Elders & Deacons

Two passages of Scripture provide prerequisites for serving as an "Elder." The First Timothy passage also includes prerequisites for serving as a "Deacon." All three lists map to the tribes and have a remarkable correspondance between them. The following tables take each list stand-alone. To study the similarities it's easiest to look at the Master Grid. Notes follow.

Elders in Titus

Tribe	Office	Prerequisite	Scripture
Judah	Elder	Blamess	64 Titus 1:6 ⁶Appoint only an elder who is blameless and the husband of 1 wife, and one who has faithful sons who do not swear and who are not intemperate.
Reuben	Elder	1 wife
Gad	Elder	Faithful children
Asher	Elder	Don't swear
Naphtali	Elder	Not intemperate
Manasseh	Elder	Blameless steward of God and not self-willed	64 Titus 1:7 ⁷For an elder must be blameless, as a steward of god; and he must not be self-willed, not quick tempered, not excessive in the use of wine, not too ready to strike with his hand, not a lover of filthy profit;
Simeon	Elder	Not quick tempered
Levi	Elder	Not excessive wine
Issachar	Elder	Not ready to strike
Zebulun	Elder	Not lover of filthy profit
Joseph	Elder	Lover of hospitality and good things	64 Titus 1:8 ⁸but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good things, sober, just, pious, and temperate of worldly desires;
Benjamin	Elder	Sober, just, pious and temperate of worldly desires
Dan	Elder	Holding fast the doctrine of faith	64 Titus 1:9 ⁹holding fast the doctrine of faith, so that he may be able to comfort by his sound doctrine, and to rebuke those who are proud.

Elders in First Timothy

Tribe	Office	Prerequisite	Scripture
Judah	Elder	Blameless	56 First Timothy 3:2 ²He who becomes an elder must be blameless, the husband of 1 wife, alert mentally, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, and apt at teaching;
Reuben	Elder	1 wife
Gad	Elder	Alert mentally
Asher	Elder	Sober
Naphtali	Elder	Good behavior
Manasseh	Elder	Hospitality
Simeon	Elder	Apt at teaching
Levi	Elder	Not given to wine	56 First Timothy 3:3 ³not given to wine, not hasty to strike, not quarrelsome, but meek, not greedy for filthy profit;
Issachar	Elder	Not hasty to strike, Not quarrelsome, but meek
Zebulun	Elder	Not greedy for filthy profit
Joseph	Elder	Rules own house well	56 First Timothy 3:4-5 ⁴one who rules his own house well and keeps his sons under submission to bring them up with all purity. ⁵For if a man does not know how to rule his own house well, how will he take care of the church of god?
Benjamin	Elder	Not recent convert	56 First Timothy 3:6 ⁶He should not be a recent convert, lest he become proud and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Dan	Elder	Good report from outsiders	56 First Timothy 3:7 ⁷Furthermore, he must have a good report from outsiders, lest he fall into disgrace and the snares of the devil.

Deacons in First Timothy

Tribe	Office	Prerequisite	Scripture
Judah	Deacon	Pure	56 First Timothy 3:8 ⁸Likewise, deacons must be pure, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for filthy profit;
Reuben	Deacon	Not double-tongued
Gad	Deacon	Not given to much wine
Asher	Deacon	Not greedy for filthy profit
Naphtali	Deacon	Uphold faith	56 First Timothy 3:9 ⁹but they must uphold the divine mystery of faith with a pure conscience.
Manasseh	Deacon	Examine first to see if blameless	56 First Timothy 3:10 ¹⁰Let these first be examined, and then let them minister after they have been found blameless.
Simeon	Deacon	Chaste	56 First Timothy 3:11 ¹¹Likewise, their wives must be chaste, alert mentally, faithful in all things, and not slanderers.
Levi	Deacon	Alert mentally
Issachar	Deacon	Faithful
Zebulun	Deacon	Not slanderers
Joseph	Deacon	Not polygamous, Rules own house well	56 First Timothy 3:12 ¹²Let the deacons be appointed from those who have not been polygamous, ruling their sons and their own houses well.
Benjamin	Deacon	Earn good recognition	56 First Timothy 3:13 ¹³For those who minister well, earn good recognition for themselves, and grow more familiar with the faith of Jesus, an anointed.
Dan	Deacon	Grow more familiar with faith of Jesus

Notes on mapping

These lists give the areas to check someone to see if they area "blameless." If they are they may serve, if not, they need to grow some more, unless unqualified for some reason.

Blameless and pure land on Judah all three times. Manasseh also gets the word "blameless" in the middle of the list. I've always wondered while reading these passages why Paul would reuse the word "blameless" mid way down the list. Seems redundant and a bit out of place. Turns out it's the key for understanding the structure and alignment. Remember Manasseh is a miniature of all the tribes. So the overall reason for the list, to find someone blameless, lands on Manasseh to reiterate that this is the test everyone/tribe is under. This is really elegant, hope I'm making sense to you.

Observations

Note the way Manasseh/Joseph pick up hospitality, ruling own house/children well several times. Interesting theme.

Simeon gets issues around anger. Clearly a theme in Genesis and part of what Jacob spoke over him.

Levi keeps getting wine issues. Not sure why this would match Levi, but it's hard to argue the way this lands repetitively.

Reuben tends to get the have 1 wife exhortation. Given the sins of his youth told in Genesis this is understandable. As in Genesis where Reuben loses the birth right, here if you aren't single or married to 1 wife you lose the ability to serve in this office.

Benjamin is warned that recent converts are not to serve in this leadership capacity. Benjamin was of course the youngest of the brothers and is the last to become Christian in world history.

Need to study this further, of course, but this is a great start on these lists.

By Ryan Eaton
Posted Saturday, Benjamin 2, 13000