its conquest by Joshua, however, almost all scholars have abandoned the idea that Joshua carried out a conquest of Canaan similar to that described in the Book of Joshua. From Joshua to the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel, no central government existed, and in times of crisis the people were led by ad hoc leaders known as Judges. With the growth of the threat from Philistine incursions, the Israelite tribes decided to form a strong centralised monarchy to meet the challenge, the Tribe of Ephraim joined the new kingdom with Saul as the first king. The widely accepted date for Sauls reign is approximately 1025-1005, some scholars dispute this date range and place Saul later, perhaps as late as the second half of the tenth century B. C. E. After the death of Saul, the Bible records all the other than Judah remained loyal to the House of Saul. However, on the accession of Rehoboam, Davids grandson, in c.930 BCE the northern tribes split from the House of David to form the northern Kingdom of Israel. The first king of the kingdom was an Ephraimite, Jeroboam. Ephraim was a member of the Northern Kingdom until the kingdom was conquered by Assyria in c.723 BCE, from that time, the Tribe of Ephraim has been counted as one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Ephraim is often seen as the tribe that embodies the entire Northern Kingdom, in the biblical account, following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes. Kenneth Kitchen, a conservative biblical scholar, dates this event to slightly after 1200 BCE. However, the view of modern scholars is that the conquest of Joshua as described in the Book of Joshua never occurred. The region later named Samaria consisted mostly of Ephraims territory, the area was mountainous, giving it protection, and also highly fertile, giving prosperity, The territory of Ephraim contained the early centers of Israelite religion - Shechem and Shiloh. These factors contributed to making Ephraim the most dominant of the tribes in the Kingdom of Israel, Bethel was allocated by Joshua to the Tribe of Benjamin. However, even by the time of the prophetess Deborah, Bethel is described as being in the land of the Tribe of Ephraim, ephron is believed to be the Ophrah that was also allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin by Joshua
13.
Tribe of Benjamin
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According to the Torah, the Tribe of Benjamin was one of the Tribes of Israel descended from Benjamin, the youngest son of the patriarch Jacob and his wife Rachel. In the Samaritan Pentateuch the name appears as Binyamīm, from after the conquest of the promised land by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel, the Tribe of Benjamin was a part of a loose confederation of Israelite tribes. No central government existed, and in times of crisis the people were led by ad hoc leaders known as Judges, almost the entire tribe of Benjamin, women and children included, was wiped out by the other Israelite tribes after the Battle of Gibeah. The text refers several times to the Benjaminite warriors as men of valour despite their defeat, a remnant of the tribe was spared, those few who remained were allowed to marry women of another town, whose husbands had been killed, to enable the tribe to continue. Responding to a threat from Philistine incursions, the Israelite tribes formed a strong. The first king of this new entity was Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin and he reigned from Gibeah for 38 years. On the accession of Rehoboam, Davids grandson, in c.930 BCE the northern tribes split from the House of David to reform a Kingdom of Israel. The tribe of Benjamin remained a part of the Kingdom of Judah until Judah was conquered by Babylon in c.586 BCE, some scholars believe that it instead originates from the tribe having the figure of a wolf in its standard. In Jewish Rabbinic literature, the Tribe of Benjamin is believed to correspond to the Hebrew month of Kislev, however, an abrupt change of character to one of placidity occurs in the text after a traumatic incident for the tribe. Six hundred of the men from the tribe of Benjamin survived by hiding in a cave for four months, the other Israelite tribes were grieved at the near loss of the tribe of Benjamin. They decided to allow these 600 men to carry on the tribe of Benjamin,400 virgin women from the tribe of Machir we found and given in marriage to the Benjaminite men. They then grabbed a wife each and took her back to their land, according to the Hebrew Bible, following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes. Kenneth Kitchen dates this conquest to just after 1200 BCE, however, according to the consensus of modern scholars, the conquest as described in the book of Joshua did not occur. Modern Israeli scholars have identified most of the mentioned in the Book of Joshua. The Babylonian Talmud names three of these cities, all of which were enclosed by a wall, and belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, Lydda, Ono. Presumably, the boundary of the tribe of Benjamin would have stretched as far as the Mediterranean Sea. It is now an abandoned Arab village, the word Lifta is merely a corruption of the Hebrew name Nephtoah, and where a natural spring by that name still abounds. Though Jerusalem was in the allocated to the tribe of Benjamin
14.
