Tribes of Judah and Israel
by Lynn H. Wood
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According to I Kings 12:21 and 2 Chronicles 11:1, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Rehoboam. Hence it is supposed that the other ten tribes formed the kingdom of Israel. Since the tribe of Simeon was located in the south of Palestine and the inheritance of this tribe really formed only a part of Judah (Joshua 19:1-9), how was it possible that it should be carried away in the captivity of the kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians? Was it in order that there might be ten tribes constituting that kingdom?
His question divides itself into two parts: First, what became of Simeon? And second, is Benjamin counted with Judah or with Israel?
1. In the blessing pronounced by Moses in Deuteronomy 33, Simeon is not mentioned. As the other tribes received their inheritances, the record concerning Simeon is : "Out of the part of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon: for the portion of the children of Judah was too much for them: therefore the children of Simeon'had inheritance in the midst of their inheritance." Joshua 19:9, R.V.
Dean F. W. Farrar says: "The tribe of Simeon had melted away into a shadow, if not into nonexistence, amid the surrounding populations, and its territory was under the kings of Judah."—Expositor's Bible, First Book of Kings, p. 277.
Thus we may feel sure that Simeon is not reckoned in the twelve pieces that the prophet Ahijah is discussing, and is not included in the ten tribes that go into Assyrian captivity.
2. The tribe of Benjamin lay as a buffer state between the northern and southern kingdoms. Her northern boundary ( Joshua 18 :11-28) ran from the Jordan up the rocky defiles of the canyon just north of Jericho, coming out on the plains of the wilderness of Beth-Aven, thence south to Bethel and on west to Beth-horon. Her southern boundary came east from Kirjathjearim up the canyon now followed by the railway approaching Jerusalem, through the Valley of Hinnom and south to the spring En Rogel, and thence east toward En Shemish and Debir. Thus part of Jerusalem was in the tribe of Judah and part in the tribe of Benjamin.
Benjamin had been proud to furnish Israel's first king, Saul, and she had shown herself jealous of Judah's growing prestige; but when God singled out Jerusalem as His chosen city, part, at least, of the tribe forgot such animosities as shown David in the rebellion of Shimei and a thousand Benjamites (2 Sam. 19:16, 17), and joined Rehoboam in an attempt to quell the rebellion. But either by force or choice fully one third of the tribal area went to Israel. Bethel belonged permanently to the northern kingdom, and Jericho and Ramah changed hands probably more than once. (See Kings 16:34; 2 Kings 2 :4-18 ; 2 Chron. 28:15; I Kings 15:17-22.)
In comparing the statements in i Kings ii :29-32 and verse 13 of that chapter, one gathers that Jeroboam was to get ten of the twelve "pieces," or "tribes"; while Judah, being one "piece," was to get `tone" more. x Kings 12:20 indicates that Judah was the only tribe that wholly followed the house of David, the twenty-first verse indicating that some of the tribe of Benjamin might be lacking. In all probability the population of Benjamin was pretty evenly divided between the two kingdoms.
In any reckoning of the twelve tribes Simeon seems to be omitted from the list; sO thinking of the various inheritances, the twelve "pieces" could be named as:
"Dan
Asher
Naphtali
Zebulun
Issachar
Manasseh I Manasseh II Ephraim
Gad
Reuben
Judah Benjamin
Or if both kingdoms insist on claiming Benjamin as an integral part in spite of the fact that the tribe is divided, the twelve "pieces" could be:
'Dan
Asher
Naphtali Zebulun Issachar Manasseh Ephraim Gad
Reuben (-Benjamin f Judah
Benjamin
The tatter listing would be in harmony with the thought of Dr. S. H. Blank, of Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, when he says :
"In the division of the kingdom, the territory of Benjamin was claimed by both Israel and Judah, and was for a time the scene of the wars between the two, ending in its partition between the two."--The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. H, p. 117.
The first listing seems a little closer to the Biblical concept of twelve "pieces." Surely part of the tribe of Benjamin went with the northern kingdom into captivity to the Assyrians.
L. H. WOOD. [Professor, History of Antiquity, Theological Seminary.]