3081.—Who Are the Twelve Tribes?
By Editor
Will you kindly explain as to the twelve tribes; what is meant by the two lost tribes, and who are they; and what is meant by the other ten tribes, and who were they? And are these tribes mentioned in James 1:1? The twelve tribes are the twelve divisions of the children of Israel as set forth over and over in the books of Moses. Jacob had twelve sons, and each of the twelve sons became the head of a tribe. When these tribes were settled in the promised land, after the death of Solomon, there came a division. Two of the tribes, Judah and Benjamin, held the kingship. Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned over them. Ten of the tribes revolted and formed a kingdom of their own under Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Those ten tribes went on into idolatry worse and worse, God sending them prophets and warnings; but these were unheeded until at last, according to the 17th chapter of 2 Kings, the larger part of them were carried away into captivity, and people from other lands were brought in and settled in the territory formerly occupied by the ten tribes. From that time forward there was no kingdom among them. These ten tribes are called the lost tribes; not the two lost tribes. The Bible does not give them that name. Jesus speaks of “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” By that He evidently means the wandering ones and those who are away from the fold of God. These tribes were not lost, because the record tells us just where they were taken and how they were scattered. Many of them never went back; some of them came back and joined with Judah. When the children of Israel went back from the Babylonian captivity under the proclamation of Cyrus, which proclamation included all of the tribes of Israel (see Ezra 1:1-3), we find the twelve tribes represented in the building of the temple. See Ezra 2:70; 6:16, 17, which passages show that the twelve tribes were recognized among those who returned. We learn by Rom. 11:1-5 that it isn’t the wandering, apostate ones whom God recognizes as His children, but it is the remnant who abide with Him, however small that remnant may be. They constitute His children. God also has a record of these tribes in heaven. He remembers them there; consequently the true Israel before God is the Israel by faith, those who are grafted in by faith. See Rom. 9:7, 8; 11:17-24. So these same tribes are represented in the twelve gates of the city (Revelation 21 and 22), and all who enter those gates come in under some one of the tribes of Israel, spiritual tribes, and in God’s reckoning there are none lost; all are complete in Him.