Israelites
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The Israelites were a Semitic-speaking people of the ancient Near East, who inhabited a part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods. The ancient Israelites are considered to be an outgrowth of the indigenous Canaanite populations that inhabited the Southern Levant, Syria, ancient Israel. In the period of the monarchy it was only used to refer to the inhabitants of the northern kingdom. The Israelites were also known as the Hebrews and the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the Jews are named after and also descended from the southern Israelite Kingdom of Judah, particularly the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and partially Levi. The word Jews is found in 2 Kings, Chronicles, and in passages in the Book of Jeremiah, the Book of Zechariah. The Kingdom of Israel, often called the Northern Kingdom of Israel, contained all the tribes except for the tribes of Judah, following its conquest by Assyria, these ten tribes were allegedly dispersed and lost to history, and they are henceforth known as the Ten Lost Tribes. Jewish tradition holds that Samaria was so named because the mountainous terrain was used to keep Guard for incoming enemy attacks. According to Samaritan tradition, however, the Samaritan ethnonym is not derived from the region of Samaria, thus, according to Samaritan tradition, the region was named Samaria after them, not vice versa. In Modern Hebrew, the Samaritans are called Shomronim, while in Samaritan Hebrew they call themselves Shamerim, in Judaism, an Israelite is, broadly speaking, a lay member of the Jewish ethnoreligious group, as opposed to the priestly orders of Kohanim and Levites. In texts of Jewish law such as the Mishnah and Gemara, the term יהודי, meaning Jew, is rarely used, Samaritans commonly refer to themselves and to Jews collectively as Israelites, and they describe themselves as the Israelite Samaritans. The name Israel first appears in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 32,29, the Hebrew Bible etymologizes the name as from yisra to prevail over or to struggle/wrestle with, and el, God, the divine. The name Israel first appears in non-biblical sources c.1209 BCE, the inscription is very brief and says simply, Israel is laid waste and his seed is not. The inscription refers to a people, not to an individual or a nation-state, in modern Hebrew, bnei yisrael can denote the Jewish people at any time in history, it is typically used to emphasize Jewish religious identity. From the period of the Mishna the term Yisrael acquired a narrower meaning of Jews of legitimate birth other than Levites. In modern Hebrew this contrasts with the term Yisraeli, a citizen of the modern State of Israel, the term Hebrew has Eber as an eponymous ancestor. It is used synonymously with Israelites, or as a term for historical speakers of the Hebrew language in general. Today, Jews and Samaritans both recognize each other as communities with an authentic Israelite origin, the terms Jews and Samaritans largely replaced the title Children of Israel as the commonly used ethnonym for each respective community. The name Yahweh, the god of the later Israelites, may indicate connections with the region of Mount Seir in Edom, the Canaanites were also the first people, as far as is known, to have used an alphabet
15.
