The Chronicler’s aim is to boost the morale of a discouraged people and encourage unity among the post-exilic community by highlighting the corporate identity of Israel. Sin has had its consequences among the northern tribes. The tribe of Dan had chosen territory further north instead of settling in the land allotted to them (Joshua 19:40–48; Judges 18:1–31). Moreover, the city of Dan had become a key site for idolatry (1 Kings 12:28–29). The Chronicler seems to have intentionally omitted Dan as an indictment against this tribe.¹ The tribe of Zebulun will indeed be mentioned later (1 Chronicles 12:33; 2 Chronicles 30:10–11, 2 Chronicles 30:18), but its omission from the list is not that simple to explain. It is unlikely that it was due to a lack of source material, for the Chronicler had plenty at his disposal in the Torah. It may be that Zebulun was lost through scribal error, but it may also be that the Chronicler was reminding the northern tribes that one of the consequences of their disobedience was the loss of two of their tribes.²

Still, there remains a vision for a unified people of God, since the northern tribes of Issachar, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Asher are included among the tribes, even though they had belonged to the apostate northern kingdom.³