Ephraim
EPHRAIM
The second son of Joseph, born in Egypt, Gen 41:52 . Although the youngest, he yet had the chief blessing of his grandfather Jacob, and the tribe was always more distinguished than that of Manasseh, Gen 48:8-20 Num 2:18-21 . The portion of Ephraim was large and central, and embraced some of the most fertile land in all Canaan. It extended from the Mediterranean across to the Jordan, north of the portions of Dan and Benjamin and included Shiloh, Shechem, etc. A range of mountainous country, which runs through it, is called “the mountains of Ephraim,” or “mount Ephraim.” This extends also farther south into the portion of Judah, and is there called “the mountains of Judah.” Samaria, the capital of the ten tribes, being in Ephraim, this latter name is often used for the kingdom of Israel, Isa 11:13 Jer 31:6 50:19.The FOREST of Ephraim, where Absalom lost his life, was on the east side of the Jordan, near Mahanaim, 2Sa 18:6-8 .The TOWN called Ephraim, to which the Savior withdrew from his enemies, Joh 11:54, was probably the same place mentioned in 2Ch 13:19, and called Ophrah in Jos 18:23 1Sa 13:17 . See also 2Sa 13:23 . It is supposed to be the present Taiyibeh, on a hill overlooking the Jordan valley, five miles northeast of Bethel.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Ephraim
Younger son of the patriarch Joseph (Genesis 41), born in Egypt , during the seven years of plenty. The first indication of the superiority of Ephraim over his elder brother, Manasses, is seen in the blessing given by their grandfather Jacob (Genesis 48). Using the power given to him by Divine promises, Jacob adopts as his sons, Manasses and Ephraim, in order that these might form not two branches of the same tribe, but two distinct tribes. Jacob gives the preference to the younger, by placing his right hand over the head of Ephraim.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Ephraim
(Hebrews Ephra’yim, , a dual form; Gesenius suggests=twin-land; Frst derives from a sing. =, fruitful; Sept. v), the name of a man (including the tribe and tract named from him, with other kindred objects), and of one or two other places of doubtful authenticity and certainly of much less note.
1. (Josephus Graecizes v, Ant. 2:7, 4.) The second son of Joseph by Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah (Gen 46:20), born during the seven years of plenteousness (B.C. cir. 1878), and an allusion to this is possibly latent in the name, though it may also allude to Joseph’s increasing family: “The name of the second he called Ephraim (i.e., double fruitfulness), for God hath caused me to be fruitful (, hiphrani) in the land of my affliction” (Gen 41:52). Josephus (Ant. 2:6, 1) gives the derivation of the name somewhat differently “Restorer, because he was restored to the freedom of his forefathers” ( … ). The first incident in his history, as well as that of his elder brother Manasseh, is the blessing of the grandchildren by Jacob, “Gen 48:1-22 a passage on the age and genuineness of which the severest criticism has cast no doubt (Tuch, Genesis, page 548; Ewald, Gesch. Isr. 1:534, note). Like his own father, on an occasion not dissimilar, Jacob’s eyes were dim so that he could not see (Gen 48:10; comp. Gen 27:1). The intention of Joseph was evidently that the right hand of Jacob should convey its ampler blessing to the head of Manasseh, his first-born, and he had so arranged the young men. But the result was otherwise ordained. Jacob had been himself a younger brother, and his words show plainly that he had not forgotten this, and that his sympathies were still with the younger of his two grand- children. He recalls the time when he was flying with the birthright from the vengeance of Esau; the day when, still a wanderer, God Almighty had appeared to him at “Luz in the land of Canaan,” and blessed him in words which foreshadowed the name of Ephraim (“I will make thee fruitful,” , maphreka, Gen 48:4; “Be thou fruitful,” , pereh, Gen 35:11; both from the same root as the name Ephraim); the still later day when the name of Ephrath (comp. Ewald, Gesch. 1:493, n.) became bound up with the sorest trial of his life (Gen 48:7; Gen 35:16). SEE EPHRAIMITE. Thus, notwithstanding the prearrangement and the remonstrance of Joseph, for the second time in that family, the younger brother was made greater than the elder Ephraim was set before Manasseh (Gen 48:19-20). Ephraim would appear at that time to have been about twenty-one years old (comp. Gen 47:28). Before Joseph’s death Ephraim’s family had reached the third generation (Gen 1:23), and it may have been about this time that the affray mentioned in 1Ch 7:21, occurred, when some of the sons were killed on a plundering expedition along the sea-coast to rob the cattle of the men of Gath, and when Ephraim named a son Beriah, to perpetuate the memory of the disaster which had fallen on his house. SEE BERIAH. Obscure as is the interpretation of this fragment, it enables us to catch our last glimpse of the patriarch, mourning inconsolable in the midst of the circle of his brethren, and at last commemorating his loss in the name of the new child, who, unknown to him, was to be the progenitor of the most illustrious of all his descendants Jehoshua, or Joshua, the son of Nun (1Ch 7:27 : see Ewald, 1:491). To this early period, too, has been referred the circumstance alluded to in Psa 78:9, when the “‘children of Ephraim, armed bowmen ( , A. V. “being armed [and] carrying bows,” which Gesenius and others support, from the Sept. and Vulg.; although Ewald strikingly renders carrying slack bows’), turned back in the day of battle.” Others, however, assign this defection to the failure of the tribe (in common with the rest of the Israelites) to expel the Canaanites (Jdg 1:29).
1. TRIBE OF EPHRAIM. This tribe, although, in accordance with the ancient laws of primogeniture, inferior, as being the junior, yet received precedence over that descended from the elder Manasseh by virtue of the blessing of Jacob (Gen 41:52; Gen 48:1). That blessing was an adoptive act, whereby Ephraim and his brother Manasseh were counted as sons of Jacob, in the place of their father; the object being to give to Joseph, through his sons, a double portion in the brilliant prospects of his house. Thus the descendants of Joseph formed two of the tribes of Israel, whereas every other of Jacob’s sons counted but as one. There were thus, in fact, thirteen tribes of Israel; but the number twelve is usually preserved, either by excluding that of Levi (which had no territory) when Ephraim and Manasseh are separately named, or by counting these two together as the tribe of Joseph when Levi is included in the account. The intentions of Jacob were fulfilled, and Ephraim and Manasseh were counted as tribes of Israel at the departure from Egypt, and, as such, shared in the territorial distribution of the Promised Land (Num 1:33; Jos 17:14; 1Ch 7:20). The precise position of the immediate descendants of Joseph in Egypt might form an interesting subject for speculation. Being the sons of one in eminent place, and through their mother connected with high families in Egypt, their condition could not at once have been identified with that of the sojourners in Goshen; and perhaps they were not fully amalgamated with the rest of their countrymen until that king arose who knew not Joseph.
The numbers of the tribe did not at all times correspond with the promise of the blessing of Jacob. At the census in the wilderness of Sinai (Num 1:32-33; Num 2:19) its numbers were 40,500, placing it at the head of the children of Rachel Manasseh’s number being 32,200, and Benjamin’s 35,400. But forty years later, on the eve of the conquest (Num 26:37), without any apparent cause, while Manasseh had advanced to 52,700, and Benjamin to 45,600, Ephraim had decreased to 32,500, the only smaller number being that of Simeon, 22,200. At this period the families of both the brother tribes are enumerated, and Manasseh has precedence over Ephraim in order of mention. It is very possible that these great fluctuations in number may, in part at least, have been owing to the various standards under which the “mixed multitude” (), i.e., mongrel population of semi-Hebrew Egyptians that followed the emigrating host (Exo 12:38), ranged itself in its fickleness at different times (Meth. Quart. Rev. April 1863, page 305 sq.). During the march through the wilderness the position of the sons of Joseph and Benjamin was on the west side of the tabernacle (Num 2:18-24), and the prince of Ephraim was Elishama, the son of Ammihud (Num 1:10). It is at the time of the sending of the spies that we are first introduced to the great hero to whom the tribe owed much of its subsequent greatness. The representative of Ephraim on this occasion was “Oshea, the son of Nun,” whose name was at the termination of the affair changed by Moses to the more distinguished form in which it is familiar to us. As among the founders of the nation Abram had acquired the name of Abraham, and Jacob of Israel, so Oshea, “help,” became Jehoshua or Joshua, “the help of Jehovah” (Ewald, 2:306).
