Sons of the Right Hand

Bede (Latin Commentaries on Revelation, 133-5) interprets the list of Israel’s tribes in Revelation 7 by etymologizing the names. The list forms a sequence, from Judah to Benjamin. Judah means “confession or praise” and is placed first because “before the beginning of confession, no one attains the heights of good works, and unless we should renounce evil through confession, we do not live by those works that are just.” Reuben means “seeing the son,” and “Reuben comes after Judah, since after the beginning of divine confession there follows the perfection of work.”

The list climaxes with Benjamin: Since “those who will in the future judgment by at the right hand of Christ, the eternal king, Benjamin . . . is mentioned in the last place. For Benjamin means ‘son of the right hand’ because he is at the end of the series. For when the last enemy, namely, death, is destroyed, the felicity of the eternal inheritance will be given to the elect, either each one of the faithful rightfully being named ‘son of the right hand,’ or the whole congregation of the church, concerning which we sing, ‘A queen stood at your right hand dressed in various golden robes.’”

In short: We all begin as Judah, with confession and praise; we are all destined to be Benjamin, sons of the right hand.