Naphtali

Naphtali is the sixth son of Jacob, born to Bilhah, Rachel's slave, and the patriarch of one of the twelve tribes. The name itself comes from Rachel's contest with her sister Leah: "And Rachel said, With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed: and she named him Naphtali" (Gen 30:8). From that household scene the name extends outward — to a tribe with a place under the standard of Dan in the wilderness, an inheritance in upper Canaan, a record of repeated muster against Sisera and Midian, an Aramean and Assyrian assault on the same northern hills, and a prophetic reversal in which the contempt of "the land of Naphtali" is overturned and the tribe is sealed in the Apocalypse.

Son of Jacob and Bilhah

Naphtali is born to Bilhah after the birth of Dan: "And Bilhah Rachel's slave became pregnant again, and bore Jacob a second son" (Gen 30:7). Rachel names him out of her struggle with Leah: "And Rachel said, With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed: and she named him Naphtali" (Gen 30:8). The household roster fixes him alongside his full brother: "and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's slave: Dan and Naphtali" (Gen 35:25).

When Jacob's house goes down to Egypt, Naphtali's four sons are named: "And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem" (Gen 46:24). The Chronicler reaffirms the same line, with two of the names spelled slightly differently: "The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah" (1 Chr 7:13).

Jacob's Blessing

In the deathbed blessings of Jacob, Naphtali receives a brief, image-laden word: "Naphtali is a hind let loose: He gives goodly words" (Gen 49:21).

Tribe in the Wilderness

By the first wilderness census, Naphtali has grown into a tribe organized by clans and counted as fighting men: "Of the sons of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war; those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty and three thousand and four hundred" (Num 1:42-43). At the second census in the plains of Moab, the four clans are itemized and the count has fallen: "The sons of Naphtali after their families: of Jahzeel, the family of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the family of the Gunites; of Jezer, the family of the Jezerites; of Shillem, the family of the Shillemites. These are the families of Naphtali according to their families; and those who were numbered of them were forty and five thousand and four hundred" (Num 26:48-50).

Naphtali camps and marches under the standard of Dan on the north side of the tabernacle. The standard of Dan is set "on the north side" with Asher beside it, "and the tribe of Naphtali: and the prince of the sons of Naphtali will be Ahira the son of Enan" (Num 2:29). When the host moves, the camp of Dan brings up the rear: "the standard of the camp of the sons of Dan, which was the rearward of all the camps, set forward according to their hosts... And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan" (Num 10:25, 27).

Mosaic Blessing

Moses' blessing answers Jacob's earlier word over the same son with a benediction of fullness and direction: "And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, And full with the blessing of Yahweh, Possess the west and the south" (Deut 33:23).

Inheritance in the North

The sixth lot of the inheritance falls to Naphtali. "The sixth lot came out for the sons of Naphtali, even for the sons of Naphtali according to their families. And their border was from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim, and Adaminekeb, and Jabneel, to Lakkum; and the goings out of it were at the Jordan; and the border turned westward to Aznoth-tabor, and went out from there to Hukkok; and it reached to Zebulun on the south, and reached to Asher on the west, and to Jehuda at the Jordan toward the sunrising. And the fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, and Hammath, Rakkath, and Chinnereth, and Adamah, and Ramah, and Hazor, and Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor, And Iron, and Migdal-el, Horem, and Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali according to their families, the cities with their villages" (Josh 19:32-39).

The conquest of the territory is incomplete. "Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to slave labor" (Judg 1:33).

Centuries later Ezekiel's vision of the restored land assigns Naphtali a portion in the same northern band: "And by the border of Asher, from the east side even to the west side, Naphtali, one [portion]" (Ezek 48:3).

Defeat of Sisera

An early muster of Naphtali in the days of the judges comes through Deborah's summons to Barak. "And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Has not Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, [saying,] Go and draw to mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun?" (Judg 4:6). Barak gathers the two tribes at Kedesh: "And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him" (Judg 4:10). The Song of Deborah commends Naphtali by name in the climax of the roll-call: "Zebulun was a people who jeopardized their souls to death, And Naphtali, on the high places of the field" (Judg 5:18).

With Gideon Against Midian

Naphtali answers a second summons under Gideon. "And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; and they also were gathered together after him: and he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them" (Judg 6:35). After the rout of the Midianite camp, Naphtali joins the pursuit: "And the men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after Midian" (Judg 7:23).

Princes of Naphtali

A psalm of procession names Naphtali alongside the other tribes whose princes go up: "There is little Benjamin their ruler, The princes of Judah [and] their council, The princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali" (Ps 68:27).

When David is made king at Hebron, Naphtali comes with a substantial captaincy: "And of Naphtali a thousand captains, and with them with shield and spear thirty and seven thousand" (1 Chr 12:34). The neighboring tribes also send provisions: "Moreover those who were near to them, [even] as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on donkeys, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, victuals of meal, cakes of figs, and clusters of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep in abundance: for there was joy in Israel" (1 Chr 12:40).

Aramean and Assyrian Assaults

Naphtali's northern position puts it among the early ground struck when foreign powers move against Israel. Under Asa, Ben-hadad of Aram strikes the northern cities: "And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and struck Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali" (1 Kgs 15:20). The Chronicler tells the same campaign in parallel: "And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they struck Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali" (2 Chr 16:4).

A heavier blow comes from Assyria. "In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria" (2 Kgs 15:29).

Prophetic Reversal

Isaiah names the contempt that fell on the land of Naphtali and announces its overturning: "But there will be no gloom to her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, on them light has shined" (Isa 9:1-2).

Sealed in the Apocalypse

In the Apocalypse, Naphtali reappears in the roll of the sealed: "Of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand" (Rev 7:6).