the result of regarding the tribes from two points of view, which are closely connected with each other. On the one hand, regard is had to the historical position which the tribes took up, according to the order of birth of their tribal ancestors, and which they obtained by divine promise and guidance; on the other hand, the geographical position of their inheritance has been also taken into account. That regard to the historical position and importance of the tribes was mainly determinative, is plain from the introductory remarks to the genealogies of the tribe of Reuben, 1Ch 5:1-2, to the effect that Reuben was the first-born of Israel, but that, because of his offence against his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, although they are not specified as possessors of it in the family registers; while it is narrated that Judah, on the contrary, came to power among his brethren, and that out of Judah had come forth the prince over Israel. Judah is therefore placed at the head of the tribes, as that one out of which God chose the king over His people; and Simeon comes next in order, because they had received their inheritance within the tribal domain of Judah. Then follows Reuben as the first-born, and after him are placed Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, because they had received their inheritance along with Reuben on the other side of the Jordan. After Reuben, according to age, only Levi could follow, and then after Levi come in order the other tribes. The arrangement of them, however - Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Asher, and again Benjamin - is determined from neither the historical nor by the geographical point of view, but probably lay ready to the hand of the chronicler in the document used by him, as we are justified in concluding from the character of all these geographical and topographical lists.
For if we consider the character of these lists somewhat more carefully, we find that they are throughout imperfect in their contents, and fragmentary in their plan and execution. The imperfection in the contents shows itself in this, that no genealogies of the tribes of Dan and Zebulun are given at all, only the sons of Naphtali being mentioned (1Ch 7:13); of the half tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan we have only the names of some heads of fathers'-houses[1] (1Ch 5:24); and even in the relatively
- ↑ It may perhaps be useful to notice here our author's use of the words Geschlecht, Vaterhaus, and Familie, and the rendering of them in English. As he states in a subsequent page, the Geschlechteer are the larger divisions of the tribes tracing their descent from the sons of the twelve patriarchs; the Väterhäuser are the subdivisions descended from their grandsons or great-grandsons; while the Familien are the component parts of the Väterhäuser. The author's use of these words is somewhat vacillating; but Geschlecht, in this connection, has always been rendered by “family,” Väterhaus by “father's-house,” Familie by 'household,” and Familiengruppen by “groups of related households.” - Tr.
