What did the 12 sons of Jacob represent?

A:Biblical tradition does indeed say that Jacob's sons became the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel, each of which was named after its founder. Jacob, or Israel as he is also called, had twelve sons, including Levi. Levi is recorded as the father of the Levite priest and therefore did not found a tribe. Joseph's two sons, The sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Menasseh, were named as founder of tribes, instead of Joseph and Levi, thus making the required number of twelve tribes.

A careful reading of The Bible suggests a very different story. The Book of Judges preserves an ancient poem from the late second millennium and considered to be the earliest reference to the Hebrew tribes. This is usually called the Song of Deborah (Judges 5:2-31), and the poet honours those tribes of Israel that joined in battle against a Canaanite coalition and castigates those that held back. It seems there were only ten tribes at this early stage, named as: Reuben, Benjamin, Ephraim, Manasseh, Zebulon, Issachar, Dan, Naphtali, Asher, Gilead, to which we could add Levi. This list notably omits Judah, Simeon and Gad, but has Gilead, as well as the otherwise unknown Meroz, which could have been an eleventh tribe. This and some other obscure passages suggests the evolution of the Hebrew tribal system, rather than the patrilineal version more commonly accepted.