Ephraim

1. The younger son of Joseph and of Asenath, daughter of the high priest of On (Gen 41:50-52); the ancestor of the tribe of Ephraim. The Hebrew name derives from a root meaning "fruitful", and according to Genesis 41:52 Joseph so named his younger son "because God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction." Before his death, Jacob adopted his grandchildren Ephraim and his older brother Manasseh to be equal with his own sons (Gen 48:5). He gave precedence to the younger Ephraim even though he linked Ephraim and Manasseh together as paradigms for future generations. In the chronicles of the tribes, Ephraim takes precedence over Manasseh in all matters such as the order of marching in the wilderness (Num 2:18-20), the consecration gifts for the tabernacle (Num 7:48, 54), and the order of the allocation of territory (Josh 16:5).

In the records of the divided kingdom, the name Ephraim often denoted the Northern Kingdom and its territory (Is 7:17; 11:13; Jer 7:15; 31:9; Ezek 37:16; Hos 4:17; 5:3). The tribe was allocated its land in the central hill country of Palestine, including some parts of the fertile valley (Josh 16:1-8). The Ephraimites were located south of the other Joseph tribe of Manasseh (Josh 17:10), and since the land of Ephraim was part of the wider unit, it is difficult to determine the precise borders of Ephraim's territory.

Living in central Palestine, it would seem that Ephraim was relatively free from clashes with Canaanites who consistently gave trouble to the other Israelite tribes. This freedom from foreign conflict led the tribe to develop without serious interference from the outside. As a result the Ephraimites became somewhat aggressive and proud. They encroached on the territory of their northern neighbor Manasseh (Josh 17:8-9), and also southward into the lands of the tribes of Benjamin and Dan.

Their touchy tribal pride is illustrated in their argument with Gideon (Judg 8:1-3) and in their conflict with Jephthah (Judg 12:1-6). The curious difficulty of the Ephraimites in pronouncing the word "Shibboleth" would indicate that they retained a strong local dialect (Judg 12:5-6).

Some scholars attribute the boastful pride and arrogance of the Ephraimite tribe to various other factors. Joshua, the leader of Israel at the time of the settlement, was of the tribe. The prime central position of Ephraimite territory, which included the religious shrine of Shiloh, gave the tribe a certain feeling of superiority and even the claim to leadership. To have been passed over by Gideon and Jephthah in the wars against the Midianites and the Ammonites (Judg 8:1; 12:1) must therefore have been a very painful slight to their tribal honor.

Ultimately, this tribal pride contributed to the division of the United Kingdom after the death of Solomon. The leader of the revolt and the first king of the breakaway Northern Kingdom was Jeroboam son of Nebat of the tribe of Ephraim (I Kgs 11:26).

2. A town near Bethel (II Sam 13:23).

3. A forest on the east side of the Jordan River, where King David's rebellious son, Absalom was killed by Joab (II Sam 18:6-17). Once possessed by the tribe of Ephraim, this area of land was claimed by the Gileadites, who defeated the Ephraimites in battle (Judg 12:1-7).

4. One of the gates of Jerusalem. When Jehoash, king of Israel, captured Amaziah, king of Judah, he destroyed the city walls from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate (II Kgs 14:13; II Chr 25:23).

Concordance
EPHRAIM 1: Gen 41:52; 46:20; 48:1, 5,13-14, 17, 20; 50:23. Num 1:10, 32-33; 2:18, 24; 7:48; 10:22; 13:8; 26:28, 35, 37; 34:24. Deut 33:17; 34:2. Josh 14:4; 16:4-5, 8-10; 17:8-10, 15,17; 19:50; 20:7; 21:5, 20-21; 24:30, 33. Judg 1:29; 2:9; 3:27; 4:5; 5:14; 7:24; 8:1-2; 10:1, 9; 12:1,4-6, 15; 17:1,8; 18:2, 13; 19:1, 16, 18. I Sam 1:1; 9:4; 14:22. II Sam 2:9; 20:21. I Kgs 4:8; 11:26; 12:25. II Kgs 5:22. I Chr 6:66-67; 7:20, 22; 9:3; 12:30; 27:10,14, 20. II Chr 13:4; 15:8-9; 17:2; 19:4; 25:7, 10; 28:7,12; 30:1, 10,18; 31:1; 34:6,9. Ps 60:7; 78:9, 67; 80:2; 108:8. Is 7:2,5, 8-9, 17; 9:9,21; 11:13; 17:3; 28:1, 3. Jer 4:15; 7:15; 31:6, 9, 18,20; 50:19. Ezek 37:16,19; 48:5-6. Hos 4:17; 5:3,5, 9, 11-14; 6:4, 10; 7:1, 8,11; 8:9, 11; 9:3, 8, 11, 13,16; 10:6, 11; 11:3, 8-9, 12; 12:1, 8, 14; 13:1, 12; 14:8. Obad v. 19. Zech 9:10. 13; 10:7
EPHRAIM 2: II Sam 13:23. John 11:54
EPHRAIM 3: II Sam 18:6
EPHRAIM 4: II Kgs 14:13. II Chr 25:23. Neh 8:16; 12:39

This article is about the Israelite tribal patriarch. For other meanings, see Ephraim (disambiguation).

