the Third Week of Advent
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Zebulun
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Zeb'ulun. (a habitation). The tenth of the sons of Jacob, according to the order in which their births are enumerated, the sixth and last of Leah. Genesis 30:20; Genesis 35:23; Genesis 46:14; 1 Chronicles 2:1. His birth is mentioned in Genesis 30:19-20. Of the individual Zebulun, nothing is recorded. The list of Genesis 46 ascribes to him three sons, founders of the chief families of the tribe, (compare Numbers 26:26), at the time of the migration to Egypt.
The tribe is not recorded to have taken part, for evil or good, in any of the events of the wandering or the conquest. The statement of Josephus is probably in the main correct, that it reached, on the one side, to the Lake of Gennesareth and, on the other side, to Carmel and the Mediterranean. On the south, it was bounded by Issachar, who lay in the great plain or valley of the Kishon; on the north, it had Naphtali and Asher. Thus, remote from the centre of government, Zebulun remains throughout the history with one exception, in the obscurity which envelops the whole of the northern tribes. That exception, however, is a remarkable one.
The conduct of the tribe during the struggle with Sisera, when they fought with desperate valor side by side with their brethren of Naphtali, was such as to draw down the special praise of Deborah, who singles them out from cell the other tribes. Judges 5:18.
These files are public domain.
Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Zebulun'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/z/zebulun.html. 1901.
