The twelve tribes of israel hebrew romanized shivtei yisrael lit tribes of israel are according to judeo christian texts the descendants of the biblical patriarch jacob also known as israel through his twelve sons by various women who collectively form the israelite nationwithin ancient judaism ones tribal affiliation had a great impact on his or her . Two other tribes gad and asher were named after sons born to jacob and zilpah leahs maidservant two additional tribes dan and naphtali were named after sons of jacob born of bilhah the maidservant of rachel jacobs second wife rachel bore jacob two sons joseph and benjamin. The twelve tribes are as follows reuben simeon judah issachar zebulun benjamin dan naphtali gad asher ephraim and manasseh. The twelve tribes is a confederation of twelve self governing tribes composed of self governing communities we are disciples of the son of god whose name in hebrew is yahshua we follow the pattern of the early church in acts 244 and 432 truly believing everything that is written in the old and new covenants of the bible and sharing all