Ephraim, by Francesco Hayez

Ephraim (Hebrew: אֶפְרַיִם/אֶפְרָיִם, Standard Efráyim Tiberian ʾEp̄ráyim/ʾEp̄rāyim) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph and Asenath, the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Ephraim and heir of the Abrahamic Covenant 1Chronicles 5:1-2. The Covenant of Abraham was that his descendents would become many nations Genesis 17:1-6 between the Nile and Euphrates (General Middle East Area currently populated by the Arab people and nations) Genesis 15:8 and this his descendents would be like the stars of the sky Genesis 15:5, yet each time the birthright passed from one generation to the next it always passed through the barren woman starting with Abraham's wife Sarah Genesis 11:30 to Isaac's wife Rebecca Genesis 25:21. Jacob had two wives, Leah (the mother of the Jewish people) and Rachel (the mother of the house of Joseph), however only Rachel was barren Genesis 29:31. Joseph had only two children Genesis 48:5, which Ephraim was the heir of the birthright and the youngest Genesis 48:20. Ephraim's story of his children quite sad as several of his children died so that Abraham's blessing passed through Ephraim's few remaining sons 1Chronicles 7:20-23. Biblically several leaders of ancient Israel came from the Tribe of Ephraim, including Joshua 1Chronicles 7:20-27 and Jeroboam 1Kings 11:26. Due to this lack of identity some Biblical scholars view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation.^[1] The text of the Torah argues that the name of Ephraim, which means double fruitfulness, refers to Joseph's ability to produce children, specifically while in Egypt (termed by the Torah as the land of his affliction).^[2]. Some scholars link the name to an Egyptian meaning rather than a Hebrew one^[3].

In the Biblical account, Joseph's other son is Manasseh, and Joseph himself is one of the two children of Rachel and Jacob, the other being Benjamin. Biblical scholars regard it as obvious, from their geographic overlap and their treatment in older passages, that originally Ephraim and Manasseh were considered one tribe - that of Joseph.^[4] John's Book of Revelation, however, accords only Ephraim the tribal name of Joseph. According to several biblical scholars, Benjamin was originally part of the suggested Ephraim-Manasseh single "Joseph" tribe, but the biblical account of Joseph as his father became lost.^[4][5] A number of biblical scholars suspect that the distinction of the Joseph tribes (including Benjamin) is that they were the only Israelites which went to Egypt and returned, while the main Israelite tribes simply emerged as a subculture from the Canaanites and had remained in Canaan throughout.^[5][6] According to this view, the story of Jacob's visit to Laban to obtain a wife originated as a metaphor for this migration, with the property and family which were gained from Laban representing the gains of the Joseph tribes by the time they returned from Egypt;^[5] according to textual scholars, the Jahwist version of the Laban narrative only mentions the Joseph tribes, and Rachel, and doesn't mention the other tribal matriarchs whatsoever.^[7][8]

In the Torah, the eventual precedence of the tribe of Ephraim is argued to derive from Jacob, blind and on his deathbed, blessing Ephraim before Manasseh.^[2][9] The text describing this blessing features a hapax legomenon - the word שכל (sh-k-l) - which classical rabbinical literature has interpreted in esoteric manners;^[4] some rabbinical sources connect the term with sekel, meaning mind/wisdom, and view it as indicating that Jacob was entirely aware of who he was actually blessing;^[10] other rabbinical sources connect the term with shikkel, viewing it as signifying that Jacob was despoiling Manasseh in favour of Ephraim;^[11] yet other rabbinical sources argue that it refers to the power of Jacob to instruct and guide the holy spirit.^[12] In classical rabbinical sources, Ephraim is described as being modest and not selfish.^[4] These rabbinical sources allege that it was on account of modesty and selflessness, and a prophetic vision of Joshua, that Jacob gave Ephraim precedence over Manasseh, the elder of the two;^[13] in these sources Jacob is regarded as being sufficiently just that God upholds the blessing in his honour, and makes Ephraim the leading tribe.^[14]

See also

• Manasseh
• Tribe of Manasseh
• Tribe of Ephraim

Children of Jacob by wife in order of birth (D = Daughter)

Leah

Reuben (1)

Simeon (2)

Levi (3)

Judah (4)

Issachar (9)

Zebulun (10)

Dinah (D)

Rachel

Joseph (11)

Benjamin (12)

Bilhah (Rachel's servant)

Dan (5)

Naphtali (6)

Zilpah (Leah's servant)

Gad (7)

Asher (8)

Citations

1. ^ Peake's commentary on the Bible
2. ^ ^{a b} Genesis 41:52
3. ^ http://ha-historion.blogspot.com/2009/03/significance-of-given-names-in-tanach.html
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Jewish Encyclopedia
5. ^ ^{a b c} Peake's commentary on the Bible
6. ^ Israel Finkelstein, The Bible Unearthed
7. ^ ibid
8. ^ Richard Elliott Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible?
9. ^ Genesis 48:1
10. ^ ibid
11. ^ ibid
12. ^ ibid
13. ^ ibid
14. ^ ibid

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.

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