Editing Tribe of Ephraim (section)

==Tribal territory==
In the biblical account, following the completion of the conquest of [[Canaan]] by the [[Israelite]] [[Joshua]] allocated the land among the twelve tribes. Kenneth Kitchen, a well-known conservative biblical scholar, dates this event to slightly after 1200 BC.<ref name = "pnxthp">Kitchen, Kenneth A. (2003), "On the Reliability of the Old Testament" (Grand Rapids, Michigan. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company)({{ISBN|0-8028-4960-1}})</ref> However, the consensus of modern scholars is that the conquest of Joshua as described in the Book of Joshua never occurred.<ref name="BakerArnold2004">"Besides the rejection of the Albrightian ‘conquest' model, the general consensus among OT scholars is that the Book of Joshua has no value in the historical reconstruction. They see the book as an ideological retrojection from a later period — either as early as the reign of Josiah or as late as the Hasmonean period." {{cite book|editor1=David W. Baker|editor2=Bill T. Arnold|author=K. Lawson Younger Jr. |chapter=Early Israel in Recent Biblical Scholarship|title=The Face of Old Testament Studies: A Survey of Contemporary Approaches|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vO8XRZyhvpMC&pg=PA200|date=1 October 2004|publisher=Baker Academic|isbn=978-0-8010-2871-7|page=200}}</ref><ref name="Congress1999">"It behooves us to ask, in spite of the fact that the overwhelming consensus of modern scholarship is that Joshua is a pious fiction composed by the deuteronomistic school, how does and how has the Jewish community dealt with these foundational narratives, saturated as they are with acts of violence against others?" {{cite book|author=Carl S. Ehrlich|title=Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Volume 1: Biblical, Rabbinical, and Medieval Studies|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZlRPQJ8Qd4C&pg=PA117|year=1999|chapter=Joshua, Judaism and Genocide|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-11554-5|page=117}}</ref><ref name="BerlinBrettler2014">"Recent decades, for example, have seen a remarkable reevaluation of evidence concerning the conquest of the land of Canaan by Joshua. As more sites have been excavated, there has been a growing consensus that the main story of Joshua, that of a speedy and complete conquest (e.g. Josh. 11.23: 'Thus Joshua conquered the whole country, just as the {{Lord}} had promised Moses') is contradicted by the archaeological record, though there are indications of ''some'' destruction and conquest at the appropriate time.{{cite book|author1=Adele Berlin|author2=Marc Zvi Brettler|title=The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT951|date=17 October 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-939387-9|page=951}}</ref>

As recorded in the [[Book of Joshua]], the territory allocated to the Tribe of Ephraim was at the center of Canaan, west of the [[Jordan]], south of the territory of Manasseh, and north of the [[Tribe of Benjamin]]. The region later named [[Samaria]] (as distinguished from [[Judea]] or [[Galilee]]) consisted mostly of Ephraim's territory. The area was mountainous, giving it protection, and also highly fertile, giving prosperity,<ref>[[Hosea]] 9:13</ref><ref>Genesis 49:22</ref><ref>Deuteronomy 33:13-16</ref><ref>Isaiah 28:1</ref>

[[File:12 Tribes of Israel Map.svg|thumb|400px| Map of the twelve tribes of Israel; Ephraim in the west is shaded a pale yellow]]
The territory of Ephraim contained the early centers of Israelite religion - [[Shechem]] and [[Shiloh (Biblical city)|Shiloh]].<ref name=JE>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> These factors contributed to making Ephraim the most dominant of the tribes in the [[Kingdom of Israel (United Monarchy)|Kingdom of Israel]], and led to ''Ephraim'' becoming a synonym for the entire kingdom.<ref name=JE />

Joshua 16:1-4<ref>{{Bibleverse|Joshua|16:1-4|NKJV}}</ref> outlines the borders of the lands allocated to the "children of Joseph", i.e. Ephraim and Manasseh combined, and Joshua 16:5-8<ref>{{Bibleverse|Joshua|16:5-8|NKJV}}</ref> defines the borders of the land allocated to the tribe of Ephraim in more detail.

[[Bethel]] was allocated by Joshua to the Tribe of Benjamin.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Joshua|18:11-28|NKJV}}</ref> However, even by the time of the prophetess [[Deborah]], Bethel is described as being in the land of the Tribe of Ephraim.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Judges|4:5|KJV}}</ref> Some twenty years after the breakup of the [[United Monarchy]], [[Abijah]], the second king of [[Kingdom of Judah]], defeated [[Jeroboam]] of [[Northern Kingdom of Israel|Israel]] and took back the towns of [[Bethel]], [[Jeshanah]] and [[Ephraim in the wilderness|Ephron]], with their surrounding villages.<ref>{{Bibleverse|2 Chronicles|13:17-19|NKJV}}</ref> Ephron is believed to be the [[Ophrah]] that was also allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin by Joshua.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Joshua|18:20-28|NKJV}}</ref>

The [[wadi]] Qānā ({{langx|he|נַ֨חַל קָנָ֜ה|naḥal Qānā|links=no}}) of [[Joshua 17]]:9 divided Ephraim's territory to the south and Manasseh's territory to the north. The [[legality of Israeli settlements|illegal Israeli settlement]] of [[Karnei Shomron]] is built near this gulch, which runs in an easterly-westerly direction.<ref>''Carta's Official Guide to Israel and Complete Gazetteer to all Sites in the Holy Land'' (3rd edition 1993), Jerusalem</ref>

The border of Ephraim extended from the Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. It incorporated within it the cities of Bethel (now [[Beitin]]<ref>''Carta's Official Guide to Israel'', Jerusalem 1983, p. 99. Beitin, identified as Bethel, is now an Arab village 4 km. NE of Ramallah. ''Burj Beitin'', the ruins of its ancient settlement, lay within the boundaries of [[Beitin]] village.</ref>), ʻAtarot, [[Bethoron|Lower Beth-Ḥoron]] (now [[Beit Ur al-Tahta|Lower Bayt ʻUr]]), extending as far as [[Gezer]] (now [[Abu Shusha]], formerly known as "Tell el Jezer") and the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref>Joshua 16:1 ''et seq''.</ref> Gezer was said to have been inhabited by Canaanites long after Joshua had either killed or expelled the other Canaanites.<ref>Joshua 16:10</ref> According to French archaeologist, [[Charles Clermont-Ganneau]], who identified the site in 1871 and later carried out excavations there, Gezer marked the extreme western point of the territory of Ephraim, and was "situated at the actual intersection of the boundaries of Ephraim, Dan and Judah."<ref>Charles Clermont-Ganneau, ''Archaeological Researches in Palestine during the Years 1873-1874'', vol. II, London 1896, p. 275 (Translated from the original French by John MacFarlane)</ref> This view, however, does not seem to be supported by the Scriptures themselves which place the extent of Ephraim's border at the sea.

<blockquote>The tribe of Ephraim had by lot the land that extended in length from the river Jordan to Gezer; but in breadth as far as from Bethel, till it ended at the Great Plain.<ref>{{cite book |last=Josephus |author-link=Josephus |title=Josephus Complete Works |publisher=Kregel Publications |translator=[[William Whiston]] |date=1981|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |page=108 (''Antiquities'' 5.1.22.) |language=en |isbn=0-8254-2951-X }}</ref></blockquote>

Spanish-Jewish traveller [[Benjamin of Tudela]] wrote that the southernmost bounds of the territory of Ephraim extended in a south-westerly direction as far as the town of Ibelin (now [[Yibna]]).<ref>''The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela'', (ed. Marcus Nathan Adler), Oxford University Press, London 1907, p. 27</ref>