Where are the 12 tribes of Israel today?
In order who the tribes are today we will need to track them through history. We are going to start with the tribes of Gad, Reuben and Simeon. We need to discover who they were in history and where they are today.
Gad Reuben and Simeon would be together.
We are told in scripture the Reuben, Simeon and Gad would be together on the south side of the Camp of Israel.
Num 2:10 On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their armies: and the captain of the children of Reuben shall be Elizur the son of Shedeur.
Num 2:12 And those which pitch by him shall be the tribe of Simeon: and the captain of the children of Simeon shall be Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.
Num 2:14 Then the tribe of Gad: and the captain of the sons of Gad shall be Eliasaph the son of Reuel.
Gad and Reuben together
Then the tribes moved received their land inheritance in ancient Israel, Gad and Reuben assigned to the land on the East side of the Jordan River.
Num 32:2 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying, Num 32:5 Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.
Who was Gad? This is what the Bible says about Gad.
His Mother was Zilpah. Gad – means “A troop comes”. 1st born of Zilpah.
Deut 33:20 KJV, says of Gad “he dwells as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head”.
Gen_29:24 And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid.
Gen 30:9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.
Gen 30:10 And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a son.
Gen 30:11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.Gen 49:19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
Deu 33:20 And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head.
Deu 33:21 And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel.
Flag
Gad’s Flag was an agate and the color of his flag was neither white nor black but a blend of black and white. On it was embroidered a camp, in allusion to the text, Gad, a troop shall troop upon him.
Who was the tribe of Gad in history? The Goths
The Goths lived in the area around the Black Sea and had lived there since their exile from the land of Israel. This was the area that the Scythians had lived for centuries. This was where the twelve tribes of Israel originally settled after the fall of the Northern tribes of Israel in 721 BC. Originally they were simple farmers by trade not warriors.
They had been warned by the prophet Jeremiah to repent and return by to their heavenly Father. As a result of their continual stiff neck destruction came on them suddenly. The Goths were pushed out of their land by the Hun invasion from the East. In the third century, the Goths crossed moved under the Danube River as refugees.
They asked Roman Emperor Valens for asylum and Rome agreed in return for their services in the Emperor’s army. The Romans selected who they wanted; not all the of Goths were allowed to enter the Roman territory. They were assigned to refugee or consecration camps. The Romans treated the Goths cruelly and did not give the Goths enough food. The wheat that was earmarked for them was seized by some unscrupulous Romans and sold for profit. The Goths were literally starving to death and Conditions were so bad that they were forced sell their children into slavery just to get food. One historian explains how they literally sold their children for dog meat.
While they were under Roman rule, the Goths began to repent and return to God.
Originally their weapons were taken away from them when they crossed into Roman territory but some of the Goths hid their weapons. In their outrage against their cruel treatment by the Romans, they organized and attacked Marcusaople, a township near their camps. It was a massive slaughter. Starving and desperate, they attack village after village and leaving them ravaged and burning many to the ground. They eventually ravaged the Balkan Peninsula and Anatolia as far as Cyprus, and sacked Athens, Byzantium, and Sparta. By the fourth century, the Goths had conquered Dacia, and were divided into at least two distinct groups separated by the Dniester River, the Thervingi (led by the Balti dynasty) and the Greuthungi (led by the Amali dynasty).
In 378 AD Emperor Valens could no longer ignore the Gothic invasion. He marches his troops to Ariansople (modern day Turkey) to face the Goths. The Goths were numbered at 40,000. Valens underestimated the number of Goths. The Goths easily surrounded the Roman Army and killed two thirds of the Romans army. It was the greatest Roman military disaster in 400 years. Valens died and his body never found.
New Emperor Theodosius gave them land along what is now known as Bulgaria. In return they agreed to serve in the Roman Army. The Roman Army used them as disposable troops. They were first sent into the battle and large numbers of the Goths died protecting the Roman territory. God saw the injustice, a he rose up a mightly leader –Alaric. Many of the Goths actually compared him to Moses. It would be a name Rome would come to fear. Alaric felt their time has come. The Goths had been trained in the Roman military tactics; they were now a well-disciplined military army. He attacks Greece in 395 AD. In 408 Alaric works his way across Italy. He was backup by the Franks and Vandals from the North. In August 24 410AD Alaric marched into Rome and sacked the city.
