Revelation 7

Revelation chapter seven

7 Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds so they did not blow on the earth or the sea, or even on any tree*. ² And I saw another angel coming up from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted to those four angels, who had been given power to harm land and sea, ³ “Wait! Don’t harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants.”

⁴ And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God—144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel:

5 from Judah	12,000
from Reuben	12,000
from Gad	12,000
6 from Asher	12,000
from Naphtali	12,000
from Manasseh	12,000
7 from Simeon	12,000
from Levi	12,000
from Issachar	12,000
8 from Zebulun	12,000
from Joseph	12,000
from Benjamin	12,000

First – look up James 1:1 – 1 James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

*So, Revelation 7:1-8 and James 1:1 should forever dispel any notion of ‘ten lost tribes’. This myth got started because in the days of Israel’s punishments (God allowed them to be overrun by Assyria)

(answers a question from last week of how God sent an oppressive spirit to torment Saul –  just like He did in 1 Chronicles 5:25-26 

 (²⁵ But they were untrue to the God of their fathers and prostituted themselves with the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. ²⁶ So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, that is, the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he took them into exile, namely the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and to the river of Gozan, where they are to this day.)

God clearly does it to all of Israel in the from of Babylonian captivity of the two tribes of the southern kingdom (Judah and Benjamin), after He allowed the Assyrians to punish the ten northern tribes of Israel (recall that after the death of Solomon, Israel split, with the northern kingdom ruled by Jeroboam and the southern kingdom ruled by Rehoboam.) The myth got started because it was supposed that the Assyrians so completely scattered the conquered tribes and mingled them with other people they had conquered, that their legacy was lost.

So the same way God ‘sent an evil spirit to torment Saul’ in 1 Samuel 16:14-23

¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the Lord left Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrified him. ¹⁵ Saul’s servants then said to him, “Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrifying you. ¹⁶ May our lord now command your servants who are before you. Have them search for a man who is a skillful musician on the harp; and it shall come about whenever the evil spirit from God is upon you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will become well.” ¹⁷ So Saul said to his servants, “Now select for me a man who can play well, and bring him to me.” ¹⁸ Then one of the young men responded and said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician, a valiant mighty man, a warrior, skillful in speech, and a handsome man; and the Lord is with him.” ¹⁹ So Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, “Send me your son David, who is with the flock.” ²⁰ And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread and a jug of wine, and he took a young goat, and sent them to Saul by his son David. ²¹ Then David came to Saul and attended him; and Saul greatly loved him, and he became his armor bearer. ²² So Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Let David now be my attendant for he has found favor in my sight.” ²³ So it came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would feel relieved and become well, and the evil spirit would leave him.

and 1 Samuel 19:9   ⁹ Now there was an evil spirit from the Lord on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand. 

God had withdrawn His hand of protection from Saul, allowing Satan access.

God can also command demons to go where He wishes…

Matthew 8:28-34 (see also Mark 5:1-20 and Luke 8:26-39)…

Jesus Sends Demons into Pigs

²⁸ And when He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men confronted Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. ²⁹ And they cried out, saying, “What business do You have with us, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” ³⁰ Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding at a distance from them. ³¹ And the demons begged Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” ³² And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the pigs; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. ³³ And the herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴ And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they pleaded with Him to leave their region.

In the same way, He withdrew His protection of Israel and Judah, and allowed it to happen, just like with another member of the tribe of Benjamin a thousand years or more later, with Saul/Paul..

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

⁷ Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! ⁸ Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. ⁹ And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰ Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

This myth of the ten lost tribes is yet another Satanic attack on Israel, part of the spectrum of anti-Semitism, that God is not faithful to His Word, or His chosen people.

We could spend hours and hours discussing the various thoughts on this but it is a time-wasting rabbit hole from which, much like ‘black hole’, there is little hope of escape.

*But just in your apologetics arsenal, keep these two passages in mind when someone mentions anything about ‘ten lost tribes’. Bologna. Then they don’t believe the Bible is true.

James 1:1 refuted it then, and Revelation 7:1-8 refutes it for the future.

