ISRAEL LIVING ON IN THEIR TWELVE TRIBES

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

Joseph is already gone, having been the chosen by Jacob causing jealousy among the other sons, who sold him away unknown to Jacob and Rachel.  

The biblical and historical grouping of Israel is divided into individual tribes named directly after Jacob's sons and grandsons:

Here is Jacob with Rachel and baby Benjamin, Leah, Rachel's sister with her 6 sons and Dinah, the only girl, and in the green and yellow are  their 2 handmaids they had given to Jacob:  Bilhah and Zilpaph.

Reuben – Firstborn son of Jacob and Leah. 

Simeon – Second son of Jacob and Leah. 

Levi – Third son of Jacob and Leah; ancestral line of the temple priests. 

Judah – Fourth son of Jacob and Leah; namesake of the Kingdom of Judah and modern Jewish identity. 

Dan – Fifth son of Jacob and Leah. 

Zebulun – Sixth son of Jacob and Leah. 

Joseph- First  son of Jacob and Rachel

Naphtali –?  Son of Jacob via Bilhah. 

Gad –?  Son of Jacob via Zilpah

Asher- Eighth son of Jacob via Zilpah

Issachar – Ninth son of Jacob and Bilhah.

Manasseh-First son of Joseph, a grandson via Asenath

Ephraim- second son of Joseph, a grandson via Asenath

Benjamin-Twelth son of Jacob via Rachel