King James Bible Dictionary

Double fruitfulness ("for God had made him fruitful in the land of his affliction"). The second son of Joseph, born in Egypt (Genesis 41:52; 46:20). The first incident recorded regarding him is his being placed, along with his brother Manasseh, before their grandfather, Jacob, that he might bless them (48:10; comp. 27:1). The intention of Joseph was that the right hand of the aged patriarch should be placed on the head of the elder of the two; but Jacob set Ephraim the younger before his brother, "guiding his hands wittingly." Before Joseph's death, Ephraim's family had reached the third generation (Gen. 50:23).

fruitful; increasing

1. Second son of Joseph

General references
Genesis 41:52

Adopted by Jacob
Genesis 48:5

Blessed before Manasseh; prophecies concerning
Genesis 48:14-20

Descendants of
Numbers 26:35-37; 1 Chronicles 7:20-27

Mourns for his sons
1 Chronicles 7:21-22

2. A tribe of Israel

Prophecy concerning
Genesis 49:25-26; Genesis 23:7; Isaiah 9:18-21; Isaiah 11:13; Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 24:31; Hosea 5:14; Zech 9:10; Zech 10:7

Numbered at Sinai and in plains of Moab
Numbers 1:33; Numbers 26:37

Place in camp and march
Numbers 2:18; Numbers 2:24

Blessed by Moses
Deuteronomy 33:13-17

Territory allotted to, after the conquest of Canaan
Joshua 16:5-9; Joshua 17:9-10; Joshua 17:15-18; 1 Chronicles 7:28-29

Fail to expel the Canaanites
Joshua 16:10

Take Beth-El in battle
Judges 1:22-25

Upbraid Gideon for not summoning them to join the war against the Midianites
Judges 8:1

Join Gideon against the Midianites
Judges 7:24-25

Their jealousy of Jephthah
Judges 12:1

Defeated by him
Judges 12:4-6

Receive Ish-Bosheth as king
2 Samuel 2:9

Jeroboam set up a golden calf in Beth-El
1 Kings 12:29

Revolt from house of David
1 Kings 12:25; 2 Chronicles 10:16

Some of tribe join Judah under Asa
2 Chronicles 15:9

Chastise Ahaz and Judah
2 Chronicles 28:7

Join Hezekiah in reinstituting the Passover
2 Chronicles 30:18

Join in the destruction of idolatrous forms in Jerusalem
2 Chronicles 31:1

Submit to the scepter of Josiah
2 Chronicles 34:1-6

Envied by other tribes
Isaiah 11:13; Jeremiah 7:15; Ezekiel 37:16; Ezekiel 37:19; Hosea 13:1

Worshiped Baal
Hosea 13:1

Sin of, remembered by God
Hosea 13:12

Reallotment of territory to, by Ezekiel
Ezekiel 48:5

Name of, applied to the ten tribes
2 Chronicles 17:2; 2 Chronicles 25:6-7; Isaiah 7:8-9; Isaiah 11:12-13; Isaiah 17:3; Jeremiah 31:18; Jeremiah 31:20; Hosea 4:17; Hosea 5:3; Hosea 5:5; Hosea 6:4; Hosea 6:10; Hosea 8:11; Hosea 12:14

Tribe of, called Joseph
Revelation 7:8

3. Mount of Ephraim

A range of low mountains
Joshua 17:15-18

Joshua has his inheritance in
Judges 2:9

Residence of Micah
Judges 17:8

A place of hiding for Israelites
1 Samuel 14:22

Sheba resides in
2 Samuel 20:21

Noted for rich pastures
Jeremiah 50:19

Prophecy concerning its conversion
Jeremiah 31:6

4. A wood east of Jordan Absalom slain in
2 Samuel 18:6-17

5. A gate of Jerusalem
2 Kings 14:13; 2 Chronicles 25:23; Nehemiah 8:16; Nehemiah 12:39

6. A city in the territory of Ephraim

General references
2 Chronicles 13:19

Jesus escapes to, from the persecution of Caiaphas
John 11:54

1. (double fruitfulness), the second son of Joseph by his wife Asenath. (B.C. 1715-1708.) The first indication we have of that ascendancy over his elder brother Manasseh which at a later period the tribe of Ephraim so unmistakably possessed is in the blessing of the children by Jacob. (Genesis 48:1) ...
2. that portion of Canaan named after Joseph's second son. (Genesis 41:50-52) The boundaries of the portion of Ephraim are given in (Joshua 16:1-10) The south boundary was coincident for part of its length with the north boundary of Benjamin. It extended from the Jordan on the east, at the reach opposite Jericho, to the Mediterranean on the west, probably about Joppa. On the north of Ephraim and Manasseh were the tribes of Asher, Zebulun and Issachar. The territory thus allotted to the "house of Joseph" may be roughly estimated at 55 miles from east to west by 70 from north to south. It was one at once of great richness and great security. Its fertile plains and well-watered valleys could only be reached by a laborious ascent through steep and narrow ravines, all but impassable for an army. Under Joshua the tribe must have taken a high position in the nation, to judge from the tone which the Ephraimites assumed on occasions shortly subsequent to the conquest. After the revolt of Jeroboam the history of Ephraim is the history of the kingdom of Isr'l, since not only did the tribe become a kingdom, but the kingdom embraced little besides the tribe.
3. In "Baal-hazor which is by Ephraim" was Absalom's sheepfarm, at which took place the murder of Amnon, one of the earliest precursors of the great revolt. (2 Samuel 13:23) There is no clue to its situation.
4. a city "in the district near the wilderness" to which our Lord retired with his disciples when threatened with violence by the priests. (John 11:54)

