The twelve tribes of Israel

The Tribe of Zebulun

Son of Jacob by Leah · Name means Dwelling (Leah said, now will my husband dwell with me) · Settled in the north, between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean coast

Zebulun was the tenth son of Jacob, the sixth and last that Leah bore him, and his tribe settled in the north near the coast and the Sea of Galilee. Jacob foretold that Zebulun would dwell by the haven of the sea, a tribe of harbors and ships. Like its neighbor Naphtali, the land of Zebulun was promised the great light of the Messiah, and it was in this region that Nazareth lay and that Jesus grew up.

Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.Genesis 49:13 (KJV)

Zebulun the man

Zebulun was the sixth and last son Leah bore to Jacob. At his birth she said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons, and she called his name Zebulun, from a word meaning to dwell. The name carried Leah's own longing for her husband to make his home with her at last.

The tribe that bore the name became known for its courage and generosity in Israel's battles. In the Song of Deborah, Zebulun is praised as a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death, fighting in the high places of the field alongside Naphtali. Later, when the tribes came to make David king, Zebulun sent fifty thousand men who could keep rank, not of double heart, expert in war, and came with a whole heart to establish the kingdom.

Jacob's blessing: a haven of ships

Jacob's word over Zebulun looks toward the sea: Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon. It is a blessing of trade and openness, of a tribe placed where the highways of the world passed, near the great trading city of Sidon. Zebulun would be a people of harbors, touching the wider world.

Moses joined Zebulun and Issachar together in his blessing, calling on Zebulun to rejoice in his going out, for, he said, they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand. Where Issachar loved its settled fields, Zebulun looked outward to the sea and the roads, a tribe open to the coming and going of the nations.

The tribe and its land

Zebulun's inheritance lay in the north, in the highlands of lower Galilee, reaching toward both the Sea of Galilee to the east and the Mediterranean coast to the west, and touching the borders of Naphtali and Issachar. It was a region of hills and valleys and trade routes, a crossroads land where many peoples met.

One of the lesser judges, Elon the Zebulonite, led Israel for ten years, and the tribe's faithful character showed most clearly in war, where its soldiers were praised as men who could keep rank and were not of a double heart. Within the territory of Zebulun, or right along its border, lay a small and unremarkable town called Nazareth. In the days of the divided kingdom Zebulun shared the fate of the northern tribes and was carried away by Assyria. But long before that, the prophet had spoken over this land a word of astonishing hope, and long after, that word came true.

Zebulun in God's plan: where the light dawned

Isaiah named Zebulun by name in his great prophecy of the coming light: the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, once brought into contempt, would be made glorious, for the people that walked in darkness would see a great light. Matthew quotes the prophecy directly and declares its fulfillment when Jesus came and dwelt by the sea, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim.

It was in the hill country of Zebulun, in Nazareth, that Jesus grew up, so that he was called a Nazarene. The tribe of the sea haven, open to the traffic of the nations, became the childhood home of the Savior of the nations. The light that Isaiah promised over Zebulun was Christ himself, and from that lowly northern land the good news went out at last to the ends of the earth, to every haven and every ship and every people that ever longed for light.

There is a fittingness in it that only God could have arranged. The tribe whose blessing looked outward to the sea and the highways of the world became the home of the one whose gospel would travel every highway and cross every sea. Zebulun's open door to the nations was a sign, spoken over a dying man's son, of the day when the Light of the world would send his messengers out to gather a people from every haven under heaven.

A note on counting the twelve: Jacob had twelve sons, but the tribes are reckoned in more than one way in Scripture. The tribe of Levi was set apart for the priesthood and received no territory of its own, and Joseph, given the double portion of the firstborn, was counted as two tribes through his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. So when the land was divided the tribes still numbered twelve, with Levi outside the count. Different lists in the Bible reflect this: the blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy leaves out Simeon, and the sealed tribes in Revelation 7 omit Dan and Ephraim while naming Levi, Joseph, and Manasseh. The number twelve is preserved as a sign of the whole people of God.

Related: The Tribe of Naphtali · The Tribe of Issachar · Who is Jesus? · All twelve tribes