Ten Lost Tribes
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The ten lost tribes were the ten of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel that were said to have been deported from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire circa 722 BCE. Claims of descent from the lost tribes have proposed in relation to many groups. The motif of the lost tribes first appeared in the era. In the 7th and 8th centuries CE, the return of the lost tribes was associated with the concept of the coming of the messiah, recorded history is at variance with the legends elaborated in apocryphal texts. Zvi Ben-Dor Benite states, The fascination with the tribes has generated, alongside ostensibly nonfictional scholarly studies, anthropologist Shalva Weil has documented differing tribes and peoples claiming affiliation to the Lost Tribes throughout the world. Some DNA studies have refuted any connection between modern-day ethnic Jews and most of the ethnic groups proposed as possible Lost Tribe candidates, for example, a recently published study into the genetic origins of Japanese people does not support a genealogical link. The Scriptural basis for the idea of 10 Lost Tribes is 2 Kings 17,6, In the ninth year of Hoshea and he settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes. According to the Hebrew Bible, Jacob had 12 sons and at least one daughter by two wives and two concubines, the twelve sons fathered the twelve Tribes of Israel. When the land of Israel was apportioned among the tribes in the days of Joshua, however, the tribe of Levi were given cities. Six cities were to be refuge cities for all men of Israel, three of these cities were located on each side of the Jordan River. In addition,42 other cities, totaling 48 cities, were given to the Tribe of Levi, Jacob elevated the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh to the status of full tribes in their own right, replacing the Tribe of Joseph. Each received its own land and had its own encampment during the 40 years of wandering in the desert, nine landed tribes formed the Northern Kingdom, the tribes of Reuben, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim and Manasseh. In addition, some members of Tribe of Levi, who had no land allocation, were found in the Northern Kingdom, the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Rehoboam, and formed the Kingdom of Judah. Members of Levi and the remnant of Simeon were also found in the Southern Kingdom, according to 2 Chronicles 15,9, members of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon fled to Judah during the reign of Asa of Judah. Whether these groups were absorbed into the population or remained distinct groups, people from these tribes, including the Reubenite leader, were taken captive and resettled in the region of the Khabur River system in Assyria/Mesopotamia. Tiglath-Pilesar also captured the territory of Naphtali and the city of Janoah in Ephraim, according to 2 Kings 16,9 and 15,29, the population of Aram and the annexed part of Israel was deported to Assyria. Many also fled south to Jerusalem, which appears to have expanded in size fivefold during this period, requiring a new wall to be built, and a new source of water to be provided by King Hezekiah. 2 Kings 17,34 says of the newly exiled Israelites that were in Assyria and they neither worship Yahweh nor adhere to the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands that Yahweh gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel
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Jews
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The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
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Samaritans
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The Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant originating from the Israelites of the Ancient Near East. Samaritans used to include descendants who ascribed to the Benjamin tribe, in the Talmud, a central post-exilic religious text of Rabbinic Judaism, the Samaritans are called Cutheans, referring to the ancient city of Kutha, geographically located in what is today Iraq. In the Biblical account, however, Kuthah was one of cities from which people were brought to Samaria. Genetically, modern Samaritan populations are found to have greater affinity genetically to Jews than to neighbouring Palestinian Arabs. This suggests that the Samaritans remained an isolated population. The Samaritans are adherents of Samaritanism, a closely related to Judaism. The Samaritans believe that Mount Gerizim was the original Holy Place of Israel from the time that Joshua conquered Canaan, once a large community, the Samaritan population appears to have shrunk significantly in the wake of the bloody suppression of the Samaritan Revolts against the Byzantine Empire. Conversion to Christianity under the Byzantines also reduced their numbers, conversions to Islam took place as well, and by the mid Middle Ages Benjamin of Tudela estimated only around 1,900 Samaritans remained in Palestine and Syria. As of January 1,2015, the population was 777, most Samaritans in Holon and Qiryat Luza today speak Hebrew and Arabic. Hebrew and later Aramaic were languages in use by the Jewish, Samaritans have a standalone religious status in Israel, and there are