As we were entering a new year, I found myself thinking about unity. Our people have suffered deeply, and how urgently we need that ancient togetherness that has carried Israel through generations. Israel has never been the most numerous people. We didn’t survive because we were the strongest militarily or the wealthiest economically. We survived because we remained, despite everything, one people. Not always united in opinion. Not always united in temperament. But united in belonging — belonging to one root, one story, one covenant.
And so, as we have entered a new cycle of twelve months, I felt compelled to look again at this ancient number through the Hebrew lens. Unexpectedly, that path led me back to a familiar biblical phrase: “the Twelve Tribes of Israel.” I want to share what I discovered – this quiet, profound picture of unity that speaks directly to this moment.
The Word That Changes the Picture
In Hebrew, the word for “tribe” is שֵׁבֶט — shevet.
We translate it simply as “tribe,” but the Hebrew meaning is far deeper and richer.
A shevet is a staff / rod / scepter (a crafted symbol of authority). However, several times in the Bible shevet crosses into living-branch imagery – suddenly, behind the staff of authrity, we see a branch growing naturally from a living tree.
At first glance, these two meanings seem unrelated: a branch carries life; a staff carries authority. How can one word hold both? However, in the biblical world, they were one continuous reality. The Hebrew mind saw no contradiction; it saw a progression: In the biblical world, they were one and the same object in different stages.
The Hebrew language does not separate these ideas.
It sees the journey — from branch to staff, from life received to life given.
From belonging to responsibility.
A staff begins as a branch. The same piece of wood that once carried sap and fruit is later shaped into a symbol of leadership, identity, and destiny. The same piece of wood can express life from the root when growing on a tree, and authority and calling when shaped into a rod.
Thus, a tribe (shevet) is:
– life from the root — the branch
and
– authority from the root — the staff
This dual meaning becomes a profound insight:
A tribe is both the living continuation of the family tree and the bearer of its authority and purpose. As branches, the tribes share the same root. As staff, each tribe carries its own authority, role, and destiny.
It is not just a linguistic curiosity. It tells us that the tribes are not political units. They are living branches of the same root — and at the same time, they carry the authority, responsibility, and destiny of that root into the world. They are branches that become staffs — lives that grow from the same root and are shaped into different callings. As branches, the tribes share the same root. They belong together.
As staffs, each tribe carries its own authority, role, and destiny.
This is the Hebrew vision of the tribes: Unity of origin — diversity of purpose.
Levi — The Branch That Stays Close to the Trunk
To see this more clearly, look at Levi.
Levi’s name לֵוִי comes from the Hebrew root לָוָה — lavah, meaning “to join, to accompany.”
His entire calling is embedded in his name.
From the beginning, Levi’s destiny is not to branch outward, but to stay joined to the heart of the tree.
In the land of Israel, the tribe of Levi receives no territory of its own.
At first, this may seem like a loss, but in Hebrew thought, it is the opposite.
Levi is not separated into a region because he is meant to be present everywhere — in all the other tribes, teaching, serving, blessing, carrying the spiritual heartbeat of the nation.
Levi is the shevet that remains closest to the trunk of the tree, reminding every other branch where the life comes from.
And in our desire for unity, Levi offers a quiet lesson:
Sometimes the strongest branches are the ones that choose to stay close to the root.
Joseph — The Branch That Multiplies
Joseph’s story reveals the other side of the shevet.
His name, יוֹסֵף, comes from the Hebrew verb meaning “to add, to increase, to multiply.”
His destiny is also written in his name.
While Levi remains one tribe without land, Joseph becomes the tribe that cannot remain one.
His blessing overflows until his tribe expands into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh.
Joseph’s shevet grows outward — not in rebellion, but in fulfillment.
His life is addition, multiplication, the generosity of God expressed in a human story.
We can see that unity does not require sameness.
Some branches must remain close; others must extend far.
But both are needed. And both begin at the same root.
The Tribes and the Year Ahead — Twelve Branches, Twelve Months
If Levi does not receive land, and Joseph becomes two tribes,
one might expect the number of tribes to shift.
But it does not.
The number remains twelve.
Why? Because in Scripture, twelve is the number of wholeness and order. We find it everywhere:
- twelve tribes
- twelve stones on the High Priest’s breastplate
- twelve loaves of showbread
- twelve gates in Ezekiel’s vision
- twelve apostles
- twelve months in a year
Twelve is the number of completion, of a full cycle, of every part in its place.
So even when the individual stories shift — Levi moving inward, Joseph expanding outward — the divine pattern remains whole.
This is unity: not the erasing of individuality, but the harmonious fitting of diverse lives into a single, ordered whole.
So, the number of tribes remains twelve, just as our year holds twelve months:
different in character and season, yet together forming one whole.
Twelve tribes, twelve months. Twelve branches, twelve seasons.
And at the center of them all — one root, one covenant, one God.
A Message for Israel
In these first days of a new year, I find this picture deeply comforting.
We may feel like different branches — with different perspectives, different wounds, different hopes — but in God’s eyes, we are still one tree, one people, one story.
We are many tribes — but still one people.
May this coming year be a year of healing. A year of deeper connection.
A year in which the many branches of our people find strength again in our shared root.
Our people have been through so much. We are tired. We are grieving. We are searching for hope. Let the message of the shevet touch gently our hearts:
We do not all look alike, but we all grow from the same root.
We do not all hold the same staff, but we all carry a piece of the same authority and calling.
And this is my prayer:
That the many branches of our people remember their shared root.
That the staff of leadership remember their purpose.
That our unity becomes real — a unity of heart, presence, and destiny.
May this coming year be a year of healing. A year of restoration. And may the God who has carried twelve tribes through millennia carry us all tenderly through these twelve new months ahead.
A New Year Message for Us All
So, as we begin twelve new months, just as Israel once began with twelve tribes, may this Hebrew mystery stay with us: .
We begin as branches — tender, dependent, rooted in God.
We become staffs — shaped by experience, called to guide,
yet still made of the same wood, still holding the memory of our root.The branch never forgets the tree. The staff never stops being a branch.
And we, too — no matter how different our roles, no matter how far we grow,
no matter how we are shaped by life — remain part of one living tree.
We are branches, growing from one root.
We are staffs, shaped for different callings.
Wishing you a year of healing, unity, and renewed hope!
If you like the insights on this blog, you might enjoy my books, you can find them here: books. As always, I would be happy to provide more information (also, a teacher’s discount for new students) regarding our wonderful courses (juliab@eteachergroup.com)