 

 

Go back to verse 1. Does this seem strange? Book of Enoch, chapter 18.

 

 

Levi IS listed here, unlike other lists, but Dan and Ephraim are missing.

Why aren’t Dan or Ephraim listed?    

From Verse by Verse Ministry…

{In Revelation 7, the 144,000 Jewish men raised up to evangelize the world come from twelve tribes of Israel, but the tribe of Dan is missing from the list. Why?

The absence of Dan in the list of tribes in Revelation 7 is a source of much interest among Bible students. The text itself offers no explanation, but we can speculate based on some analysis.

First, it’s important to note that there are 13 named tribes in Israel, not twelve.

(JCH note – actually 14 with Joseph plus Manasseh, plus Ephraim)

Jacob bore twelve sons, but later Jacob adopted Joseph’s two sons in place of Joseph after moving to Egypt. Thereafter, the sons of Jacob were:

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin

**Secondly, there are at least 19 lists of Jacob’s sons given in the Old Testament: Gen. 35:22-26; 46:8-25; 49:3-27; Exod. 1:2-5; Num. 1:5-15; 2:3-31; 13:4-15; 26:4-51; 34:19-28; Deut. 27:12-13; 33:6-25; Josh. 13:7-22; Judg. 5:12-18; 1 Chron. 2:1-8:40; 12:24-37; 27:16-22; Ezek. 48:1-7, 23-28, 31-34

Reviewing these lists, we usually find all thirteen tribes included though sometimes a tribe is left out (usually Levi). For example, in Numbers 1, 2, 13, and 26, the tribe of Levi is left out. In other cases, Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim, and Manasseh are combined under just the name Joseph. In one case, multiple tribes are missing (i.e., Judge 5). So, we see that it’s not unusual for scripture to leave names out when listing the tribes of Israel.

But then we have the list in Revelation 7. This list is unique in a several ways. First, it is the only list of the tribes of Israel in scripture to exclude Dan. Secondly, it is the only list to include Joseph in place of only one of his sons instead of both sons. Specifically, Joseph and Manasseh appear in the Revelation 7 list but Ephraim does not. Perhaps the exclusions of Dan and Ephraim are related?

Thirdly, the territories originally allotted to the tribes of Ephraim and Dan bordered one another in Canaan, but during the time of Judges Dan rejected its claim and moved north to occupy a part of the territory of Naphtali.

Finally, even though the name Joseph is listed in Revelation 7, no territory or tribe of Joseph actually exists. Joseph didn’t receive a portion in the land. His two sons were adopted by Jacob and received Joseph’s double portion instead. This raises the question how can there be 12,000 men from “Joseph” during Tribulation when no such tribe of people exists?

Given these clues, we can offer speculation on why Dan and Ephraim are missing from the list.

In Judges 17-21 we’re given two stories of apostasy in Israel. Both stories center on the tribes of Dan and Ephraim and on the city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of David, God’s choice for king over Israel. The writer of Judges emphasizes in these chapters that these were the days before Israel had a king. 

In those chapters of Judges, Dan sinned by viewing the land God allotted to them as unacceptable, so they abandoned it. While passing through Ephraim, they stole idols from a home and recruited a Levite to serve in a false temple in the new territory. As a result, Dan became the first tribe in Israel to embrace idol worship in Israel.*

Meanwhile, the tribe of Ephraim, the source of the idols, assumed control over the land originally intended for Dan. They aided and abetted the Danites in bringing idolatry into the land of Israel. These sins give just cause for God to exclude them from the privilege of preparing Israel and the world for the Messiah’s return.

>Furthermore, since the tribe of Manasseh is already included in the list of Revelation 7, then we know that the tribe of Joseph can’t represent his two sons, as is usually the case in scripture. Instead, Joseph still represents two tribes, but in this case Joseph replaces Dan and Ephraim, tribes historically and geographically linked by their conspiracy to introduce rebellion and idolatry into Israel. So they were excluded from this list by name with the name Joseph standing in their place.

