Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
the same position as Raphael, "God heals," holds the celestial Throne;
for this tribe, from which sprang Jeroboam, was in need of God's
healing for the wound that this wicked king dealt Israel. [440]
God had other reasons for the divisions of the tribes that He decreed,
for He said to Moses: "In the East whence comes the light shall the
tribe of Judah, whence arises the light of sovereignty, pitch its camp,
and with them the tribe of Issachar, with whom dwells the light of the
Torah, and Zebulum, shining through the wealth. From the South come the
dews of blessing and the rains of plenty, hence shall Reuben pitch on
this side, for this tribe owes its existence to the penitent deeds of
its forefather, penance being that which causes God to send His
blessing upon the world. Beside Reuben shall stand the warlike tribe of
Gad, and between these two Simeon, in order that this tribe, made weak
by its sins, might be protected on either side by the piety of Reuben
and the heroism of Gad. In the West are storehouses of snow, the
storehouses of hail, of cold, and of heat, and as powerless as are
mortals against these forces of nature, so ineffectual shall be the
enemies of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, for which
reason their post was to the West of the camp. From the North comes the
darkness of sin, for this tribe alone will declare itself willing to
accept the idols of Jeroboam, hence its place is to the North of the
camp. To illuminate its darkness, put beside it shining Asher, and
Naphtali, filled with God's plenty." [441]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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