How many were the sons of Jacob?
Question: How many were the sons of Jacob?
Answer: This question may seem easy to answer. He fathered 12 sons and a daughter from four mothers (below they are listed by their mothers, in order of their births, and the meanings of their names):
Sons of Leah:
Re’uven = “behold a son”
Shimon = “heard”
Levi = “joined to”
Yehudah = “YHVH praised”
Sons of Bilhah (Rachel’s servant):
Dan = “a judge”
Naphtali = “wrestling
Sons of Zilpah (Leah’s servant):
Gad = “fortune”
Asher = “happy”
Sons of Leah:
Issachar = “there is recompense”
Zevulun = “residence”
Dina = judgment
Sons of Rachel:
Yoseph = “YHVH has added”
Binyamin = “son of the right hand”
In Egypt at the end of his life Jacob adopted the sons of Joseph, the son from his favorite wife Rachel: Menashsheh and Ephraim. Thus, Menashsheh and Ephraim made the number of the sons of Jacob: 14.
Read more in the article “The Prophecy of 144,000“.