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TheTribe of Naphtali (Hebrew:נַפְתָּלִי,Modern: Nap̄talī,Tiberian: Nap̄tālī, "My struggle") was one of the northernmost of thetwelve tribes of Israel. It is one of theten lost tribes.
In the biblical account, following the completion of the conquest ofCanaan by theIsraelites,Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes.Kenneth Kitchen, a well-known biblical archeologist, dates this event to slightly after 1200 BCE,[1] whereas other scholars dispute the historicity of theBook of Joshua.[2][3][4]
Naphtali settled the eastern side ofthe Galilee (on the immediate west of theSea of Galilee), in the areas now known as theLower Galilee, andUpper Galilee, bordered on the west byAsher, in the north byDan, in the south byZebulun, and by theJordan River on the east.[5] The most significant city wasHazor.
Bordering the Sea of Galilee, there was the highly fertile plain ofGennesaret, characterised byJosephus as theambition of nature, an earthly paradise,[6] and with the southern portion of the region acting as a naturalpass between the highlands ofCanaan, several major roads (such as those fromDamascus toTyre andAcre) ran through it.[7] The prosperity this situation brought is seeminglyprophesied in theBlessing of Moses,[8] thoughtextual scholars view this as apostdiction, dating the poem to well after the tribe had been established in the land.[9][10]
The Naphthalites received the eastern parts, as far as the city ofDamascus and theUpper Galilee, unto mount Libanus, and the Fountains of Jordan, which rise out of that mountain; that is, out of that part of it whose limits belong to the neighbouring city ofArce.[11]
From after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the firstKingdom of Israel in c. 1050 BC, the Tribe of Naphtali was a part of a loose confederation of Israelite tribes. No central government existed, and in times of crisis the people were led by ad hoc leaders known asJudges (see theBook of Judges). With the growth of the threat from Philistine incursions, the Israelite tribes decided to form a strong centralised monarchy to meet the challenge, and the Tribe of Naphtali joined the new kingdom withSaul as the first king. After the death of Saul, all the tribes other than Judah remained loyal to the House of Saul, but after the death ofIsh-bosheth, Saul's son and successor to the throne of Israel, the Tribe of Naphtali joined the other northern Israelite tribes in makingDavid, who was then the king of Judah, king of a re-united Kingdom of Israel. However, on the accession ofRehoboam, David's grandson, in c. 930 BC the northern tribes split from theHouse of David to reform a Kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom.
In c. 732 BCE,Pekah allied withRezin, king ofAram, threatenedJerusalem, andAhaz,king of Judah, appealed toTiglath-Pileser III, the king ofAssyria, for help. After Ahaz paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser,[12] Tiglath-Pileser sacked Damascus and Israel, annexing Aram[13] and a large part of Israel, "including all the land of Naphtali." According to 2 Kings 16:9[14] and 15:29,[15] the population of Aram and the annexed part of Israel was deported to Assyria. Such deportation is also mentioned in thedeuterocanonicalBook of Tobit, which attributes it to Enemessar.[16]
The Kingdom of Israel continued to exist until c. 723 BC, when it was again invaded byAssyria and the rest of the population deported.[17] From that time, the Tribe of Naphtali has been counted as one of theTen Lost Tribes of Israel.
According to theTorah, the tribe consisted of descendants ofNaphtali, a son ofJacob andBilhah, from whom it took its name. However,Arthur Peake views this as apostdiction, aneponymousmetaphor providing anaetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation.[18]
| Naphtali | Merimah | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jahziel | Guni | Jezer | Shillem | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Militarism is featured in Naphtali's history. In the ancientSong of Deborah, Naphtali is commended, along with Zebulun, for risking their lives in the fight againstSisera;[19] in the prose account of the event,[20] which Arthur Peake regards as a much later narrative based on the poem,[18][21] there is the addition thatBarak, the leader of the anti-Sisera forces, hails from the tribe of Naphtali.[22] In theGideon narrative Naphtali are one of the tribes which join in an attack againstMidianite invaders, though Arthur Peake regards the Gideon narrative as being spliced together from at least three earlier texts, the oldest of which describes only personal vengeance by Gideon and 300 men of his own clan, not a battle in which the rest of the northern tribes join him.[23] In theBlessing of Jacob, which textual scholars date to 700-600 BC - and thus a postdiction, Naphtali is compared to ahind let loose, and commended for givinggoodly words.[24]
The territory allotted to the tribe inCanaan was in the extreme north, and was bordered on the north by theLitani River, on the east by theRiver Jordan until it was 12 miles (19 km) south of theSea of Galilee, on the west by the tribes ofAsher andZabulon; and on the south by the tribe ofIssachar.[25]The symbol of the tribe is a gazelle-a very quick animal. The people of Naftali is traditionally thought of as swift (swift runners).[citation needed]
As part of theKingdom of Israel, during one of the several wars between the Asa of thekingdoms of Judah and Baasha of Israel, the tribe of Naphtali was persecuted byBen-Hadad, the king ofAram-Damascus, on behalf ofAsa, the king of Judah, and desolated. Again, in the reign of Pekah this tribe was among the first to feel the iron hand of Assyria and to suffer the deportation of many captives.[26] In a reference to this incident,[27] the prophet Isaiah anticipates that the same region will see the dawn of the Messianic deliverance.
In c. 732 BCE, Naphtali's territory was conquered by theNeo-Assyrian Empire and kingTiglath-Pileser III had the entire population deported.[28] The exile led totheir further history being lost.
One of the famous battles of the Maccabean war was fought near Kedesh-naphtali about B.C. 150, when Jonathan defeated Demetrius, King of Syria;[29] Josephus, "Ant." xiii. 5, § 6).[citation needed]
Beginning in the 19th century, Biblical scholarship has largely doubted thehistoricity of the Twelve Tribes, including the lost tribes.[30][31] However, there have still been claimants and speculation of the ancestry of these tribes. The speculative descendants of Naphtali include:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Naphtali, Tribe of".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
Media related toNaphtali at Wikimedia Commons
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897).Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.{{cite encyclopedia}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)
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