According to the arrangement of the records of the book of Joshua-the ” Domesday book of Palestine” the two great tribes of Judah and Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) first took their inheritance; and after them the seven other tribes entered on theirs (Jos 15:1-63; Jos 16:1-10; Jos 17:1-18; Jos 18:5). The boundaries of the portion of Ephraim are given in Jos 16:1-10, and a part of it apparently in duplicate in Jos 16:5; Jos 16:7. The south boundary was coincident for part of its length with the north boundary of Benjamin (q.v.), which latter, however, is somewhat more exactly stated in Jos 18:12 sq. SEE TRIBE. Commencing at the Jordan, at the reach opposite Jericho (strictly Jordan of Jericho, , an expression that would lead as to locate the boundary at the point nearest that city, did not the necessity of including within Benjamin certain other pretty well identified places compel us to carry it somewhat farther up the river), it ran to the “water of Jericho,” probably the vicinity of the Ras el-Ain; thence by one of the ravines, perhaps the wady Samieh, it ascended through the wilderness Xidbar, the uncultivated waste hills-to Mount Bethel and Luz; and thence by Ataroth, “the Japhietite,” Bethhoron the lower, and Gezer-places two of which are known-along the northern boundary of Dan (q.v.) to the Mediterranean, probably about Joppa. This agrees with the enumeration in 1Ch 7:1-40, in which Bethel is given as the eastern, and Gezer- somewhere east of the present Ramleh-as the western limit. In Jos 16:6; Jos 16:8, we apparently have fragments of the northern boundary (compare 17:10), and as at least three of the points along that line (Asher, Tappuah, and Janohah) are pretty well identified (see each name), we are tolerably safe in fixing the eastern extremity on the Jordan at about the mouth of wady Fasail, and the western, or the torrent Kanah, at the modern Nahr Falaik, north of Apollonia. But it is possible that there never was a very definite subdivision of the territory assigned to the two brother tribes. Such an inference, at least, may be drawn from Jos 17:14-18, in which the two are represented as complaining that only one ‘portion had been allotted to them. Among the towns named as Manasseh’s were Bethshean in the Jordan valley, Endor on the slopes of the “Little Hermon,” Taanach on the north side of Carmel, and Dor on the sea-coast south of the same mountain. Ephraim thus occupied the very center of Palestine, embracing an area about 40 miles in length from E. to W., and from 6 to 25 in breadth from N. to S. It extended from the Mediterranean on the W. to the Jordan on the E. on the N. it had the half-tribe of Manasseh, and on the S. Benjamin and Dan (Jos 16:5; Jos 17:7 sq.). This fine country included most of what was afterwards called Samaria, as distinguished from Judaea on the one hand, and from Galilee on the other. SEE SAMARIA.
The following is a list of all the Biblical localities within this tribe, with the probable modern sites; those not identified by any modern traveler are enclosed in brackets:
Antipatris.Town.Kefr-Saba.
Archi.do.[Kefr-Musr]?
Arumah.do.El-Ormah.
Ataroth (-addar).do.Atara.
Baal-hamon.Vineyard.[S.E. of Jenin]?
Baal-shalisha.Town.SEE SHALISHA.
Beth-horon.do.Beit-Ur.
Bochim.Altar Stone.[Khurbet-Jeradeh]?
Ebal.Mount.[Jebel Sitti-Salamiyeh]
Gaash.do.[Sepulchral Hill S. of Tibneh]?
Gazer.Town.SEE GEZER.
Gerizim.Mount.Jebel et-Tur.
Gezer.Town.Abu Shusheh.
Gibeah.do.Khurbet-Jibia?
Gilgal (2Ki 2:2).do.Jiljilia.
Gilgal (Jos 12:23). do.Jiljuliyeh.
Gobdo.SEE GEZER.
Jacob’s Well.Well.Bir-Yakub.
Janohah.Town.Yanun.
Japhleti.Village.[Beit Unia]?
Jeshanah.Town.[Ain-Sinia]?
Kanah.Brook.Nahr Fulaik?
Lasharon.Plain.SEE SHARON.
Lebonah.Town.Lubbban.
Luz.do.[N. of Beitin]?
Michmethah.do.[On Wady Bidan]?
Moreh.Hill.[S. spur of Jebel Duhy]?
Pirathon.Town.Ferata.
Salim.do.Sheikh Salim.
Samaria.do.Sebustiyeh.
Saron.Region.SEE SHARON.
Shalem.Town.Salim.
Shalisha.Region.[Khurbet Hatta].
Sharon.do.N. part maritime plain.
Shechem.Town.Nablus.
Shiloh.do.Seilun.
Sychem or Sychar.do.SEE SHECHEM.
Tappuah.do.Atuf?
Thebez.do.Tubas.
Timnath (-heres or}do.Tibneh. -serah.)
Tiphsah.do.[Asira]?
Tirzah.do.Talusa.
Uzzen-sherah.do.[Suffa]?
Zalmon.Mount.[Jebel Sleiman].
Central Palestine consists of an elevated district which rises from the flat ranges of the wilderness on the south of Judah, and terminates on the north with the slopes which descend into the great plain of Esdraelon. On the west a flat strip separates it from the sea, and on the east another flat strip forms the valley of the Jordan. Of this district the northern half was occupied by the great tribe we are now considering. This was the Haar- Ephraim, or “Mount Ephraim,” a district which seems to extend as far south as Ramah and Bethel (1Sa 1:1; 1Sa 7:17; 2Ch 13:4; 2Ch 13:19, compared with 15:8), places but a few miles north of Jerusalem, and within the limits of Benjamin. (See below.) In structure it is limestone rounded hills separated by valleys of denudation, but much less regular and monotonous than the part more to the south, about and below Jerusalem; with “wide plains in the heart of the mountains, streams of running water, and continuous tracts of vegetation” (Stanley, Palest. p. 225). All travelers bear testimony to the “general growing richness” and beauty of the country in going northwards from Jerusalem, the “innumerable fountains” and streamlets, the villages more thickly scattered than anywhere in the south, the continuous corn-fields and orchards, the moist, vapory atmosphere (Martineau, pages 516, 521; Van de Velde, 1:386-8). These are the “precious things of the earth, and the fullness thereof,” which are invoked on the “ten’ thousands of Ephraim” and the “thousands of Manasseh” in the blessing of Moses. These it is which, while Dan, Judah, and Benjamin are personified as lions and wolves, making their lair and tearing their prey among the barren rocks of the south, suggested to the lawgiver, as they had done to the patriarch before him, the patient “bullock” and the “bough by the spring, whose branches ran over the wall” as fitter images for Ephraim (Gen 49:22; Deu 33:17). And centuries after, when its great disaster had fallen on the kingdom of Israel, the same images recur to the prophets. The “flowers” are still there in the “olive valleys,” “faded” though they be (Isa 28:1). The vine is an empty, unprofitable vine, whose very abundance is evil (Hos 10:1); Ephraim is still the “bullock,” now “unaccustomed to the yoke,” but waiting a restoration to the “pleasant places” of his former “pasture” (Jer 31:18; Hos 9:13; Hos 4:16) “the heifer that is taught and loveth to tread out the corn,” the heifer with the “beautiful neck” (Hos 10:11), or the “kine of Bashan on the mountain of Samaria” (Amo 4:1).
The wealth of their possession had not the same immediately enervating effect on this tribe that it had on some of its northern brethren, e.g., Asher (q.v.). Various causes may have helped to avert this evil.
1. The central situation of Ephraim in the highway of all communications from one part of the country to another. From north to south, from Jordan to the Sea from Galilee, or still more distant Damascus, to Philistia and Egypt these roads all lay more or less through Ephraim, and the constant traffic along them must have always tended to keep the district from sinking into stagnation.
2. The position of Shechem, the original settlement of Jacob, with his well and his “parcel of ground,” with the two sacred mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, the scene of the impressive and significant ceremonial of blessing and cursing; and the tomb and patrimony of Joshua, the great hero not only of Ephraim, but of the nation the fact that all these localities were deep in the heart of the tribe, must have made it always the resort of large numbers from all parts of the country of larger numbers than any other place, until the establishment of Jerusalem by David. Moreover, the tabernacle and the ark were deposited within its limits, at Shiloh; and the possession of the sacerdotal establishment, which was a central object of attraction to all the other tribes, must, in no small degree, have enhanced its importance, and increased its wealth and population. It is, perhaps, to this fact that David alludes in Psa 132:6, if by “Ephratah” this tribe is there meant. 3. But there was a spirit about the tribe itself which may have been both a cause and a consequence of these advantages of position. That spirit, early domineering and haughty (Jos 17:14), though sometimes taking the form of noble remonstrance and reparation (2Ch 28:9-15), usually manifested itself in jealous complaint at some enterprise undertaken or advantage gained in which they had not a chief share. To Gideon (Jdg 8:1), to Jephthah (Jdg 12:1), and to David (2Sa 19:41-43), the cry is still the same in effect almost the same in words “Why did ye despise us that our advice should not have been first had?” “Why hast thou served us thus that thou calledst us not?” The unsettled state of the country in general, and of the interior of Ephraim in particular (Jdg 9:1-57), and the continual incursions of foreigners, prevented the power of the tribe from manifesting itself in a more formidable manner than by these murmurs during the time of the Judges and the first stage of the monarchy.