Such a substitution allowed the Lord to retain the symmetry of twelve tribes while drawing attention to these tribes’ joint contribution to idolatry in Israel. Since there is no literal tribe of Joseph, in a sense, we could say that Dan and Ephraim were “hidden” in Joseph. If so, then the 12,000 men of the tribe of Joseph in the Tribulation will actually be Danites and Ephraimites.

But there is a deeper message in their exclusion. The apostasy of Dan and Ephraim represented the low point in Israel’s history immediately prior to the Lord raising up a king from Bethlehem to deliver Israel from its sin. Sound familiar?

This is exactly the pattern that will exist prior to the Lord’s return to rule over Israel at the end of Tribulation. By excluding these two tribes from the list in Revelation 7, the Lord is pointing our attention back to the circumstances at the end of Judges. The final chapters of Judges (17-21) and the story of Ruth which follows Judges form a three-part story of the king’s arrival to address the nation’s idolatry.

Parts 1 and 2 of the story are found in Judges 17-21 and chronicle the growing apostasy of Israel under the influence of the Danites and Ephramites. Part 3 of the story is found in Ruth, where the Messiah’s arrival in Bethlehem (pictured by the arrival of Naomi’s son in Bethlehem) serves as the hope of Israel. These events picture the greater arrival of Christ to rescue Israel from apostasy.

Therefore, Dan and Ephraim are missing in the list of Revelation 7 to draw our attention to the time of Judges, to illustrate that Israel is once again guilty of apostasy as it was in Judges under Dan and Ephraim. And once again the Lord will bring Israel a king from Bethlehem to rescue Israel from its apostasy, that is Jesus Christ. By excluding these two tribes, the Lord is emphasizing that the third part of the story is right around the corner. }

From Philip J. Long…

*But would Dan be omitted because of idolatry? All the tribes were, and any of the northern tribes would have been just as involved as Dan. It is in Judah that idols were established on the temple mount and the priesthood worshiped both Yahweh and Assyrian gods. It is possible that they were the first tribe to become idolatrous, but all tribes were involved at Sinai, the real beginning of idolatry in Israel. It was, however, a Jewish tradition that Dan was the most apostate tribe.

Dan is also missing from the genealogies in 1 Chronicles 1-9. This is a more significant observation for our problem in Revelation. Perhaps the tribe of Dan failed to return from captivity and therefore lost its place in the tribes. In many prophetic passages, Ephraim becomes synonymous with the entire northern kingdom, especially in its idolatrous forms. The book of Hosea in particular uses the tribe of Ephraim to describe the apostasy of the whole of the northern kingdom.

**The illustration did not transfer from the notes to the website**

 

 

 

 

There are at least 19 lists of Jacob’s sons given in the Old Testament: Gen. 35:22-26; 46:8-25; 49:3-27; Exod. 1:2-5; Num. 1:5-15; 2:3-31; 13:4-15; 26:4-51; 34:19-28; Deut. 27:12-13; 33:6-25; Josh. 13:7-22; Judg. 5:12-18; 1 Chron. 2:1-8:40; 12:24-37; 27:16-22; Ezek. 48:1-7, 23-28, 31-34

Here are but a few of these…

Genesis 49:1-28

49 Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves, so that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.

² Gather together and listen, sons of Jacob;
Yes, listen to Israel your father.

³ “Reuben, you are my firstborn,
My might and the beginning of my strength,
Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
⁴ Uncontrollable as water, you shall not have preeminence,
Because you went up to your father’s bed;
Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.

(JCH note – but remember, Reuben is the one who didn’t want Joseph killed in Genesis 37:21-22, so he did possess some righteousness)

⁵ “Simeon and Levi are brothers;
Their swords are implements of violence.
⁶ May my soul not enter into their council;
May my glory not be united with their assembly;
For in their anger they killed men,
And in their self-will they lamed oxen.
⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
And their wrath, for it is cruel.
I will scatter them in Jacob,
And disperse them among Israel.

