ASHER, a tribe of Israel, called after the son of Jacob and Zilpah, Leah's maid (Gen. xxx. seq.). The district held by this tribe bordered upon Naphtali, and lay to the north of Issachar and Zebulun, and to the south of Dan. Asher is blamed for tak ing no part in the fight against Sisera (Judges v. 17), and although it shares with Zebulun and Naphtali in Gideon's defeat of the Midianites (Judges vi. 35, vii. 23), the incorporation of the name is probably due to a late redactor. It lay in the closest proximity to Phoenicians and Aramaeans, and contained a strong Canaanite element. In the Blessing of Moses it is bidden to defend itself— evidently against invasion (Deut. xxxiii. 25).
Even in the time of Seti I. and Rameses II. (latter half of i4th century B.c.) the district to the west of Galilee appears to have been known to the Egyptians as Aser(u), so that it is possible to infer either (a) that Asher was an Israelite tribe which, if it ever went down into Egypt, separated itself from its brethren in Egypt and migrated north; or (b) it was a district which, if never closely bound to Israel, was at least regarded as part of the national king dom, and treated as Israelite by the genealogical device of making it a "son" of Jacob.