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In the list of spies, why is Yosef added to the listing for Manashe but not to the one for Efrayim? [duplicate]
Closed as duplicate by Monica Cellio on May 9, 2022 at 12:57
This question has been addressed elsewhere. See: Why does the Torah mention Yosef in relation to Menashe but not Ephraim in the story of the spies?
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At the beginning of Sh'lach L'cha the torah lists the twelve scouts and their tribes. In general these names follow the pattern "from the tribe of (tribe), (somebody) ben (somebody)", with (generally) the same trope. However, the two tribes descended from Yosef are treated differently. The text for the first is "from the tribe of Efrayim, Hoshea bin Nun". The text for the second is "from the tribe of Yosef from the tribe of Manashe, Gadi ben Susi".
Why does Yosef get mentioned explicitly for one of them but not for the other? Is it just that Hoshea (Yehoshua) is a big name and everyone knows who he is? But the difference is in the tribes, not the individuals.
(I asked this question years ago on my blog and received a pointer to an answer, which I'm adding here because this is a better place to record torah knowledge than my blog.)
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