(John 11:54), a town to which our Lord retired with his disciples after he had raised Lazarus, and when the priests were conspiring against him. It lay in the wild, uncultivated hill-country to the north-east of Jerusalem, betwen the central towns and the Jordan valley.

One of the gates of Jerusalem (2 Kings 14:13; 2 Chronicles 25:23), on the side of the city looking toward Ephraim, the north side.

one of the gates of the city of Jerusalem, (2 Kings 14:13; 2 Chronicles 25:23; Nehemiah 8:16; 12:39) probably at or near the position of the present "Damascus gate."

The central mountainous district of Palestine occupied by the tribe of Ephraim (Joshua 17:15; 19:50; 20:7), extending from Bethel to the plain of Jezreel. In Joshua's time (Joshua 17:18) these hills were densely wooded. They were intersected by well-watered, fertile valleys, referred to in Jeremiah 50:19. Joshua was buried at Timnath-heres among the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash (Judges 2:9). This region is also called the "mountains of Israel" (Joshua 11:21) and the "mountains of Samaria" (Jeremiah 31:5, 6; Amos 3:9).

is a district which seems to extend as far south as Ramah and Bethel, (1 Samuel 1:1; 7:17; 2 Chronicles 13:4,19) compared with 2 Chronicles 15:8 Places but a few miles north of Jerusalem, and within the limits of Benjamin.

Took precedence over that of Manasseh by virtue of Jacob's blessing (Genesis 41:52; 48:1). The descendants of Joseph formed two of the tribes of Israel, whereas each of the other sons of Jacob was the founder of only one tribe. Thus there were in reality thirteen tribes; but the number twelve was preserved by excluding that of Levi when Ephraim and Manasseh are mentioned separately (Numbers 1:32-34; Joshua 17:14, 17; 1 Chronicles 7:20).

Territory of. At the time of the first census in the wilderness this tribe numbered 40,500 (Numbers 1:32, 33); forty years later, when about to take possession of the Promised Land, it numbered only 32,500. During the march (see CAMP) Ephraim's place was on the west side of the tabernacle (Numbers 2:18-24). When the spies were sent out to spy the land, "Oshea the son of Nun" of this tribe signalized himself.

The boundaries of the portion of the land assigned to Ephraim are given in Joshua 16:1-10. It included most of what was afterwards called Samaria as distinguished from Judea and Galilee. It thus lay in the centre of all traffic, from north to south, and from Jordan to the sea, and was about 55 miles long and 30 broad. The tabernacle and the ark were deposited within its limits at Shiloh, where it remained for four hundred years. During the time of the judges and the first stage of the monarchy this tribe manifested a domineering and haughty and discontented spirit. "For more than five hundred years, a period equal to that which elapsed between the Norman Conquest and the War of the Roses, Ephraim, with its two dependent tribes of Manasseh and Benjamin, exercised undisputed pre-eminence. Joshua the first conqueror, Gideon the greatest of the judges, and Saul the first king, belonged to one or other of the three tribes. It was not till the close of the first period of Jewish history that God refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which he loved' (Psalms 78:67, 68). When the ark was removed from Shiloh to Zion the power of Ephraim was humbled."

Among the causes which operated to bring about the disruption of Israel was Ephraim's jealousy of the growing power of Judah. From the settlement of Canaan till the time of David and Solomon, Ephraim had held the place of honour among the tribes. It occupied the central and fairest portions of the land, and had Shiloh and Shechem within its borders. But now when Jerusalem became the capital of the kingdom, and the centre of power and worship for the whole nation of Israel, Ephraim declined in influence. The discontent came to a crisis by Rehoboam's refusal to grant certain redresses that were demanded (1 Kings 12).

a wood, or rather a forest, on the east of Jordan, in which the fatal battle was fought between the armies of David and of Absalom. (2 Samuel 18:6)

A forest in which a fatal battle was fought between the army of David and that of Absalom, who was killed there (2 Samuel 18:6, 8). It lay on the east of Jordan, not far from Mahanaim, and was some part of the great forest of Gilead.

Of the tribe of Ephraim; elsewhere called "Ephrathite." (Judges 12:5)

See Ephraim, 2

Ephraim, 2