Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASHER

(Heb. ʾāšēr)

1. A god, the male counterpart of Asherah, or a variant of Ashar, a divine name element that occurs in Old Akkadian and Amorite names.

2. The eighth son of Jacob by Zilpah, the handmaiden of Jacob’s wife Leah, and the eponymous ancestor of one of the 12 tribes (Gen. 30:12-13). When Leah believed herself past childbearing age, she gave Zilpah to her husband Jacob as a concubine. Asher was the second son born to Zilpah in Paddan-aram, where Jacob was working as a herdsman for Laban, his father-in-law. Asher is always mentioned after his full brother Gad in the lists of Jacob’s descendants (Gen. 35:26; 46:17; Exod. 1:4; 1 Chr. 2:2).

3. A fertile tribal territory located in the western Galilee highland, with the tribes of Naphtali to its east and Zebulun to its southeast (Gen. 49:20; Deut. 33:24; Josh. 19:24-31). Because the western portion of Asher adjoined the Phoenician coast, it maintained close contact with the coastal state of Tyre. During the Conquest, the tribe failed to drive out the Canaanites and instead lived peacefully among them (Judg. 1:31). Asher was criticized in the Song of Deborah for not participating in the battle against Jabin, the Canaanite king of Hazor (Judg. 5:17). Asher later responded to Gideon’s call to fight the Midianites in the Plain of Jezreel (Judg. 6:35; 7:23). The tribe is recorded as supporting the kingship of Ishbaal (Ish-bosheth) following Saul’s death (2 Sam. 2:9; read “Asherites”).

Asher became one of Solomon’s 12 administrative districts (1 Kgs. 4:16). The northern portion of Asher, the “land of Cabul,” was later relinquished by Solomon to Hiram of Tyre as payment for timber and gold used in the construction of the Jerusalem temple (1 Kgs. 9:10-14). Inhabitants of Asher are listed as responding to Hezekiah’s invitation to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem (2 Chr. 30:11).

The NT lists Anna as a member of the tribe of Asher (Luke 2:36). In Rev. 7:6 Asher is among those tribes who are sealed.

Bibliography. Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia, 1979), 257-58; N. Naʾaman, Borders and Districts in Biblical Historiography (Jerusalem, 1986), 40-62.

Kenneth Atkinson

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASHER

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)