Samuel, though a Levite, was a native of Ramah in Mount Ephraim, and Saul belonged to a tribe closely allied to the family of Joseph, so that during the priesthood of the former and the reign of the latter the supremacy of Ephraim may be said to have been practically maintained. Certainly in neither case had any advantage been gained by their great rival in the south. But when the great tribe of Judah produced a king in the person of David, the pride and jealousy of Ephraim were thoroughly awakened, and it was doubtless chiefly through their means that Abner was enabled for a time to uphold the house of Saul; for there are manifest indications that by, this time Ephraim influenced the views and feelings of all the other tribes. They were at length driven by the force of circumstances to acknowledge David upon conditions; and were probably not without hope that, as the king of the nation at large, he would establish his capital in their central portion of the land. Again, the brilliant successes of David, and his wide influence and religious zeal, kept matters smooth for another period, even in the face of the blow given to both Shechem and Shiloh by the concentration of the civil and ecclesiastical capitals at Jerusalem. Twenty thousand and eight hundred of the choice warriors of the tribe, “men of name throughout the house of their father,” went as far as Hebron to make David king over Israel (1Ch 12:30). Among the officers of his court we find more than one Ephraimite (1Ch 27:10; 1Ch 27:14), and the attachment of the tribe to his person seems to have been great (2Sa 19:41-43). But as he not only established his court at Jerusalem, but proceeded to remove the ark thither, making his native Judah the seat both of the theocratic and civil government, the Ephraimites, as a tribe, became thoroughly alienated, and longed to establish their own ascendency. The building of the temple at Jerusalem, and other measures of Solomon, strengthened this desire; and although the minute organization and vigor of his government prevented any overt acts of rebellion, yet the train was then laid, and the reign of Solomon, splendid in appearance but oppressive to the people, developed both the circumstances of revolt and the leader who was to turn them to account. Solomon saw through the crisis, and if he could have succeeded in killing Jeroboam, as he tried to do (1Ki 11:40), the disruption might have been postponed for another century. As it was, the outbreak was deferred for a time, but the irritation was not allayed, and the insane folly of his son brought the mischief to a head. Rehoboam probably selected Shechem the old capital of the country for his coronation, in the hope that his presence and the ceremonial might make a favorable impression, but in this he failed utterly, and the tumult which followed shows how complete was the breach “To your tents, O Israel! now see to thine own house, David!” Rehoboam was certainly not the last king of Judah whose chariot went as far north as Shechem, but he was the last who visited it as a part of his own dominion, and he was the last who, having come so far, returned unmolested to his own capital. Jehoshaphat escaped, in a manner little short of miraculous, from the risks of the battle of Ramoth-Gilead, and it was the fate of two of his successors, Ahaziah and Josiah differing in everything else, and agreeing only in this that they were both carried dead in their chariots from the plain of Esdraelon to Jerusalem.
Thenceforth the rivalry of Ephraim and Judah was merged in that between the two kingdoms; although still the predominance of Ephraim in the kingdom of Israel was so conspicuous as to occasion the whole realm to be called by its name, especially when that rivalry is mentioned. This title is particularly employed in the prophetical books (Isa 9:8; Isa 17:3; Isa 28:3; Hos 4:17; Hos 5:3; Hos 9:3). When the land of Ephraim is meant, the word is fem. in the original (Hos 5:9); when the people, masc. (Isa 7:8). Thus in two senses the history of Ephraim is the history of the kingdom of Israel, since not only did the tribe become a kingdom, but the kingdom embraced little besides the tribe. This is not surprising, and quite susceptible of explanation. North of Ephraim the country appears never to have been really taken possession of by the Israelites. Whether from want of energy on their part, or great stubbornness of resistance on that of the Canaanites, certain it is that of the list of towns from which the original inhabitants were not expelled, the great majority belong to the northern tribes, Manasseh, Asher, Issachar, and Naphtali. In addition to this original defect there is much in the physical formation and circumstances of the upper portion of Palestine to explain why those tribes never took any active part in the kingdom. They were exposed to the inroads and seductions of their surrounding heathen neighbors on one side the luxurious Phoenicians, on the other the plundering Bedouins of Midian; they were open to the attacks of Syria and Assyria from the north, and Egypt from the south; the great plain of Esdraelon, which communicated more or less with all the northern tribes, was the natural outlet of the no less natural high roads of the maritime plain from Egypt, and the Jordan valley for the tribes of the East, and formed an admirable base of operations for an invading army. But, on the other hand, the position of Ephraim was altogether different. It was one at once of great richness and security. Her fertile plains and well-watered valleys could only be reached by a laborious ascent through steep and narrow ravines, all but impassable for an army. There is no record of any attack on the central kingdom, either from the Jordan valley or the maritime plain. On the north side, from the plain of Esdraelon, it was more accessible, and it was from this side that the final invasion appears to have been made. But even on that side the entrance was so difficult and so easily defensible as we learn from the description in the book of Judith (Jdt 4:6-7) that, had the kingdom of Samaria been less weakened by internal dissensions, the attacks even of the great Shalmaneser might have been resisted, as at a later date were those of Holofernes. There are few things more mournful in the sacred story than the descent of this haughty and jealous tribe, from the culminating point at which it stood when it entered on the fairest portion of the Land of Promise the chief sanctuary and the chief settlement of the nation within its limits, its leader the leader of the whole people through the distrust which marked its intercourse with its fellows, while it was a member of the confederacy, and the tumult, dissension, and ungodliness which characterized its independent existence, down to the sudden captivity and total oblivion which closed its career. Judah had her times of revival and of recurring prosperity, but here the course is uniformly downward a sad picture of opportunities wasted and personal gifts abused. ‘When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt… . I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms, but they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love … but the Assyrian shall be their king, because they refused to return… . How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim?” (Hos 11:1-8). SEE ISRAEL, KINGDOM OF.
2. MOUNT EPHRAIM, a mountain or group of mountains in Central Palestine, in the tribe of the same name, on or towards the borders of Benjamin (Jos 17:15; Jos 19:50; Jos 20:7; Jdg 7:24; Jdg 17:1; 1Sa 9:4; 1Ki 4:8). From a comparison of these passages it may be collected that the name of “Mount Ephraim” was applied to the whole of the ranges and groups of hills which occupy the central part of the southernmost border of this tribe, and which are prolonged southward into the tribe of Benjamin. (See above.) In the time of Joshua these hills were densely covered with trees (Jos 17:18), which is by no means the case at present. In Jer 1:19, Mount Ephraim is mentioned in apposition with Bashan, on the other side of the Jordan, as a region of rich pastures, suggesting that the valleys among these mountains were well watered and covered with rich herbage, which is true at the present day. Joshua was buried in the border of his own inheritance in Timnath-heres, “in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash” (Jdg 2:9).
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Ephraim
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; 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 (48:10; comp. 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).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Ephraim (1)
(“doubly fruitful”.) Joseph’s second son by Asenath, named so, “for,” said Joseph, “God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Born during the seven plenteous years; the “doubly fruitful” may refer to both the fruitfulness vouchsafed to Joseph and the plenty of the season. As regards Ephraim himself, he was doubly blessed:
(1) in being made, as well as Manasseh, a patriarchal head of a tribe, like Jacob’s immediate sons (Gen 48:5); as Judah received the primary birthright (Reuben losing it by incest, Simeon and Levi by cruelty), and became the royal tribe from whence king David and the Divine Son of David sprang, so Ephraim received a secondary birthright and became ancestor of the royal tribe among the ten tribes of Israel (Gen 49:3-10; Gen 49:22-26).
