The Tribe of Asher in Biblical History. Part One. Inheriting the Land
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Contents:
Part One. Inheriting the Land
1. The Israelite Tribe of Asher in Egyptian Records
2. Extent of Territory of Asher
3. Asher and the Habiru and Heber of Asher
4. Asher, Manasseh and the Hycsos Rulers of Egypt
5. Asher and the Sea Peoples
6. Asher and the Phoenicians
Part Two. Asher in the Land
The Blessing to Asher and Jeshurun
Asher the Warrior-Tribe
Asher the Future Viking
Asher and Metallurgy
Asher and the Bible
The Exile of Asher
The Future Tribal Inheritance of the Tribe of Asher
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Part One. Inheriting the Land
1. The Israelite Tribe of Asher in Egyptian Records
After the Israelites came out of Egypt and conquered the Promised Land, Asher received a tribal apportionment stretching from south of the Carmel Mountains (near Haifa) and stretching far to the north encompassing all of Lebanon and the coast of Syria reaching up to south of the Dananu and Yadi in northern Syria and present-day Turkey. The Egyptians in the 1300s BCE mentioned the Land of "Aseru" meaning Asher which in their terminology encompassed the Israelite Galilee, the area of Tyre, Lebanon, and reached to Kadesh on the Orontes River in northern Syria and beyond (Slouschz p.60 Grintz p.178). Asher may have had an especial concentration near Antiochea on the Orontes. Antiochea equals the Biblical Hamath. This region was called "ASI" in Egyptian writings which is similar to the Phoenician and North Israelite pronunciation of Asher as "AS" meaning ASHER.
This strengthens our understanding that Israelite Tribes had conquered all the area of the Promised Land as described by the Bible and that the Israelites had come out of Egypt and conquered Canaan in ca. 1450 BC.
The Egyptians also occasionally conflated the term "Mentu" (meaning the Israelite Tribe of Menasseh) with the neighboring Aseru.
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2. Extent of Territory of Asher
The Egyptian definition of "Aseru" corresponds with the territorial allocation of Asher according to a "Maximalist" simple literal understanding of the Biblical text, that has the territory of Asher encompassing (or encircling) the cities of Sidon and Tyre and cities further northward.
Joshua 19:
24 The fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families. 25 And their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph, 26 Alammelech, Amad, and Mishal; it reached to Mount Carmel westward, along the Brook Shihor Libnath. 27 It turned toward the sunrise to Beth Dagon; and it reached to Zebulun and to the Valley of Jiphthah El, then northward beyond Beth Emek and Neiel, bypassing Cabul which was on the left, 28 including Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Greater Sidon. 29 And the border turned to Ramah and to the fortified city of Tyre; then the border turned to Hosah, and ended at the sea by the region of Achzib. 30 Also Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob were included: twenty-two cities with their villages. 31 This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages.
Note in the list above the place name Neiel. This name may relate to the Gaeli-Milesians-Fene of Ireland, descendants of Neal (Nial).
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3. Asher and the Habiru and Heber of Asher
Reports to Egypt (the Tel El Amarna tablets) after 1400 BCE show the Land of Canaan being conquered by the Habiru who initially occupied the hill country just as the Book of Joshua (Joshua 11:16-23 cf. Judges ch.1) records the Israelites as having done. The Habiru according to Egyptian records included a tribe named "Benenima" (Benjamin), an individual leader named "Iasuia" (i.e. Joshua) and other Biblical characters such as the people of Malchiel and Asher . Malchiel was one of the clans of the Israelite tribe of Asher (Genesis 46:17). The term Habiru is sometimes interpreted to mean Hebrew but others equate it with Heber a clan of Asher (This opinion is attributed to the linguist, Marcus Jastrow 1829-1903). This ties in with other studies of ours.
See:
Were the Ancient Hebrews the Same as the Habiru?
The ancient Israelites in the Bible are also known as Hebrews.
See:
Your Israelite Brother. Iben Ezra and the Synonyms Israelite and Hebrew
The word IBRI (Hebrew) comes from the root "IBR which could also be pronounced as EBR, Ivri, or ABR or even OBR.
