Grafted InThe Twelve Tribes and the Believer From the Nations
Twelve Names From Genesis to Revelation
The twelve tribes of Israel run through the whole Bible. They begin as twelve sons blessed by a dying father in Genesis 49. They are counted in the wilderness, engraved on the high priest's garments, given their portions of the land under Joshua, and scattered and gathered by the prophets. In the last chapters of Revelation their names are written on the gates of a city. Few threads in Scripture run longer.
That length raised a question the apostles had to answer for their own churches: what becomes of a believer who is not descended from Jacob at all? This study follows the tribes through Scripture, looks at the high priest from Judah who now stands for the people of God, and gathers what the apostles call the believer from the nations.
What a Tribe Was For
The Hebrew word for tribe1 means a rod or a branch, and so a clan that branches off from a father. Israel's twelve tribes descend from the twelve sons of Jacob, whom he blessed one by one before his death in Genesis 49. A tribe carried three things down the generations: a share of the land, which Joshua divided by tribe in Joshua 13 to 21; an office, since the priesthood belonged to the house of Aaron in the tribe of Levi; and a promise. The promise sat with Judah.
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Genesis 49:10
KJV
The verse says two things about Judah. The sceptre stays with him until Shiloh comes, and when Shiloh comes the gathering of the people is "unto him." The peoples are gathered to a person. One verse earlier the same blessing calls Judah a lion: "Judah is a lion's whelp" (Genesis 49:9).
A tribe was also a matter of record. When priests came back from the exile and could not find their registers, they were put from the priesthood.
These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.
Ezra 2:62
KJV
For the records behind the genealogies of Jesus, see The Importance of Genealogy in the Bible and The Genealogy of Jesus in Matthew vs. Luke.
The Names the High Priest Bore
When God ordered Aaron's garments in Exodus 28, the tribes were written into them twice. Two onyx stones on the shoulders carried six names each (Exodus 28:9-10), and the breastplate2 of judgment held twelve more in four rows of three: sardius, topaz and carbuncle; emerald, sapphire and diamond; ligure, agate and amethyst; beryl, onyx and jasper (Exodus 28:17-20).
And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes.
Exodus 28:21
KJV
On the shoulders and on the breastplate alike, the high priest went into the holy place carrying the whole people by name, and the reason is given in the same chapter.
And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually.
Exodus 28:29
KJV
The Hebrew for memorial3 names something that brings a person to mind before God. The cross-reference graph ties this verse to Exodus 28:12, where the shoulder stones are "for a memorial" too, and to Isaiah 49:15-16, where the LORD says of Zion, "I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." Israel stood before God in the person of the one who represented it.
The early church read the twelve stones forward to the apostles. Tertullian (220), asked why Christ chose twelve apostles and not some other number, found "figurative hints" of the number "in the twelve gems of Aaron's priestly vestment." Ambrose of Milan (397) wrote of twelve, "as of twelve precious stones," on whom "the pillar of our faith" is built, stones woven into the robe of "holy Aaron, even of him who bears the likeness of Christ, that is, of the true Priest." Cyril of Alexandria (444) wrote that through the twelve stones "the chorus of the holy apostles is clearly signified being, as it were, in a circle around Emmanuel." For Aaron's own story, see Aaron: The First High Priest.
A High Priest From Judah
The one who now holds that office was not born into Aaron's line. Aaron's priests came from Levi, and Jesus came from Judah. The writer to the Hebrews faces the fact directly.
For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
Hebrews 7:14
KJV
A priest from a tribe of which "Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood" needed another ground, and the writer gives it: "after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest," made "after the power of an endless life" (Hebrews 7:15-16). The result is a priest who is also king, since the sceptre stayed with Judah, and one whose priesthood passes to no successor. For the figure behind this, see The Meaning of "Melchizedek" in Hebrews, and for the whole argument of the letter, An Introduction to Hebrews.
But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Hebrews 7:24-25
KJV
What Aaron did each time he went in, Christ does without ceasing. Paul says the same in Romans 8:34, the strongest edge in the cross-reference graph leaving Hebrews 7:25: "who also maketh intercession for us." Origen (253) wrote that Jesus now stands "before the face of God interceding for us," and that he stands "before the altar to offer a propitiation to God for us."
The Lion and the Lamb
Judah's blessing gives Christ one of his titles. In Revelation 5, when no one in heaven or earth can open the sealed book, an elder speaks to John.
And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
Revelation 5:5
KJV
The Greek word for tribe4 in this verse is, like the Hebrew, a word for an offshoot or branch. The cross-reference graph leads from the verse to Isaiah 11:1, to Jeremiah 23:5-6, to Revelation 22:16 and to Hebrews 7:14: the Lion of the tribe of Juda is the Root of David, the righteous Branch, and the Lord who sprang out of Juda. In the very next verse John turns and sees a Lamb as it had been slain (Revelation 5:6). Augustine (430) preached on the pairing: "He is called a lion for courage, a lamb for innocence. A lion because unconquered, a lamb because gentle."
What the Apostles Call a Believer From the Nations
The apostles wrote to believers who were not descended from Jacob, and they had to say what such believers were. Paul begins with what they had been.
