055. XXXV. Experiences Of The Different Tribes
§XXXV. EXPERIENCES OF THE DIFFERENT TRIBES
1. Exordium.
Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father.
2. Reuben, ruled by ungovernable passions.
Reuben thou art my first-born, My strength and the first fruit of my manhood, Pre-eminent in dignity and strength Boiling over like water, thou shalt not be pre-eminent, For thou wentest up to the bed of thy father, Then thou defiledst my couch in going upon it.
3. Simeon and Levi, violent and treacherous.
Simeon and Levi are akin, Weapons of violence are their swords, Into their council, O my soul, do not enter, In their assembly, O my heart, do not join. For men in their anger they slew, And oxen in their wantonness they hocked.
Accursed is their anger, that it is so fierce, And their wrath because it is so cruel;
I will divide them in Jacob And scatter them in Israel.
4. Judah, the ruling tribe, victorious and prosperous.
Judah, thy brothers praise thee!
Thy hand is on the neck of thy enemies, Before thee thy father’s sons bow down.
Judah is a lion’s whelp, From the prey, my son, thou hast gone up.
He has crouched, he has lain down as a lion, As an old lion, who will disturb him? The sceptre shall not pass from Judah, Nor the royal staff from between his feet, Until that one comes to whom it belongs, And him the people obey.
Binding his foal to the vine, And his ass’s colt to the choice vine, He hath washed his garments in wine, And his clothing in the blood of grapes; His eyes are red with wine, And his teeth are white with milk.
5.Benjamin, famous in war.
Benjamin is a ravening wolf, In the morning he devoureth prey, And at evening divideth spoil.
6. Zebulon’s favored situation.
Zebulon, by the sea-shore he dwells:
He is by a shore that is lined with ships, And his border extends to Sidon.
7. Issachar’s ignominious submission.
Issachar, he is a strong-limbed ass, Crouching down between the sheepfolds; And when he saw the resting-place was good, That the land also was pleasant, He bowed his shoulder to bear, And became a slave under a taskmaster.
8. Dan, independent, small, but quick to avenge.
Dan is a serpent by the way, A horned-adder beside the path, That biteth the horse’s heel, So that his rider falleth backward.
I have waited for thy deliverance, O Jehovah!
9. Gad, exposed but warlike.
Gad, robber-bands press upon him, But he also shall press upon their heel.
10. Asher, rich.
Asher, his bread is fatness, And he yields royal dainties.
11. Naphtali, flourishing.
Naphtali, he is a flourishing terebinth That sends forth beautiful branches.
12. Joseph, valiant and preeminently prosperous.
Joseph, he is a fruitful branch, A fruitful branch by a spring, His tendrils run over the wall.
They bitterly attack, they shoot at him, The archers hatefully assail him, But his bow remains ever bent, His forearms also are supple, Through the power of the mighty one of Jacob, In the name of the Shepherd of Israel, Even by the God of thy fathers, who ever helpeth thee, And El-Shaddai [God Almighty], who blesseth thee, With blessings of heaven above, And of the great deep that coucheth beneath, With blessings of the breast and womb, With blessings of father and mother, With blessings of the everlasting mountains, With the gifts of the ancient hills!
They shall be on the head of Joseph, On the head of the one consecrated among his brothers.
I. The So-called Blessing of Jacob. The oldest surviving records of the experiences of the individual tribes during the period of settlement are found in the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis. These consist of ancient tribal songs, loosely joined together. They are appropriately put into the mouth of Jacob-Israel, the traditional father of the twelve tribes of Israel. The aged patriarch is represented as gathering his sons about his death-bed to warn them against their peculiar faults, to reprimand or commend them for their past acts and to predict the future which lay before them. The literary form of these songs is crude, but the figures are strong and rugged. Their spirit is that of the primitive age from which they come. The Judah oracle contains detail references to the rise and victories of the house of David, and therefore in its final form comes from the days of the united Hebrew kingdom. Probably, like the oracles of Balaam, these ancient songs were collected and sung by some court poet in the reign of David or Solomon.
II. The Tribe of Reuben. As in the traditions of the North, Reuben is here regarded as the oldest child. This probably reflects the fact that Reuben was the first of the Hebrew tribes to gain a foothold in Palestine, east of the lower Jordan. Reference is made in the poem to the obscure event recorded in Genesis 35:22. The allusion, which may be to an ignominious alliance with some native tribe, is intended to explain why the tribe of Reuben never played an important role among the other tribes of Israel. Apparently from the first its numbers were limited, and its position, with the Moabites on the south, the Ammonites on the east and the aggressive tribe of Gad on the north, gave it little opportunity for expansion. Peace could only be purchased by alliance, which appears in time to have meant practical absorption among the local peoples, so that Reuben early disappears from Hebrew history.
