Zebulun

Zebulun is the tenth son of Jacob, the sixth and last son borne to him by Leah, and the patriarch of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The name itself is given by Leah at his birth: "God has endowed me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons: and she named him Zebulun" (Gen 30:20). From that household scene the name expands outward — into a tribe with a place in the wilderness camp, an allotted territory in northern Canaan, a record of loyalty in Israel's wars, and finally a place in the prophetic geography of "Galilee of the nations."

Son of Jacob and Leah

Leah names Zebulun in connection with childbearing as a "good dowry" from God (Gen 30:20). His standing among his brothers is recorded in the household lists: "The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun" (Gen 35:23). When Israel goes down to Egypt, Zebulun's three sons are named — "And the sons of Zebulun: Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel" (Gen 46:14) — and Zebulun is counted among the sons of Israel listed at the opening of Exodus: "Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin" (Ex 1:3). The Chronicler reaffirms the same line: "These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun" (1 Chr 2:1).

Tribe in the Wilderness

By the time of the wilderness census, Zebulun has grown into a tribe organized by clans. "The sons of Zebulun after their families: of Sered, the family of the Seredites; of Elon, the family of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites. These are the families of the Zebulunites according to those who were numbered of them, threescore thousand and five hundred" (Num 26:26-27).

Zebulun camps and marches under the standard of Judah on the east side of the tabernacle. The standard of the camp of Judah encamps "on the east side toward the sunrising" (Num 2:3), and beside Judah is "the tribe of Zebulun: and the prince of the sons of Zebulun will be Eliab the son of Helon" (Num 2:7). When the host moves, "in the first [place] the standard of the camp of the sons of Judah set forward according to their hosts" (Num 10:14), and "over the host of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon" (Num 10:16).

Mosaic Blessing

In the blessings of Moses, Zebulun is paired with Issachar and given a vocation linked both to seafaring and to worship: "And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out; And, Issachar, in your tents. They will call the peoples to the mountain; There they will offer sacrifices of righteousness: For they will suck the abundance of the seas, And the hidden treasures of the sand" (Deut 33:18-19). The blessing answers Jacob's earlier word over the same son: "Zebulun will stay at the haven of the sea; And he will be for a haven of ships; And his border will be on Sidon" (Gen 49:13).

Territory in the North

The third lot of the inheritance falls to Zebulun. "The third lot came up for the sons of Zebulun according to their families; and the border of their inheritance was to Sarid; and their border went up westward, even to Maralah, and reached to Dabbesheth; and it reached to the brook that is before Jokneam; and it turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrising to the border of Chisloth-tabor; and it went out to Daberath, and went up to Japhia; and from there it passed along eastward to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin; and it went out at Rimmonah stretching to Neah; and the border turned about it on the north to Hannathon; and the goings out of it were at the valley of Iphtah-el; and Kattath, and Nahalal, and Shimeon, and Jiralah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the sons of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages" (Josh 19:10-16).

The conquest is incomplete. "Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became subject to slave labor" (Judg 1:30).

Out of Zebulun's territory four cities are given to the Levites: "And to the families of the sons of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, and Kartah with its suburbs, Rimmonah with its suburbs, Nahalal with its suburbs; four cities" (Josh 21:34-35). The Chronicler records the same allotment under shifted city names: "To the rest of [the Levites], the sons of Merari, [were given], out of the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmonah with its suburbs, Tabor with its suburbs" (1 Chr 6:77).

Loyalty in Israel's Wars

Zebulun's record in the days of the judges and the early monarchy is one of repeated readiness for the field. With Naphtali, Zebulun answers Deborah's summons through 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 musters the two tribes: "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 and Barak honors Zebulun twice. In the roll-call of the tribes, "out of Zebulun [came] those who handle the marshal's staff" (Judg 5:14). And in the climax of the song, naming the tribes that fought, the song says: "Zebulun was a people who jeopardized their souls to death, And Naphtali, on the high places of the field" (Judg 5:18).

When Gideon raises his force against the Midianites, Zebulun answers again: "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).

Under David, Zebulun comes to Hebron to make him king over Israel as a fully equipped fighting force: "Of Zebulun, such as were able to go out in the host, that could set the battle in array, with all manner of instruments of war, fifty thousand, and that could order [the battle array, and were] not of double heart" (1 Chr 12:33). Zebulun also helps provision the gathered host: "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).

Hezekiah's Passover

Centuries later, when Hezekiah summons the surviving northern tribes to Jerusalem for the Passover, Zebulun responds: "Nevertheless certain men of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem" (2 Chr 30:11). Many of those who came were ritually unprepared, but Hezekiah's intercession covers them: "For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, The good Yahweh pardon everyone" (2 Chr 30:18).

Captivity and Galilee of the Nations

The Assyrian campaign of Tiglath-pileser overruns the northern tribes, including the territory shared by Zebulun and Naphtali. "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).

The same territory carries a prophetic reversal. Isaiah names the contempt that fell on the land and the glory that will come to it: "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" (Isa 9:1).

Sealed in the Apocalypse

In the Apocalypse, Zebulun reappears in the roll of the sealed: "Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand; Of the tribe of Benjamin [were] sealed twelve thousand" (Rev 7:8).