What Happened to Dan and Ephraim?

When we look closely at the list of the tribes named in Revelation Chapter Seven (The Infamous 144,000), we see that two tribes are omitted from the list; Dan and Ephraim. I’ve always wondered why this is the case and I believe that scripture provides us a good reason for this, so we will investigate this as thoroughly as possible.

“And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,

12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,

12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,

12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.” - Revelation 7:4-8

Initially, The Twelve Sons of Jacob were the foundation of The Twelve Tribes of Israel, listed in the order from oldest to youngest: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin.

We know that Jacob (whose name was later changed to Israel) fathered twelve sons by four different women, his two wives and their two handmaids. Listed below are names of Jacob's Twelve Sons, in the order of which they were born, as well as their mothers.

1) Reuven ( ראובן‎ ) - Firstborn Son of Yacov (Jacob) and Leah

2) Shimeon ( שמעון ) - Son of Yacov and Leah

3) Levi ( לוי‎ ) - Son of Yacov and Leah

4) Yehudah ( יהודה‎ ) - Son of Yacov and Leah

5) Ishachar ( יששכר ) - Son of Yacov and Leah

6) Zebulun ( זבולן ) - Son of Yacov and Leah

7) Dan ( דן‎ ) - Son of Yacov and Bilhah (Rachel's Handmaid)

8) Naphtali ( נפתלי‎ ) - Son of Yacov and Bilhah (Rachel's Handmaid)

9) Gad ( גד‎ ) - Son of Yacov and Zilpah (Leah's Handmaid)

10) Asher ( אשר‎ ) - Son of Yacov and Zilpah (Leah's Handmaid)

11) Yoseph ( יוסף‎ ) - Son of Yacov and Rachel

12) Benyamin ( בנימן‎ ) - Lastborn Son of Yacov and Rachel

These Twelve Sons initially formed The Twelve Tribes, which we find listed in Deuteronomy Chapter 27:

"That day Moses charged the people, saying,

“When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali."

And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:

“Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’ - Deuteronomy 27:11-15

The history of Jacobs sons becoming the foundation of The Twelve Tribes of Israel starts to get a bit convoluted from here, thus we need to briefly go through the back story a bit here.

Scripture tells us how Jacob was essentially tricked into his marriage with his first wife Leah (Rachel's older sister), so it's not a big surprise that he showed favoritism for Joseph and Benjamin, the sons of Rachel. Although The Torah specifies that the firstborn was to receive the double portion of the inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:17), this seldom seems to be the case for The Patriarchs. Interestingly enough, the Numeric Value of the Hebrew word for "firstborn" displays a double portion, numerically speaking.

Bekor - Firstborn ( בכר ) - Numeric Value 222

That being said, we see that despite being the second to youngest son, Joseph actually received the double portion in this case. He was given double the inheritance of his brothers and was treated as if he were the firstborn son instead of Reuben. Of course, we know that Reuben had lost his birth right, due to his transgression with Bilhah, who was Rachel's Handmaid (Genesis 35:22).

After Joseph was sold into slavery and was ultimately given a role of leadership in Egypt after interpreting Pharaoh's Dreams (an obvious foreshadow of Daniel's role); Jacob later elevated the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh (the two sons of Joseph and his Egyptian wife Asenath - according to Genesis 41:50-52) to the status of full tribes in their own right due to Joseph receiving a double portion after Reuben lost his birth right because of his transgression with Bilhah. Therefor, The Tribe of Joseph was later split into The Two Half-Tribes of Ephraim ( אפרים ) and Manasseh ( מנשה ) .

The 1,100 Pieces of Cursed Silver

In The Days of The Judges (The Dark Days of Israel), when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes”, in Chapter Six, we see a peculiar mention of a very specific amount of 1,100 pieces of silver given from each of the Philistines to Delilah, as a bribe which deprived Israel of their mighty judge and deliverer, Samson.

“And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” - Judges 16:5

In the very next chapter, we learn about a man named Micah, from The Tribe of Ephraim, who brought back 1,100 pieces of silver that had been previously been taken from his mother. We are even told that his mother had cursed this silver when it was taken from her. Though the text doesn't explicitly tell us that this 1,100 pieces of cursed silver was taken back from the Philistines, it's definitely a good possibility that it could have been, as The Philistine House had just been destroyed by Samson just a couple of verses previously. The number 1,100 is only used twice throughout the entire Bible, in Judges 16 and 17. In Chapter 16 this number is associated with Samson (from The Tribe of Dan) and then in Chapter 17 it is associated with Micah (from The Tribe of Ephraim). Either way, this 1,100 Pieces of Cursed Silver ultimately brought forth a carved image and introduced idolatry into the Nation of Israel.

Micah's Idolatry

“There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD.

And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.

So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah.

And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained one of his sons, who became his priest." - Judges 17:1-4

A few verses later, we see that after Micah had acquired his new idol, he found a Levite man who was sojourning through his land and Micah made him a priest for his new idolatry.

Micah and His New Levite Priest

"And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living.” And the Levite went in.

And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons.

And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.” - Judges 17:10-12

The story takes a twist in the next chapter, when the Tribe of Dan steals Micah's Idol and His Levite Priest and then siege The City of Laish; which they rename The City of Dan. If all of that wasn't bad enough, we find out that the identity of this Levitical Priest is a man named Jonathan, the grandson of Moses.

The Danites Take the Levite and The Idol from Micah

"But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire.

And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it.

And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was Laish at the first.

And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.

So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh." - Judges 18:27-31

Dan and Ephraim were the two offending tribes here; Micah The Ephraimite, who made the idol with The Cursed 1,100 Shekels and The Tribe of Dan, who then stole it along with his priest. It just so happens that both the tribes of Ephraim and Dan were omitted from the tribes listed in Revelation Seven.

The answer as to why is found in Deuteronomy 29, that states that the "man, woman, family, or tribe " which should introduce idolatry into Israel, "the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven".

“Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit,

one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike.

The LORD will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven.

And the LORD will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.” - Deuteronomy 29:18-21

We have plenty of evidence to this day of The City of Dan. In 1993, at the gate of The City of Dan, three fragments of an Aramaic inscription were found when archaeologists were reexamining the city walls. There they found a portion of a monument that was erected by Hazael, King of Damascus which he had inscribed with his proclamation of victory over "The House of David." It was the first time the term "House of David" was found outside of the Bible. It is said that the fragments date to about 100 years after the death of King David.

חסד ושלום עליכם והרבה אהבה וברכות

May Grace and Peace Be Upon You and Much Love and Blessings!