Zebulun (; also ''Zebulon'', ''Zabulon'', or ''Zaboules'') was, according to the Books of
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
and
Numbers,
[Genesis 46:14] the last of the six sons of
Jacob
Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ...
and
Leah
Leah ''La'ya;'' from (; ) appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the two wives of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. Leah was Jacob's first wife, and the older sister of his second (and favored) wife Rachel. She is the mother of Jacob's first son ...
(Jacob's tenth son), and the founder of the
Israelite
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stel ...
Tribe of Zebulun. Some
biblical scholars believe this to be an
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
ous
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...
providing an
aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite
confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical iss ...
. With Leah as a
matriarch,
biblical scholars believe the tribe to have been regarded by the text's authors as a part of the original Israelite confederation.
The Tomb of Zebulun is located in
Sidon
Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...
. In the past, towards the end of
Iyyar
Iyar ( he, אִייָר or , Standard ''ʾĪyyar'' Tiberian ''ʾĪyyār''; from akk, 𒌗 𒄞 itiayari " rosette; blossom") is the eighth month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the second month of the Jewish religious year ...
, Jews from the most distant parts of the
land of Israel
The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isr ...
would make a pilgrimage to this tomb.
Etymology
The name is derived from the
Northwest Semitic root ''zbl'', common in 2nd millennium BCE
Ugaritic texts as an epithet (title) of the god
Baal
Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied t ...
, as well as in
Phoenician and (frequently) in
Biblical Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of t ...
in personal names.
The text of the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
gives two different
etymologies
Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words a ...
for the name ''Zebulun'', which
textual scholars attribute to different sources – one to the
Jahwist
The Jahwist, or Yahwist, often abbreviated J, is one of the most widely recognized sources of the Pentateuch (Torah), together with the Deuteronomist, the Priestly source and the Elohist. The existence of the Jahwist is somewhat controversia ...
and the other to the
Elohist
According to the documentary hypothesis, the Elohist (or simply E) is one of four source documents underlying the Torah,McDermott, John J., ''Reading the Pentateuch: A Historical Introduction'' (Pauline Press, 2002) p. 21. Via Books.google.com.au ...
; the first being that it derives from ''zebed'', the word for ''gift'', in reference to Leah's view that her gaining of six sons was a ''gift'' from
God; the second being that it derives from ''yizbeleni'', meaning ''honour'', in reference to Leah's hope that Jacob would give her honour now that she had given birth to six sons. In
Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...
, however an allusion is made to a third potential etymology
[Deuteronomy 33:19] – that it may be connected with ''zibhe'', literally meaning ''sacrifice'', in reference to commercial activities of the tribe of Zebulun
[''Jewish Encyclopedia''] – a commercial agreement made at
Mount Tabor between the tribe of Zebulun and a group of non-Israelites was referred to as ''zibhe-tzedek'', literally meaning ''sacrifice to justice'' or ''sacrifice to Tzedek''.
[
Some believe the depopulated village of Sabalan in the ]District of Safad
The Safad Subdistrict ( ar, قضاء صفد, he, נפת צפת) was one of the subdistricts of Mandatory Palestine before it was captured by Israel in 1948. It was located around the city of Safad. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the subdistr ...
was named after Zebulun.
Biblical account
The Torah states that Zebulun had three sons – Sered, Elon, and Jahleel – each the eponymous founder of a clan. Beyond this, there is little other reference to Zebulun.
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Founders of biblical tribes
Children of Jacob