Naphtali

NAPH'TALI (my wrestling), the territory given to the tribe descended from the fifth son of Jacob. Gen 30:8; Gen 35:25; Ex 1:4; 1 Chr 2:2. On leaving Egypt the tribe numbered 53,400 fighting-men. Num 1:42-43; on reaching the plains of Moab it had decreased to 45,400. Num 26:48-50. Jacob blessed

this tribe and compared it to a hind or gazelle. Gen 49:21. Moses describes its territory. Deut 33:23. The land of Naphtali was the most northerly of the portion allotted to Israel, and its boundaries are found in Josh 19:32-39; The territory reached to the Leontes, and east to the Jordan, the waters of Merom, and the Sea of Galilee, by which it was separated from Manasseh east of the Jordan. It afforded a great variety of soil and climate. Josephus describes the fertility and productiveness of this region along the Jordan and Sea of Galilee in glowing language. The table-lands west of the Jordan valley were 2000 feet above the sea, and in the mountains of Naphtali were found ridges and peaks, not barren and bleak, but covered with oak, terebinth, aromatic shrubs, and flowers of variegated hues. It still teems with animal life, beasts and birds being abundant. See Palestine. History. - Stanley says Naphtali was one of the four northern tribes which kept aloof from the great historical movements of Israel. It gained renown in the war against Jabin and Sisera, Judg 4, Judg 6, but later the people appear to have become allied with their Gentile neighbors, and some of their cities were transferred to Hiram of Tyre. 1 Kgs 9:11-13. Their land lay in the track of the invaders from the north, and their cities were captured, as Ijon, Abel, Kadesh, and Hazor. 1 Kgs 15:20; 2 Chr 16:4. Tiglath-pileser, b.c. 720, overran Northern Palestine, and Naphtali was the first territory depopulated and its people carried into captivity. It was afterward repeopled by a mixed population. Within its territory Jesus taught and wrought many miracles, though the land is alluded to by its ancient title only once in the N.T., where it occurs as Nephthalim. Matt 4:15. See also Capernaum, Galilee, and Tiberias.