From the pages of
THE THIRTEEN TRIBES OF
( A sermon by brother Tarran Dookie)
From the book of Genesis we
learn that the patriarch Jacob, whose name God changed to
A TRIBE SEPARATED UNTO GOD
Ex. 32: 25-29 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies) Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
Deut. 10: 8-9 At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day. Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him.
See also Num. 3: 9-13.
What caused the slaying of these 3000 men in the wilderness of Sinai? Moses had been in the mount for 40 days and 40 nights and the people despaired of his return. They persuaded Aaron to make a golden calf and they forsook God and worshipped this idol. This act of idolatry and abomination incurred the wrath of God and the people were struck with a plague (Ex. 32:35). But God was well pleased with the zeal of the sons of Levi as they responded to the call of Moses. How the children of God need to be zealous today and to have a holy anger and outrage at idolatry and abomination practised by many even who are called by His name. The tribe of Levi was given a special blessing by God.
Levi was put in charge of
the tabernacle of testimony. They were to bear the ark of the covenant of the
Lord and to stand before Him and minister to Him. They were not to be numbered
with the rest of
ONE TRIBE BECOMES TWO
There are twelve tribes in Num. ch. 34 and they do not include Levi. Also in Num. ch. 1 twelve tribes are numbered but verses 49-50 tell us that Levi was not numbered among them. But if Levi is one of the twelve sons of Jacob that became twelve tribes, how do we still have twelve tribes when Levi is left out? Logically, there should be eleven tribes. But there are twelve tribes and if we include Levi it would be thirteen. How do we account for twelve tribes without Levi?
Gen. 48: 5,22 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.....Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
47: 13 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall
inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of
Joseph was envied by his
brothers. He was sold into
THE MISSING TRIBE
When Levi is not listed among the twelve tribes as in Num. ch. 1 and ch. 34 we have Ephraim (or Joseph) and Manasseh. When Levi is included as in Deut. ch. 33, 1 Chron. 2: 1-2 or Ezek. 48:30-34, Joseph is counted as one. This is the normal position. But let us turn our attention to something in the word of God that may make us understand that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
18: 30-31 And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the
son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe
of Dan until the day of captivity of the land. And they set them up Micah's
graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in
The book of Judges chapters
17 to 18 give the account of Micah's graven image. The man Micah from
Let us recognise that this
idolatry was not short-lived. It was not even a few years. No, it lasted many
years even until the time of the captivity in
Our God is a jealous God. He
greatly abhors idolatry among His children. Today we may say that we have no
graven images and that we are okay. But it is not as simplistic as that. The
idols of our heart are just as abominable as the graven images. Attachment to
material possessions, loving someone more than God, preoccupation with sports,
hobbies, careers, or any pursuit or activity that detracts us from God may all
be situations of idolatry. Rev.ch. 22 v. 15 tells us that idolaters shall not
enter the city of
7: 4-8 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed
an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of
Here we have 12,000 from
each of twelve tribes of
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