This is the Bible Book Club, the book of First Chronicles. Welcome to the club.

Last episode in chapter six, we discussed the tribe of Levi, a tribe set apart to serve God,

and possibly also the tribe that our chronicler could be from.

The tribe is strategically placed in the middle of all the genealogies.

This tribe was responsible for leading the Israelites back into a covenant relationship with God.

In addition, without a king, they often also took a role in leading the Israelites as a community.

The tribe of Levi was set apart to serve God, to teach the law, and to guide the people.

Within the tribe of Levi was the line of the priesthood with Aaron as the founder. And each of the

three sons of Levi or clans were given specific responsibilities for working

in service to God and the people. In this episode, we will complete the 12 genealogies with an ominous

challenge. So here we go. The last of the 12 tribes of Israel. These tribes lived on the west

side of the Jordan north of Judah and Simeon.

There are six of these tribes, Issaqar, Naftali, the other half tribe of Manasseh, Ephraim Asher, and Benjamin.

Notably missing are the tribes of Dan and Zebulin.

Now Dan is missing because they disappeared, as we've discussed. Zebulin probably because the two tribes of Zebulin. Now, Dan is missing because they disappeared, as we've discussed. Zebulin probably because

the two tribes of Zeppelin and Issaacar became linked, as they were always close because they

shared the same mother and father, and they lived in adjacent territory. So it thought that they

just kind of merged. Now for framework, recall

that the northern tribes, these ones I just mentioned, along with the three Transjordan tribes,

formed the northern kingdom of Israel during the times of kings. They often opposed the southern

kingdom, which was also called Judas. It's important to remember that

sometimes they were even enemies within Israel. In this episode, our author is writing post-exile,

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