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The Tribe of Ephraim ( and Shiloh ''Jewish Encyclopedia''. These factors contributed to making Ephraim the most dominant of the tribes in the Kingdom Of Israel , and led to ''Ephraim'' becoming a synonym for the entire kingdomibid. Evidently there was an obvious Linguistic difference between the Tribe of Ephraim and other Israelites, since at a time when the Israelites of Gilead , under the leadership of Jephthah , fought the Tribe of Ephraim, the pronunciation of '' Shibboleth '' as ''sibboleth'' was considered sufficient evidence to single out individuals from Ephraim, so that they could be subjected to immediate death by the Israelites of Gilead. ORIGIN According to the Torah, the tribe was founded by an individual, Ephraim a son of Joseph , from whom it took its nameGenesis 30; however Biblical Scholars view this also as postdiction, an Eponym ous Metaphor providing an Aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation''Peake's commentary on the Bible''. In the Biblical account, Joseph is one of the two children of Rachel and Jacob , a brother to Benjamin , and father to both Ephraim, and his first son, Manasseh ; Ephraim received the blessing of the firstborn, although Manasseh was the eldest, because Jacob foresaw that Ephraim's descendants would be greater than his brother'sGenesis 48:13-20Genesis 48:1. Though the biblical descriptions of the geographic boundary of the House of Joseph are fairly consistent, the descriptions of the boundaries between Manasseh and Ephraim are not, and each is portrayed as having , Benjamin was also originally part of the ''house of Joseph'', but the biblical account of this became lost''Jewish Encyclopedia''''Peake's commentary on the Bible''; Benjamin being differentiated by being that part of Ephraim which joined the Kingdom Of Judah rather than that of Israelibid. A number of biblical scholars suspect that the ''Joseph tribes'' (including Benjamin) represent a second migration of Israelites to Israel, later than the main tribes''Peake's commentary on the Bible'', specifically that it was only the ''Joseph tribes'' which went to Egypt And Returned , while the main Israelite tribes simply emerged as a subculture from the Canaanites and had remained in Canaan throughout''Peake's commentary on the Bible''; in the narrative in the Book Of Joshua , which concerns the arrival in (and conquest of) Canaan by the Israelites from Egypt, the leader is Joshua , who was a member of the Ephraim tribe. According to this view, the story of Jacob's visit to Laban to obtain a wife began as a metaphor for the second migration, with Jacob's new family, possessions, and livestock, obtained from Laban, being representations of the new wave of migrantsibid; it is notable that, according to textual scholars, in the Jahwist version of the story it is only the Joseph tribes that are among these migrants, since it only recounts Jacob as having met Rachel, and the Matriarch s of the other Israelite tribes - Leah , Bilhah , and Zilpah - do not appearibid Richard Elliott Friedman , ''Who Wrote the Bible?''. CHARACTER In the account of the Deuteronomic History , Ephraim is portrayed as domineering, haughty, discontented, and jealous, but in Classical Rabbinical Literature , the biblical founder of the tribe is described as being modest and not selfish''Jewish Encyclopedia''. These rabbinical sources allege that it was on account of modesty and selflessness, and a Prophetic vision of Joshua, that Jacob gave Ephraim precedence over Manasseh, the elder of the twoibid; in these sources Jacob is regarded as being sufficiently just that God upholds the blessing in his honour, and makes Ephraim the leading tribeibid. Nevertheless, other classical rabbinical texts mock the tribe for the character it has in the deuteronomic history, claiming that Ephraim, being headstrong, left Egypt 30 years prior to The Exodus , and on arrival in Canaan was subjected to a disastrous battle with the Philistines ibid; in the Midrashic Jasher this is portrayed as a rebellion of Ephraim against God, resulting in the slaying of all but 10, and the bleached bones of the slaughtered being strewn across the roads, so much so that the circuitous route of the Exodus was simply an attempt by God to prevent the Israelites from having to suffer the sight of the remainsibid. Though from the point of view of an increasing majority of archaeologists, there were always two distinct cultures in Canaan, a strong and prosperous northern kingdom and a weaker and poorer southern one and Josiah 2 Chronicles 30:1, 30:10, 30:18, 34:6, 34:9 FATE As part of the Kingdom Of Israel , the territory of Ephraim was conquered by the Assyrians , And The Tribe Exiled ; the manner of their exile led to Their Further History Being Lost . However, several modern day groups claim descent, with varying levels of academic and rabbinical support. The Samaritan s claims that some of their adherents are descended from this tribe, and many Persian Jews claim to be descendants of Ephraim. Further afield, in South India the Telugu Jews claim descent from Ephraim, and call themselves ''Bene Ephraim'', relating similar traditions to those of the Mizo Jews , who the modern state of Israel regards as descendants of Manasseh. Several western Christian groups, in particular those of the Church Of God In Christ , claim that the whole UK is the direct descendant of Ephraim, and that the whole USA is the direct descendant of Manasseh, based on the interpretation that Jacob had said these two tribes would become the most supreme nations in the world. The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints (the ''Mormons'') believes a significant portion of its members to be descended from Ephraim, arguing that they are charged with restoring the lost tribes in the ''latter days'' as prophesied by Isaiah , and that the tribes of both Ephraim and Judah will play important leadership roles for covenant Israel in the last days; some believe that this would be the fulfillment of part of the Blessing Of Jacob , where it states that ''Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall'' King James Translation , Genesis 49:22. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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