3858. Since the next verses have to do with Jacob’s twelve sons, and they are the ancestors for whom the twelve tribes of Israel were named, I need to start by saying what the tribes symbolize and why there were twelve of them. No one knows the secret hidden in this yet, because people have considered the stories of the Word to be bald history. They have not seen anything divine in the material except that it can serve as illustration when they are discussing religion. So they have believed that the twelve tribes only meant the division of the Israelite people into twelve different nations or general clans. In reality, the meaning involves something divine—the division of faith and love into so many broad categories—and consequently something pertaining to the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on earth. In fact, each tribe means something universal. What it means will become clear from the discussion directly below focusing on the sons of Jacob for whom the tribes were named.

As a group the twelve tribes symbolized everything involved in the doctrines concerning truth and goodness, or faith and love. After all, truth and goodness, or faith and love, make up the Lord’s kingdom. What relates to truth or faith is the all-in-all of the thinking there, and what relates to goodness or love is the all-in-all of the feelings there. Since the Jewish religion was established to represent the Lord’s kingdom, these elements are what the division of that people into twelve tribes symbolized. This is a secret that has never been revealed before.

[2] Twelve symbolizes everything in general, as demonstrated before in §§577, 2089, 2129, 2130 at the end, 3272. Tribes symbolize different facets of truth and goodness, or of faith and love, so the twelve tribes symbolize all facets of them. Let me confirm this from the Word before turning to each tribe in particular. In John:

... the holy city New Jerusalem, having twelve gates and on the gates twelve angels and names written, which are those of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. The wall of the city had twelve foundations and on them the names of the Lamb’s twelve apostles. He measured the city with the reed at twelve thousand stadia, and he measured its wall at a hundred forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a human, that is, of an angel. The twelve gates were twelve pearls. (Revelation 21:12, 14, 16, 17, 21)

Every word of this passage makes it clear that the holy city, New Jerusalem, is the Lord’s new church. The preceding verses discuss what the [current] church’s condition will be just before it ends, and these verses talk about a new church. As a result, the gates, wall, and foundations are actually aspects of the church, which are aspects of charity and faith (since charity and faith compose the church).

[3] Anyone can see, then, that the number twelve (repeated so many times in the quotation), the tribes, and the apostles do not mean twelve or tribes or apostles. No, twelve means everything as a whole, as shown before (see §§577, 2089, 2129, 2130 at the end, 3272). So does a hundred forty-four, because this is twelve times twelve. Since twelve symbolizes everything, clearly the twelve tribes symbolize every attribute of the church, these attributes being truth and goodness, or faith and love, as noted above. Likewise the twelve apostles. On the point that the apostles too represented everything in the church, or everything of faith and love, see §§2129, 3354, 3488, 3857. That is why the number is called “the measure of a human, that is, of an angel,” which means states of truth and goodness. A measure means a state (see §3104). A human means some aspect of religion (as is evident from the remarks at §§478, 479, 565, 768, 1871, 1894 about the symbolism of a human). Consider also that the Lord’s kingdom is called a universal human and that it is called this because of its goodness and truth, which come from the Lord (as discussed at chapter ends in §§3624-3649, 3741-3750). An angel has the same meaning (§§1705, 1754, 1925, 2821, 3039).

[4] Like John, the Old Testament prophets describe a new Jerusalem that also symbolizes the Lord’s new church. Examples are Isaiah 65:18, 19, and following verses; Zechariah 14; and especially Ezekiel 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, where the new Jerusalem, the new temple, and the new land in an inner sense depict the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and his kingdom on the earth, which is the church. The content of those passages illustrates more clearly than that of any others what the earth, Jerusalem, the temple, and everything in it symbolize. It also shows what the twelve tribes symbolize, because it speaks about dividing up the land and their inheriting it according to their tribes. It speaks about the city and its walls, foundation, and gates, and about all the furnishings the temple in that city will contain. Let me quote just the parts about the tribes.

The Lord Jehovih said, “This is the border to which you will inherit the land in accord with the twelve tribes of Israel: You shall divide this land according to the tribes of Israel. But it will happen that you shall divide it by lot as an inheritance [for yourselves] and for the immigrants residing in your midst; along with you they shall cast a lot for an inheritance in the middle of the tribes of Israel.” (Ezekiel 47:13, 21, 22, 23)

In regard to the land, it will belong to the chieftain as a possession in Israel, and chieftains will no longer afflict my people, and they will give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes. (Ezekiel 45:8)

To learn how the inheritances were assigned to each of the tribes, which are named individually there, see Ezekiel 48:1 and following verses. Concerning the city gates that were according to the names of Israel’s tribes, see Ezekiel 48:31-34.

