[Avodah] ten tribes

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, February 14, 2007 3:10 pm, Ilana Sober wrote:
: The Tanach refers to Malchut Yisrael as aseret hashevatim.... Shimon
: was in the southern part of Yehuda, not really an independent nachala....

As per Yehoshua 19:1, "besokh nachalas benei Yehudah". But in Divrei Hayamim
II 11:1, Rechav'am girds Yehudah and Binyamin for civil war in a failed
attempt to bring the other shevatim into line. Shim'on isn't mentioned. If you
look at the division of shevatim that Hashem gives Yerav'am (Melakhim I 11:31,
32, 35, 36), Malkhus Yisrael is 10 shevatim, and Malkhus Beis David gets one
sheivet. See also II 17:18, "lo nish'ar, raq sheivet Yehudah levado". The
Radaq says "levado" because Binyamin was subsumed. Leaving Shim'on to be one
of the 10.

It would seem that because of the onesh mentioned in Bereishis 49:7 "achalqeim
beYaaqov", they were scattered throughout the 12 shevatim, and weren't
musterable as a distinct group by the time the countries split.

Perhaps when Shim'on got scattered from its land in the underutilized center
of Yehudah, sometime before Shelomo haMelekh's death, the majority ended up
north of the border.

As for when, while I'm speculating out loud, perhaps it was during seifer
Shofetim, when Dan moved from the area currently called the Dan Region of
Israel (as per the division in Yehoshua 19:40-48, which includes Yaffo) to the
north. In Shofetim 18:1 we learn that they fail to conquer that land, and are
forced to live in an encampment "Machaneh Dan" in Yehudah (v. 12). This
failure and need to save face makes them ripe for Pesel Mikhah while they are
heading north through Ephraim (v. 13). So, just guessing here, but it would
make sense to me to assume that while Dan left Yehudah to find land of their
own in the north, that's when Shim'on traveled as well.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
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