Blessings on the Twelve Tribes of Israel

Significantly the Tribes of Israel were blessed twice — first by their father, Jacob, whom God renamed Israel, and later by Moses, before the Tribes entered the Promised Land. These two sets of blessings reveal much about the mysteries of life.





Genesis 49: Jacob Blesses His Sons Who Became the Tribes

And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end of days. Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. Genesis 49:1-2 (Masoretic Text)


Tribe|Sign Jacob’s Blessing
Reuben|Libra Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the first-fruits of my strength; the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. Unstable as water, have not thou the excellency; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it—he went up to my couch.
Genesis 49:3-4

Simeon|Scorpio
Levi|Sagittarius

Simeon and Levi are brethren; weapons of violence their kinship. Let my soul not come into their council; unto their assembly let my glory not be united; for in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they houghed* oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. Genesis 49:5-7
Judah|Capricorn Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s sons shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, as long as men come to Shiloh; and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washeth his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes; his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. Genesis 49:8-12
Zebulon|Cancer Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea, and he shall be a shore for ships, and his flank shall be upon Zidon. Genesis 49:13
Issachar|Gemini Issachar is a large-boned ass, couching down between the sheep-folds. For he saw a resting-place that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant under task-work. Genesis 49:14-15
Dan|Aquarius Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, so that his rider falleth backward. I wait for Thy salvation, O LORD. Genesis 49:16-18
Gad|Aries Gad, a troop shall troop upon him; but he shall troop upon their heel. Genesis 49:19
Asher|Taurus As for Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. Genesis 49:20
Naphtali|Pisces Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. Genesis 49:21
Joseph|Leo Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a fountain; its branches run over the wall. The archers have dealt bitterly with him, and shot at him, and hated him; but his bow abode firm, and the arms of his hands were made supple, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, from thence, from the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that coucheth beneath, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. The blessings of thy father are mighty beyond the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of the prince among his brethren. Genesis 49:22-26
Benjamin|Virgo Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth; in the morning he devoureth the prey, and at even he divideth the spoil. Genesis 49:27

* To hough is to hamstring.

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is it that their father spoke unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. Genesis 49:28


Deuteronomy 33: Moses Blesses the Tribes of Israel

And this is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said: The LORD came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them; He shined forth from mount Paran, and He came from the myriads holy, at His right hand was a fiery law unto them. Yea, He loveth the peoples, all His holy ones—they are in Thy hand; and they sit down at Thy feet, receiving of Thy words. Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. And there was a king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together. Deuteronomy 33:1-5 (Masoretic Text).


Tribe|Sign Moses’ Blessing
Reuben|Libra Let Reuben live, and not die in that his men become few.
Deuteronomy 33:6
Judah|Capricorn Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him in unto his people; his hands shall contend for him, and Thou shalt be a help against his adversaries. Deuteronomy 33:7
Levi|Sagittarius And of Levi he said: Thy Thummim and Thy Urim be with Thy holy one, whom Thou didst prove at Massah, with whom Thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; Who said of his father, and of his mother: 'I have not seen him’; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew he his own children; for they have observed Thy word, and keep Thy covenant. They shall teach Jacob Thine ordinances, and Israel Thy law; they shall put incense before Thee, and whole burnt-offering upon Thine altar. Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands; smite through the loins of them that rise up against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again. Deuteronomy 33:8-11
Benjamin|Virgo Of Benjamin he said: The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him; He covereth him all the day, and He dwelleth between his shoulders. Deuteronomy 33:12
Joseph|Leo And of Joseph he said: Blessed of the LORD be his land; for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious things of the fruits of the sun, and for the precious things of the yield of the moons, and for the tops of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the everlasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof, and the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush; let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of him that is prince among his brethren. His firstling bullock, majesty is his; and his horns are the horns of the wild-ox; with them he shall gore the peoples all of them, even the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. Deuteronomy 33:13-17
Issachar|Gemini
Zebulon|Cancer
And of Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out, and, Issachar, in thy tents. They shall call peoples unto the mountain; there shall they offer sacrifices of righteousness; for they shall suck the abundance of the seas, and the hidden treasures of the sand. Deuteronomy 33:18-19
Gad|Aries And of Gad he said: Blessed be He that enlargeth Gad; he dwelleth as a lioness, and teareth the arm, yea, the crown of the head. And he chose a first part for himself, for there a portion of a ruler was reserved; and there came the heads of the people, he executed the righteousness of the LORD, and His ordinances with Israel. Deuteronomy 33:20-21
Dan|Aquarius And of Dan he said: Dan is a lion’s whelp, that leapeth forth from Bashan. Deuteronomy 33:22
Naphtali|Pisces And of Naphtali he said: O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the LORD: possess thou the sea and the south. Deuteronomy 33:23
Asher|Taurus And of Asher he said: Blessed be Asher above sons; let him be the favoured of his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Iron and brass shall be thy bars; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.
Deuteronomy 33:24-25
Simeon|Scorpio Simeon is not included in this list, although the Hebrew root of his name, which means ‘to hear; to listen,” appears in the blessing on Judah.


There is none like unto God, O Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven as thy help, and in His excellency on the skies. The eternal God is a dwelling-place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and He thrust out the enemy from before thee, and said: ‘Destroy.’ And Israel dwelleth in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, in a land of corn and wine; yea, his heavens drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee? a people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and that is the sword of thy excellency! And thine enemies shall dwindle away before thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places. Deuteronomy 33:26-29

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Edna Miriam Lister
1884 –1971
The original Christian Pioneering Mystic,
Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.


Edna Lister


References

The Jewish Publication Society. The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1917 edition. May 19, 2023.

Mechon-Mamre. A Hebrew–English Bible According to the Masoretic Text and the JPS 1917 Edition. Berkeley, CA: The Mamre Institute, May 19, 2023.