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Tribe of Asher

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Tribe of Asher
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Old Testament Cultural Insights

Avram Shannon

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Contents

An Ancient Concept of Heredity
Angels
Authorship
Babylon
Beth-el
The Book of Leviticus
Camels
Categories of Animals
Cherubim
Child Sacrifice in the Old Testament
Circumcision
Deferential Speech
Esau and Edom
Firmament
Giants
Glory of the Lord
Gopher Wood
Hebrew
Hospitality
Introduction to Genesis
The Mark and Curse of Cain
Matzebot
Meaning of the Name Isaac
Melchizedek
Moab
Moses 1
Names and Covenants: Abraham and Sarah
Names of God
Polygamy
Pottage
Satan
Shekel
Shinar
Slavery
Sons of God
Soul
Symbolic Meaning of the Name Adam
Symbolic Meaning of the Name Eve
Symbolic Meaning of the Name Noah
Tree of Life
Tribe of Asher
Tribe of Benjamin
Tribe of Dan
Tribe of Gad
Tribe of Issachar
Tribe of Naphtali
Twelve Tribes of Israel
Urim and Thummim
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Contents

An Ancient Concept of Heredity
Angels
Authorship
Babylon
Beth-el
The Book of Leviticus
1 2 … 8 Next »

Avram Shannon, “Tribe of Asher,” in Old Testament Cultural Insights, ed. Taylor Halverson (Springville, UT: Book of Mormon Central, 2022).

Tribe of Asher

Asher is the name of one of the tribes of Israel that claimed descent from Jacob through Zilpah, Leah’s slave. The name Asher can be understood to mean “happy” or “blessed” (see Genesis 30:13). It has occasionally been connected as a divine name on the lines of Asherah. Asher was not a prominent Israelite tribe. According to Joshua 19:24–31, the inheritance of the tribe of Asher in the promised land was on the Mediterranean coast in the northwestern corner of the Holy Land. Although there are not really any prominent characters in the Old Testament from the tribe of Asher, in the New Testament the prophet Anna, who blessed the baby Jesus in the temple, is from the tribe of Asher (Luke 2:36).

According to later Jewish interpretive tradition, each tribe was assigned a stone in the high priest’s breastplate, along with a flag color and a symbol for that flag. The stone for the tribe of Asher was a beryl, and its flag is described as being “like the precious stone with which women adorn themselves.”[1] The symbol on the flag was an olive tree, which is connected to Jacob’s blessing on Asher that “his bread shall be fat” (Genesis 49:20). Olive oil was the primary fat consumed in ancient Israel. This association of Asher with oil, and therefore with good fortune, is also visible in Moses’s blessing on the tribes in Deuteronomy 33:24.

[1] Numbers Rabbah 2:7, in Judah J. Slotki, Numbers Rabbah I (London, England: Soncino Press, 1939), 30.

Related Verses

Genesis 30:13
Genesis 49:20
Exodus 1:4
Numbers 1:40
Numbers 2:27–28
Deuteronomy 33:24–25
Joshua 19:24–31
Judges 1:31
Judges 5:17
Judges 6:34–35
Ezekiel 48:34

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