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TEIBE
TRIBE
were the smaller communities, towns, and districts ■whose inhabitants were bound togetlier by neigh- bourhood and common interests. War would unite a whole tribe or a number of tribes, and induce them to recognize a single leader, like (lideon or Jephthah, and to accord him a certain authority after he had brought the war to a successful close. The term shophit used for such leaders in Juilges suggests that their authority was utilized to decide disputes too serious to be settled by local chiefs. The Song of Deborah implies that, apart from such 'judges,' a tribe had no single head ; at any rate it does not mention any one in that position, except Deborah and Barak, but speaks of the ' governors ' (mcho/:c/:im) of Machir, ' they that handle the marshal's stall'' (moshckhim besliibhet sophe.r) of Zebulun, and the 'princes' (sarim) of Issachar. Similarly in the times of the Judges and the Monarchy we read of ' elders ' of Gilead, Jg 11"; of Israel, 1 S 4^ etc. ; of Jabesh, 1 S IP; of Judah, 2S 19"; of the 'princes' (sdrim) of Gilead, Jg 10'". Normally, the highest authorities in the tribe were those 'elders,' probably the heads of the mishpahiis (B. Luther). 1 Ch 27'""**, which assigns a 'ruler' (ndghidh) or 'captain' (sar) to each tribe, is probably from a late post -exilic source (Gray, UPN pp. 185-188). Abimelech's kingship (Jg 9) was quite exceptional, and was not tribal ; he is spoken of as king of Shechem only.
It is possible that the tribes brought with them into Palestine a tribal cult, and established tribal sanctuaries which would serve as rallying points. The sanctuary of Dan, at the Northern Dan (Jg 17. 18), however, is hardly an example ; the priest, etc., were acquired in Palestine, and Dan itself may not have been one of the original tribes ; still, in forming a tribal sanctuary, it may have been imitating them. Dt 33'*- '" seem to refer to a sanctuary of Zebulun and Issachar. Even if a tribe had no official sanctuary, the various high places promoted union and intercourse in a district.
After the establishment of the Monarchy, as the power of the kings inci'eased, the tribal names gradually became mere geographical expressions, and the districts they denoted ceased to be political divisions. Solomon (1 K 4'"'") divided the land of Israel, with the exception of part of Judah, into twehe districts, whicli do not coincide with the tribal districts. In a measure, however, the tribal system prevailed : by the division into two king- doms and the disappearance or absorption of the weaker tribes, Judah became the Southern king- dom, Ephraim the Northern kingdom, and Gail stood for S.E. and Eastern Manasseh for N.E. Israel ; although the political existence of the other divisions of the Northern kingdom is some- times recognized (Is 9'-'). The oracles on the tribes, the Blessing of Jacob (Gn 49), and the Blessing of Moses (Dt 33), come to us in their present form from the period of the Monarchy ; but they are constructed on the model of more ancient oracles, so that the fact that they contain sayings on nearly all the tribes (cf. below) does not show that the tribe continued a iiolitical unit througliout the Monarchy ; on the other hand, the space devoted to Judah and Joseph in Gn 49, and to Joseph and (Jad in Ot 33, supports the view- taken above. The section on Levi (Ut SS""") may have received its present form from one of the Deuteronomic writers. The disappearance of the tribe as a political unit is further indicated by the silence of 2 K, etc., and especially by the fact that, with two exceptions, none of the numerous lists of Jewish families in Ezra and Neh. refer them to their tribes. The exceptions are Neh IP"" H^o-s* (in their present form very late, Guthe, SBOT, etc.), where, too, 'Benjamin' and 'Judah' may be mere names of districts.