And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred [and] forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of [the] sons of Israel
The number 144,000 draws more guesswork than almost any figure in the Bible, and this verse is where it first appears — heard, not seen, twelve thousand to a tribe. Three questions follow: who are these sealed people, is the number literal, and why does this list of tribes match no other list in Scripture?
The chapter interrupts the sequence of seals. Before the next wave of judgment falls, God marks out people He will spare:
Revelation 7 is a parenthesis — in the middle of judgment, mercy is remembered. First, 144,000: that is, 12,000 from each tribe of Israel are sealed, so that no judgment meant for the earth may reach them (verses 1-8). Second (verses 9-17), a countless multitude from all the nations of the earth stand before the throne and the Lamb, clothed in white with palms in their hands. How precious these rays of mercy are!
The tribes are named one by one. The prophet then sees a crowd from every nation, and the contrast between the two groups settles how to read the first:
Those twelve tribes, described as they are there, with their names given, can mean nothing but the literal twelve tribes of Israel... The prophet sees another multitude which no one could number, drawn from all nations, tribes, peoples, and languages. That is, it is as expressly a Gentile body as the hundred and forty-four thousand were out of the tribes of Israel.
Their sealing points to a future on earth, not in heaven:
Their sealing guarantees that they will come safely through the Great Tribulation. They are kept not simply as individuals, but as Israelites, and so with earthly blessing as a nation in view. The tribes are mentioned by name (vv. 5-8), which would have no place if their destination was heaven.
God counts them Himself, and the count carries meaning:
When David tried to number the people, it was a presumptuous sin. But here it is the grace of God taking a full number out of the tribes of Israel for Himself. The number 144,000 is a regular and complete number, though I take it to be a symbolic one, with a view to God's use of Israel, His favoured nation, here on earth. The number twelve always points to what is perfect for God's work when man administers it. You can see this in the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve patriarchs, the twelve apostles, and even the twelve gates and twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem.
Commentators differ here. One takes the count as a symbol rather than arithmetic:
The numbers given here might of course be literal. More probably we should take them as symbols, since twelve and the square of twelve carry a symbolic sense elsewhere in the book. The godly remnant of Israel will have an important place in the government of the coming age, and twelve is the number of completeness in government.
The seal does two things at once, and one thing about it stays hidden:
"The seal of the living God" implies safety from death. The seal on the forehead is a public, open acknowledgment that those who are sealed belong to God. What the seal is, we are not told.
This is not the sealing Christians know:
This sealing is the work of angels. It is very different, therefore, from the present sealing with the Holy Spirit, and from any power or gift of the Spirit. No angel could give that... The effect is that God's people are shown to be His, and so kept safe from the judgments about to be sent.
Dan is missing from the list, Ephraim is missing, and Levi is counted in:
In Revelation 7, where the tribes are sealed for blessing, Dan is left out, as a type of the Antichrist. Ephraim is also left out, the number being made up by inserting Levi and by naming Joseph as well as Manasseh. In the future division of the land Dan will have a portion, but will be the farthest from the temple (Ezekiel 48:1-35).
Not everyone accepts that explanation. One writer will not guess at the reason, and says plainly that he has no satisfactory answer. Yet no tribe is lost to God:
Faith is sure that God knows where they are, and that He will make it clear in His own time and way... Israel is in the dark of night, beyond all question; but God's eye is on them. Not one of the tribes is forgotten before Him. He knows where to lay hands on them when He needs them for restoration and blessing.
- Mercy first — the chapter breaks into the seals: God secures His own before the storms break.
- Mercy counted — 144,000 is a full and definite number. Twelve marks God's work done through man, as with the tribes, the apostles and the gates of the New Jerusalem.
- Mercy marked — the seal of the living God goes on the forehead, in plain view. It brings safety from the coming judgments.
- Mercy for Israel — the named tribes are literal Israel, kept for blessing on earth. They are not the countless crowd from every nation in verse 9.
