Diversity among the Tribes of
Israel
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And then, when you go through chapter 49, you find that every single one of the tribes is given a particular role, a particular place, certain things are said about them, positive and negative. And these blessings that Jacob gave to his sons, actually, in many respects, establish the fact that there's going to be diversity among them, and if the people of God, as they move toward the Promised Land in the days of Moses, are going to live according to what God wants for them, they're not just going to be together as if all of them are going to be the same, as if all of them are going to be living in exactly the same place with all the same responsibilities and all the same privileges. The words of Jacob, both to Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh in chapter 48, and then in chapter 49, to the rest of the sons of Jacob, those chapters prove that there's going to be diversity among them. But in that diversity, they are to be unified, as the rest of the story tells us.
Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr. is Co-Founder and President of Third Millennium Ministries who served as Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary and has authored numerous books.