Note 71 — Chapter VI · (continued 2)

A traditional symbolism attached the greatest importance to this division of the twelve tribes and the twelve stones into two unequal numbers. The prophecy of Jacob is divided into two parts by the exclamation into which he breaks forth after the name of the seventh patriarch: “I will look for thy salvation, O LORD” (Gen. xlix. 14). Ezechiel also, in the last chapter of his prophecy, interrupts his narrative after the mention of the seventh tribe by the description of the temple, and then resumes his enumeration of the territories.