- Mercy remembers — Dan drops out of the list, and no one can say for sure why. Yet no tribe is lost to God, who knows where to find them.
out of [the] tribe of Juda, twelve thousand sealed; out of [the] tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand; out of [the] tribe of Gad, twelve thousand;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
out of [the] tribe of Aser, twelve thousand; out of [the] tribe of Nepthalim, twelve thousand; out of [the] tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
out of [the] tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand; out of [the] tribe of Levi, twelve thousand; out of [the] tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand;
This verse sits in the middle of a roll call. God seals twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes, one tribe at a time. The three names here — Simeon, Levi, Issachar — raise the questions that run through the whole list. Why these tribes? Why in this order? And why is Levi counted at all?
The sealing interrupts the judgments rather than continuing them.
Revelation 7 is a parenthesis — while judgment is going on, mercy is remembered. First come the 144,000: 12,000 sealed out of each tribe of Israel, so that no judgment coming on the earth may reach them (vv. 1-8)… Here in purest mercy 144,000 of Israel, who had crucified their Messiah, are guarded from grief.
Our verse divisions give three names per line. One writer reads the list in twos. He finds each pair already joined elsewhere in Scripture.
In our English version three tribes are named in each verse. But the real arrangement of the tribes, like that of the apostles (Matt. 10:2-4), is in pairs. First, Judah and Reuben… Fourth, Simeon and Levi, the second and third sons of Leah, joined together in the prophetic list (Gen. 49:5-7), and also in the Lord's revealing of Himself to saved Israel (Zech. 12:13). Fifth, Issachar and Zebulun, the fifth and sixth sons of Leah.
Levi had no land of his own, yet here he takes a full share of twelve thousand alongside Simeon and Issachar.
In this prophetic and symbolic picture every distinction is wiped out. Only Judah keeps the first place. In Revelation it is a matter of God's government and of Christ's millennial reign. Here we no longer find the half-tribes of Manasseh. Levi is sealed like the other tribes. Joseph replaces Ephraim.
So why do other lists of the tribes leave Levi out?
I would add this. Some parts of Scripture leave Levi out because they look at the land as lived in by the nation. That reason plainly does not hold good here. The question here is not about the land, but about witness before the nations.
Simeon almost vanished among the other tribes. That makes his place in this list striking.
When the kingdom divided, Simeon belonged in name to the ten tribes, but was completely cut off from the other nine. So they had two options only. They could merge with the two tribes — and of this we read nothing — or, as Jacob had prophesied, be "scattered in Israel." They were, in a way, lost in the land. Ezekiel prophesies about a future day. Then the twelve tribes will be restored and the land divided again. In that day the tribe of Simeon has its portion. Ezek. 48:24-35. They are also mentioned in Rev. 7:7, when a remnant of them will be sealed for blessing.
The round number for each tribe is not a census. It marks out grace choosing people one by one.
He will have an election from that people. But it will be a personal and individual election — not merely a national one as of old. When David tried to count the people, it was a presumptuous sin. Here it is the grace of God taking a full number of the tribes of Israel for Himself. The number 144,000 is a regular and complete number, though a mystical one, as I take it… The number twelve always points to what is perfect for God's work, carried out under man's administration.
The list does not follow birth order. Judah comes first, and the seal gives those marked the standing of servants. Why is Dan left out? Guesses differ.
The natural order of birth is not kept here. So Judah, and not Reuben, heads the list, for blessing on the ground of mercy can only come through Him who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root and Offspring of David. There have been many guesses as to why Dan is left out. Some have thought it is because the tribe of Dan was so mixed up with idolatry. Others suppose that "the man of sin" will be a Danite. But the hundred and forty-four thousand are an election out of Israel, so these reasons cannot be entertained for a moment… We may notice also that the tribes are sealed with the seal of the living God, which shows their security and preservation in a time of judgment and death. Their standing before God is that of "servants," not "sons," or members of the body of Christ, as we are.
- Mercy first. The chapter breaks into the judgments to show God sealing a people before the storm falls.
- Mercy names. Simeon, Levi and Issachar are called out one by one. The seal reaches people, not just a nation.
- Mercy levels. Levi's separate place and the half-tribe divisions disappear here. Every tribe gets the same twelve thousand, and only Judah keeps first place.
