esert. Here,
too, the children of Israel were established, and here they multiplied
and became a people.

The growth of a family into a tribe or people is in accordance with Arab
rule. There are numerous historical instances of a single individual
becoming the forefather of a tribe or a collection of tribes which under
favourable conditions may develop into a nation. The tribe or people is
known as the "sons" of their ancestor; his name is handed down from
generation to generation, and the names of his leading descendants, the
representatives of the tribe, are handed down at the same time. Where we
speak of the population of a country, the Arab speaks of the "children"
of a certain man. Such a mode of expression is in harmony with Semitic
habits of thought. The genealogical method prevails alike in history and
geography; a colony is the "daughter" or "son" of its mother-city, and
the town of Sidon is the "first-born" of Canaan.

Jacob had twelve sons, and his descendants were accordingly divided into
twelve tribes. But the division was an artificial one; it never at any
time corresponded exactly with historical reality. Levi was not a tribe
in the same sense as the rest of his brethren; no territory was assigned
to him apart from the so-called Levitical cities; and he represented the
priestly order wherever it might be found and from whatever ancestors it
might be derived. Simeon and Dan hardly existed as separate tribes
except in name; their territories were absorbed into that of Judah, and
it was only in the city of Laish in the far north that the memory of Dan
survived. The tribe of Joseph was split into two halves, Ephraim and
Manasseh, while Judah was a mixture of various elements--of Hebrews who
traced their origin alike to Judah, to Simeon, and to Dan; of Kenites
and Jerahmeelites from the desert of Arabia; and of Kenizzites from
Edom. Benjamin or Ben-Oni was, as a tribe, merely the southern portion
of the house of Joseph, which had settled around the sanctuary of
Beth-On or Beth-el. Benjamin means the "Southerner," and Ben-Oni "the
inhabitant of Beth-On." It is even questionable whether the son of Jacob
from whom the tribe was held to be descended bore the name of Benjamin.
Had the name of Esau not been preserved we should not have known the
true name of the founder of Edom, and it may be that the name of the
tribe of Benjamin has been reflected back upon its ancestor.

In Goshen, at all events, the tribes of