The Jealousy of Ephraim & Herodotus

Finger Pointing UpThat would be something to see, the enemy killing themselves.  I guess if You want to You can pull all the strings. 

1. Ephraim by Francesco Hayez
Ephraim, by Francesco Hayez
Ephraim was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph and Asenath.

Asenath was an Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and the daughter of Potipherah, a priest of On.

Ephraim was born in Egypt before the arrival of the children of Israel from Canaan.

Ephraim had sons: Shuthelah, Beker, and Tahan.

However, 1 Chronicles 7 claims that he also had two more sons, Ezer and Elead, who were killed by local men who came to rob him of his cattle.

He then had another son, Beriah, who carried on his name.

From him was descended Joshua, son of Nun, who in time became the leader of the Israelite tribes in the conquest of Canaan.

According to the biblical narrative, Jeroboam, who became the first king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, was also from the house of Ephraim.

When ever my dad wanted to do something he would say, “Lord willing and the creek doesn’t rise.”

“And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. 

And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 

God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that” (Jdg 8:1-3).

Gideon and his 300 men arrived to Jordan hungry and asked the men of Succoth for some food because they were pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.

“And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army? 

And Gideon said, Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. 

And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him” (Jdg 8:6-8).

Gideon told them that he would be back and would break down their tower.  When Gideon caught up with the kings he killed all his men and the kings escaped. 

When he caught them he discomfited them and went back to Succoth and beat them with thorns and briers. 

He then went to Penuel, knocked down the tower and killed all the men in the city.

“Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor?  And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king. 

And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you. 

And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth.

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength.  And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels’ necks. 

Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. 

And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you” (Jdg 8:18-23).

Gideon then told them that he wanted all the earrings and the amount and weight of the gold earrings was 170,000 shekels of gold ($44,701.50). 

With the gold Gideon made an ephod (a gold garment for priests) and put it in the city, and all of Israel went a whoring after it.

2. Biblical Criticism
Biblical Criticism
Due to this lack of identity some Biblical scholars view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation.

The text of the Torah argues that the name of Ephraim, which means double fruitfulness, refers to Joseph’s ability to produce children, specifically while in Egypt (termed by the Torah as the land of his affliction)

Some scholars link the name to an Egyptian meaning rather than a Hebrew one.

In the Biblical account, Joseph’s other son is Manasseh, and Joseph himself is one of the two children of Rachel and Jacob, the other being Benjamin.

Biblical scholars regard it as obvious, from their geographic overlap and their treatment in older passages, that originally Ephraim and Manasseh were considered one tribe – that of Joseph.

John’s Book of Revelation, however, accords only Ephraim the tribal name of Joseph.

According to several biblical scholars, Benjamin was originally part of the suggested Ephraim-Manasseh single “Joseph” tribe, but the biblical account of Joseph as his father became lost.

A number of biblical scholars suspect that the distinction of the Joseph tribes (including Benjamin) is that they were the only Israelites which went to Egypt and returned, while the main Israelite tribes simply emerged as a subculture from the Canaanites and had remained in Canaan throughout.

According to this view, the story of Jacob’s visit to Laban to obtain a wife originated as a metaphor for this migration, with the property and family which were gained from Laban representing the gains of the Joseph tribes by the time they returned from Egypt; according to textual scholars, the Jahwist version of the Laban narrative only mentions the Joseph tribes, and Rachel, and doesn’t mention the other tribal matriarchs whatsoever.

In the Torah, the eventual precedence of the tribe of Ephraim is argued to derive from Jacob, blind and on his deathbed, blessing Ephraim before Manasseh.

The text describing this blessing features a hapax legomenon – the word שכל (sh-k-l) – which classical rabbinical literature has interpreted in esoteric manners; some rabbinical sources connect the term with sekel, meaning mind/wisdom, and view it as indicating that Jacob was entirely aware of who he was actually blessing; other rabbinical sources connect the term with shikkel, viewing it as signifying that Jacob was despoiling Manasseh in favor of Ephraim; yet other rabbinical sources argue that it refers to the power of Jacob to instruct and guide the holy spirit.

In classical rabbinical sources, Ephraim is described as being modest and not selfish.

These rabbinical sources allege that it was on account of modesty and selflessness, and a prophetic vision of Joshua, that Jacob gave Ephraim precedence over Manasseh, the elder of the two; in these sources Jacob is regarded as being sufficiently just that God upholds the blessing in his honor, and makes Ephraim the leading tribe.

Gideon had 70 sons because he had many wives, and his concubine that was in Shechem bare him a son, Abimelech. 

And Gideon died at a good old age.  And as soon as he died Israel turned again and went a whoring after Baalim and made Baal-berith their god, forgetting all about God.

Herodotus

“The Father of History”

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian, born in Halicarnassus, Caria (modern day Bodrum, Turkey) and lived 3. Herodotusin the 5th century BC (c. 484 BC – c. 425 BC).  He has been called the “Father of History,” because    he was the first historian known to collect his materials    systematically and test their accuracy.

The Histories” – his masterpiece and the only work he is known to have produced – is a record of his “inquiry” (or ἱστορία historía, a word that passed into Latin and took on its modern meaning of history).

Herodotus provides much intriguing information about the nature of the world and the status of science during his lifetime, often engaging in private speculation.

Discoveries made since the end of the 19th century have both added to and detracted from his credibility.  His description of Gelonus, located in Scythia, as a city thousands of times larger than Troy was widely disbelieved until it was rediscovered in 1975.

One of the most recent developments in Herodotus scholarship was made by the French ethnologist Michel Peissel.  Herodotus had reported that a species of fox-sized, furry “ants” lived in one of the far eastern, Indian provinces of the Persian Empire.  This region is a sandy desert, and it contains a wealth of fine gold dust. 

4. Pliny the ElderThese giant ants would often unearth the gold dust when digging their mounds and tunnels, and the people living in this province would then collect the precious dust.  Peissel says that in an isolated region in the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir (the FANA); there exists a species of marmot, (the Himalayan Marmot – a type of burrowing squirrel) that may have been what Herodotus called a giant “ant.” 

Much like the province that Herodotus describes, the ground of the Deosai Plateau is rich in gold dust.  Peissel interviewed the Minaro tribal people who live there and they confirm that for generations they have been collecting the gold dust that the marmots bring to the surface when they are digging their underground burrows. 

The story seems to have been widespread in the ancient world, because later authors like Pliny the Elder mentioned it in his gold mining section of the “Naturalis Historia.”

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