1After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. 2I saw another angel ascend from the sunrise, having the seal of the living God. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea, 3saying, “Don’t harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads!” 4I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:
5of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed,
of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand,
of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,
6of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand,
of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand,
of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,
7of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand,
of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand,
of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,
8of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand,
of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, and
of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.
9After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. 10They cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11All the angels were standing around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before his throne, and worshiped God, 12saying, “Amen! Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might, be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13One of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and where did they come from?”
14I told him, “My lord, you know.”
He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great suffering. They washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood. 15Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them. 16They will never be hungry or thirsty any more. The sun won’t beat on them, nor any heat; 17for the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne shepherds them and leads them to springs of life-giving waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
The list of twelve tribes is formulaic, naming the tribe and repeating that there were twelve thousand from that tribe sealed by God. The list begins with Judah, the royal tribe, and ends with Benjamin, the tribe that remained with Judah after the kingdom was divided. Manasseh is listed while Ephraim is replaced by Joseph. Dan is also missing, being replaced by Levi.
The “twelve tribes of Israel” was a figure of speech meaning all of Israel. It was understood that after Jacob’s death, there were thirteen tribes. In tribal lists in the Old Testament, there were always twelve listed, though not always the same twelve. Much the same is happening here.
Why is Ephraim and Manasseh missing from the list? Ephraim can be explained by the inclusion of Joseph and Levi. The tribe of Dan was always associated with idolatry (Judg 18:30-31; Dt. 29:18-26; Lev 24:11; 1 Ki 12:28-30). The northern tribe’s two centers of idolatry were located in Dan and Ephraim. Finally, there was a tradition that the Antichrist would come from Dan (based on Gen 49:17 and Ezek 48:1-32). Finally, Dan was one of the first tribes to go into idolatry. It was a small tribe and was absorbed into Naphtali (born by the same mother).