"My Losing Season" and the Tribes in the Desert

Years ago I read a book called "My Losing Season," by Pat Conroy, about, more than anything his father's almost vicious approach to winning, and the struggles he faced as a child with a father who tended towards abuse.

One of the things though that I remember most saliently from the book was how the young author, pointguard and captain of his school team, the Cital Bulldogs, was able to keep the peace on his team by remembering how many times he had passed the ball to each of the other players on an attack. He mentally kept track of how many times the shooting guard, the center and the two forwards received the ball. That, he said, kept the team together. 

The sojourns in the desert and the encampment around the mishkan seemed to have a similar message. 

Though each tribe had a unique place, they were part of a larger division, led by one of the paramount tribes. The heads of divisions included Judah, from whom kingship would derive, Reuven, who chronologically was the firstborn and rightfully, initially deserved this right, Ephraim, who was the second of Joseph's sons who would climb to greater heights than his older brother Menashe, and lastly, Dan, the son of one of Jacob's maidservants, who also received primacy, balancing the fact that his mother wasn't one of the full-fledged wives. 

This balance, I would like to argue, helped preserve the Jewish people, giving Judah his rightful place, priming it for his leadership, whilst obviating ill-will on the part of Reuven, giving Joseph his place as the firstborn son of Jacob's most loved, and I would argue, only wife, and Dan, balancing political realities and difficult dynamics between the sons of Rachel and Leah, on the one hand, and the children of Bilhah and Zilpah on the other, while also giving preference to Bilhah (Rachel's maidservant) over Zilpah, Leah's.