The List of the Tribes in Revelation 7 Again

Abstract

The anomalous features of the list of the tribes of Israel in Rev. 7.5-8 are not satisfactorily explained by the arguments of C.R,. Smith (JSNT 39 [1990], pp. 111-18). He misunderstands the relationship between the 144,000 (7.5-8) and the great multitude (7.9-14): the former is a traditional Jewish image which is given a Christian interpretation only in 7.9-14. Smith also neglects the many lists of the twelve tribes to be found in Jewish literature of the New Testament period. From these it appears that a list in the order of the birth of the patriarchs, but modified by the matriological principle, was widely regarded as normative. The list in Rev. 7 can be understood as derived, by changes partly intentional and partly unintentional, from this normative list.