Ephraim (Hebrew: אֶפְרַיִם/אֶפְרָיִם, Standard Efráyim Tiberian ʾEp̄ráyim/ʾEp̄rāyim) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph and Asenath. Asenath was an Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and the daughter of Potipherah, a priest of On. (Genesis 41:50-52) Ephraim was born in Egypt before the arrival of the children of Israel from Canaan. (Genesis 48:5)
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Jacob, Joseph's father, adopted Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to share in Jacob's inheritance equally with Jacob's own sons. (Genesis 48:5) He is counted as the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Ephraim, one of the twelve Israelite tribes. Jacob also blessed Ephraim over his older brother. (Genesis 48:20)
Ephraim had sons: Shuthelah, Bered, Tahath, Eleadah, Tahath, Zabad, Shuthelah, Ezer and Elead. However, these sons were killed by local men who came to rob him of his cattle. He then had another son, Beriah, who carried on his name. (1 Chronicles 7:20-23) From him was descended Joshua, son of Nun, who in time became the leader of the Israelite tribes in the conquest of Canaan. (1 Chronicles 7:20-27)
According to the biblical narrative, Jeroboam, who became the first king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, was also from the house of Ephraim. (1 Kings 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]
| 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) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
There's more than one place called Ephraim.
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Category: Disambiguation
EPHRAIM, a tribe of Israel, called after the younger son of Joseph, who in his benediction exalted Ephraim over the elder brother Manasseh (Gen. xlviii.). These two divisions were often known as the "house of Joseph" (Josh. xvii. 14 sqq.; Judg. i. 22; 2 Sam. xix. 20; I Kings xi. 28). The relations between them are obscure; conflicts are referred to in Is. ix. 21, 4 and Ephraim's proud and ambitious character is indicated in its demands as narrated in Josh. xvii. 14; Judg. viii. 1-3, xii. 1-6. Thoughout, Ephraim played a distinctive and prominent part; it probably excelled Manasseh in numerical strength, and the name became a synonym for the northern kingdom of Israel. Originally the name may have been a geographical term for the central portion of Palestine. Regarded as a tribe, it lay to the north of Benjamin, which traditionally belongs to it; but whether the young "brother" (see Benjamin) sprang from it, or grew up separately, is uncertain. Northwards, Ephraim lost itself in Manasseh, even if it did not actually include it (Judg. i. 27; 1 Chron. vii. 2 9); the boundaries between them can hardly be recovered. Ephraim's strength lay in the possession of famous sites: Shechem, with the tomb of the tribal ancestor, also one of the capitals; Shiloh, at one period the home of the ark; TimnathSerah (or Heres), the burial-place of Joshua; and Samaria, whose name was afterwards extended to the whole district (see Samaria) .
Shechem itself was visited by Abraham and Jacob, and the latter bought from the sons of Hamor a burial-place (Gen. xxxiii. 19). The story of Dinah may imply some early settlement of tribes in its vicinity (but see Simeon), and the reference in Gen. xlviii. 22 (see R. V. marg.) alludes to its having been forcibly captured. But how this part of Palestine came into the hands of the Israelites is not definitely related in the story of the invasion (see Joshua).
A careful discussion of the Biblical data referring to Ephraim is given by H. W. Hogg, Ency. Bib., s.v. On the characteristic narratives which appear to have originated in Ephraim (viz. the Ephraimite or Elohist source, E), see GENESIS and BIBLE: Old Testament Criticism. See further ABIMELECH; GIDEON; MANASSEH; and JEWS: History.
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Hebrew אֶפְרָיִם (Efráyim), “‘fruitful’”).
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Ephraim
Meaning: double fruitfulness ("for God had made him fruitful in the land of his affliction").
The second son of Joseph, born in Egypt (Gen 41:52; Gen 46:20). The first incident recorded regarding him is his being placed, along with his brother Manasseh, before their grandfather, Jacob, that he might bless them (Gen 48:10; comp. Gen 27:1). The intention of Joseph was that the right hand of the aged patriarch should be placed on the head of the elder of the two; but Jacob set Ephraim the younger before his brother, "guiding his hands wittingly." Before Joseph's death, Ephraim's family had reached the third generation (Gen 50:23).
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