(JCH note – refers to Genesis 34 when they slaughtered those who had raped their sister Dinah after convincing them to get circumcised)

⁸ “As for you, Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
⁹ Judah is a lion’s cub;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He crouches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a lion, who dares to stir him up?
¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,

Until Shiloh comes,

(JCH note – the Pharisees should have remembered this, to be looking for the Messiah once Rome took away the Jews’ right to sovereignty and capital punishment. If they had, they may have realized Jesus was indeed the Messiah)

And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
¹¹ He ties his foal to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine;
He washes his garments in wine,
And his robes in the blood of grapes.
¹² His eyes are dull from wine,
And his teeth white from milk.

¹³ “Zebulun will reside at the seashore;
And he shall be a harbor for ships,
And his flank shall be toward Sidon.

¹⁴ “Issachar is a strong donkey,
Lying down between the sheepfolds.
¹⁵ When he saw that a resting place was good
And that the land was pleasant,
He bowed his shoulder to carry burdens,
And became a slave at forced labor.

¹⁶ “Dan shall judge his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
A horned viper in the path,
That bites the horse’s heels,
So that its rider falls backward.
¹⁸ For Your salvation I wait, Lord.

(JCH note – Dan’s ensign was initially a serpent until that was associated with the serpent in Eden. It was then changed to be an eagle with a serpent in its mouth).

¹⁹ “As for Gad, a band of raiders shall attack him,
But he will attack at their heels.

²⁰ “As for Asher, his food shall be rich,
And he will yield royal delicacies.

²¹ “Naphtali is a doe let loose;
He utters beautiful words.

²² “Joseph is a fruitful branch,
A fruitful branch by a spring;
Its branches hang over a wall.
²³ The archers provoked him,
And shot at him and were hostile toward him;
²⁴ But his bow remained firm,
And his arms were agile,
From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
²⁵ From the God of your father who helps you,
And by the Almighty who blesses you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
²⁶ The blessings of your father
Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors
Up to the furthest boundary of the everlasting hills;
May they be on the head of Joseph,
And on the top of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.

²⁷ “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
In the morning he devours the prey,
And in the evening he divides the spoils.”

(JCH note – Both King Saul and Saul of Tarsus (Paul) were Benjamites. It is said that Benjamites were skilled archers and left-handed, which threw off their enemies.)

²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him.

But don’t forget Genesis 48:5…

⁵ Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. 

 

 

 

 

 

also Numbers 1:2-49.

² “Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head ³ from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall count them by their armies. ⁴ With you, moreover, there shall be a man of each tribe, each one head of his father’s household. ⁵ These then are the names of the men who shall stand with you: of the tribe of Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; ⁶ of the tribe of Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; ⁷ of the tribe of Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab; ⁸ of Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar; ⁹ of Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; ¹⁰ of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; ¹¹ of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; ¹² of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; ¹³ of Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran; ¹⁴ of Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel; ¹⁵ of Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan. ¹⁶ These are the men who were called from the congregation, the leaders of their fathers’ tribes; they were the heads of divisions of Israel.”

¹⁷ So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name, ¹⁸ and they assembled all the congregation on the first day of the second month. Then they registered by ancestry in their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, head by head, ¹⁹ just as the Lord had commanded Moses. So he counted them in the wilderness of Sinai.

²⁰ Now the sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ²¹ their numbered men of the tribe of Reuben were 46,500.

²² Of the sons of Simeon, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, their numbered men, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ²³ their numbered men of the tribe of Simeon were 59,300.

²⁴ Of the sons of Gad, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ²⁵ their numbered men of the tribe of Gad were 45,650.

²⁶ Of the sons of Judah, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ²⁷ their numbered men of the tribe of Judah were 74,600.

²⁸ Of the sons of Issachar, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ²⁹ their numbered men of the tribe of Issachar were 54,400.

³⁰ Of the sons of Zebulun, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ³¹ their numbered men of the tribe of Zebulun were 57,400.

³² Of the sons of Joseph, namely, of the sons of Ephraim, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ³³ their numbered men of the tribe of Ephraim were 40,500.

