The Scheme of the Twelve Tribes of Israel

Martin Noth's "The Scheme of the Twelve Tribes of Israel" proposes that the unified entity of Israel did not exist before the covenant assembly at Shechem. According to Noth, the tribes were initially loosely connected by customs and traditions. At Shechem, they supposedly accepted Yahweh's worship and covenant, as imposed by Joshua.1

Oral traditions from these individual tribes were later combined into the Pentateuch. Noth suggests these traditions were not finalized in writing until the time of Ezra, often merging different narrative elements. For instance, the stories of the Passover and the Exodus, originally separate, were linked in the books of Moses. The Bible describes the Twelve Tribes of Israel as the Hebrew people who took possession of Canaan under Joshua's leadership after Moses' death. These tribes were named after Jacob's descendants, leading to the people being known as Israelites.12