Why is Joseph missing from the list of tribes encamped around the tabernacle?
Joseph is missing because his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were counted as separate half-tribes and replaced him in the encampment arrangement. Their two shares took Joseph’s place, while Levi was also omitted as the priestly tribe without an inheritance. Thus the perimeter tribes include Joseph’s sons but not Joseph himself.
Les teaches that Joseph was originally one of the twelve tribes, but by the time the tribes were stationed around the tabernacle, Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, are called the two half-tribes and take Joseph’s place. So Joseph is left out because the two half-tribes take his share. Levi is also left out, because Levi was the priestly tribe, and even when they went into the Promised Land, Levi did not have an inheritance. Instead, the priests had a central area around Jerusalem to live, and they depended on what came in from the other tribes, much like God’s servants today depend on offerings, tithes, and gifts from believer friends.