There were groups of people in the Ancient Middle East known as Habiru. There are some who equate the Habiru with the Hebrews. The problem is that the names Hebrew and Habiru only really sound similar in English transliteration. It would seem that the word Habiru derives from the root HBR (cHBR): This is pronounced in Modern Hebrew, "chaver". It means friend or member of a union or something similar. [The word "cobber" in Old English and Australian slang meaning "friend" or companion is said to come from this Hebrew word, "chaver."] Historically the Habiru were different groups of people. In Middle East records the word Habiru is applied to groups of bandits, or of unfederated settlers, or of others. It may sometimes have applied to Hebrew-Israelites but not always did it necessarily do so. This accords with the appellation Habiru being cognate with the Hebrew Heber (Chever) meaning union rather than with the word Ibri (Hebrew). A similar name, Heber [Chever], from the same root was given to a clan in the Tribe of Asher. Heber and Malchiel were brothers, sons of Beriah, son of Asher.
Genesis 46:
17 The sons of Asher were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah, and Serah, their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel.
Even though in the end the Tribe of Asher did not drive out all the inhabitants of lands they conquered they did conquer many areas. The Tribe of Asher had also received a special blessing from Moses (Deuteronomy 33:29) that they would gain renown as warriors, as we shall see. It may be that Egyptian records emphasize the Habiru amongst Israelite conquerors of Canaaan due to the prominent role that the clan of Heber and the Tribe of Asher in general played in the Conquest.
[Even though Asher was blessed with warrior qualities the Sages stressed his peaceable and conciliatory character.]
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4. Asher, Manasseh and the Hycsos Rulers of Egypt
Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt and became the effective ruler of the country. Joseph caused his brothers to also come to Egypt where they increased and multiplied. The Hebrews in Egypt were appointed to ruling positions and in alliance with the Egyptian Rulers strongly influenced the Egyptian culture. This is known as the Hycsos Period. Later the Egyptian attitude changed, they rejected Israelite influence and oppressed them until under Moses the Israelites were redeemed. Subsequently Egyptian historiography depicted the Hycsos as entirely a foreign phenomenon even though Egyptian rulers had always been in control. Josephus explains the word Hycsos to mean "shepherd kings" but modern scholars says it means "foreign rulers". In Egyptian thought the Hycsos were believed to ahve come fromt he general area of Israel.
The Tribe of Asher (Aseru) was considered in Egyptian text as synonymous with "MENTI" and elsewhere "MENTI" is identified with the HYCSOS meaning the shepherd king one-time rulers of Egypt! The very name MENTI is an Egyptianised version of the Hebrew name Manasseh! Manasseh was an important Israelite tribe in the north adjoining the Tribe of Asher and the two intermerged to an extent. Classical sources considered the former Hycsos Rulers of Egypt to have been "Phoenicians" and some Israelite tribes (e.g. Asher, Zebulon, Issachar, Dan, Nephtali, and maybe western Manasseh) could in practice have also been considered Phoenician.
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5. Asher and the Sea Peoples
The Tribe of Asher was one of the groups known in Egyptian History as the Sea Peoples.
The Sea Peoples were a group of peoples who fought against Egypt in the reigns of Pharaohs Ramses-2 and Merneptah. They included groups from some of the Israelite tribes such as the Dananu from Dan, and others. The Tribe of Asher may also have been amongst them.
# A number of scholars have proposed that the tribe of Asher actually originated as the Weshesh group of Sea Peoples - the name Weshesh (or rather Uashesh/Ueshesh - for easy pronunciation, this is usually transcribed into English as Weshesh) can be decomposed as men of Uash in Hebrew, and hence possibly a corruption of Asher. #
Sources:
Yigael Yadin, "And Dan, Why Did He Remain in Ships?" Australian Journal of Biblical Archaeology 1.1 (1968): 9-23.
N. K. Sandars, The Sea Peoples. Warriors of the ancient Mediterranean, 1250-1150 BC, Thames & Hudson,1978
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6. Asher and the Phoenicians
The territory of Asher encompassed Phoenician areas. Asher did not drive out all the Canaanite inhabitants but rather dwelt in scattered settlements amongst them.
Judges 2:
31-32 "But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out".
Scripture indicates that Asher dwelt along the sea-shores, was prominent (like Dan) in metallurgy -in the production of bronze, and in trade overseas:
"And of Asher he said...let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and bronze..." [Deuteronomy 33:24; the word translated as "your shoes" (Hebrew: "minalechah") may also be understood to mean "locks" or "enclosures" or "safeguards", i.e. "IRON AND BRONZE SHALL BE YOUR SAFEGUARDS".]..