³⁴ Of the sons of Manasseh, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ³⁵ their numbered men of the tribe of Manasseh were 32,200.

³⁶ Of the sons of Benjamin, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ³⁷ their numbered men of the tribe of Benjamin were 35,400.

³⁸ Of the sons of Dan, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ³⁹ their numbered men of the tribe of Dan were 62,700.

⁴⁰ Of the sons of Asher, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ⁴¹ their numbered men of the tribe of Asher were 41,500.

⁴² Of the sons of Naphtali, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ⁴³ their numbered men of the tribe of Naphtali were 53,400.

⁴⁴ These are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron counted, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each of whom was of his father’s household. ⁴⁵ So all the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war in Israel, ⁴⁶ all the numbered men were 603,550.

Levites Exempted

⁴⁷ The Levites, however, were not counted among them by their fathers’ tribe. ⁴⁸ For the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying, ⁴⁹ “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not count, nor shall you take their census among the sons of Israel. ⁵⁰

 

*(Joseph and Levi not listed (but Joseph expressly represented by Ephraim))

 

Numbers 13:1-16

13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Send out men for yourself to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.” ³ So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel. ⁴ These then were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; ⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; ⁶ from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; ⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; ⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; ¹⁰ from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; ¹¹ from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; ¹² from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; ¹³ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; ¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; ¹⁵ and from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. ¹⁶ These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.

 

*(Levi and Joseph not listed (but Joseph expressly represented by Mannasseh)

 

 

Deuteronomy 33:6-29 (Simeon missing)

⁶ “May Reuben live and not die,
Nor may his people be few.”

⁷ And this was regarding Judah; so he said:

“Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah,
And bring him to his people.
With his hands he contended for them,
And may You be a help against his adversaries.”

⁸ Of Levi he said,

“Let Your Thummim and Your Urim belong to Your godly man,
Whom You tested at Massah,
With whom You contended at the waters of Meribah;
⁹ Who said of his father and his mother,
‘I did not consider them’;
And he did not acknowledge his brothers,
Nor did he regard his own sons,
For they kept Your word,
And complied with Your covenant.
¹⁰ They will teach Your ordinances to Jacob,
And Your Law to Israel.
They shall put incense before You,
And whole burnt offerings on Your altar.
¹¹ Lord, bless his strength,
And accept the work of his hands;
Smash the hips of those who rise up against him,
And those who hate him, so that they do not rise again.”

¹² Of Benjamin he said,

“May the beloved of the Lord live in security beside Him
Who shields him all the day long,
And he lives between His shoulders.”

¹³ Of Joseph he said,

“Blessed of the Lord be his land,
With the choice things of heaven, with the dew,
And from the deep waters lying beneath,
¹⁴ And with the choice yield of the sun,
And the choice produce of the months;
¹⁵ And with the best things of the ancient mountains,
With the choice things of the everlasting hills,
¹⁶ And with the choice things of the earth and its fullness,
And the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush.
Let it come to the head of Joseph,
And to the top of the head of the one who was prince among his brothers.
¹⁷ As the firstborn of his ox, majesty is his,
And his horns are the horns of the wild ox;
With them he will gore the peoples
All at once, to the ends of the earth.
And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
And those are the thousands of Manasseh.”

¹⁸ Of Zebulun he said,

“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
And, Issachar, in your tents.
¹⁹ They will call peoples to the mountain;
There they will offer righteous sacrifices;
For they will draw out the abundance of the seas,
And the hidden treasures of the sand.”

²⁰ Of Gad he said,

“Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad;
He lies down as a lion,
And tears the arm, also the crown of the head.
²¹ Then he selected the choicest part for himself,
For there the ruler’s portion was reserved;
And he came with the leaders of the people;
He executed the justice of the Lord,
And His ordinances with Israel.”

²² Of Dan he said,

“Dan is a lion’s cub;
He leaps out from Bashan.”

²³ Of Naphtali he said,

“Naphtali, satisfied with favor,
And full of the blessing of the Lord,
Take possession of the sea and the south.”