The Goths eventually move into Spain and part of Gaul. During the time of King David, some of the tribe of Gad settled in Spain. They are now resettling into the original home land founded almost a thousand years earlier. From that point they would be known as the Visigoths. In 507, the Visigoths lost an important battle to the Franks under Clovis, and had to give up much of their territory in southern France. The Iberian Visigoths continued to be Arian religion until 589. The Arian religion was a torah keeping sect. They kept the seventh day sabbath. In 589, King Reccared converted his people to Catholicism. Leaving their Arian faith would be their downfall. They were pushed north by the Muslim invasion in 711. A Visigothic nobleman, Pelayo, is credited with beginning the Christian Reconquista of Iberia in 718, when he defeated the Umayyads in battle and established the Kingdom of Asturias in the northern part of the peninsula. Eventually, in 968, it did split apart into three separate kingdoms, Galicia, Goth-Iberia and Andaulacia. The Franks had no trouble in taking over these divided kingdoms between 1035 and 1060.
Location today:
The two tribes, Gad and Reuben, were together on the other side of the Jordan and were also exiled together so that groups from one were to be found in the domain of the other.
And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the word of the lord by the hand of Moses (Joshua 22:9).
The tribe of Gad is also identified with the Huguenots. After the Visigoths fell to the Muslims in 711, many Goths fled into Southern Gaul. There they lived with their brother Reuben also known as the Franks.
The 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica quotes from Henri Estienne (1566) who said that the Protestants at Tours used to assemble at night near the gate of King Hugo whom the people regarded as a spirit. Hugo is another form of the name Haggi son of Gad. The chief concentrations of Huguenots today in France are in Vendee in the west (once known as Pictavia), in the region of Paris, and in regions situated along the course of the Rhone River in the southeast. In the past Strasbourg in the east was once important. As mentioned the Huguenots were persecuted and suffered from massacres and expulsions.
After 1685 about 400,000 Huguenots emigrated to Prussia, Holland, Britain, Switzerland, and North America. The Goths were also to be found among the northern tribes who invaded England with the Anglo-Saxons and was known as the GEDDINGAS. They were also associated with the so-called Nordic peoples. Goths settled in many lands remained concentrated in Scandinavia and Sweden (Gotaland and Gothia) is the only place where today they can be distinguished as a specific people.
Who is Reuben?
Mother was Leah
Reuben – means “Seeing”. Mother: Leah.He lost the firstborn birthright by sleeping with his father’s wife.
Gen_29:32 And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for 
she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.
Gen 49:3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
Gen 49:4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
Reuben’s stone was ruby and the color of his flag was red; and embroidered thereon were mandrakes.
Who is Reuben in History? The Franks
The Franks came across out of Germany in huge numbers and penetrated the eastern boundary of Gaul. Gaul included France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and part of Germany. In 355 AD they made settlements in what is known today as Belgium and the Netherlands. At that time it was called Toxandria.
They seized the territory left by the retreating Romans in Northern Gaul. They allied with the Roman Empire and other Germanic tribes such as the Visigoths to stop Atila the Hun. Their leader during the Hun invasion was Merovich, the father of the Merovingian Dynasty. This great dynasty would see great leaders such as Charlemagne.
After Merovich died, he is succeeded by his son, Chideric. Chideric beat back the Visigoths to take Southern Gaul. Childeric was stripped of his kingship and back to Germany because he was a womanizer. He thought being king gave him the right to take other man’s wives and daughters. Does that sound like Reuben’s Descendants? During his absence from the throne, the Franks did not fair well – they began falling back into Roman hands. The Franks eventually had to ask Chideric to return home. Under Chideric’s rule, the people regained a large portion of Gaul.
Chideric left his throne to his son, Clovis. Clovis united all of Gaul under the Franks – that took him 30 years. He establishes Paris as his capitol. He was responsible for bring Catholicism into France. Clovis married a Catholic queen from the tribe of the Burgundrians who turned his heart toward the Catholic faith. This country of France has remained since that timeframe predominately Catholic.
