Someone once asked me, "Why are the names of Issachar, Zebulon, and Benjamin out of order in Exodus/Shemot 1:2-4?"  Joseph went to Egypt, and the names of the other 11 tribes are given as .....

ב  רְאוּבֵן שִׁמְעוֹן, לֵוִי וִיהוּדָה.	2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
ג  יִשָּׂשכָר זְבוּלֻן, וּבִנְיָמִן.	3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
ד  דָּן וְנַפְתָּלִי, גָּד וְאָשֵׁר.	4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

The first four are listed in birth order, but then Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin are inserted out of birth order.  Why?  I just had to look into this.

Issachar means "there is a reward".  Zebulun means "dwelling" and Benjamin means "son of my right [hand]."  The hand is used as a symbol of both power and nearness in Hebrew thought, thus Benjamin is often considered to be symbolic of "son of my power", but "son of nearness" could be another symbolic interpretation.

The story is about the trip to Egypt.  Why did they go?  Israel changed it's dwelling place (there's Zebulon) form the promised land to Egypt in order to be near (there's Benjamin) the power (there's Benjamin again) that could reward them (there's Issacahar) with food.  There was famine in the Promised Land, but plenty of food in Egypt.  So the 12 tribes knew they had to be near where the power was, and thus they moved to a new dwelling place.  This is being symbolized by the three names being put in a different order.

Why where they put between Judah (Praise) and Dan (judged, vindicated)?  Judah was the fourth, and those of you who have read my book The Creative Forces know that the number four is written with a DALET in Hebrew, which symbolizes the power that transforms us.  Praise is the power that transforms us.  Judah was sent first in every battle Israel fought, and praise is suppose to begin our every spiritual battle.  When the disciples asked Yeshua how to pray, He started off the model prayer with "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name..."   He began with praise.

Praise transforms you because recognizing how great God is and how He therefore hold the answer to your prayers.  Praise is for your benefit.  God doesn't need to hear it, but you need to say it.

The number 5 is written with a HEY in Hebrew, which symbolizes numerous things involving replacement, existentiality - that is, the existance of something where there was nothing before.  Grace is the replacement of judgement with favor, and it is in this spot that Dan (judgement) appears in birth order as a simble of how God judges us with grace.

These 3 names were placed between the 4th and 5th tribe.  The 4th symbolizing the power that transforms us, and the trip transformed Israel from famished to fed, wealthy, and part of the aristocratically elite in Egypt.  That is, for at least awhile anyway, until they were turned into slaves.  But on the trip itself, they walked into the favor of the most powerful man not only in Egypt, but in the world at that time.  And on that trip they recieved the type of favor that Dan symbolizes.  Dan's mother gave him that name because she believed his birth vindicated her as a wife.

So next time you see something out of order, remember that there is nothing too trivial that it does not have meaning in God's book

Shalom,

Joe