Tribe of Zebulun

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According to the

twelve tribes of Israel
. Following the completion of the conquest of
the Galilee, with its eastern border being the Sea of Galilee, the western border being the Mediterranean Sea, the south being bordered by the Tribe of Issachar, and the north by Asher on the western side and Naphtali on the eastern.[1]

Origin

According to the

matriarch
, Biblical scholars believe the tribe to have been regarded by the text's authors as a part of the original Israelite confederation.

Family tree

ZebulunMerishah
SeredElonJahleel

Character

Territory of Zebulun (Sebulon), 1865 map

In the ancient

Song of Deborah, Zebulun are described as sending to the battle those that handle the sopher shebet. Traditionally this has been interpreted as referring to the "rod of the scribe", an object that in Assyrian monuments was a stylus of wood or metal used to inscribe clay tablets, or to write on papyrus; thus, those who wielded it would have been the associates/assistants of lawgivers.[3] Consequently, in Jewish tradition, the tribe of Zebulun was considered to have a symbiotic relationship with the tribe of Issachar, its neighbour and a tribe that traditionally was seen as having many scholars, whereby Zebulun would financially support Issachar's devotion to study and teaching of the Torah, in exchange for a share of the spiritual reward from such learning; the terms Issachar and Zebulun came to be used by Jews for anyone engaged in such a relationship. More recent Christian scholarship, as expressed for example in translations such as the Revised Standard Version, instead render the description in the Song of Deborah of the people sent to battle by Zebulun as "those who handle the marshal's staff"; in other words, Zebulun had simply sent military officers.[citation needed
]

The partnership between Issachar and Zebulun is in an ideological dispute between those who believe that conditions and trade can be made in the post-mortem wage and those who say that the wages of the next world cannot be traded (

Hai Gaon).[4]

Role of the tribe

twelve tribes of Israel
; Zebulun is purple

According to the Torah, the Tribe of Zebulun plays an important part in the early history of Israel. At the census of the tribes in the Desert of

Gaddiel the son of Sodi represented Zebulun.[7]

At

Elizaphan the son of Parnach was chosen to represent Zebulun at the division of the Promised Land.[9]

During the rule of Joshua it received no special mention. In the Song of Deborah, the tribe is specially singled out as having "offered their lives to death in the region of Merom,"[10]; and praised because there came "out of Zebulun they that led the army to fight," as in Hebrew, "they that carry the pen of the writer," i.e., such as recruiting and inspecting officers.[11]

The reference is to Barak's campaign against Sisera,[citation needed] the commander of the forces of Jabin, King of Canaan.[12] They answered the call of Gideon and joined in battle against Madian;[13] and gave to Israel Elon, who judged it ten years.[14] Among those that followed David to Hebron to make him king were 50,000 fully armed men of Zebulun with no double heart,[15] who brought with them, as sign of their hearty allegiance, bounteous supplies of meat and drink to celebrate the accession of their new ruler.[16] When Hezekiah made reparation for the abominations of his father Ahaz, he invited all Israel to keep the Passover in the house of the Lord. Mockery and ridicule met the emissaries of the reformer; yet some were true to the religion of their fathers, and, even from far away Zebulun, went up to Jerusalem, destroyed the idols, and kept the feast of the unleavened bread.[17]

Division of the land

At the division of the land of Israel among the seven tribes not yet provided for, the lot of Zebulun was third. The tribe's territory started with Sarid (Joshua 19:10), which is supposed to have been Tel Shadud,[18] some five miles southwest of Nazareth. Zebulun's boundaries have not been made out. Of the nineteen proper names that the book of Joshua gives to guide us, only Bethlehem of Galilee (Beit lahm, seven miles northwest of Nazareth) can be identified with certainty, although the archaeological site Tel Hanaton is associated with the city Hanaton listed as the boundary with Asher. The historian Josephus assigns to Zebulun the land near to Carmel and the sea, as far as the Lake of Genesareth.[19] To its northwest lay Asher, to the southeast Issachar. It included a part of the Jezreel Valley, and the great highway from the sea to the lake. According to Christianity, within the territory of Zebulun, Jesus was raised, and did and said much that is narrated in the Gospels, especially in the Synoptics, about his Galilean ministry.

Fate

As part of the

their further history being lost
.

Israeli Knesset member Ayoob Kara speculated that the Druze are descended from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, probably Zevulun. Kara stated that the Druze share many of the same beliefs as Jews, and that he has genetic evidence to prove that the Druze were descended from Jews.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Joshua 19:10–16
  2. ^ Peake's Commentary on the Bible
  3. ^ Archibald Sayce
  4. Peninei Halakha
  5. ^ Numbers 1:31
  6. ^ Numbers 2:3–9
  7. ^ Numbers 13:10
  8. ^ Numbers 26:27
  9. ^ Numbers 34:25
  10. ^ Judges 5:18
  11. ^ Judges 5:14
  12. ^ Judges 4:10
  13. ^ Judges 6:35
  14. ^ Judges 12:11
  15. ^ I Chronicles 12:33
  16. ^ I Chronicles 12:41
  17. ^ II Chronicles 30:10–23
  18. ^ Zabulon: entry at the Catholic Encyclopedia
  19. ^ Josephus, Flavius, Antiquities of The Jews, Book V, Chapter 1, Par. 22, at Early Jewish Writings
  20. ^ Lev, David (25 October 2010). "MK Kara: Druze are Descended from Jews". Israel National News. Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 13 April 2011.

External links

Media related to Tribe of Zebulun at Wikimedia Commons

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