The 12 Tribes of Israel!

BIBLICAL PERIOD

The Hebrew Bible - which, with the exception of some books, essentially coincides with the Christian Old Testament -- recounts the fundamental facts of the history of the Jewish people, from the transcendental moment of their election and covenant with God. The Jews divide their Bible into three parts: the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Neviim) and the Hagiographa (Ketuvim). Covenant and election. The patriarch of the Hebrews, Abraham, lived in the city of Ur, in Chaldea, near the mouth of the Euphrates, in the twentieth century before the Christian era. From there, he set out to the north with his father, and received the command of God: "Leave your country, your kin and your father's house, for the country that I will show you. I will make of you a great people, I will bless you, I will make your name great; be a blessing!" (Gn 12:1-2). After Abraham's arrival in the land of Canaan (more recently known as Palestine, for the Jews the Land of Israel, and where today the State of Israel and Jordan are located), Yahweh established a covenant with him: "To your posterity I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" (Gn 15:18). And he added: "I will greatly multiply your descendants, so that they cannot be counted" (Gn 16:10). As a sign of this covenant he ordered him: "That all your males be circumcised" (Gn 17:10). Abraham, his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob constitute the patriarchal line of reference of the Jewish people, faithful to the divine covenant. Jacob received from the Lord a new name, Israel, and from his 12 sons originated the 12 tribes of the Jewish people, the descendants of Israel, or, as they were called, the "children of Israel" (Bene Israel). Exodus and settlement in Canaan. The second decisive stage in the history of the Jewish people began with their liberation from slavery in Egypt (13th century B.C.), where they had settled at the time of the great drought. Moses was the leader who, by order of Yahweh, led the forty-year march through the desert to return and conquer the land of Canaan. During the journey through the desert, Moses set the Jewish law, whose core was the Ten Commandments, engraved on the tablets received from God on Mount Sinai, which encompassed the beliefs, morals, rituals and civil organization of the people. This law, the Torah - also called the law of Moses, or Mosaic law --, is contained in the Pentateuch (Chumash), the five books that constitute the first part of the Bible, and would become the source of coherence and unity of the Jewish people in all times and places. According to tradition, in the time of Moses the oral law also arose, which was transmitted in this way through generations and was only recorded in writing many centuries later. Once established in Canaan, the Promised Land, each tribe in its own territory, the Hebrews suffered the influence of paganism and the attacks of Philistines and Moabites. Judges then arose, such as Deborah and Samson, who led the people in times of crisis, in the fight against enemies and in the conduct of a way of life appropriate to the laws of the covenant. However, the reunification of the 12 tribes became necessary, and Saul was anointed king in the 11th century B.C. David, his successor, conquered Jerusalem, transformed it into the capital of the kingdom and took the Sacred Ark there, symbol of the covenant with God. Solomon, son of David, built the first temple in Jerusalem. With his death, the kingdom was again divided: Israel, in the north, formed by ten tribes, assimilated heretical elements in worship and soon succumbed, invaded by the Assyrians. Its population was deported, and the ten tribes have since disappeared from Jewish history (various hypotheses, fanciful or not, have associated contemporary ethnic groups with the descendants of those tribes). The kingdom of Judah, in the south, centered on Jerusalem and remained faithful to traditions. Today's Jews descend mainly from the inhabitants of Judah. In that time of religious, political and economic decay, the great prophets of Israel arose -- Elijah, Amos, Isaiah -- who exhorted the people to return to the traditional faith. The view of history as an instrument of God, who brings misfortune upon the Jewish people as punishment for breaking the covenant, was in part the work of the prophets. The sons of Jacob by Leah were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issachar and Zebulun; and by Leah's maid Zilpah, Gad and Asher, who were legally considered, according to the custom of the time, as children of Leah. The sons of Jacob by Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin, and by Rachel's maid named Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali. The Tribe of Joseph is found in most lists and the classification of two tribes named after his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. The Tribes of Israel in the time of Moses. At God's request a census of the children of Israel was carried out, involving the number of families, households and males above twenty years who could go to war. The request was made to Moses. It was also requested that the princes of the tribes unite with Moses and Aaron. The twelve princes were:  Elizur (tribe of Reuben) Shelumiel (tribe of Simeon) Nahshon (tribe of Judah) Nethanel (tribe of Issachar) Eliab (tribe of Zebulun) Elishama (tribe of Ephraim, son of Joseph) Gamaliel (tribe of Manasseh, son of Joseph) Abidan (tribe of Benjamin) Ahiezer (tribe of Dan), Pagiel (tribe of Asher) Eliasaph (tribe of Gad) Ahira (tribe of Naphtali) Exile and restoration. At the beginning of the 6th century B.C., the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple, plundered Jerusalem and deported its population to Babylon. This new spiritual exile united the "remnant of Israel" under the preaching of the prophet Ezekiel, initiating a religious restoration that prepared another, of a political character. The conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians, allowed the Hebrews to return to the Promised Land, in 538 B.C., and rebuild the temple of Jerusalem, in 515 B.C. A large part of the people, however, remained scattered from Egypt to India, as a prefiguration of the later diaspora (dispersion). This religious and political restoration is considered by some authors as the true origin of the spiritual unity of the Jewish people. Its great architect was Ezra, priest of the Jews of Babylon, who was sent by the Persian king Artaxerxes II to Jerusalem to control observance of the Mosaic law, recognized, in its civil character, for the Jews. Ezra renewed the covenant with Yahweh by reading the law to the people for seven days (and, constantly, twice a week). Also he renewed worship in the new temple, although teaching continued in local synagogues, and he encouraged the hope, preached by the prophets, in the coming of a messiah who would establish the kingdom of God. Greetings and Love!