(2) Ephraim the younger was preferred to Manasseh the elder, just as Jacob himself was preferred before the elder Esau. Jacob wittingly guided his hands so as to lay his right on Ephraim and his left on Manasseh, notwithstanding Joseph’s remonstrance; saying, “Manasseh shall be great, but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.” Jacob called to mind God’s promise at Luz, “I will make thee fruitful,” a Hebrew word related to Ephraim and to Ephrath, the scene of the death of his darling wife, Ephraim’s grandmother (Gen 35:11; Gen 35:16; Gen 48:4; Gen 48:7; Gen 48:13-19). Ephraim was about 21 when Jacob blessed him, for he was born before the seven years’ famine, and Jacob came to Egypt toward its closing years, and lived 17 years afterward (Gen 47:28).
Before Joseph’s death Ephraim’s family had reached the third generation (Gen 50:23). The last notice we have of him is his mourning for his sons killed in the foray by the men of Gath, and naming his new-born son (See BERIAH from the calamity, unconscious that that son would be the progenitor of the most remarkable of all his descendants, Joshua (1Ch 7:20-23). Psa 78:9 is referred in Smith’s Bible Dictionary to this time; but the phrase is rather figurative for spiritual apostasy; “the children of Ephraim … carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.” Ephraim’s numbers in the wilderness of Sinai census were 40,500, Manasseh’s 32,200. But at the eve of entering Canaan Ephraim had decreased to 32,500, while Manasseh had increased to 52,700; and at the conquest Ephraim was fewest in numbers after Simeon (22,200).
Still in Moses’ blessing Ephraim stands pre-eminent over Manasseh; and he and Manasseh are compared to the two horns of the reem (not unicorn but the gigantic wild ox, now extinct, or urus); “with them he (Joseph) shall push the people together to the ends of the earth, and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” Moreover Joseph’s land is “blessed of the Lord for the precious things of heaven … the dew … the deep beneath … the precious fruits brought forth by the sun and … put forth by the moon … the chief things of the ancient mountains and … of the lasting hills … of the earth and its fullness, and the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush”: a glorious issue to the afflictions “of him that was separated from his brethren” (Deu 33:17). “His glory (is like) the firstling of his bullock,” rather “the firstling of his (Joseph’s) bullock (i.e. Ephraim made by Jacob in privileges the firstborn of Joseph’s offspring; the singular ‘bullock’ being used collectively for all Joseph’s offspring, and expressing their strength) is his glory.”
Whereas Jacob dwelt on Joseph’s trials, and prophetically the severe wars of his descendants, in which God would strengthen them as He had strengthened Joseph, Moses looks onward to their final triumph and peaceful enjoyment of all precious things in their land. The tribe Ephraim’s territory. – The two great tribes of Judah and Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) took their inheritance first. The boundaries of Ephraim are traced from W. to E. in Jos 16:1-10. Ataroth Adar and upper Bethheron lay on the center of the southern border of Ephraim. The border on the N. side went out westward, i.e. seaward, to Michmethah, which was in front (W. or N.W.) of Shechem (Nablus), the latter being in Ephraim. From Michmethah the border went round to the E. at the back of mount Ebal, then S.E. toward Janohah (Yanun). It passed Taanath Shiloh (probably Salim).
From Janohah it touched Ataroth on the wady Fasail; then passing Naarath or Naaran (1Ch 7:28) on the E. of Bethel, called Neara by Josephus, abounding in water, and so likely to be near Ras el Ain (five miles N. of Jericho), which pours a full stream into the wady Nawayimeh. From Naarath Ephraim’s boundary reached Jericho, and struck into the line that forms the S. baseline of the tribe, running to the Jordan. From En Tappuah (Ain Abuz, five miles and a half S. of Shechem) Ephraim’s boundary ran S.W. into the brook Kanah, which still retains its ancient name; thence the boundary ran out to the sea. The boundary between Ephraim and his brother Manasseh is not exactly defined; compare Jos 17:14-18. Generally, Ephraim lay to the S., Manasseh to the N. But Manasseh, instead of crossing the country from E. to W. as it is often represented, occupied only half that space, and lay along the sea to the W., bounded on the E. by mount Carmel.
The territory of the twofold “house of Joseph” was 55 miles from E. to W. by 70 from N to S. The northern half of central Palestine was “mount Ephraim,” hills of limestone material, intersected by wide plains with streams of running water, and therefore, clothed with vegetation. Travelers attest the increasing beauty of the country in going N. from Jerusalem. The “precious things of the earth,” “flowers,” “olive valleys,” and “vines” are assigned to Ephraim (Isa 28:1-4; Hos 10:1). He is compared to a “heifer,” whereas Dan, Judah, and Benjamin among their comparatively barren rocks are compared to lions and wolves. Ephraim lay near the highways from Egypt and Philistia to Galilee and from Jordan to the sea. Ephraim did not extend to the sea, but had separate cities assigned to it in Manasseh on the coast. In it were Shechem, Jacob’s original settlement, “his parcel of ground” and well; Ebal and Gerizim, the mounts of cursing and blessing; and Shiloh, the seat of the sanctuary until the time of Eli.
Here too was the great Joshua’s tomb, as also his patrimony. Jealous sensitiveness as to any exploit achieved without Ephraim’s sharing in it betrayed at once their tribal self importance and their recognized high standing among the tribes. So toward Gideon, Jephthah and David (Jdg 8:1; Jdg 12:1; 2Sa 19:41-43). In one instance they nobly interposed to clothe, feed, and restore in freedom their captive brethren of Judah (2Ch 28:9-15). Psalm 78 was designed to soothe their tribal soreness at the transference of the religious capital from Shiloh to Jerusalem (Psa 78:60-70). They attached themselves to David after Ishbosheth’s fall; 20,800 warriors of them “coming with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel.” Among his state officers there was more than one Ephraimite (1Ch 27:10-14); and after Absalom’s rebellion they were probably foremost among the men of Israel in expressing jealousy of Judah in respect to the latter’s greater share in promoting David’s return.
From the time of the severance of the ten tribes from Judah, brought about by Rehoboam’s infatuation and Jeroboam’s (“ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph”) rousing Ephraim’s innate self-elation, Ephraim became the representative and main portion of the northern kingdom; for the surrounding pagan, the luxurious Phoenicians, the marauding Midianites, the Syrians and Assyrians from the N., and the Egyptians from the S., left to Israel little which was permanently, exclusively, and distinctively its own, beyond the secure territory of Ephraim with its hilly fastnesses. The plain of Esdraelon, to the N. beyond Ephraim, was the natural battlefield for Egyptian forces advancing along the seacoast plain from the S. and Syrians and Assyrians from the N. to operate in; but Ephraim could only be reached through precipitous ascents and narrow passes, where invaders could be easily repelled.
But her continually increasing moral degeneracy and religious apostasy rendered all her natural advantages unavailing. No temporary revival, as in Judah’s case, relieves the gloomy picture, until the cup of her iniquity was full; and God, though His amazing love long forbore to judge her, at last swept her away permanently from her home and her abused privileges and opportunities. (Hosea 5; Hosea 6; Hosea 7; Hosea 9; Hosea 10; Hos 11:1-8; Hosea 12; Hosea 13; Ezekiel 23; 2 Kings 17).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Ephraim (2)
Beside which was Absalom’s sheep farm, where took place Amnon’s murder (2 Samuel 13). Our Lord, when the chief priests plotted to kill Him, retired to “a city called Ephraim … a country near to the wilderness” (Joh 11:54). “The wilderness” means the hill country N.E. of Jerusalem, between the central towns and the Jordan valley. Thus, Ophrah of Benjamin probably is identical with Ephraim (1Sa 13:17.) Now Et-Taiyibeh, a village on a conical hill commanding the view of the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
EPHRAIM
Joseph and his Egyptian wife had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (Gen 41:50-52). When the aged Jacob gave his parting blessings to his family, he gave the firstborns blessing to Joseph instead of to Reuben (because of Reubens immorality with Jacobs concubine; Gen 35:22; Gen 49:3-4; 1Ch 5:1-2). This meant that Joseph would father two tribes in Israel instead of one. Jacob therefore raised Josephs two sons to the same level as Jacobs other sons, so that Josephs two sons would each have his own tribe (Gen 48:5-6). The tribe of the younger son Ephraim was destined to become stronger than that of the older son Manasseh (Gen 48:12-20).
Good territory
The tribe of Ephraim received as its inheritance possibly the best part of Canaan (cf. Gen 49:22-26). This was the central highland region between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea (Joshua 16). (For information about its more important towns see BETHEL; JERICHO; JOPPA; SHECHEM; SHILOH.)
