TRIBE OF ASHER

The 'Tribe of Asher' () was one of the Tribes of Israel. At its height, Asher dwelled in western Galilee, a region with comparatively low temperature, and much rainfall, making it some of the most fertile land in Canaan, with rich pasture, wooded hills, and orchards; as such Asher was particularly prosperous, and known for its olive oil^[1]. The Blessing of Moses appears to prophecy this, though textual scholars view this as a clear case of postdiction^[2][3].
Despite the connection to this general geographic region, it is difficult to determine from the Torah the exact boundaries of the tribe, to the extent that it is even uncertain whether Asher even had continuous territory^[4]. Sites which according to the bible were allocated to Asher, and whose locations have since been identified, appear to be a scattered distribution of settlements rather than a compact and well-defined tribal region^[5]. Despite appearing to have had good contact with the markets of Phoenicia, Asher appears, throughout its history, to have been fairly disconnected from the other tribes of Israel; additionally it seems to have taken little part in the antagonism portrayed in the Bible between the Canaanites and the other tribes, for example in the war involving Barak and Sisera^[5]. Scholars generally conclude that Asher consisted of certain clans that were affiliated with portions of the Israelite tribal confederation, but were never incorporated into the body politic^[5].
According to the Torah, the tribe was founded by an individual, Asher the eighth son of Jacob, from whom it took its name; however Biblical scholars view this also as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation^[3]. In the Biblical account, Asher is one of the two descendants of Zilpah, a ''handmaid'' of Jacob, the other descendant being Gad; scholars see this as indicating that the authors saw Asher and Gad as being not of entirely Israelite origin (hence descendants of ''handmaids'' rather than of full wives)^[4]. In common with Gad is the possibility that the tribal name derives from a deity worshipped by the tribe, this being Asshur, the chief Assyrian deity, in the case of Asher, a name with which it is cognate^[5].
A group named ''Aseru'', living in a similar region to Asher in the 14th century BC, are mentioned in Egyptian monuments of the period; though it is probable that the name of Asher derives from these ''Aseru'', this would be inconvenient for a literalist interpretation of the Torah under the traditional Biblical chronology, since it places Asher in Canaan before the Israelites left Egypt^[5]. Nevertheless, some archaeologists believe that the account of an exodus from Egypt is inaccurate, and that the Israelites simply arose as a subculture within Canaanite society^[12], though a number have also proposed that some of the tribes originated as part of the Sea Peoples^[13]. Egyptian accounts of the Sea Peoples mention a group named ''Uashesh''/''Ueshesh'', referred to as the ''Weshesh'' by modern scholars for convenience; this name can be decomposed as ''Uash-esh'', meaning ''men of Uash'' in Hebrew, which may be a reference to ''Asher'', one or both of the names having been slightly corrupted^[14].
The tribe of Asher was also know to be the "priests" of the twelve tribes.
The 'Ashurites' are mentioned in the Old Testament among those over whom Ish-bosheth was made king ().

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References

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References

1.
2. Richard Elliott Friedman, ''Who Wrote The Bible''
3. ''Peake's commentary on the Bible''
4. ''Jewish Encyclopedia''
5. ibid
6. ibid
7. ibid
8. ''Peake's commentary on the Bible''
9. ''Jewish Encyclopedia''
10. ibid
11. ibid
12. Israel Finkelstein, ''The Bible Unearthed''
13. Yigael Yadin ''And Dan, Why Did He Remain in Ships''
14. Sandars, N.K. ''The Sea Peoples. Warriors of the ancient Mediterranean, 1250-1150 BC''. Thames & Hudson,1978

External links

★ Jewish Virtual Library