Bootstrap wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 6:39 pm
But it's interesting that these lists differ. Anyone have a good explanation for that? It's not something I have thought of. And it seems like it might influence interpretation of the Revelation.
Boot - This is admittedly speculatory, but this specific question came up in a recent study we were part of which went through the books of Daniel and Revelation. Some of the discussion there suggested the following, for whatever it's worth. I'll try to keep it "short", but here it is as best I remember...
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Judges 17-21 records a couple stories of apostasy in Israel, both centered on Dan, Ephraim and the city of Bethlehem (birthplace of David, God's choice for king over Israel). Judges emphasizes that these were the days before Israel had a monarchy. Dan sinned by turning their nose up at the land God allotted to them, and they abandoned it. As they migrated north, they passed through Ephraim, snatched some idols at a home along the way, recruited a Levite to serve in some sort of false temple in their new area, and subsequently, Dan became the first tribe to formally embrace idol worship...
Ephraim (source of those idols) more or less assumed control over the land originally intended allotted to Dan, and essentially assisted the Danites in bringing idolatry into Israel. The suggestion was made that these sins give God just cause exclude them from their privilege of preparing Israel and the rest of the world for Messiah's returning. And furthermore, since Manasseh was already included in the Rev 7 list, it seems clear that the tribe of Joseph doesn't represent his 2 sons as is normally the case - rather, Joseph still represents two tribes (in this case Joseph replaces Dan & Ephraim, who were tribes historically/geographically linked in their introduction of rebellion & idolatry into the land). On this basis, they may be excluded from the Rev 7 list, at least by name and with "Joseph" listed as proxy.
This "substitution" allowed the retaining of the symmetry of 12 tribes while still drawing attention to D&E's joint contribution to idolatry in Israel. In this since, D&E would be "hidden" in Joseph, which suggests that the 12K men from "Joseph" during the Tribulation
could actually be Danites and Ephraimites.
There is also a deeper potential message in the exclusion, however, and while we're on the subject...
Dan and Ephraim's apostasy represented perhaps the lowest point in Israel's history just prior to the Lord raising up a king from Bethlehem to deliver His people from their sin.
This is the same pattern that exists prior to the Lord's return to rule over Israel when the Tribulation ends - with the exclusion (replacement?) of the names of D&E from the Rev 7 list, the Lord directs attention back to the story at the end of Judges, and this narrative of God's chosen King's arrival to address the nation's idolatry.
You see part of this in Judges 17-21, with the growing apostasy of Israel, influenced by (shock
) the good old boys from Dan and Ephraim, after which David (pre-figure of Jesus) arrives in Bethlehem (kinda like Jesus later on) as the hope of Israel. Summarily put, these events picture the later greater arrival of Jesus Christ when He comes to rescue Israel from apostasy.
All that to say that Dan and Ephraim may be missing in the Rev 7 list in order to point back to their decidedly poor choices back in Judges, as Revelation depicts Israel once again guilty of apostasy as they were in Judges under D&E. And again the Lord is going to bring Israel a king (aka Jesus, from Bethlehem) to rescue Israel from their apostasy, so by excluding these two tribes, there seems to be an emphasis/picture that the third part of the story will be right around the corner.
...but all that could be totally overthinking it too.