Yet the Ephraimites were not satisfied. Since the fertile hills of the territory given to them were largely covered with forest, they complained that there was not enough land suitable for them to build villages to house all their people. Joshua told them to clear the forests and drive out the remaining Canaanite people and they would find that they had plenty of land (Jos 17:14-18; see also Jdg 17:1; 2Sa 18:6).
Political ambition
Ephraim considered itself to be the leading tribe in Israel, and showed a spirit of jealousy when denied the status it believed it deserved. It complained to Gideon when he did not invite it to the battle against the Midianites (Jdg 8:1), and to Jephthah when he did not ask it to join the battle against the Ammonites (Jdg 12:1).
In particular, Ephraim was jealous of Judah, whom it saw as its competitor for leadership in Israel. When David (who was from the tribe of Judah) succeeded Saul as king of Israel, Ephraim supported Sauls son as a rival king, but after two years was forced to admit defeat (2Sa 2:4; 2Sa 2:8-10; 2Sa 5:1-3). Some years later Absalom rebelled against David, and once again Ephraim appears to have supported the anti-David forces (2Sa 18:6-8).
When, after the death of Solomon, the northern tribes broke away from Judah, an Ephraimite led the revolt and became the first king of the breakaway kingdom (1Ki 11:26-28; 1Ki 12:20). This breakaway northern kingdom continued to call itself Israel, whereas the southern kingdom (which the dynasty of David continued to rule over in Jerusalem) became known as the kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom Israel was so dominated by Ephraim that it was often called Ephraim (Isa 7:2; Isa 7:9; Isa 7:17; Isa 28:1; Hos 4:17; Hos 5:3; Hos 9:3; see ISRAEL).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Ephraim
EPHRAIM.Joh 11:54 only. After the raising of Lazarus, Jesus departed, in consequence of the plots of the chief priests against Him, unto a country ( Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 into the country) near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.
There are scarcely any textual variations. TR spells ; Lachmann, Tischendorf, Westcott-Hort spell ; Stephanus, 1550, had on the margin the reading , which is supported by L and Latin witnesses, and the name as to be supplied after . This is the reading of D, Sapfurim in its Latin part, for which Chase (Syro-Lat. Text of Gospels, 108) and R. Harris (A Study of Codex Bez, p. 184) suggested that might be the Heb. the name; but more probable is the identification with Sepphoris, which in Jos. Ant. xiv. 91 is spelt (v.ll. and other forms); so Jerome (s.v. Araba in OS 17. 13 f.): Diocaesareae, quae olim Safforine dicehatur.
Eusebius in his Onomasticon says (ad Ephron, Jos 15:9) ; in the Latin rendering of Jerome: est et villa pergrandis Efra nomine contra septentrionem in vicesimo ab aelia miliario (ed. Klostermann, p. 86. 1, 90. 18). With this has been identified Afra [= Jos 18:23]: in tribu Beniamin; et est hodie vicus Efraim in quinto miliario Bethelis ad orientem respiciens (p. 29. 4; the Greek text [28. 4: ] is here defective); further, 1Ma 11:34 = Jos. Ant. xiii. 127 [ed. Niese]: (v.l. ) ; finally, the notice of Josephus (BJ iv. 551), that Vespasian took (earlier reading or ) . Since Robinson, the site has been sought at the modern ct-Taiyibeh, 4 miles N.E. from Bethel. Schrer (GJV3 i. 233) quotes Robinson, ii. 332338; Gurin, Judc, iii. 4551; Buhl, GAP p. 177; Heidet, art. Ephrem in Vigourouxs Dict. ii. 1885 ff.; cf., further, art. Ephraim by J. H. Kennedy in Hastings DB, and by T. K. Cheyne in Encyc. Biblica.* [Note: Schrer (GJV3 ii. 163, n. 435) is certainly right in rejecting the identification of Sapfurim with Sepharvaim (2Ki 17:24) put forward by Resch (TU x. 4, pp. 141, 204) and approved by Blass (Ev. sec. Joh. 1902, p. xl), and in finding in Sapfurim the name of the town Sepphoris, which covered a very large area. But it is not vet certain whether Codex D has preserved here a correct tradition. Luk 9:16 offers similar variations in the text ( , , , etc). might itself be derived from Sepphoris, the first letter being dropped after the of .]
Origen compares, for the retirement of Jesus, Mat 4:12 f. and then allegorizes: Ephraim, according to Gen 41:51 f. ; , , etc. (new Berlin edition, pp. 420, 551). About the site he says nothing.
Eb. Nestle.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Ephraim
EPHRAIM.A grandson of Jacob, and the brother of Manasseh, the first-born of Joseph by Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On (Gen 41:50 f. [E [Note: Elohist.] ], cf. Gen 41:45 [J [Note: Jahwist.] ]). The popular etymology of E [Note: Elohist.] connects the name with the verb prh, to be fruitful, and makes it refer to Josephs sons. In the Blessing of Jacob (Gen 49:22) there may be a play upon the name when Joseph, who there represents both Ephraim and Manasseh, is called a fruitful bough. The word is probably descriptive, meaning fertile region whether its root be prh, or pher, earth(?).
Gen 48:14 ff. (J [Note: Jahwist.] ) tells an interesting story of how Jacob adopted his Egyptian grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, into his own family, and at the same time, against the remonstrances of Joseph, conferred the blessing of the firstborn upon Ephraimhence Ephraims predestined superiority in later history.
P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] s Sinai census gives 40,500 men of war (Num 1:33), but this is reduced at the Plains of Moab to 32,500 (26:37), which is less than any of the tribes except Simeon, which hardly existed except in name (Sayce, Hist. of Heb. p. 77). Contrary to what we should have expected from the Blessing of Jacob, Ephraim, according to P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , lost in the meantime 20 per cent. while Manasseh gained 40 per cent.
The appearance of Joseph in the Blessing of Jacob, with no mention of his sons, who according to J [Note: Jahwist.] had been adopted as Jacobs own, and were therefore entitled on this important occasion to like consideration with the others, points to a traditional echo of the early days in the land when Ephraim and Manasseh were still united. In the Song of Deborah (Jdg 5:1-31) it is the family Machir, the firstborn (Jos 17:1), the only (Gen 50:23) son of Manasseh, that is mentioned, not a Manasseh tribe. From 2Sa 19:20 (cf. art. Benjamin) it is plain that Shimei still regarded himself as of the house of Joseph; and, despite the traditional indications of a late formation of Benjamin (wh. see), the complete political separation of Manasseh from Ephraim appears to have been still later. At all events, Jeroboam the Ephraimite, who afterwards became the first king of Israel (c [Note: circa, about.] . b.c. 930), was appointed by Solomon superintendent of the forced labour of the house of Joseph, not of Ephraim alone. Ephraim, Machir, and Benjamin were apparently closely related, and in early times formed a group of clans known as Joseph. There are no decisive details determining the time when they became definitely separated. Nor are there any reliable memories of the way in which Ephraim came into possession of the best and central portion of the land.
The traditions in the Book of Joshua are notably uninforming. Canaanites remained in the territory until a late date, as is seen from Jdg 1:29 and the history of Shechem (ch. 8 f.). Ephraim was the strongest of the tribes and foremost in leadership, but was compelled to yield the hegemony to David. From that time onwards the history is no longer tribal but national history. Eli, priest of Shiloh and judge of Israel, Samuel, and Jeroboam I. were among its great men. Shechem, Tirzah, and Samaria, the capitals of the North, were within its boundaries; and it was at Shiloh that Joshua is said to have divided the land by lot. See also Tribes of Israel.
James A. Craio.
EPHRAIM.1. A place near Baal-hazor (2Sa 13:23) It may be identical with the Ephraim which the Onomasticon places 20 Roman miles N. of Jerusalem, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Sinjil and el-Lubbn. If Baal-hazor be represented, as seems probable, by Tell Asr, the city by relation to which such a prominent feature of the landscape was indicated must have been of some importance. It probably gave its name in later times to the district of Samaria called Aphrema (1Ma 11:34, Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Ant. XIII. iv. 9). The site is at present unknown. 2. A city near the wilderness, to which Jesus retired after the raising of Lazarus (Joh 11:54). The wilderness is in Arab. [Note: Arabic.] el-barryeh, i.e., the uncultivated land, much of it affording excellent pasture, on the uplands to the N. W. of Jerusalem. The Onomasticon mentions an Efralm 5 Roman miles E. of Bethel. This may be the modern et-Taiyibeh, about 4 miles N.E. of Beitn, with ancient cisterns and rockhewn tombs which betoken a place of importance in old times. See also Ephron, 4.