[5] It is obvious that the tribes in this passage do not mean tribes, because by then ten tribes had been scattered to the four corners of the earth. They never returned and cannot ever return, because they became gentile. Yet the text names each, tells how it will inherit the land, and describes its borders—the border for the tribe of Dan in verse 1; the border for the tribe of Asher in verse 2; for those of Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, and Judah; the Levites’ inheritance; the border for the tribe of Benjamin; for that of Simeon; for those of Issachar, Zebulun, and Gad—all in Ezekiel 48:3-29. The text goes on to say that the city had twelve gates according to the names of Israel’s tribes: three gates to the north for Reuben, Judah, and Levi; three gates to the east for Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan; three gates to the south for Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun; three gates to the west for Gad, Asher, and Naphtali (Ezekiel 48:31, 32, 33, 34). This shows that the twelve tribes symbolize all the qualities of the Lord’s kingdom and accordingly that they mean all aspects of faith and love, since these constitute the Lord’s kingdom, as noted above.

[6] Since the twelve tribes symbolized everything in the Lord’s kingdom, they represented the same thing by the way they camped and set out to travel, as described in Moses, who says that they camped around the meeting tent according to their tribes. Toward the east were Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; toward the south, Reuben, Simeon, and Gad; toward the west, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin; toward the north, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali; and as they camped, so they set out (Numbers 2:1– end). In doing so, they represented the Lord’s kingdom, as is quite plain in Balaam’s prophecy:

When Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel dwelling by tribes, the spirit of God came over him and he uttered his pronouncement and said, “How good are your tents, Jacob; your dwellings, Israel! They are planted as valleys are, as gardens beside the river; like sandalwoods has Jehovah planted them, like cedars beside the water.” (Numbers 24:2, 3, 5, 6)

These words of Balaam’s came from Jehovah, as plainly said in Numbers 22:8, 18, 19, 35, 38; 23:5, 12, 16, 26; 24:2, 13.

These considerations also show what the tribe-by-tribe inheritance of the land of Canaan represented, concerning which Moses said that he would “take the total of the assembly of the children of Israel according to the house of their ancestors, from a son of twenty years; everyone going out into Israel’s army [would be counted].” The land would be distributed by lot; “according to the names of the tribes of their ancestors they shall inherit” (Numbers 26:2, 7-56; 33:54; 34:19-29). Joshua divided the land “by lot according to the tribes” (Joshua 13: [14,] 15, 16, 17, 18, 19). Again, the Lord’s kingdom is what was being represented, as the details indicate. After all, the land of Canaan symbolized that kingdom (see §§1585, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705).

The people are called armies and are said to have camped according to their armies and set out to travel according to their armies (Numbers 2:4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, 19, 21, 22, 23, 26, 28, 30,[Numbers 2:34]). The reason for this wording is that an army symbolized the same thing [as the tribes]: truth and goodness (see §3448). The Lord was called Jehovah Sabaoth, or Jehovah of Armies (§3448). So the people were called Jehovah’s army when they left Egypt, as in Moses:

It happened at the end of four hundred thirty years—it happened on that very day—that all the armies of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:41)

Anyone can see that people who behaved the way these tribes did in Egypt and afterward in the wilderness were called Jehovah’s army only in a representative sense. They had no goodness or truth and were the worst nation of all.

This also shows clearly what was symbolized by the names of the twelve tribes on Aaron’s breastplate (called the Urim and Thummim). Moses speaks of it this way:

There shall be four rows there; twelve stones. These stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel—twelve, according to their names. The engravings of a signet shall be on each, over its name, for the twelve tribes. (Exodus 28:[17,] 21; 39:14)

Aaron represented the Lord’s divine work as priest, so everything Aaron wore symbolized divinely heavenlike and divinely spiritual qualities. The specific symbolism will become clear where his garments are discussed, by the Lord’s divine mercy. Since the breastplate was holiest, on it were representations of everything involved in love for and faith in the Lord—that is, the Urim and Thummim. Why were the names engraved on these precious stones? Stones in general symbolize truth (§§1298, 3720), and precious stones symbolize truth that is translucent with goodness (§114). The name of each tribe symbolized some quality, so each tribe was assigned its own unique stone (Exodus 28:17, 18, 19, 20, [21]; 39:10, 11, 12, 13, [14]), and this stone by its color and brilliance expressed the quality symbolized by that tribe. That is why Jehovah (the Lord) gave answers through the Urim and Thummim.

