The twelve tribes of Israel come from the twelve sons of Jacob. The story begins as Jacob was fleeing from his brother Esau, who was attempting to take Jacob’s life. Jacob listened to his mother Rebecca and fled Israel to become a shepherd for his uncle Laban. This is how he met Rachel, his cousin who was the daughter of Laban. He wanted to marry her, but Laban required that Jacob work for seven years first. After this period, Laban agreed to let Jacob marry his daughter, but it was his older daughter, Leah, whom he gave to Jacob. It was only after another seven years of working for Laban that Jacob married Rachel. Leah gave birth to six sons, whose names were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, as well as a daughter, whose name was Dinah. Rachel was jealous, having yet to bear children. She had Jacob take Bilhah, her maidservant, as his concubine, and she would then be able to bring the kids up.
With Bilhah, Jacob had two more sons, whose names were Dan and Naphtali, both names given by Rachel. He had another two sons named Gad and Asher with Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant whom she gave to Jacob as a concubine. Part of Rachel’s reasoning for offering her maidservant to Jacob was to please G-d for being so selfless in the hope of G-d giving her children in return. This worked, and she finally had a son named Joseph. She had another son named Benjamin when Jacob returned to Israel with his family, though she died after that son’s birth. All in all, Jacob had 12 sons, and each of these sons came to be the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel.
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