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Bible Dictionaries
Ephraim
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or 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. Genesis 48:1.
2. That portion of Canaan named after Joseph's second son. Genesis 41:50-52. The boundaries of the portion of Ephraim are given in Joshua, Joshua 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. 2 Samuel 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. John 11:54.
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Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Ephraim'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/e/ephraim.html. 1901.