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
The Gentile believer had been one of the "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel," and is now "made nigh by the blood of Christ." Paul names the result in the language of citizenship and household: "no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19). Then he says it again, and the cross-reference graph marks this as the strongest link from Galatians 3:29:
That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Ephesians 3:6
KJV
The Gentiles are "fellowheirs, and of the same body": joined to an inheritance that was already there. Paul's picture in Romans 11 says the same thing with a tree.
And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Romans 11:17-18
KJV
The Gentile is a wild olive "graffed in among them," who "partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree." Ambrosiaster (384) noted the strangeness of it: "The Gentiles, who were from a bad root, were grafted into a good tree, which is the opposite of what happens in agriculture, where it is the good branch which is grafted onto a bad root." The branch does not bear the root, Paul adds: "the root thee." The Hebrew and Greek words for tribe both mean an offshoot, and a branch grafted in is the apostle's own figure for the believer from the nations.
Galatians 3 gives the plainest statement, and it is written about the question of descent.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
"If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." The Greek word for seed5 is singular in Galatians 3:16, where the one Seed is Christ, so to be Abraham's seed is to be in him. Jerome (420) read the verse in two senses: Christ's descent from Abraham is "in the bodily sense of his generation from the stock of Abraham," and ours is to be understood "spiritually, as that of faith and preaching." Romans 9:6-8 draws the line from the other side: "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel," and "the children of the promise are counted for the seed."
One more word belongs to the list. Among the possessions of the Israelites in Romans 9:4 is "the adoption." The Greek word for adoption6 is the one given to believers in Galatians 4:5, "that we might receive the adoption of sons," and in Ephesians 1:5, "the adoption of children by Jesus Christ."
The vocabulary is consistent across the letters. The believer from the nations is called seed, heir, fellowheir, fellowcitizen, a grafted branch and an adopted son. The New Testament keeps the word tribe for Israel's twelve (Matthew 19:28, Luke 2:36, 22:30, Acts 13:21, 26:7, Romans 11:1, Philippians 3:5, Hebrews 7:13-14, James 1:1, Revelation 5:5, 7:5-8 and 21:12) and for the peoples of the earth (Matthew 24:30, Revelation 5:9 and 7:9). The believer from the nations is given his own set of names instead. For the full argument of the letter, see An Exposition of Galatians 3, and for Romans 9, Understanding Romans 9.
Paul and the Tribe of Benjamin
None of this makes a tribe nothing. Paul knew his, and said so.
Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
The same apostle writes, "I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin," and uses it as evidence that God has not cast away his people (Romans 11:1). Luke names Anna as "of the tribe of Aser" (Luke 2:36) and Barnabas as a Levite (Acts 4:36). Scripture treats descent from Jacob with respect. To the Israelites, Paul says, belong "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants," and the advantage of the Jew is "Much every way" (Romans 9:4; 3:1-2).
What is instructive is what Paul does with his own. He lists it among the things he "counted loss for Christ," and a few verses earlier he says of believers, "we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3). John Chrysostom (407), preaching on the passage, set Paul's "unblemished extraction" beside his dangers and labors and said that Paul gave them up that he might "win Christ." For Paul's life as a whole, see Paul (Saul of Tarsus).
The Names on the Gates and the Foundations
The tribes do not disappear. Jesus promises the Twelve that they will sit "judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19:28), and in Revelation 7:4-8 the sealed are numbered tribe by tribe, beginning with Juda. In the last chapters of the Bible John is shown the holy Jerusalem.
And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The gates carry the names of the tribes, and the foundations carry the names of the apostles. Paul describes the church in the same terms when he says it is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 2:20). Seven of the twelve stones named in Exodus 28:17-20 are named again in the foundations of Revelation 21:19-20: sardius, topaz, emerald, sapphire, amethyst, beryl and jasper. The two lists do not line up stone for stone, and Scripture does not set them side by side, but the overlap is there in the texts. The city also says who enters it: "they which are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Revelation 21:27). For the city itself, see The New Jerusalem.
Out of Every Tribe
The song in Revelation 5 returns to the word the elder used about Judah.
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
The word the King James Version renders "kindred" in verse 9 is the same Greek word the elder used in verse 5 for the tribe of Juda. The Lion of one tribe has redeemed a people out of every tribe, and made them "kings and priests." Andreas of Caesarea (614) heard the elders singing for those "who from every tribe and tongue have been freed from the antiquity of the letter and through the Spirit have received light." Peter says it of the church in 1 Peter 2:9-10: "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people," who "in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God." For that priesthood, see The Priesthood of All Believers.
Whose You Are
Scripture gives the tribes their full honour and gives the believer from the nations a full place, and the two sit together without strain. For a believer descended from Jacob, his tribe is a gift to be received with thanks, as Paul received his, and held without confidence in the flesh. For every other believer the apostles' answer is a standing of its own: Abraham's seed, a grafted branch, a fellowcitizen, a member of the household of God, an adopted son.
That standing rests on the Priest who carries his people and on the Shepherd who knows them: "he calleth his own sheep by name" (John 10:3). When the seventy came back rejoicing over what they had done, the Lord gave them one reason for joy above the rest: "because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). Paul's condition in Galatians is a single one, "if ye be Christ's" (Galatians 3:29), and his word in Colossians is that the believer is "complete in him" (Colossians 2:10).
For Israel's place in God's plan, see The Relationship Between Israel and the Church, and for the tribe of the Lion, Judah: From Betrayal to Leadership.