Tribe
Easton's Bible Dictionary
A collection of families descending from one ancestor. The “twelve tribes” of the Hebrews were the twelve collections of families which sprang from the sons of Jacob. In Matt 24:30 the word has a wider significance. The tribes of Israel are referred to as types of the spiritual family of God (Rev 7).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
trib (in the Old Testament always for matteh, 183 times, or shebhet, 145 times, also spelled shebhet; Aramaic shebhat (Ezra 6:17)): Both words mean "staff," and perhaps "company led by chief with staff" (OHL, 641) is the origin of the meaning "tribe." In the Apocrypha and New Testament always for phule, from phuo, "beget," with dodekaphulon, "twelve tribes," in Acts 26:7. Of the two Hebrew words, shebhet appears to be considerably the older, and is used in Ps 74:2; Jer 10:16; Jer 51:19 of the whole people of Israel, and in Num 4:18; Judg 20:12 (Revised Version margin); 1 Sam 9:21 (Revised Version margin) of subdivisions of a tribe (but the text of most of these six verses is suspicious). Further, in Isa 19:13, shebhet is used of the "tribes" (nomes?) of Egypt and phule in Matt 24:30 of "all the tribes of the earth," but otherwise shebhet, matteh and phule refer exclusively to the tribes of Israel. In 2 Sam 7:7 for shibhete, "tribes," read shophete, "judges" (of the Revised Version margin).
Burton Scott Easton
Kilde: Easton's Bible Dictionary (M.G. Easton, 1897) og International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (red. James Orr, 1915/1939), public domain. Translated into Danish with AI and not yet proofread (fully or partially). Links to people and places: Theographic Bible Metadata (CC BY-SA 4.0).