The 12 tribes of Israel are descendants of Jacob’s 12 sons. What is theological significance to certain sons being born through the wive’s maidservants?
QUESTION:
The 12 tribes of Israel are descendants of Jacob’s 12 sons. What is theological significance to certain sons being born through the wive’s maidservants? (Genesis 30)
ANSWER:
The story of Jacob and Jacob’s family is one that I sell about human weaknesses one after the other, while God’s mercy and grace abounds. Jacob is a man of weakness and it becomes more and more painfully obvious the consequences is a multiplication and amplification of these weaknesses as it plays out in the members of his family members. He stubbornly pressured things that God did not want him to peruse, and thereby drew consequences upon his family and himself. One thing to note is you can see plainly that Jacob was not someone who could foresee or predict these consequences prior to taking an action against God’s clear direction. These bad actions he takes would begin to mold his family.
One famous way this is displayed is in Jacobs love life. He begins by marrying two women. Tow sisters. Leah, and Rachel.
Some notes to study:
Leah: Unloved by Jacob, but could produce sons for Jacob. God honored the unloved wife of Jacob and allowed her to produce sons. Leah ends up producing four sons. Jacobs lack of love (despite the songs) ends up driving Leah to madness.
Rachel: favored and loved by Jacob, but could NOT produce sons for Jacob. God seems to be showing that Jacobs unfair treatment of Leah and favoritism toward Rachel was not how he wanted to bring forth the twelve tribes of Israel. Later on, the jealously grew so extreme that Rachel demanded Jacob to sleep with his maidservant and produce a child for her. This was again, against the will of God.
Let’s list the different names of the sons that came from the specific actors in the story:
Father: Jacob
Mothers:
Leah - Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, * out of these tribes would come the Levites who would become the priests of Israel. Included Moses, and Aaron.
Rachel - Joseph*, Ben-Oni (Benjamin) out of the tribe of Benjamin would come King Saul.
Bilah (Maidservant) - Dan, Naphtali
Zilpah (maidservant)- Gad, Asher
*Josephs’ sons: Ephraim, Manasseh - although there was never a tribe named after Joseph, there were two tribes named after these two sons of Joseph.
Here’s a quick over view of what happens next:
1. Three tribes emerge:
Levi - Ex 32:29
Judah - Nu 13-14
Ephraim - DR 31:7-8
2. Levites are blessed - instead fo land, the tribe inherits responsibilities for God’s temple and worship
3. 12 Territories are established out of the huge family of Jacob. (East and west)
4. David, from the tribe of Judah, comes along and unites all 12 tribes into one kingdom. Establishes Jerusalem as the capital.
5. The kingdom divided into two parts only two generations after David. Israel & Judah.
Israel - new capital is Samaria, new king Ephraim, New religion established (Samaritans), falls to the Assyrians
Judah - Keeps Benjamin tribe, Keeps Levi Tribe, Other family join in, falls to Babylon
6. JESUS KINGDOM - when Jesus appears, he announces a new kingdom. He selects a new set of 12. These new leaders are called Apostles who represent and usher in the beginning of a “new Israel”. Couple things to note about Jesus:
- Jesus is Messiah, the heir of David
- Jesus is related to Aaron and the new high priest
- Paul called those in this era as belonging to Christ the “Israel of God”. Ga 3:2-7
- Peter calls this THE CHURCH a “holy nation” or “a royal priesthood”
Read Revelation 7:5-8
At the tail end of the Tribulation period ( 7 years), 144,000 Jews will be called the “remnant” during this season of terrible calamity on earth. This number is comprised of exactly 12,000 from each tribe. Even though we do not know who these people will be or what tribe anyone belongs to from Jacobs original sons born from his two wives and two maidservants, God does. He has been keeping track.