²⁴ Of Asher he said,

“More blessed than sons is Asher;
May he be favored by his brothers,
And may he dip his foot in olive oil.
²⁵ Your bars will be iron and bronze,
And as your days, so will your strength be.

²⁶ “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun,
Who rides the heavens to your help,
And the clouds in His majesty.
²⁷ The eternal God is a hiding place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms;
And He drove out the enemy from you,
And said, ‘Destroy!’
²⁸ So Israel lives in security,
The fountain of Jacob secluded,
In a land of grain and new wine;
His heavens also drip down dew.
²⁹ Blessed are you, Israel;
Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord,
The shield of your help,
And He who is the sword of your majesty!
So your enemies will cringe before you,
And you will trample on their high places.”

 

Why was Simeon missing in the Deuteronomy 33 list?

[[There is definitely something very significant. Simeon didn’t even get its own territory in the land of Israel, but shared its land with the tribe of Judah! See one of answers here which suggests that Simeon’s descendants were of impure stock hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/15587/… – Bach May 6 ’19 at 18:32

Moses died circa 1406 B.C. In order to understand why Simeon is not mentioned in Deuteronomy, we must go back in time to when Jacob, the father of the twelve sons who were the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel, died (circa 1859 B.C.). The record of Jacob’s blessings is in Genesis chapter 49. The relevant section is in verses 5-7:

Simeon and Levi are brothers – their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.

The New International Study Version notes give this explanation with regard to Jacob’s prophetic words that Simeon’s descendants would be scattered:

Fulfilled when Simeon’s descendants were absorbed into the territory of Judah (see Joshua 19:1, 9) and when Levi’s descendants were dispersed throughout the land, living in 48 towns and the surrounding pasture-lands.

At the time of the second census conducted by Moses and Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, the tribe of Simeon was the smallest and weakest of all the tribes that came out of Egypt, only 22,200 men aged 20 years or more (Numbers 26:14).

Simeon was cursed by his father Jacob, probably because of the event recorded in Genesis 34:24–30 when Simeon and Levi took revenge on the men of Shechem after the rape of Dinah. After the horrific event, Jacob said to Simeon and Levi,

You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed (Genesis 34:30).

Moses was undoubtedly aware of this and that may be why the tribe of Simeon was excluded from Moses’ blessing.

 

• Interesting theory. If that is true, why is it included in Rev 7? – (my thoughts exactly – JCH)  
• Good point, although in Revelation the tribe of Dan is omitted whereas Ephraim and Mannasseh are listed separately (two Joseph tribes). I honestly don’t know the reason for those differences in Revelation. – Lesley May 8 ’19 at 16:33
• 2

Lesley: The tribes of Ephraim and Dan are omitted there as not deserving of symbolic significance. Why? Ephraim -It grumbled against its inheritance in the land; it “vehemently tried to pick a quarrel with” Gideon; it fought against Jephthah; (Compare Joshua 17:14, 15; Judges 8:1; 12:1-6; Psalm 78:9, 67, 68.) The tribe of Dan also made a bad name for itself. The very terms of the blessing upon this tribe, as uttered by Jacob upon his deathbed, imply this tribe would take an unfavorable course: Genesis 49:17 – Ozzie Ozzie Mar 22 ’20 at 9:08

 

Why is the tribe of Simeon missing from Deuteronomy 33:1-29?

Moses did not mention Simeon by name in his farewell blessing of Israel. This is not to say the tribe was not blessed, for it was included at the end in the general blessing.

Deuteronomy 33:29 (NASB)

29 “Blessed are you, O Israel; Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, Who is the shield of your help And the sword of your majesty! So your enemies will cringe before you, And you will tread upon their high places.”

Simeon was named first among the tribes assigned to stand on Mount Gerizim in connection with the blessings to be pronounced.​Deuteronomy 27:11, 12.

Deuteronomy 27:11-12 (NASB)

11″ Moses also charged the people on that day, saying, 12 “When you cross the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.”