The Forest of Ephraim (Heb. yaar Ephram.) was probably not a forest in our sense of the term, but a stretch of rough country such as the Arabs still call war, abounding in rocks and thickets of brushwood. The district is not identified, but it must have been E. of the Jordan, in the neighbourhood of Mahanaim. It was the scene of Absaloms defeat and death (2Sa 18:6 ff). The origin of the name cannot now be discovered. Mount Ephraim, Heb, har Ephram, is the name given to that part of the central range of Western Palestine occupied by Ephraim, corresponding in part to the modern Jebel Nblusthe district under the governor of Nblus. Having regard to Oriental usage, it seems a mistake to tr. [Note: translate or translation.] with RV [Note: Revised Version.] the hill country of Ephraim. Jebel el-Quds does not mean the hill country of Jerusalem, but that part of the mountain which is subject to the city. We prefer to retain, with AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , Mount Ephraim.
W. Ewing.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Ephraim
One of the sons of Joseph. The name is derived from Pharah, fruitfulness. In the after ages of the church, the Lord frequently speaks of the whole church of Israel by the name of Ephraim. (See Jer 31:20; Hos 7:1; Hos 12:1; Hos 13:1) I do not presume to say the cause was, because the ten tribes had the chief city in Ephraim; but I think it probable. The Psalmist, when speaking of looking out a place for the ark, saith, we found it in Ephratah. (Psa 132:6)
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Ephraim (1)
efra-im, efra-im (, ‘ephrayim, double fruit):
1. The Patriarch
The younger of the two sons of Joseph and Asenath, born in Egypt. He and his brother Manasseh were adopted by Jacob, and ranked as his own sons, each becoming the ancestor of a tribe in Israel. In blessing his grandchildren, despite their father’s protest, Jacob preferred the younger, foreshadowing the future eminence of his descendants (Gen 41:50; Gen 48:20). In the Blessing of Jacob however, the two are included under the name of Joseph (Gen 49:22 f).
2. The Tribe
At the first census on leaving Egypt, Ephraim’s men of war numbered 40,500; and at the second census they are given as 32,500 (Num 1:33; Num 26:37). See, however, article NUMBERS. The head of the tribe at the Exodus was Elishama, son of Ammihud (Num 1:10). With the standard of the tribe of Ephraim on the West of the tabernacle in the desert march were Manasseh and Benjamin (Num 2:18). The Ephraimite among the spies was Hoshea (i.e. Joshua), the son of Nun (Num 13:8). At the division of the land Ephraim was represented by prince Kemuel, son of Shiphtan (Num 34:24). The future power of this tribe is again foreshadowed in the Blessing of Moses (Deu 33:17). When Moses died, a member of the tribe, Joshua, whose faith and courage had distinguished him among the spies, succeeded to the chief place in Israel. It was natural that the scene of national assemblies, and the center of the nation’s worship, should be chosen within the land occupied by the children of Joseph, at Shechem and Shiloh respectively. The leadership of Ephraim was further emphasized by the rule of Samuel. From the beginning of life in Palestine they enjoyed a certain prestige, and were very sensitive on the point of honor (Jdg 7:24; Jdg 8:1; Jdg 12:1). Their acceptance of and loyalty to Saul, the first king chosen over Israel, may be explained by his belonging to a Rachel tribe, and by the close and tender relations existing between Joseph and Benjamin. But they were never reconciled to the passing of the scepter to Judah in the person of David (2Sa 2:8 f). That Israel would have submitted to the sovereignty of Absalom, any more than to that of David, is not to be believed; but his revolt furnished an opportunity to deal a shrewd blow at the power of the southern tribe (2Sa 15:13). Solomon’s lack of wisdom and the crass folly of Rehoboam in the management of the northern tribes fanned the smoldering discontent into a fierce flame. This made easy the work of the rebel Jeroboam; and from the day of the disruption till the fall of the Northern Kingdom there was none to dispute the supremacy of Ephraim, the names Ephraim and Israel being synonymous. The most distinguished of Ephraim’s sons were Joshua, Samuel and Jeroboam I.
3. The Territory
The central part of Western Palestine fell to the children of Joseph; and, while the boundaries of the territory allotted to Ephraim and Manasseh respectively are given in Jos 16:1-10; Jos 17:1, it seems to have been held by them in common for some time (Jos 17:14). The Canaanites in certain cities of both divisions were not driven out. It was probably thought more profitable to enslave them (Jos 16:10; Jos 17:13). The boundaries of Ephraim cannot be followed with accuracy, but roughly, they were as follows: The southern boundary, agreeing with the northern border of Benjamin, started from Bethel, and passed down westward by nether Beth-horon and Gezer toward the sea (Jos 16:3; in Jos 16:5 it stops at upper Beth-horon); it turned northward to the southern bank of the brook Kanah (Wady Kanah) along which it ran eastward (Jos 17:10) to Michmethath (the plain of Mukhneh); thence it went northward along the western edge of the plain to Shechem. It then bent eastward and southward past Taanath-shiloh (Taana), Janoah (Yanun) to Ataroth and Naarah (unidentified) and the Jordan (Jos 16:7). From Ataroth, which probably corresponds to Ataroth-addar (Jos 16:5), possibly identical with the modern et-Truneh, the southern border passed up to Bethel. Along the eastern front of the land thus defined there is a steep descent into the Jordan valley. It is torn by many gorges, and is rocky and unfruitful. The long slopes to the westward, however, furnish much of the finest land in Palestine. Well watered as it is, the valleys are beautiful in season with cornfields, vineyards, olives and other fruit trees. The uplands are accessible at many points from the maritime plain; but the great avenue of entrance to the country runs up Wady esh-Shar to Nablus, whence, threading the pass between Gerizim and Ebal, it descends to the Jordan valley. In this favored region the people must have lived in the main a prosperous and happy life. How appropriate are the prophetic allusions to these conditions in the days of Ephraim’s moral decay (Isa 28:1, Isa 28:4; Jer 31:18; Hos 9:13; Hos 10:11, etc.)!
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Ephraim (2)
(1) A position apparently of some importance, since the position of Baal-hazor (probably = Tell Asur) where Abraham’s sheep-farm was located, is determined by relation to it (2Sa 13:23). That it lay North of Jerusalem seems to be indicated in 2Sa 13:34. It may be identical with the Ephraim of Eusebius, Onomasticon, 20 Roman miles North of Jerusalem, and therefore to be sought somewhere in the neighborhood of Sinjil and el- Lubban. Connected with this may have been the name Aphaerema, a district in Samaria mentioned in 1 Macc 11:34; Ant, XIII, iv, 9.
(2) The town near the wilderness to which Jesus retired after the raising of Lazarus (Joh 11:54). This probably corresponds to Ephrem of Eusebius, Onomasticon (s.v. Afra) 5 Roman miles East of Bethel. This may be the place named along with Bethel by Josephus (BJ, IV, ix, 9). It probably answers to et-Taiyebeh, a large village about 4 miles North of Beitn. The antiquity of the site is attested by the cisterns and rock tombs. It stands on a high hill with a wide outlook including the plains of Jericho and the Dead Sea. See EPHRON.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Ephraim
Ephraim, 1
Ephraim (fruitfulness), the younger son of Joseph, but who received precedence over the elder in and from the blessing of Jacob (Gen 41:52; Gen 48:1). That blessing was an adoptive act, whereby Ephraim and his brother Manasseh were counted as sons of Jacob in the place of their father; the object being to give to Joseph, through his sons, a double portion in the brilliant prospects of his house. Thus the descendants of Joseph formed two of the tribes of Israel, whereas every other of Jacob’s sons counted but as one. There were thus, in fact, thirteen tribes of Israel; but the number twelve is usually preserved, either by excluding that of Levi (which had no territory), when Ephraim and Manasseh are separately named, or by counting these two together as the tribe of Joseph, when Levi is included in the account. The intentions of Jacob were fulfilled, and Ephraim and Manasseh were counted as tribes of Israel at the departure from Egypt, and as such shared in the territorial distribution of the Promised Land (Num 1:33; Jos 17:14; 1Ch 7:20).
