The Torah contains two competing lists of the twelve tribes of Israel. While no two lists of the tribes are identical, their division into one of two categories is revealing. Milgrom identifies a determining factor:

“The tribal lists throughout the Bible may vary in the names and order of the tribes, but they share in common the concern for preserving the number twelve. These lists can be divided into two groups: those that include the tribe of Levi and those that omit it.”¹

But how is the number twelve maintained in either the inclusion or exclusion of the Levites? Brisco further clarifies:

“The number “twelve” predominates even though the names of the tribes mentioned in any given list varied slightly. For example, lists that name Levi as one of the twelve tribes also count Joseph as one of the tribes (Gen. 46:8–25; 49:1–27). Lists that omit Levi count the sons of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) as separate tribes to maintain the number “twelve” (Num. 1:26).”²

Mayes concurs:

“Practically all the many lists of sons of Jacob or tribes of Israel retain the number twelve for the total. However, they are not all uniform, and may, in fact, be divided into two basic groups, distinguished by the inclusion or exclusion of the tribe of Levi. This difference has brought others in its train, chief of which is the appearance of Manasseh and Ephraim, instead of the single entity Joseph, in order that the full complement of twelve might be retained in those lists where Levi is absent.”³

But is the “appearance of Manasseh and Ephraim”  the latter adaptation or the original rendering? Von Rad, on Genesis 48:5, the narrative of Jacob’s adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh, observes “that an ancient conflicting tradition was behind this representation. According to one scheme, only Joseph was numbered among Jacob’s twelve sons (e.g., Gen., ch. 49); according to the other tradition Ephraim and Manasseh belonged to the twelve. Our narrative intends to clarify this inconsistency in the ancient tradition and to make an adjustment.”⁴

But what, exactly, is this clarifying adjustment Von Rad refers to? Are Ephraim and Manasseh introduced into the narrative to complete the twelve tribes when Levi is omitted, or was this narrative crafted to insert Joseph as a single entity, enveloping Ephraim and Manasseh, making room for the Levites to be counted in the established twelve? The Shapira Scroll affirms the latter option. Dershowitz explains:

“The Gerizim and Ebal pericopes in V and Deuteronomy differ subtly with regard to the tribes that are instructed to gather upon the two hills. Whereas in Deuteronomy, the familiar twelve sons of Jacob are listed, V mentions neither Joseph nor Levi; instead it lists Ephraim and Manasseh. Thus, the twelve tribes according to V are Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Benjamin. While neither Joseph nor Levi is included in the lists of the tribes, the V version does mention the Levites. Unlike the tribes, all of which are presented by their associated proper nouns – Reuben, Simeon, etc. – the Levites are designated as הלוים “the Levites,” a plural nisbe with the definite article. The Levites are present but they are not a tribe.”⁵

If the Levites are not a tribe, then the account of Levi’s birth in Genesis 29:34 is part and parcel of the “adjustment” in Genesis 48:5’s adoption of Joseph’s sons by Jacob. In other words, to include the Levites in the count of the twelve, two existing tribes must be combined, and this is what the Joseph narrative achieves. To put it another way, to add one, you must subtract one.

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1. Jacob Milgrom, Numbers, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990), 6 ↩︎
2. Thomas V. Brisco, Holman Bible Atlas, Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 83 ↩︎
3. A. D. H. Mayes, Judges (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 57 ↩︎
4. Gerhard Von Rad, “Genesis: a commentary,” The Old Testament Library, (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Westminster Press, 1972) 414 ↩︎
5. Idan Dershowitz, The Valediction of Moses: A Proto-Biblical Book, Forschungen Zum Alten Testament 145 (Mohr Siebeck, 2021). 88-89 ↩︎

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