THE TWELVE DIVISIONS OF ISRAEL

The Hebrew sages also shared this wisdom. As we have seen, Moses and his inner circle mapped out the path of immortality in terms of the forty-two encampments of the ben Israel on their journey from Egypt (the land of bondage) to Canaan (the land of immortality).

In this spiritual allegory, the land of Canaan or Israel itself represents the supreme abode of immortality reached at the end of the path, and the citizens of that land symbolize the truly immortal souls that live there and the twelve tribes of Israel, who symbolize the twelve classes of immortal souls that dwell in the twelve layers at the end.

Once the twelve tribes arrived in Canaan, they established the kingdom of Israel by dividing the land into twelve pieces, as recorded specifically in the Book of Joshua. By dividing the land into twelve sections, the Hebrew sages established symbolically the supreme abode of immortality on earth, which was called the kingdom of Israel and which was to serve as the abode for all the immortal sons of Israel throughout time.

Therefore, all three traditions—Vedic, Egyptian, and Hebrew—shared the same immortal wisdom regarding the forty-twofold path, as well as the same supreme wisdom regarding the twelvefold goal of the path.