occasional conversions from Judaism to Samaritanism and vice-versa due to marriages. One example is Israeli TV personality Sofi Tsedaka, who converted to Rabbinic Judaism at the age of 18. Samaritans with Israeli citizenship are obligated to undertake service in the Israel Defense Forces. There is conflict over the etymology of the name for the Samaritans in Hebrew and this has accompanied controversy over whether the Samaritans are named after the geographic area of Samaria, or whether the area received its name from the group. This distinction is controversial in part because different interpretations can be used to justify or deny claims of ancestry over this region, Biblical Hebrew Šomerim ) Guardians comes from the Hebrew Semitic root שמר, which means to watch, guard. Historically, Samaria was the key geographical concentration of the Samaritan community, thus, it may suggest the region of Samaria is named after the Samaritans, rather than the Samaritans being named after the region. In Modern Hebrew, the Samaritans are called Shomronim, which would appear to mean inhabitants of Samaria. This is a politically sensitive distinction, according to Samaritan tradition, Mount Gerizim was the original Holy Place of the Israelites from the time that Joshua conquered Canaan and the tribes of Israel settled the land. The two mountains were used to symbolize the significance of the commandments and serve as a warning to whoever disobeyed them
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Historicity of the Bible
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This can be extended to the question of the Christian New Testament as an accurate record of the historical Jesus and the Apostolic Age. Many fields of study span the Bible and history, such fields range from archeology and astronomy to linguistics, Archaeological discoveries since the 19th century, like any evidence, is open to interpretation. But broadly speaking, they support to some of the Old Testaments historical narratives. The Bible exists in multiple manuscripts, none of them autographs, the early discussions about the exclusion or integration of various apocryphes involve an early idea about the historicity of the core. The Ionian Enlightenment influenced early patrons like Justin Martyr and Tertullian - both saw the texts as being different than the myths of other religions. Augustine was aware of the difference between science and scripture and defended the historicity of the biblical texts e. g. against claims of Faustus of Mileve. According to Barstad, to burden the Bible with our views of truth is not only anachronistic. Instead, the Bible should not be treated differently from historical sources from the ancient world. To determine the accuracy of a manuscript, textual critics scrutinize the way the transcripts have passed through history to their extant forms. The higher the volume of the earliest texts, the greater the textual reliability, multiple copies may also be grouped into text types, with some types judged closer to the hypothetical original than others. Differences often extend beyond minor variations and may involve, for instance, interpolation of material central to issues of historicity and doctrine, the meaning of the term history is itself dependent on social and historical context. Paula McNutt, for instance, notes that the Old Testament narratives do not record history in the sense that history is understood in the twentieth century. The past, for biblical writers as well as for readers of the Bible, has meaning only when it is considered in light of the present. Even from the earliest times, there was an awareness that parts of the scriptures could not be interpreted as a strictly consistent sequence of events, the Talmud cites a dictum ascribed to the third-century teacher Abba Arika that there is no chronological order in the Torah. During the modern era, the focus of Biblical history has also diversified, the project of biblical archaeology associated with W. F. A special challenge for assessing the historicity of the Bible is sharply differing perspectives on the relationship between history and theological meaning. We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on creation and he had earlier been effectively excommunicated by the rabbinical council of Amsterdam for his perceived heresies. By the end of the 19th century the scholarly consensus was that the Pentateuch was the work of authors writing from 1000 BCE to 500 BCE
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Ensign
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Ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern of the ship, the naval ensign, used on warships, may be different from the civil ensign or the yacht ensign. Large versions of naval ensigns called battle ensigns are used when a warship goes into battle, the ensign differs from the jack which is flown from a jackstaff at the bow of a vessel. In its widest sense, an ensign is just a flag or other standard, the European military rank of ensign, once responsible for bearing a units standard derives from it. In contrast, the Arab rank of ensign, liwa, derives from the command of a unit or units with an ensign, not the carrier of such a units ensign, and is a general officer. In Arab armies, ensign is a title equivalent to a Western brigade. In