# The Twelve Tribes of Israel

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twelve-tribes-of-israel/1627>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [March 10, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twelve-tribes-of-israel/1627 "2000-03-10T02:50:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jonanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@jonanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonanners)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2000, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twelve-tribes-of-israel/1627/1 "2000-03-10T22:53:00Z")

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The twelve tribes of Israel are not the twelve sons of Jacob, only ten of his sons are. Levi became the priest and Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Mennassah, were the other two. Yup, I pay attention in Religion class.

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**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twelve-tribes-of-israel/1627/2 "2000-03-10T02:50:00Z")

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And the column in question is:  
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtentribes.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtentribes.html)

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_Eschew Obfuscation_

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2000, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-twelve-tribes-of-israel/1627/3 "2000-03-10T14:00:00Z")

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On the other hand, **jonanners** , I’m curious as to how your answer actually differed from Dex’s in the column:

> [@](#):
>
> the Israelites consisted of twelve tribes, named after the twelve sons of Jacob as recorded in Genesis: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph, and Benjamin. The term “children of Israel” is used to mean both the twelve sons of Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel) and collectively the twelve tribes. **Joseph** (the most famous of the twelve sons, he of the dreams and multi-coloured coat) **did not actually have a tribe named after him; instead, his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, each gave rise to tribes** … That would make thirteen tribes, not twelve, **but the tribe of Levi became a priestly tribe** (the only tribe to remain loyal to God and to Moses during the golden calf episode) **without a specific region of settlement, and so is sometimes excluded from the count**.

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Tom~