Location: France, Germany
Who is Simeon?
Simeon – means “Hearing” 2nd born of Leah. He was left as hostage in Egypt when the brothers went back to Canaan with orders to return with Benjamin.
Gen 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. Gen 49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
Simeon’s was topaz and his flag was of a green color; the town of Shechem was embroidered thereon
Who was Simeon in history? the Lombards
The Lombards came out of Germany where they have lived since before the 1st century. They were the most fierce and blood-thirsty of all the Germanic Tribes. They were the tribe of Simeon. They were also known as the Spartans in earlier History.
They migrated south into the land of Pannonia which is modern day Hungary and Austria. By this time, Rome is no longer ruled from Western Europe. What is left of the Roman Empire is being ruled from Constantiople in Turkey.
The Roman Emperor Justinian hired the Lombards as mercenaries for Rome to retake Italy. Northern Italy had been taken by earlier Goths. The conquest was such a blood bath that the Romans were outraged by their cruel tactics. They stopped the campaign and sent the Lombards home. After that campaign, the Lombards realized that Italy was theirs for the taking.
The people to the east of the Lombards were the Gepids. The Gepids were sandwiched between the Lombards and the Avars. The Lombards want to align themselves with the Avars and crush the Gepids and destroy every man and woman in the Gepid tribe, only the messenger escaped along with the princess. He was a pracitce among ancient tribes to take the head of the king as a trophy of war. Culemon, the king of Gepids, head was fashioned into a drinking cup for the leader of the Lombards. Elbowen also took the Gepids princess as his wife, princess Roseama.
In 568 AD decided was made to attack Italy. Italy had struck by a plague and were in a weaken condition. Elbowen shows no mercy to the survivors. Italy falls to Elbowen after a three-year seige. The seize resulted in the adquistion of Northern Italy.
Southern Italy still remains in the hands of the Byzantium Empire. He made Italy his capitol and homeland. Pope John sent letters to the Emperor in Constantiople asking for protection from the Lombards. His wife, Rosema seeks vengance and hired her lover to kill Elbowen. She ties Elbowen’s sword to the bed. When the assassin came, the king was powerless to defend himself. Rosema carried off the majority of Elbowen’s treasure and fled to Ravenna in southern Italy located in the stronghold of the Byzantium Empire. The Byzantine King in Ravenna proposes marriage to Rosema hoping to unite the two kingdoms and bring Italy under Byzantine control. This plan failed. Rosema, in an attempt to poison her lover, became the victim instead.
The Lombards soon moved their forces into southern Italy and wreaked havoc on the land. The Byzantine Emperor has no choice but to relinquished southern Italy to the Lombards. The king divides the lands inot clans or Duchies.
The Lombard began fighting among themselves leading the civil war. One of the main ppoints of contention was support for the Catholic Church. Southern Italy supported the Catholic Church. A great Lombard King came to power – Aripert. Aripert mutilated one of the dukes families leaving a young child name Lukebrad. Lukebrad swears to avenge his family. In 712 AD, once grown. he raises a army from Barvaria and crossed to met the armies of Aripert Aripert flees in battle and drowns crossing a near-by river. Lukebrad seizes Aripert’s throne and finally brings order to the Lombard’s society. He was a Catholic king, and did much to promote the Catholic faith but the pope maintain his allegiance to the Byzantine Emperor.
In 726 the Byzantium Emperor, Leo III made a decree to destroy all images in all Catholic churches. This angrier the Pope Gregory. The pope turns the Lombards in southern Italy against their northern brothers. Southern Lombards were the supporters of the Pope. In 740 AD Lukebrad had no choice but to go to war against his own people in southern Italy because they have allied with Rome. He takes control of all of Italy and brings the duchies of Italy under his control. There was an attempt to unseat the pope. The pope sends for help from the King of the Franks, Charlemagne. In 773 AD he brought troops into Italy and conquered the Lombards. It took less than one year to conquer Italy. Thus fulfilling the following prophecy about Simeon:
Gen 49:7 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.
Location Today:
He is divided among the people in many lands.
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