Fromm
www.catholic-resources.org And here are the notes for the listsNotes on Each Passage:
Gen 29:31–30:24 and 35:16-20 - the births of the first eleven sons are mentioned in chronological order, along with the meanings of their names; the last son, Benjamin, is born significantly later.
Gen 35:22-26 - briefly lists the names of the 12 sons of Jacob, grouped by their respective mothers: Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah.
Gen 46:8-27 - lists the 70 members of Jacob’s extended family who went to live in Egypt: Jacob’s sons (grouped by their mothers: Leah, Zilpah, Rachel, Bilhah), along with their sons and even a few grandsons; aside from the mothers, only three other women are named (Leah’s daughter Dinah, Asher’s daughter Serah, and Joseph’s Egyptian wife Asenath); the total is 70, “not counting the wives of Jacob’s sons” (46:26)
Gen 49:1-27 - just before dying, Jacob blesses his twelve sons with various words, in a slightly different order than the previous lists.
Exod 1:1-5 - a brief list of “the sons of Israel” who migrated to Egypt; the same order as Gen 35:22-26, except that Joseph is mentioned last, because he “was already in Egypt.”
Num 1:5-15 - a brief list of leading men, one from each tribe, who are to assist Moses and Aaron in taking a census of all the Israelites; for the first time, Ephraim and Manasseh are listed separately for the descendents of Joseph; the tribe of Levi is omitted, as explained at the end of the chapter.
Num 1:20-46 & 47-54 - the completed census, reporting the number of fighting-age men in each tribe; curiously, Gad is now listed third, but otherwise the order is the same as the previous list; vv. 47-54 explain that the Levites were not to be included in the census, since they have a special responsiblity for the Tabernacle.
Num 2:3-29 - the arrangement of the encampment in the desert is prescribed: three on each side (E, S, W, N), with the Levites and the meeting tent in the middle; the four camps are named after Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan, with two other tribes associated with each one, respectively.
Num 7:1-88 - after the Tabernacle is set up, the leaders of the twelve tribes present offerings, one each on twelve consecutive days, in the same order as listed in 2:3-29, except that the introduction mentions the Levites as the ones receiving the offerings brought by all the other tribes.
Num 10:11-28 - the Israelites break camp in a very orderly fashion, identical to Num 2:3-29 except for the position of the Levites: the camp of Judah (with their 2 associated tribes) goes first, then the Gershon and Merari clans of Levites carry the Tabernacle, then the camp of Reuben; at midpoint, the Kohath clan of Levites carries the sacred objects for the Tabernacle, followed by the camps of Ephraim and Dan.
Num 13:4-15 - twelve men, one from each tribe except Levi, are chosen to reconnoiter the land of Canaan; the order is similar to Num 1:5-15, with two minor reversals.
Num 26:5-50 - a second census of fighting-age men is reported in the same order as the first census (Num 1:20-46), except for the reversal of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, both of which are still explicitly identified as the descendants of Joseph.
Num 34:19-28 - after the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh are settled on the East side of the Jordan river, one leader from each of the remaining 9-1/2 tribes is to work with Eleazar (priest) and Joshua (new leader after Moses) to apportion among themselves the land of Canaan (West of the Jordan).
Deut 27:12-13 - Moses says that six tribes “shall stand on Mount Gerizim to pronounce blessings over the people,” while the other six tribes “shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses”; the list includes both Levi and Joseph, but the order is different than any previous text.
Deut 33:1-29 - just before his death, Moses blesses eleven of the tribes of Israel; the order is totally unfamiliar, and curiously Simeon is omitted.
Josh 13–19 - the division of the Promised Land among the twelve tribes is described in detail, beginning briefly with the 2-1/2 tribes East of the Jordan (Reuben, Gad, and 1/2 of Manasseh), followed by greater detail about the 9-1/2 tribes West of the Jordan.
Josh 21:4-8 - each of the tribes of Israel gives several cities to the Levites, in four divisions: the Kohathite descendants of Aaron (from Judah, Simeon & Benjamin); the other Kohathite clans (from Ephraim, Dan & half-Manasseh); the Gershonite clans (from Issachar, Asher, Naphtali & half-Manasseh); the Merarite clans (from Rueben, Gad & Zebulun).
1 Chr 2:1-2 - a brief list of the 12 sons of Israel; similar to the order of Gen 35:22-26, except that Dan is placed before Joseph (why?).
1 Chr 2–7 - very long genealogies covering the time span from the patriarchs down to the Babylonian exile; the tribe of Judah is covered first and in greatest detail (ch. 2-3; because of King David and the Chronicler’s own Judean context); ch. 4 covers the southern tribes: Judah (again!) & Simeon; ch. 5 the 2-1/2 eastern (Transjordan) tribes; 5:27–6:66 the various Levite clans; 7:1-40 most of the other northern tribes, but only briefly and omitting Zebulun (why?).
1 Chr 12:24-38 - thousands of soldiers from each tribe assemble at Hebron to swear allegiance to David as the new King; the tribe of Judah is first and the 2-1/2 Transjordan tribes are last, but the rest is in an order different from anything prior (why?)
1 Chr 27:16-22 - a brief list of 13 (!) leaders of the tribes of Israel at the time of King David; Levi and Aaron are curiously listed separately, as are the eastern and western halves of Manasseh, but Gad and Asher are omitted (why?)
Ezek 48:1-29 - an idealized division of the land among the tribes of a New Israel, with seven tribes in the north, the tribe of Levi administering a sanctuary and sacred city in the middle, and the remaining five tribes in the south.
Ezek 48:30-34 - the new sacred city has twelve gates named after the twelve sons of Jacob, three on each side (N, E, S, W)
Rev 7:5-8 - the only list in the New Testament of the twelve tribes; John hears that 144,000 Israelites have been “sealed” for salvation, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes; this list curiously lists both Manasseh and Joseph (but not Ephraim), and omits Dan (why?).