THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL — A SOAP OPERA OF INFAMY, A MASTERPIECE OF GOD’S GRACE AND LOVE

By Jill Roberts and Michael Canalé

 

Recently, we quoted Michael when he said,

 

“Certain words trigger certain parts of the brain.”

 

How true and highly relevant this is to this week’s blog. It brings us to pose a question to you, our readers, one Michael and I have asked ourselves. That is:

 

“What do the words, “The 12 Tribes of Israel,“ first trigger in your mind?  What image initially presents itself to you upon reflection of this phrase?

 

Would you agree that most of us hear “The Twelve Tribes of Israel,” and we picture an iconic and lofty group, one that symbolizes the bedrock of God’s Chosen People. After all, are they not descended from the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and, specifically, from their biological father, Jacob/Israel? Did not God choose them to be synonymous with the nation of Israel itself?

 

Michael says, so astutely,

 

“In Scripture, God is always teaching us a lesson. God uses the Bible to fine tune man’s thoughts.”

 

Nowhere is this truer than in the Biblical story, yes, saga, with regard to the inception of the Twelve Tribes of Israel! Looking past a commonly-perceived image of these men as above reproach, lies the truth. This truth exemplifies what Michael is saying about God’s using Scripture to teach us not to just automatically lionize important Biblical characters, like these first members of the twelve tribes. Instead, we are to learn a lesson from them, one that, in Michael’s words, will “fine tune our thoughts.”

 

A quick trip through the relevant portions of Genesis reveals Jacob’s (renamed Israel) twelve sons as more united by acrimony and infighting than warm, loving relationships. It is surprising to some that, while Jacob was the father of these twelve, there were four separate mothers in this family. This is a point of interest but not the source of what precipitated the conflict among the twelve.

 

To briefly summarize, the following is the familial structure of Jacob, hereinafter referred to as Israel, the new name and important identity that God gave him:

 

1) Leah, Israel’s first wife, the one whom he was tricked into marrying by her father, Laban, was the mother of –

Reuben, Israel’s eldest son

Simeon

Levi

Judah

Issachar

Zebulun

 

Leah’s and Jacob’s marriage was primarily loveless, one in name only. (Genesis 29:31-35, 30:14-20)

 

2) Rachel, Leah’s younger sister, and the second wife and true love of Israel’s life, was the mother of –

Joseph

Benjamin

 

3) Zilpah was Leah’s servant, whom Leah arranged for Israel to sleep with when Leah mistakenly thought her childbearing years were over. Israel felt no true affection for Zilpah. She was the mother of –

Gad

Asher

 

4) Bilhah was Rachel’s servant, whom Rachel arranged for Jacob to sleep with, when Rachel was, for many years, infertile and who was also Jacob’s concubine. She was the mother of –

Dan

Naphtali

 

The dynamics between the sisters, Leah and Rachel, were characterized by extreme jealousy and competition. Rachel was loved by Jacob but, for an extended time, was unable to have his children. Leah was unloved by Jacob but was extremely fertile.

 

Ultimately, Rachel died in childbirth with the birth of Benjamin. Scripture is unclear whether Bilhah became Jacob’s concubine before or after Rachel’s passing. Based on Jacob’s deep love for Rachel, it’s reasonable to think that it was after Rachel died.

 

With this family scenario, we might say, tongue-in- cheek, “What could go wrong?” Predictably, everything!

 

Reuben, who, as the eldest, would traditionally have been the recipient of Israel’s Blessing, was passed over when Israel learned that Reuben had slept with his concubine, Bilhah. (Genesis 35:22) NIV. Instead, Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, received the Blessing., despite the fact that Joseph was Israel‘s eleventh son in the birth order.

 

Why were Joseph’s sons bestowed this great honor? Israel, in a classic example of generational sin, was highly partial to Joseph, just as Israel’s mother, Rebekah, was greatly partial to Israel, preventing her less-favored son, Esau, from receiving the Blessing that was rightfully his.

