Ephraim: Difference between revisions

==Biblical criticism==

[[Image:Francesco Hayez 020.jpg|thumb|''Ephraim'', by [[Francesco Hayez]]]]

 

In the biblical account, [[Joseph (Genesis) |Joseph]]'s other son is [[Manasseh (tribal patriarch)|Manasseh]], and Joseph himself is one of the two children of [[Rachel]] and [[Jacob]], the other being [[Benjamin]]. Biblical scholars regard it as obvious, from their geographic overlap and their treatment in older passages, that originally Ephraim and Manasseh were considered one tribe – that of ''Joseph''.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia'', "Ephraim".</ref> According to several biblical scholars, Benjamin was originally part of the suggested Ephraim-Manasseh single "Joseph" tribe, but the biblical account of Joseph as his father became lost.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906)</ref><ref name= "Peake's commentary on the Bible">''Peake's commentary on the Bible''.</ref> A number of biblical scholars suspect that the distinction of the ''Joseph tribes'' (including Benjamin) is that they were the only Israelites which went to [[Egypt]] [[the Exodus|and returned]], while the main Israelite tribes simply emerged as a subculture from the [[Canaan]]ites and had remained in [[Canaan]] throughout.<ref name= "Peake's commentary on the Bible"/><ref name= "IsraelFinkelstein">[[Israel Finkelstein]], ''The Bible Unearthed''.</ref> According to this view, the story of Jacob's visit to [[Laban (Bible) |Laban]] to obtain a wife originated as a [[metaphor]] for this migration, with the property and family which were gained from Laban representing the gains of the Joseph tribes by the time they returned from Egypt;<ref name= "Peake's commentary on the Bible"/> according to textual scholars, the [[Jahwist]] version of the Laban narrative only mentions the Joseph tribes, and Rachel, and does not mention the other tribal [[matriarch]]s at all.<ref name= "IsraelFinkelstein" /><ref>[[Richard Elliott Friedman]], ''Who Wrote the Bible?''</ref>