At the departure from Egypt the population of the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh together amounted to 72,700 men capable of bearing arms, greatly exceeding that of any single tribe, except Judah, which had somewhat more. During the wandering their number increased to 95,200, which placed the two tribes much higher than even Judah. At the Exode, Ephraim singly had 40,500, and Manasseh only 32,200; but a great change took place in their relative numbers during the wandering. Ephraim lost 8000, and Manasseh gained 20,500; so that just before entering Canaan, Ephraim stood at 32,500, and Manasseh at 52,700.
One of the finest and most fruitful parts of Palestine, occupying the very center of the land, was assigned to this tribe. It extended from the borders of the Mediterranean on the west to the Jordan on the east: on the north it had the half-tribe of Manasseh, and on the south Benjamin and Dan (Jos 16:5, sq.; 17:7, sq.). This fine country included most of what was afterwards called Samaria, as distinguished from Judea on the one hand, and from Galilee on the other. The tabernacle and the ark were deposited within its limits, at Shiloh; and the possession of the sacerdotal establishment, which was a central object of attraction to all the other tribes, must in no small degree have enhanced its importance, and increased its wealth and population. The domineering and haughty spirit of the Ephraimites is more than once indicated (Jos 17:14; Jdg 8:1-3; Jdg 12:1) before the establishment of the regal government; but the particular enmity of Ephraim against the other great tribe of Judah, and the rivalry between them, do not come out distinctly until the establishment of the monarchy. In the election of Saul from the least considerable tribe in Israel, there was nothing to excite the jealousy of Ephraim; and, after his heroic qualities had conciliated respect, it rendered the new king true allegiance and support. But when the great tribe of Judah produced a king in the person of David, the pride and jealousy of Ephraim were thoroughly awakened, and it was doubtless chiefly through their means that Abner was enabled to uphold for a time the house of Saul; for there are manifest indications that by this time Ephraim influenced the views and feelings of all the other tribes. They were at length driven by the force of circumstances to acknowledge David upon conditions; and were probably not without hope that, as the king of the nation at large, he would establish his capital in their central portion of the land. But when he not only established his court at Jerusalem, but proceeded to remove the ark thither, making his native Judah the seat both of the theocratic and civil government, the Ephraimites became thoroughly alienated, and longed to establish their own ascendancy. The building of the temple at Jerusalem, and other measures of Solomon, strengthened this desire; and although the minute organization and vigor of his government prevented any overt acts of rebellion, the train was then laid, which, upon his death, rent the ten tribes from the house of David, and gave to them a king, a capital, and a religion suitable to the separate views and interests of the tribe. Thenceforth the rivalry of Ephraim and Judah was merged in that between the two kingdoms; although still the predominance of Ephraim in the kingdom of Israel was so conspicuous as to occasion the whole realm to be called by its name, especially when that rivalry is mentioned.
Ephraim, 2
Ephraim, a city in the wilderness of Judea, to which Jesus withdrew from the persecution which followed the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead (Joh 11:54). It is placed by Eusebius eight Roman miles north of Jerusalem. This indication would seem to make it the same with the Ephrain which is mentioned in 2Ch 13:19, along with Bethel and Jeshanah, as towns taken from Jeroboam by Abijah.
Ephraim, 3
Ephraim, a mountain or group of mountains in central Palestine, in the tribe of the same name, on or towards the borders of Benjamin (Jos 17:15; Jos 19:50; Jos 20:7; Jdg 7:24; Jdg 17:1; 1Sa 9:4; 1Ki 4:8). From a comparison of these passages it may be collected that the name of ‘Mount Ephraim’ was applied to the whole of the ranges and groups of hills which occupy the central part of the southernmost border of this tribe, and which are prolonged southward into the tribe of Benjamin. In the time of Joshua these hills were densely covered with trees (Jos 17:18), which is by no means the case at present.
Ephraim, 4
Ephraim, the forest of, in which Absalom lost his life (2Sa 18:6-8), was in the country east of the Jordan, not far from Mahanaim. How it came to bear the name of a tribe on the other side the river is not known.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Ephraim
[E’phraim]
Second son of Joseph and Asenath. The name is also given to the tribe of which he was the head, and also to the district of Palestine that fell to his lot. When Israel blessed the two sons of Joseph he set Ephraim before his elder brother, saying he should be greater, and his seed should become a multitude (or, ‘fatness’) of nations. Gen 48:17-19. Little is recorded of Ephraim personally; and of his descendants, Joshua the son of Nun is the most renowned. The tribe on the second year from the Exodus numbered in fighting men 40,500; but had decreased during the forty years to 32,500. Num 1:33; Num 26:37.
The territory of the tribe was in the heart of Palestine, having Manasseh on the north, Benjamin on the south, and Dan on the west. It has beautiful valleys and noble mountains with many springs and streams. Its two principal towns were Shiloh and Shechem.
Ephraim had the place of the first-born (Jer 31:9), the birthright being taken from Reuben and given to Joseph. 1Ch 5:1-2. Also the place of the tabernacle was in the tribe of Ephraim, hence we find in the time of the judges this tribe asserting its own importance. They were angry with Gideon for not calling them to the war sooner than he did; but a soft answer appeased their wrath. Jdg 7:24; Jdg 8:1-3. Again they complained to Jephthah that he had gone without them to fight the Ammonites, though Jephthah declared that he had called them, and they had not responded. They also haughtily said of the Gileadites that they were fugitives of Ephraim, implying that they were not a tribe, but belonged to Ephraim, from whence they had escaped. The conflict was sharp; the Gileadites seized the ford of the Jordan, and then by putting all who wanted to pass to the test of pronouncing Shibboleth (which the Ephraimites could only call Sibboleth) they slew 42,000 of the men of Ephraim. Jdg 12:1-6. Thus was this proud and envious tribe punished for molesting their brethren, whereas they had not driven out the heathen inhabitants of the land, as they should have done. Jdg 1:29. Type of many in the church who in pride contend with their brethren, but do not fight God’s battles against spiritual wickedness. Later on the Lord forsook Shiloh, and chose, not the tribe of Ephraim, but that of Judah both for the place of royalty and for the sanctuary.
In the kingdom under David and Solomon we read very little of Ephraim, but it is twice called in the Psalms ‘the strength (or defence) of mine head.’ Psa 60:7; Psa 108:8. At the division of the tribes Ephraim took the most prominent place; Shechem and Samaria being in their territory naturally contributed to this, and accounts for the ten tribes being constantly called ‘Ephraim’ by the prophets. In the same way the two tribes are called ‘Judah.’ Hos 5:3; Hos 5:5; Hos 5:13-14, etc. Isaiah prophesied that in sixty-five years Ephraim should be broken and should not be a people. Isa 7:8. This was in B.C. 742, and Samaria was taken and Israel carried into captivity in B.C. 721, so that the prophecy doubtless referred to Esarhaddon planting a colony of foreigners in Samaria in B.C. 678, which fulfils the sixty-five years. This also agrees with the prophecy saying ‘the head of Ephraim ‘ is Samaria.
In the prophecies also that refer to the future blessing of the twelve tribes Ephraim is regarded as representing the ten tribes. Eze 37:16-22, where the twelve tribes are to become one nation in their own land, with one king over them: a prophecy which clearly has never yet been fulfilled, but which will surely be accomplished in God’s own time.
[E’phraim]