III. History of the Tribes of Levi and Simeon. The ancient song of Genesis 49 contributes additional information regarding the mysterious tribe of Levi. This song alludes to the early story of Dinah and Shechem found in Genesis 34. Obviously, that ancient tradition deals with experiences of tribes rather than with those of individuals. Shechem continued to be a strong Canaanite city almost to the close of the period of settlement. The fact that the tribes of Simeon and Levi are classified as the sons of Jacob’s first wife, Leah, perhaps suggests that they penetrated into central Canaan before the other tribes. The narrative in Genesis 34 clearly indicates that at a very early period these tribes made a close alliance with the Canaanites at Shechem. In time, however, perhaps because of the religious zeal of the Levites, they repudiated this covenant and slew many of the people of Shechem. This act is regarded with horror both in the ancient song of Genesis 49 and in the prose narrative of Genesis 34. An overwhelming judgment was visited upon them by the outraged Canaanites. This early incident furnishes the most satisfactory explanation of the fact that these tribes were scattered and in later history have no definite place of abode.
IV. The Peculiar Position of the Levites. In time the sons of Levi appear as the guardians of the different sanctuaries throughout the land of Israel. Even down in the days of Josiah the terms priest and son of Levi are synonymous. In the later Northern Israelite account of the making of the golden calf is found another comparatively early reference to the Levites. When Moses returned from the mount of revelation, and in the name of Jehovah condemned the idolatry of the people, the Levites alone of all the Israelites, ignoring the bonds of kinship, rose and slew their guilty fellow Israelites.
These different traditions present great difficulties, and yet suggest the early history of the Levites. The statement in the story of the Danites, that Jonathan, the Levite, was a descendant of Moses, confirms the testimony of the later traditions that Moses belonged to the tribe of Levi. Already in the days of Micah the Ephraimite, the Levites evidently enjoyed a certain prestige and were looked upon as the divinely chosen guardians of even the local family sanctuaries. The most natural explanation of this fact is that they were of the same clan as Israel’s great prophetic leader. Their close connection with Moses best explains the fierce zeal which they showed in combatting apostasy and the alliances with the heathen Canaanites.
If the testimony of Genesis 34 has been rightly interpreted, this fierce religious zeal further explains, not only why they were scattered, but also why they were regarded from the first as especially fitted to take charge of Jehovah’s oracles and sanctuaries. In later times all priests in charge of local shrines were designated as sons of Levi. In many cases they were probably lineal descendants of the ancient tribe. In other cases the term son of Levi may have simply become a designation of a class, and therefore similar to such titles as sons of the prophets or sons of the goldsmiths. When in the days of Josiah the high places outside of Jerusalem were declared illegal and all religion was centralized at the temple of Solomon, the descendants of those who had ministered at the Jerusalem sanctuary were known as priests, and the ancient designation sons of Levi was limited to those connected with the older local shrines.
V. The Tribes of the South. In the ancient poem, Judah is recognized as the leading tribe of the South. The rise of the house of David and its victorious conquests are clearly portrayed. This oracle and those attributed to Balaam (§ XXIX) represent the beginning of that series of predictions which were intended to exalt the glories and achievements of Judah’s reigning house. The type of agricultural prosperity peculiar to vine-clad Judah is also pictured in a variety of striking figures: wine and milk are so plentiful that they are used as freely as water. The warlike clan of Benjamin is likened to a ravening wolf growling over its prey. The poet probably had in mind the valiant deeds of the Israelites under the leadership of the Benjamite Saul.
VI. The Northern Tribes. Originally the tribe of Zebulun appears to have dwelt west of the plain of Esdraelon, along the shore of the modern Bay of Haifa. Issachar, on the northeastern side of the plain of Esdraelon, along the valley of the Jordan, occupied one of the garden spots of Palestine. The ancient song states that, although the tribe was strong in numbers and resources, in order to retain its place during the earlier part of the period of the Judges it was obliged to submit to Canaanite bondage.
Little Dan, far to the north, away from the other tribes, open to attack, especially from the east, simply by its courage and warlike skill maintained its position against all intruders. The tribe of Gad, likewise on the borderland of Israel, was constantly exposed to the attack of wandering Arabs, as well as to encroachments of its Moabite foes immediately to the south. The tribe of Asher, long intrenched in the land and probably containing a very large Canaanite element, enjoyed quiet and prosperity in its home to the northwest on the uplands east of Phoenicia. Naphtali, in its fertile territory west of the Jordan, is likened to one of the flourishing, sturdy terebinths, or oaks, which in ancient times imparted greenness and beauty to the Palestinian landscape.
VII. The Tribe of Joseph. The poem culminates in a description of the tribe of Joseph. No mention is made by name of the sub-tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh which Joseph represents. The fertility of their territory, bounded on the north by the plain of Esdraelon, on the east by the Jordan, and extending westward to the maritime plain, is described in luxuriant figures. The strong tribe of Joseph is likened to a fruitful vine, whose roots are supplied with never-failing water, and whose tendrils run in every direction in rich profusion. Attacks from Philistine foes on the west and Ammonite and other desert foes on the east are suggested; but, like a mighty warrior, this powerful tribe of central Israel, conscious of Jehovah’s strength and guidance, is represented as defeating and repelling them all. Upon the head of Joseph descends in superlative measure the richest gifts that Nature can bestow—indubitable evidences to the ancient mind of Jehovah’s favor.