- Mercy finds the lost. Simeon was once scattered and lost among his brothers. He still has a sealed remnant and a future portion in the land.
- Mercy keeps. The seal of the living God marks them as servants and preserves them through a time of judgment and death.
out of [the] tribe of Zabulun, twelve thousand; out of [the] tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand; out of [the] tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand sealed.
The list of the sealed ends here with Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin. Three questions come up: why Joseph and not Ephraim, why one tribe is missing, and what God is keeping this counted company of Israel for.
Twelve thousand from each tribe gives an exact total. The crowd later in the chapter has no total at all.
The Gentile company (v. 9) is not numbered. The company from Israel, by contrast, is counted with care. The result is not a round number but an exact one: a hundred and forty-four thousand. Twelve thousand out of each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The numbers, whether on their own (12) or multiplied (144), mean a complete and definite number. Twelve is the number that marks Israel... The number of the sealed is symbolic, of course. It simply means that God has claimed for Himself a certain, complete, yet limited number out of Israel.
That figure carries a purpose, not just a total:
Twelve is the number of perfect government in the hands of man. So it appears in the foundations, gates, and measurements of the new Jerusalem. (Rev. 21.) It will mean, then, a perfect number kept for the kingdom — the people through whom Messiah will rule the nations on the earth.
Naming the tribes at all — down to Zebulun and Benjamin here — says something about where these people are headed.
Their sealing guarantees that God will keep them safe through the Great Tribulation. He keeps them not simply as people, but as Israel, and so with blessing on earth as a nation in view. The tribes are named (vv. 5-8), which would have no place if their destination was heaven. Verse 8 speaks of Joseph, but this clearly means Ephraim, Joseph's son, since Manasseh, Joseph's other son, is also included.
The order of tribes here matches no other list in Scripture. The last three names mix the family lines.
The order in which they are listed is found nowhere else. It is unusual in the way the sons of different mothers — wives and concubines — are mixed together... "In the fourth group Zebulun is joined with Joseph and Benjamin — the later children of Leah with the later children of Rachel."
Joseph stands here where Ephraim might have stood. That is one of several changes across the whole list.
In this prophetic and symbolic picture every distinction is wiped out, except that Judah holds first place. That is because in Revelation the subject is God's government and Christ's thousand-year reign. Here we no longer find the half-tribes of Manasseh. Levi is sealed like the other tribes. Joseph replaces Ephraim. Dan is left out completely. He is judged, in line with Jacob's prophecy; the Antichrist and his people, pictured by Dan, cannot be sealed.
Commentators differ on the reason. One links Dan's absence to the Antichrist, another to a history of idolatry. Both agree the omission is not the last word.
The tribes of Dan and Ephraim are omitted from this list, although we find Joseph, the father of Ephraim, mentioned in his place. Their history in the Old Testament ties them closely to idolatry. But we also see grace coming in, because God is not finished with these two tribes. In Ezekiel 48 the land is shared out among the tribes, and both Dan and Ephraim are named — Dan first of all. God has not forgotten them; grace has come in and they have been restored.
Being "sealed" is not a physical brand but an open claim of ownership.
The meaning, then, is this: before the various judgments fall on creation, God will have claimed a certain people for Himself. They are sealed with the seal of the living God. That is, a stamp is put on them marking them out as set apart to God... Protection may also be involved here. In any case, they are sealed on their foreheads. Of course that means no physical mark. It means God setting them apart for Himself — and, I think, doing it openly.
The seal also marks them out for service:
Notice that they are not simply sealed for God, but as "the servants of our God." It is in this character that they carry the gospel of the kingdom to the nations.
- Claimed. God claims a people for Himself before judgment falls. The seal is an open mark of ownership, not a physical brand.
- Counted. Twelve thousand per tribe is a complete yet limited number. The crowd of verse 9 is never counted.
- Named. Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin are named by tribe. That points to blessing on earth as a nation, not a home in heaven.
- Reordered. The list matches no other in Scripture. Levi is sealed, Joseph stands where Ephraim would, and Judah alone keeps first place.
- Not forgotten. Dan, left out of the sealing, still receives land in Ezekiel 48. Being left out here is not final loss.