Israel as the Twelve Tribes
By (author) Thomas Dozeman
Hardback (Forthcoming)
(November 2026)
ISBN: 9783162003492
6.1 x 9.13 inches
Price: $210.00
Thomas Dozeman traces the rise of the twelve tribes in the exilic period as a response to the loss of the monarchy, and the decline of the twelve tribes in the late postexilic period when Israelite identity is restricted to Judeans in Yehud.
Thomas Dozeman traces the emergence and the decline of the twelve tribes in the postexilic period, coinciding roughly with the rise and the fall of the Persian empire. The twelve tribes are traditionally interpreted as the social structure of “all Israel” in the period of the judges, providing the background for the emergence of the united monarchy. Recent research clarifies the original separation of the northern and southern kingdoms, with the view of one Israelite people emerging only later in their history. The late development of pan-Israelite identity in the monarchic period requires the reevaluation of the twelve tribes, not as an early form of pan-Israelite identity in the period of the judges but as a response to the exile and the loss of the monarchy. The distribution of the two words for “tribe”, šēbet and maṭṭeh, provides the roadmap for describing the varieties of tribal identity in the exilic and early postexilic periods in Ezekiel, Genesis, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, and for interpreting the rejection of the twelve tribes in the late postexilic period in Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, and the Judean editing of the Former Prophets.
Introduction
Part 1 Varieties of the Twelve Tribes
Chapter 1 Ezekiel: Returning Exiles as Twelve Tribes
Chapter 2 Deuteronomy: Tribal Society in the Wilderness and at Shechem
Chapter 3 Genesis: Sons of Jacob as Tribal Ancestors
Chapter 4 Numbers: Tribal Theocracy in the Wilderness
Chapter 5 Joshua: Tribal Amphictyonic League at Shechem
Part 2 Rejection of the Twelve Tribes
Chapter 6 Chronicles: Levites and Tribal Identity in Jerusalem
Chapter 7 Ezra-Nehemiah: Contesting Israelite Identity in Yehud
Chapter 8 Judean Editing of the Former Prophets: "none was left but the tribe of Judah alone"
Conclusion
- By (author) Thomas Dozeman
Other Titles in this Series
Die Geschichtspsalmen
Eine Studie zu den Psalmen 78, 105, 106, 135 und 136 als hermeneutische Schlusseltexte im Psalter
Volume 84
The Poetics of Visuality
Ekphrasis, Material Agency, and the Visual Imagination in Biblical Antiquity
Volume 182
The Formation of the Hebrew Psalter
The Book of Psalms Between Ancient Versions, Material Transmission and Canonical Exegesis
Volume 151
Das Hohelied Salomos zwischen Poesie und Erzahlung
Erzahltextanalyse eines poetischen Textes
Volume 72
Die Erzelternerzahlungen im Lichte hofischer Erzahlkunst
Motivkritische Studien zu den Uberlieferungen von Lot, Isaak, Rebekka und Jakob
Volume 161
The Building of the First Temple
A Study in Redactional, Text-Critical and Historical Perspective
Volume 103
Tod und Jenseits im alten Israel und in seiner Umwelt
Theologische, religionsgeschichtliche, archäologische und ikonographische Aspekte
Recht, Ethos und Heiligkeit
Eine rechtsanthropologische und rechtstheoretische Studie zum Heiligkeitsgesetz (Lev 17-26)
Schriftgelehrtes Murren
Schriftgelehrte Fortschreibungs- und Auslegungsprozesse in den Murrerzahlungen in Exodus und Numeri
Volume 152
Studien zu Opfer und Kult im Alten Testament
Mit einer Bibliographie 1969-1991 zum Opfer in der Bibel
Der leidende Gottesknecht
Jesaja 53 und seine Wirkungsgeschichte mit einer Bibliographie zu Jesaja 53
Erzahldiskurs und Redepragmatik im Alten Testament
Unterwegs zu einer performativen Theologie der Bibel
Volume 46
The Origins of P
Literary Profiles and Strata of the Priestly Texts in Genesis 1 - Exodus 40
Volume 164