nautical use, the ensign is flown on a ship or boat to indicate its appartenance, while this includes its nationality, it may well indicate more information rather than being the national flag itself. This is particularly common for commonwealth and European countries, ensigns are usually at the stern flagstaff when in port, and may be shifted to a gaff or mast amidships when the ship is under way, becoming known as a steaming ensign. Vexillologists distinguish three varieties of a national flag used as an ensign, A civil ensign is worn by merchant. In some countries the yacht ensign, used on boats or ships instead of merchant vessels. A state ensign or government ensign is worn by government vessels, a naval ensign is used by a countrys navy. Such ensigns are strictly regulated and indicate if the vessel is a warship, a merchant ship, several Commonwealth countries national flags had their origin in the ensigns of their original colonising power, the United Kingdom. Most notable of these flags are those of Australia, New Zealand. It is also likely that the original design from which the flag of the United States developed was strongly influenced by the British Red Ensign or the flag of the East India Company. With the creation of independent air forces and the growth in aviation in the first half of the 20th century. These may be divided into air force ensigns and civil air ensigns, in heraldry, an ensign is the ornament or sign, such as the crown, coronet, or mitre, borne above the charge or arms. Distinguishing mark Maritime flag Znamierowski, Alfred, the world encyclopedia of flags, The definitive guide to international flags, banners, standards and ensigns
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The Exodus
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The Exodus is the founding, or etiological, myth of Israel, its message is that the Israelites were delivered from slavery by Yahweh and therefore belong to him through the Mosaic covenant. The historicity of the story continues to attract attention. The Exodus has been central to Judaism, many of modern biblical scholars hold the opinion that the Torah, or Pentateuch was shaped in the post-exilic period. In either case, the Book of Exodus is a myth for Israel, Israel was delivered from slavery by Yahweh. The final form of the Pentateuch was based on earlier written and these have left traces in over 150 references throughout the Bible. The earliest traces of earlier traditions are in the books of prophets Amos and Hosea. In contrast, Proto-Isaiah and Micah, both of whom were active in Judah at much the same time, show no similar traces and it thus seems reasonable to conclude the Exodus tradition was important in the northern kingdom in the 8th century BCE, but not in Judah. The exodus is remembered daily in Jewish prayers and celebrated each year at the feast of Passover, despite the Exodus story, a majority of scholars do not believe that the Passover festival originated as described in the biblical story. Jewish tradition has preserved national and personal reminders of this narrative in daily life. Such elements as could be fitted into the 2nd millennium could equally belong to the 1st, so while a few scholars, notably Kenneth Kitchen and James K. According to Exodus 12, 37–38, the Israelites numbered about six hundred men on foot, besides women and children, plus many non-Israelites. Numbers 1,46 gives a more precise total of 603,550 men aged 20 and it is difficult to reconcile the idea of 600,000 Israelite fighting men with the information that the Israelites were afraid of the Philistines and Egyptians. The 600,000, plus wives, children, the elderly, marching ten abreast, and without accounting for livestock, they would have formed a line 150 miles long. The entire Egyptian population in 1250 BCE is estimated to have been around 3 to 3, some have rationalised the numbers into smaller figures, for example reading the Hebrew as 600 families rather than 600,000 men, but all such solutions have their own set of problems. The chronology of the Exodus story likewise underlines its essentially religious rather than historical nature, the Torah lists the places where the Israelites rested. Attempts to date the Exodus to a century have been inconclusive. Jericho was small and poor, almost insignificant, and unfortified here was no sign of a destruction. William F. Albright, the leading biblical archaeologist of the century, proposed a date of around 1250–1200 BCE
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Linguistics
