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EPHRAIM

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 679 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EPHRAIM , a tribe of See also:

Israel, called after the younger son of See also:Joseph, who in his See also:benediction exalted Ephraim over the See also:elder See also:brother See also:Manasseh (Gen. xlviii.). These two divisions were often known as the "See also:house of Joseph" (Josh. xvii. 14 sqq.; Judg. i. 22; 2 Sam. xix. 20; I See also:Kings xi. 28). The relations between them are obscure; conflicts are referred to in Is. ix. 21,' and Ephraim's proud and ambitious See also: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 See also:part; it probably excelled Manasseh in numerical strength, and the name became a synonym for the See also:northern See also:kingdom of Israel.

Originally the name may have been a See also:

geographical See also:term for the central portion of See also:Palestine. Regarded See also:asa tribe, it See also:lay to the See also:north of See also:Benjamin, which traditionally belongs to it; but whether the See also:young " brother " (see BENJAMIN) sprang from it, or See also:grew up separately, is uncertain. Northwards, Ephraim lost itself in Manasseh, even if it did not actually include it (Judg. i. 27; r Chron. vii. 29); the boundaries between them can hardly be recovered. Ephraim's strength lay in the See also:possession of famous sites: See also:Shechem, with the See also:tomb of the tribal ancestor, also one of the capitals; See also:Shiloh, at one See also:period the See also:home of the See also:ark; Timnath-Serah (or Heres), the See also:burial-See also:place of See also:Joshua; and See also:Samaria, whose name was afterwards extended to the whole See also:district (see SAMARIA). Shechem itself was visited by See also:Abraham and See also:Jacob, and the latter bought from the sons of Hamor a burial-place (Gen. xxxiii. 19). The See also:story of Dinah may imply some See also:early See also:settlement of tribes in its vicinity (but see See also: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. See also:

Hogg, Ency. Bib., s.v. On the characteristic narratives which appear to have originated in Ephraim (viz. the Ephraimite or Elohist source, E), see See also:GENESIS and See also:BIBLE: Old Testament See also:Criticism. See further See also:ABIMELECH; See also:GIDEON; MANASSEH; and See also:JEWS: See also:History.

End of Article: EPHRAIM

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