The book of Genesis is the beginning of man and his epic journey of falling away from God and trusting in false knowledge instead of trusting in the Almighty God who created the ability to have knowledge in the first place.
The book of Genesis also contains the plan that God put in place in order to bring man back to himself one day. His plan was announced but not explained when he chose Abraham Isaac and Jacob to become the forefathers of his chosen people, and through his children he would again reveal himself to man and all the people of the world.
I always thought there just had to be some significance to the names of the 12 children of Jacob because Rachel and Leah would give a reason for the name that each child was given just as Adam gave to Eve “For she is the Mother of all Living” and just as Eve gave to Cain ” I have acquired a man” and Seth “God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel”
The late Chuck Missler went even as far as to translate the hebrew names of Adam’s children to Noah and came up with this translation
Adam -Man
Seth –Appointed
Enosh – Mortal
Kenan – Sorrow
Mahalalel – The blessed God
Jared – Shall come down
Enoch – Teaching
Methuselah – His death shall bring
Lamech – Despairing
Noah – Comfort and rest
When it is read as a sentence, it reads. Man has appointed himself Mortal Sorrow. The blessed God shall come down and teach, but his death shall bring the despairing comfort and rest
And this makes perfect sense that God would reveal his plan for the salvation of man through even the literal meaning of the names given to Adam’s children
So what do the names of the 12 children of Jacob mean since they also have explanations given to them at their birth?
If you arrange them in the order they are given in the book of Revelation 7, it makes perfect sense because these are the final chosen 12 tribes of Gods children listed in a different order then birth and excludes Dan and Ephraim.
1. Judah =”I will praise the Lord”
2. Reuben = “Seen my affliction”
3. Gad = “good fortune ”
4. Asher = “I am happy”
5. Naphtali = “with great wrestling”
6. Manasseh = “has made me forget”
7. Simeon = “he who hears me”
8. Levi = “Joined to me”
9. Issachar =”given me my wages”
10.Zebulun = “a good inheritance ”
11.Joseph = “ shall add to me”
12 Rachel named him Benoni “The son of my sorrow”
13.Jacob called him Benjamin = “The Son of His right hand”
I added the two names given for Benjamin at the end because i feel that it is relevant and that there is a reason why it is written in the bible that he was renamed Benjamin
But if we read it all as a sentence then it says this.
I will praise the LORD
For he has seen my affliction And prepared my fortune
I am happy and blessed.
despite great wrestlings God has made me forget all my toil
He who hears me
Has become joined to me.
God has given me my wages
And a good inheritance
He shall add to me
(Because) The son of my sorrow
Is now The Son of his right hand.
It’s all in the names.
On a side note, in Genesis 35 Jacob the father of the 12 tribes had his name changed to Israel after he cleansed his house by making everyone throw out their foreign idols and serve only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob. The hebrew word for Israel is actually spelled Yisrael and it is my opinion that the letter structure is not accidental. Y stands for YHWH or Yahweh, the covenant name of God as revealed to Moses when he requested what name he should tell his people when they asked who had sent him. I stands for Isaac the father of Jacob and S would be for Sarah the mother of Isaac, R stands for Rebecca the mother of Jacob and A would be for Abraham the father of Isaac and finally the two letters of EL which always stands for God almighty. so in short Jacob was renamed Yisrael because we was to be the new and final covenant promise that had begun with Abram all the way to Isaac the two patriarchs with the mothers Sarah and Rebecca in the middle while God surrounds them all on both ends.
FROM THE TREE TO THE CROSS 
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