1. Town near to Absalom’s sheep-farm, where Amnon was killed. 2Sa 13:23.
2. City near to the wilderness, to which the Lord and His disciples withdrew from the threatened violence of the leaders of the Jews at Jerusalem. Joh 11:54. Identified with et Taiyibeh, 31 57′ N, 35 18′ E.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Ephraim
H669 G2187
1. Second son of Joseph
– General references
Gen 41:52
– Adopted by Jacob
Gen 48:5
– Blessed before Manasseh; prophecies concerning
Gen 48:14-20
– Descendants of
Num 26:35-37; 1Ch 7:20-27
– Mourns for his sons
1Ch 7:21-22
2. A tribe of Israel
– Prophecy concerning
Gen 49:25-26; Isa 7; Isa 9:18-21; Isa 11:13; Isa 28:1; Jer 31; Hos 5:14; Zec 9:10; Zec 10:7
– Numbered at Sinai and in plains of Moab
Num 1:33; Num 26:37
– Place in camp and march
Num 2:18; Num 2:24
– Blessed by Moses
Deu 33:13-17
– Territory allotted to, after the conquest of Canaan
Jos 16:5-9; Jos 17:9-10; Jos 17:15-18; 1Ch 7:28-29
– Fail to expel the Canaanites
Jos 16:10
– Take Beth-El in battle
Jdg 1:22-25
– Upbraid Gideon for not summoning them to join the war against the Midianites
Jdg 8:1
– Join Gideon against the Midianites
Jdg 7:24-25
– Their jealousy of Jephthah
Jdg 12:1
– Defeated by him
Jdg 12:4-6
– Receive Ish-Bosheth as king
2Sa 2:9
– Jeroboam set up a golden calf in Beth-El
1Ki 12:29
– Revolt from house of David
1Ki 12:25; 2Ch 10:16
– Some of tribe join Judah under Asa
2Ch 15:9
– Chastise Ahaz and Judah
2Ch 28:7
– Join Hezekiah in reinstituting the Passover
2Ch 30:18
– Join in the destruction of idolatrous forms in Jerusalem
2Ch 31:1
– Submit to the scepter of Josiah
2Ch 34:1-6
– Envied by other tribes
Isa 11:13; Jer 7:15; Eze 37:16; Eze 37:19; Hos 13:1
– Worshiped Baal
Hos 13:1
– Sin of, remembered by God
Hos 13:12
– Reallotment of territory to, by Ezekiel
Eze 48:5
– Name of, applied to the ten tribes
2Ch 17:2; 2Ch 25:6-7; Isa 7:8-9; Isa 11:12-13; Isa 17:3; Jer 31:18; Jer 31:20; Hos 4:17; Hos 5:3; Hos 5:5; Hos 6:4; Hos 6:10; Hos 8:11; Hos 12:14
– Tribe of, called Joseph
Rev 7:8
3. Mount of Ephraim
– A range of low mountains
Jos 17:15-18
– Joshua has his inheritance in
Jdg 2:9
– Residence of Micah
Jdg 17:8
– A place of hiding for Israelites
1Sa 14:22
– Sheba resides in
2Sa 20:21
– Noted for rich pastures
Jer 50:19
– Prophecy concerning its conversion
Jer 31:6
4. A wood east of Jordan Absalom slain in
2Sa 18:6-17
5. A gate of Jerusalem
2Ki 14:13; 2Ch 25:23; Neh 8:16; Neh 12:39
6. A city in the territory of Ephraim
– General references
2Ch 13:19
– Jesus escapes to, from the persecution of Caiaphas
Joh 11:54
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Ephraim
Ephraim (‘fra-m), double land, two-fold increase, very fruitful. The second son of Joseph, born in Egypt before the famine, Gen 41:50-52, and therefore upwards of 20 at Jacob’s death. Joseph, when he was apprised of his father’s sickness, was anxious to obtain the recognition of his sons Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob adopted them as patriarchs, or heads of tribes, equally with his own sons. But he placed the younger, Ephraim, before the elder, Manasseh, “guiding his hands wittingly,” in spite of Joseph’s remonstrance, and prophetically declaring that the posterity of Ephraim should be far greater and more powerful than the posterity of Manasseh. Gen 48:1-22. The territory of Ephraim lay in the centre of Canaan, south of Manasseh and north of Benjamin and Dan, extending from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. It was about 55 miles long, and about 30 miles in its greatest breadth. It was well watered and fertile, fulfilling the blessing of Moses in Deu 33:13-16.
Ephraim, Gate of. One of the gates of ancient Jerusalem, 2Ki 14:13; 2Ch 25:23; Neh 8:16; Neh 12:39; probably on the north side, as the present Damascus gate is.
Ephraim, Mount. A name applied to the hill-country of Ephraim, extending from Bethel to the plain of Jezreel; called also the “mountains of Israel,” R. V. “hill country of Israel,” Jos 11:21, and “mountains of Samaria.” Jer 31:5-6; Amo 3:9.
Ephraim, Wood of. A forest in which the great battle was fought when Absalom was killed. 2Sa 18:6. It lay east of the Jordan, in Gilead, near Mahanaim. Thick woods of oaks and terebinths still exist in that region.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Ephraim
E’phra-im. (double fruitfulness).
1. The second son of Joseph, by his wife Asenath. (B.C. 1715-1708). The first indication we have of that ascendancy over his elder brother Manasseh, which at a later period, the tribe of Ephraim so unmistakably possessed, is in the blessing of the children by Jacob. Gen 48:1.
2. That portion of Canaan named after Joseph’s second son. Gen 41:50-52. The boundaries of the portion of Ephraim are given in Joshua, Jos 16:1-10. The south boundary was coincident for part of its length with the north boundary of Benjamin. It extended from the Jordan on the east, at the reach opposite Jericho, to the Mediterranean on the west, probably about Joppa.
On the north of Ephraim and Manasseh were the tribes of Asher, Zebulun and Issachar. The territory thus allotted to the “house of Joseph” may be roughly estimated at 55 miles from east to west by 70 from north to south. It was one at once of great richness and great security. Its fertile plains and well-watered valleys could only be reached by a laborious ascent through steep and narrow ravines, all but impassable for an army.
Under Joshua. The tribe must have taken a high position in the nation, to judge from the tone which the Ephraimites assumed on occasions shortly subsequent to the conquest. After the revolt of Jeroboam, the history of Ephraim is the history of the kingdom of Israel, since not only did the tribe become a kingdom, but the kingdom embraced little besides the tribe.
3. In “Baal-hazor, which is by Ephraim” was Absalom’s sheepfarm, at which took place the murder of Amnon, one of the earliest precursors of the great revolt. 2Sa 13:23. There is no clue to its situation.
4. A city “in the district near the wilderness,” to which our Lord retired, with his disciples, when threatened with violence, by the priests. Joh 11:54.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
EPHRAIM
(1) Son of Joseph
Gen 41:52; Gen 48:5; Gen 48:14; 1Ch 7:20
(2) Tribe of
Num 1:33; Deu 33:17; Jos 16:5; Jdg 1:22; Jdg 8:1; Jdg 12:1; 2Sa 2:9
2Ch 15:9; 2Ch 28:7; Isa 11:13
(3) Town of
2Sa 13:23; 2Ch 13:19; Joh 11:54
(4) A Gate of Jerusalem
2Ki14:13; Neh 8:16; Neh 12:39
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Ephraim
was the name of Joseph’s second son, by Asenath, Potiphar’s daughter. He was born in Egypt, A.M. 2294. Ephraim, with his brother Manasseh, was presented by his father Joseph to Jacob on his death bed, Gen 48:8, &c. Jacob laid his right hand on Ephraim the younger, and his left on Manasseh the older. Joseph was desirous to change his hands, but Jacob answered, I know it, my son; Manasseh shall be multiplied, but Ephraim shall be greater. The sons of Ephraim having made an inroad into Palestine, the inhabitants of Gath killed them. Ephraim their father mourned many days for them, and his brethren came to comfort him, 1Ch 7:20-21. Afterward, he had a son named Beriah, and a daughter Sherah. He had also other sons, Rephah, Resheph, Tela, &c.
His posterity multiplied in Egypt to the number of forty thousand five hundred men capable of bearing arms. In the land of promise, Joshua, who was of this tribe, gave them their portion between the Mediterranean west, and the river Jordan east. The ark and tabernacle remained long in this tribe at Shiloh; and after the separation of the ten tribes, the seat of the kingdom was in Ephraim, and hence Ephraim is frequently used to denote the whole kingdom. The district belonging to this tribe is called Ephratah, Psa 132:6. Ephraim was led captive beyond the Euphrates, with all Israel, by Salmaneser, king of Assyria, A.M. 3283.
2. EPHRAIM was also the name of a city, into which Christ retired with his disciples a little before his passion, Joh 11:54. It was situated in the tribe of Ephraim, near the river Jordan. There was also the wood or forest of Ephraim, situated on the other side Jordan, in which Absalom’s army was routed and himself killed, 2Sa 18:6.
Fuente: Biblical and Theological Dictionary
Ephraim
Hos 7:8 (a) This is another name for the nation of Israel, and was used about Israel when she turned her back on GOD to serve idols and live in rebellion. Israel as “Ephraim” is pictured as “a cake not turned.” This refers to the fact that Israel or any individual for that matter might be splendidly related to the things of earth and to fellowmen, which would represent the lower side of the cake where it is well cooked. The upper part, however, which is raw, represents the state of Israel or an individual toward GOD, if that individual is an unsaved, self-righteous person. This is a type of the religious man of the world whose human attitudes are above reproach, but who has not a proper relationship to GOD. (See the thirty-five other times this name is mentioned in Hosea. See also Psa 78:9).