Zebulun | |
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זְבֻלוּן | |
.jpg) Painting byFrancisco de Zurbarán fromJacob and His Twelve Sons, c. 1640–45) | |
| Pronunciation | Zəvulun |
| Born | 7Tishrei |
| Spouse | Merishah |
| Children | Sered (son) Elon (son) Jahleel (son) [1] |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Reuben (brother) Simeon (brother) Levi (brother) Judah (brother) Dan (half brother) Naphtali (half brother) Gad (half brother) Asher (half brother) Issachar (brother) Dinah (sister) Joseph (half brother) Benjamin (half brother) Rachel (aunt/stepmother) |
Zebulun (Hebrew:זְבֻלוּן/זְבוּלֻן/זְבוּלוּן,Modern: Zəvūlūn,Tiberian: Zăḇūlūn;[2] alsoZebulon,Zabulon, orZaboules inAntiquities of the Jews byJosephus, was, according to the Books ofGenesis andNumbers,[1][3] the last of the six sons ofJacob andLeah (Jacob's tenth son), and the founder of theIsraelitetribe of Zebulun. Somebiblical scholars believe this to be aneponymousmetaphor providing anetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israeliteconfederation.[4][verification needed] With Leah as amatriarch,biblical scholars believe the tribe to have been regarded by the text's authors as a part of the original Israelite confederation.[5]
The Tomb of Zebulun is located inSidon,Lebanon. In the past, towards the end ofIyyar, Jews from the most distant parts of theland of Israel would make a pilgrimage to this tomb.[6]
The name is derived from thetriliteral rootzbl, common in2nd millennium BCEUgaritic texts as an epithet (title) of the godBaal, as well as inPhoenician and (frequently) inBiblical Hebrew in personal names.[7]
The text of theTorah gives two differentetymologies for the nameZebulun, whichtextual scholars attribute to different sources – one to theJahwist and the other to theElohist;[8] the first being that it derives fromzebed, the word forgift, from Leah's view that her gaining of six sons was a gift fromGod; the second being that it derives fromyizbeleni, meaninghonour, for Leah's hope that Jacob would give her honour now that she had given birth to six sons. InDeuteronomy 33, however, an allusion is made to a third potential etymology: that it may be connected withzibhe, literally meaningsacrifice, about commercial activities of the tribe of Zebulun[9] – a commercial agreement made atMount Tabor between the tribe of Zebulun and a group of non-Israelites was referred to aszibhe-tzedek, literally meaningsacrifice to justice orsacrifice to Tzedek.[9]
The Torah states that Zebulun had three sons – Sered, Elon, andJahleel – each the eponymous founder of a clan.
They risked their lives on the battlefield withNaphtali fromJudges 5'sSong ofDeborah andBarak: "Zebulun is a people who exposed its soul to death, Naphtali also -- on high places of the field."
Media related toZebulun at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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