the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Tribes
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or Tribes—the name of the great groups of families into which the Israelitish nation, like other Oriental races, was divided. The modern Arabs, the Bedouins, and the Berbers, and also the Moors on the northern shores of Africa, are still divided into tribes. The clans in Scotland are also analogous to the tribes of the ancient Israelites. In Genesis 49 the tribes are enumerated according to their progenitors; viz.,
Reuben, the first-born;
Simeon, and
Levi, instruments of cruelty;
Judah, whom his brethren shall praise;
Zabulon, dwelling at the haven of the sea;
Issachar, the strong;
Dan, the judge;
Gad, whom a troop shall overcome, but who shall vanquish at last;
Asher, whose bread shall be fat;
Naphtali, giving goodly words;
Joseph, the fruitful bough;
Benjamin, the wolf:
all these were originally the twelve tribes of Israel. In this enumeration it is remarkable that the subsequent division of the tribe of Joseph into the two branches of Ephraim and Manasseh, is not yet alluded to. After this later division of the very numerous tribe of Joseph into the two branches of Ephraim and Manasseh had taken place, there were, strictly speaking, thirteen tribes. It was, however, usual to view them as comprehended under the number twelve, which was the more natural, since one of them, namely, the caste of the Levites, did not live within such exclusive geographical limits as were assigned to the others after they exchanged their nomadic migrations for settled habitations, but dwelt in towns scattered through all the other twelve tribes. Concerning the arrangement of these tribes on their march through the wilderness, in their encampments around the ark, and in their occupation of the land of Canaan, see the cognate articles, such as Exodus, Encampments, Genealogy, Levites, Wandering, and the names of the several tribes.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Tribes'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/t/tribes.html.
