ARE THE TWELVE TRIBES OF REVELATION SEVEN LITERAL?
Christians prefer to believe the Bible, first of all literally, if that is possible. “But wait!” the cults say, “the list that follows the number 144,000 is NOT a literal list of the twelve tribes of Israel. It was pointed out to me by a Jewish Rabbi that the lists of the twelve tribes of Israel differ throughout Scripture. Sometimes the original twelve names found in Genesis 49 are not used, but descendants further down the line are used in place of an original name. For example, we will look at the tribe of Joseph. You will recall that Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, married, and had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. When he was reunited with his father, Jacob (Israel), his father claimed these two sons as his own, and thereafter we usually find the tribe of Joseph not mentioned, but the two sons mentioned in his place. This would bring the total of the tribes of Israel to thirteen, not twelve. To keep the number at twelve, the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, is generally omi