The two shoham stones on the two shoulders of the ephod represented the same thing but on a smaller scale than the twelve stones on the breastplate. Shoulders symbolized all a person’s might, so they symbolized the Lord’s omnipotence (§1085). The breast, or the heart and lungs, symbolized divinely heavenlike and spiritual love—the heart, divinely heavenlike love, and the lungs, divinely spiritual love (see §3635 and the end of the current chapter, where the universal human and its correspondence with the realms of the heart and lungs is discussed). Here is what Moses says about the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod:

You shall take two shoham stones and engrave on them the names of Israel’s sons, six of the names on one stone and the other six names on the other stone, according to their generations. You shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod, stones of remembrance for Israel’s sons. (Exodus 28:9, 10, 11, [12]; 39:6, 7)

Again, the tribes symbolized aspects of truth and goodness, or of faith and love, and each tribe symbolized some universal aspect. The tribe of Levi symbolized love, as the explanation at verse 34 of this chapter will show [§§3875-3877]. From this you can see the symbolism of the staffs that the people would put in the meeting tent, one for each tribe, and of the fact that only Levi’s staff blossomed with almonds, as Moses describes in these words: He would take twelve staffs—one staff for the head of [each] house of their ancestors—which would be left in the meeting tent, and he would write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff.

Aaron’s staff was put in the midst of them. The next day, look! Aaron’s staff budded for Levi’s tribe; it put out a flower to bloom a bloom and bear almonds. (Numbers 17:2-8)

This meant that love was the first, most important thing of all in the Lord’s kingdom, the source of all fruitfulness. Aaron’s name was on it because he represented the Lord’s divine role as priest. The Lord’s priestliness means the divine goodness of his love and mercy, while his kingliness means the divine truth that comes of divine goodness; see §§1728, 2015 at the end, 3670.

These quotations now show what “tribes” and “twelve tribes” symbolize in the following passages. In John, for instance:

I heard the number of those sealed: a hundred forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of Israel. From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand sealed. From the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand sealed. From the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand sealed. From the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand sealed. From the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand sealed. From the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand sealed. From the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand sealed. From the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand sealed. From the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand sealed. From the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand sealed. From the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand sealed. From the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand sealed. (Revelation 7:4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

In Moses:

Remember the days of old, understand the years of generation after generation, when the Highest One gave an inheritance to the nations; when he divided the children of humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:7, 8)

In David:

Jerusalem has been built as a city that clings together with itself, to which tribes go up, the tribes of Jah, as testimony to Israel, to acclaim Jehovah’s name. (Psalms 122:3, 4)

In Joshua:

When the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth crosses before you into the Jordan, take twelve men of Israel’s tribes, one man from a tribe. It will happen, when the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of Jehovah—Lord of the whole earth—rest in the Jordan’s waters, that the Jordan’s waters will be cut off; they will stand in one heap. (Joshua 3:11-17)

Further:

“Take from the middle of the Jordan, from the standing place of the priests’ feet, and prepare, twelve stones that you will carry across with you; and a man [will carry] one stone on his shoulder, according to the number of Israel’s tribes, to be as a sign that the Jordan’s waters were cut off.” Moreover, Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan on the standing place of the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant. (Joshua 4:1-9)

Again:

Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of tribes of Jacob’s sons, and the word came to him, “Israel will be your name,” and he built an altar in Jehovah’s name. (1 Kings 18:31, 32)

The meaning of tribes as a loving goodness and religious truth can also be seen from the Lord’s words in Matthew:

Then the sign of the Son of Humankind will appear, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Humankind coming in the clouds of heaven with strength and glory. (Matthew 24:30)

“All the tribes of the earth will mourn” means that people will no longer acknowledge truth or live a good life. The passage is talking about the close of the age. Likewise in John:

Watch: he will come with the clouds, and every eye will see him, as will those who stabbed him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. (Revelation 1:7)

To learn what coming in the clouds of heaven means, see the preface to Genesis 18.

See also what was shown to me about the number twelve in an experience described in §§2129, 2130.

The reason all aspects of faith and love are called tribes is that in the original language the word for a tribe also means a scepter and a staff. A scepter and a staff mean power, as will be shown elsewhere, with the Lord’s divine mercy [§§4013, 4876, 4936, 7026]. So the word tribe involves the idea that goodness and truth contain all power, imparted by the Lord. For the same reason, angels are called powers and also principalities [Romans 8:38; Ephesians 3:10; 1 Peter 3:22], because princes or chieftains symbolize the main elements of neighborly love and faith, as the twelve chiefs born to Ishmael do (Genesis 25:16; see §2089) and as the chiefs over the tribes do (Numbers 7:1–end; 13:4-16).

From everything said so far about the twelve tribes you can see why the Lord’s disciples (later called apostles) numbered twelve. It can also be seen that they represented goodness and truth in the Lord’s church, just as the tribes did

(§§2129, 3354, 3488, 3857). Peter represented faith; James, neighborly love; and John, acts of neighborly kindness (see the prefaces to Genesis 18 and 22, and §3750), as stands out clearly from what the Lord said about them and to them.