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Linguistics is the scientific study of language, and involves an analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in context. Linguists traditionally analyse human language by observing an interplay between sound and meaning, phonetics is the study of speech and non-speech sounds, and delves into their acoustic and articulatory properties. While the study of semantics typically concerns itself with truth conditions, Grammar is a system of rules which governs the production and use of utterances in a given language. These rules apply to sound as well as meaning, and include componential sub-sets of rules, such as those pertaining to phonology, morphology, modern theories that deal with the principles of grammar are largely based within Noam Chomskys ideological school of generative grammar. In the early 20th century, Ferdinand de Saussure distinguished between the notions of langue and parole in his formulation of structural linguistics. According to him, parole is the utterance of speech, whereas langue refers to an abstract phenomenon that theoretically defines the principles. This distinction resembles the one made by Noam Chomsky between competence and performance in his theory of transformative or generative grammar. According to Chomsky, competence is an innate capacity and potential for language, while performance is the specific way in which it is used by individuals, groups. The study of parole is the domain of sociolinguistics, the sub-discipline that comprises the study of a system of linguistic facets within a certain speech community. Discourse analysis further examines the structure of texts and conversations emerging out of a speech communitys usage of language, Stylistics also involves the study of written, signed, or spoken discourse through varying speech communities, genres, and editorial or narrative formats in the mass media. In the 1960s, Jacques Derrida, for instance, further distinguished between speech and writing, by proposing that language be studied as a linguistic medium of communication in itself. Palaeography is therefore the discipline that studies the evolution of scripts in language. Linguistics also deals with the social, cultural, historical and political factors that influence language, through which linguistic, research on language through the sub-branches of historical and evolutionary linguistics also focus on how languages change and grow, particularly over an extended period of time. Language documentation combines anthropological inquiry with linguistic inquiry, in order to describe languages, lexicography involves the documentation of words that form a vocabulary. Such a documentation of a vocabulary from a particular language is usually compiled in a dictionary. Computational linguistics is concerned with the statistical or rule-based modeling of natural language from a computational perspective, specific knowledge of language is applied by speakers during the act of translation and interpretation, as well as in language education – the teaching of a second or foreign language. Policy makers work with governments to implement new plans in education, related areas of study also includes the disciplines of semiotics, literary criticism, translation, and speech-language pathology. Before the 20th century, the philology, first attested in 1716, was commonly used to refer to the science of language
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Gilead
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Gilead or Gilaad, is the name of three persons and two geographic places in the Hebrew Bible. Gilead was a region east of the Jordan River divided among the tribes of Gad and Manasseh. It is also referred to by the Aramaic name Yegar-Sahadutha, which carries the meaning as the Hebrew. From its mountainous character, it is called the mount of Gilead, the name Gilead first appears in the biblical account of the last meeting of Jacob and Laban. It is called also the land of Gilead in many translations, as a whole, it included the tribal territories of Gad, Reuben, and the eastern half of Manasseh. In the Book of Judges, the thirty sons of the biblical judge Jair controlled the thirty towns of Gilead and it was bounded on the north by Bashan, and on the south by Moab and Ammon. Half Gilead was possessed by Sihon, and the half, separated from it by the river Jabbok, by Og. Abarim, Pisgah, Nebo, and Peor are its mountains mentioned in Scripture, Gilead mentioned in the Book of Hosea may refer to Ramoth-Gilead, Jabesh-Gilead, or the whole Gilead region. After king Sihon was defeated, the Tribe of Reuben, Tribe of Gad, Ammon and Moab sometimes expanded to include southern Gilead. King David fled to Mahanaim in Gilead during the rebellion of Absalom, Gilead is later mentioned as the homeplace of the prophet Elijah. King Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria says he established the province of Galazu, Gilead is also used to refer to the mountainous land extending north and south of Jabbok. It is used generally for the entire region east of the Jordan River. It corresponds today to the part of the Kingdom of Jordan. In Israeli Hebrew, גלעד is used as a given name and is often analysed as deriving from גיל happiness, joy and עד eternity, forever. The Hebrew Bible repeatedly mentions a balm in Gilead or balm of Gilead, references, There Is A Balm In Gilead is a traditional United States African-American spiritual. Gilead Sciences, an American biopharmaceutical company with a focus on antiviral drug development. The company name and logo are references to the Balm of Gilead In Edgar Allan Poes poem The Raven, — tell me — tell me, I implore. Balm in Gilead, American dramatist Lanford Wilsons first full-length play, centers on a café frequented by heroin addicts, prostitutes, in the novel The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, the United States has been replaced by a theocratic totalitarian nation, the Republic of Gilead
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Ephraim". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the