 

Next week, when we study Joseph, we will be reminded of the colorful dream coat that Israel gave Joseph , HIS favorite child. This was one of the final straws in the eyes of most of his brothers, causing them to have murderous intent toward Joseph. But for a caravan, which providentially happened by the pit in which Joseph had been thrown by his brothers, surely Joseph would have died at his jealous brothers’ hands.

 

Given all of this infighting and dissension, How did God react to it and what is the lesson we should take away from this virtual soap opera? In Michael’s words, it is the following:

 

“We must be so careful not to believe that God is some lesser being, one who would dismiss the perpetrators of such a collection of bad behavior. This God is not petty; he does not react as a human might. He forgives, and when He does so, He forgets the offense altogether.”

 

Next week, Michael and I will write about how God used the anger of these brothers toward Joseph to the greatest good imaginable, the saving of His People Israel.

 

This week, we want to close by showcasing one of the twelve brothers – Judah. There is no better example of God’s power and grace than this story. Yes, this is the same Judah from whom God ordained that Jesus would descend. Yes, Jesus was referred to as “The Lion of the tribe of Judah.” (Revelation 5:5) NIV Surely, we would think, Judah must have been an outlier to the bad acts of his brothers. Bur, no, amazingly he was a full participant.

 

In addition to this, there was the story of Judah and Tamar, his daughter-in-law. Briefly, Judah, violated the law by holding back his third son from marrying Tamar, after his other two sons, both husbands of this woman, died through no fault of hers. When Tamar realized what Judah was doing, she disguised herself as a prostitute and allowed Judah to sleep with her in order to carry on the line of Judah – the line from which Jesus would ultimately come! Tamar became pregnant with Judah’s child. Three months later, Judah was erroneously told that she was a prostitute and pregnant as a result of this. He ordered that she be burned to death! Tamar then proved to Judah that HE was the father of her baby. Judah then sincerely repented and said,

 

“She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son, Shelah.”

(Genesis 38: 26) NIV

 

Tamar gave birth to twin boys, Perez and Zerah. The four of them count as their descendant, Jesus himself. In the Matthew 1 genealogy of Jesus, the following is written:

 

“This is the genealogy of JESUS THE MESSIAH, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of JUDAH AND HIS BROTHERS,

JUDAH, THE FATHER OF PEREZ AND ZERAH, WHOSE MOTHER WAS TAMAR.

(Matthew 1:1-3) NIV

 

Judah, the man who ordered that Tamar be burned to death, was, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, forever found beside her in the most important family tree of all time.

 

As Michael so beautifully writes,

 

“Jacob/ Israel became a player in God’s world, despite being a deceiver of monumental proportions. Like their father, his sons also were wrongdoers, yet they also became players.”

 

All of Israel’s Joseph-despising and malice-intending sons receive billing in Jesus’ genealogy. Judah, a law breaker who wanted to burn to death a law-abiding and courageous daughter-in-law, is chosen by name for the family tree for the ages, the genealogy of Jesus,”The Lion of the tribe of JUDAH!”

 

Michael says,

 

“The Bible tells us about people moving away from and then toward the light. We see this so clearly in the Old Testament.”

 

He goes on to add, with his eloquence,

 

“Smoke is so special. With it, you can see the wind.

When we see what is visible, that is, God’s making a player out of a failure in the world’s eyes, this is the visible, the smoke. Behind it is the invisible wind, the loving nature of our God, manifesting itself so that all can see Who He is.”

 

In our hearts, aren’t we often inclined to be critical of the likes of some of those described this week? Yet, Scripture sets forth,

 

“Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.”

(Romans 8:33) NIV

 

Michael’s idea in writing this series of blogs has always been to reveal the loving God of the OLD TESTAMENT. In this week’s cast of dubious characters, we see the invisible wind, our God, rendered visible as He is so gracious to the brazen, so loving to the lost.