The Pulpit commentary observes for Deut 33:8

The blessing on Levi is also in the form of a prayer. In Jacob’s blessing, Simeon is joined with Levi, but Moses passes him over altogether, probably because, as Jacob foretold, he was to be scattered among his brethren (Genesis 49:7), and so lose his tribal individuality. Simeon, however, is included in the general blessing pronounced on Israel; and as this tribe received a number of towns within the territory of Judah (Joshua 19:2-9), it was probably regarded as included in the blessing on that tribe.

 

Since both Simeon and Levi were involved in the violent acts that Jacob spoke of, it is not like God to punish one of the brothers and not the other one. Consequently, there must be another reason that Simeon’s Name is omitted from Deuteronomy 33.

 

The book of Joshua chapter 19 reveals that Simeon shares in Judah’s inheritance. Moses did do a bit of land distribution before he died, so I’m sure he told Joshua to do that with Simeon/Judah’s land inheritance.

Thus, when Moses gives the blessing to Judah in Deuteronomy 33, he’s also including Simeon with them. Moses was so angry with the tribe of Simeon, that he didn’t want to address them by name.

The population of the tribe of Simeon dwindled significantly if you compare the consensuses of Numbers 1 and Numbers 26. It’s implied that a good portion of the tribe of Simeon was destroyed in plagues. A Simeonite caused a lot of trouble in the matter of Baal-Peor in Numbers 25 and that caused a huge plague. Fair to say that’s a strong clue.

Simeon is also the one brother that’s targeted by Joseph in Genesis. Joseph chooses him to hold in a prison cell out of all the other brothers. Simeon is trouble.]]

 

 

 

 

Joshua 13:1-16

13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Send out men for yourself to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.” ³ So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel. ⁴ These then were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; ⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; ⁶ from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; ⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; ⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; ¹⁰ from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; ¹¹ from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; ¹² from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; ¹³ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; ¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; ¹⁵ and from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. ¹⁶ These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.

(who was left out?)

 

1 Chronicles 2:1

2 These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, ² Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

(same as Genesis 49 – Ephraim and Manasseh not mentioned)

 

In 1 Chronicles chapters 4-9, Joseph and Gad are left out

4:1-23  Judah,   4:24-43   Simeon 

5:1-26 Reuben

6 Levi

7:1-5 Issachar

7:6-12 Benjamin

7:13 Naphtali

7:14-19 Manasseh

7: 20 -29 Ephraim

7:30-40 Asher

8:1 – 32 Benjamin

 *Emphasize how there are always 12 tribes listed, due to the flexibility of Joseph’s sons having tribes – Ephraim and Manasseh. (mix and match).

 

We will see these 144,000 again in chapter 14 after they are either raptured or martyred (?)

[Revelation 14:1-5

14:1 Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. ² And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. ³ And they *sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one was able to learn the song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth. ⁴ These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are celibate. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from mankind as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. ⁵ And no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.]

(v. 4 helps relieve any esoteric meaning to the term ‘virgins’. For instance, some think it does not refer to sexual purity, but the fact they did not have intimacy with the Harlot who rides the beast. ‘When the plain sense makes good sense, don’t look for any other sense or you end up with nonsense’.

 

Praise from the Great Crowd – we mentioned them last week, these are those who were under the altar in the fifth seal…

7:⁹ After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they were shouting with a great roar,

“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne
    and from the Lamb!”

¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. ¹² They sang,

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
    and thanksgiving and honor
and power and strength belong to our God
    forever and ever! Amen.”

¹³ Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?”

*(Pop quiz in heaven – see comments from last week – (So a pop quiz in heaven! Just like when Jesus asked His disciples in Matthew 16:15  “Who do you say that I am?” and Zechariah 4:12-14 when we get a preview of the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11.)

 

¹⁴ And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.”

Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.

¹⁵ “That is why they stand in front of God’s throne
    and serve him day and night in his Temple.
And he who sits on the throne
    will give them shelter.
¹⁶ They will never again be hungry or thirsty;
    they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun.
¹⁷ For the Lamb on the throne
    will be their Shepherd.
He will lead them to springs of life-giving water.
    And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”