EPHRAIM, (Heb., fertile, fruitful tract). The name given in Gen. xli. 50-2, to the younger son of Joseph by his wife Asenat-h, and re garded as the eponymous ancestor of the tribe of Ephraim. The territories of the tribe in Palestine (q.v.) extended from the brook Kanah, where Manasseh began, southward, including the rich country spoken of as 'Mount Ephraim' (Joshua xvi. 5 sqq.). It is to be noted, however, that the Hebrews did not succeed in driving the Canaan ites out of this district (v. 10), so that in all likelihood sonic mixture of Hebrews with Cqnaan ites took place. The tribe was, perhaps, the most warlike in Israel. Joshua, the conqueror of the Holy Land, was an Ephraimite (Num. xiii. 8), and further proof of their warlike spirit appears in Ephraim's protests against Gideon (Judges viii. 1) and Jephthah (.Judges xii. 1-7) for not asking aid of them in their wars. Shiloh. at one time the seat of the tabernacle, was in Ephraim, and the prophet Samuel belonged to the tribe (1. Sam. i. 1). Ephraim took part in the revolt of Saul's son, 1shbosheth (II. Sam. ii. 8-9). and
later in the successful revolution of Jeroboam (I. Kings xii. 1-20). After this revolt Ephraim is merged in the northern kingdom. and of this kingdom it formed by tar the most important Dart.
The story told in Gen. xhiii. 15.19, of the preference which Jacob gave to Ephraim in bless ing him before Manasseh, although the latter was the older son of Joseph, is due to an Ephraimitie writer. but truthfully reflects this superior posi tion which Ephraim occupied in the northern kingdom, and its general prominence in Hebrew history before the Exile. The tribal traditions furthermore indicate that at one time Manasseh, Ephraim. and Benjamin constituted a single tribe known as Joseph. Benjamin was the first to cut loose, and hence becomes, in tribal meta phor, the younger brother of Joseph. For a time Manasseh and Ephraim remained together, and even in Solomon's days they still unite for admin istrative purposes, but at last Ephraim also cut loose and eventually outranks Manasseh.