another. From north to south, from Jordan to the Sea — from Galilee, or still more distant Damascus, to Philistia and Egypt — these roads all la}' more or less through Ephraim, and the constant traffic along them must have always tended to keep the district from sinking into stagnation. 2. The position of Shcchem, the original settlement of Jacob, with his well and his "parcel of ground," witli the two sacred mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, the scene of the impressive and significant ceremonial of blessing and cursing ; and the tomb and patrimony of Joshua, the great hero not onW of Ephraim, but of the nation — the fact that all these localities were deep in the heart of the tribe, must have made it always the resort of large numbers from all parts of the country- — of larger numbers than any other place, until the establishment of Jerusalem by David. Moreover, the tabernacle and the ark were deposited within its limits, at Shiloh ; and the posses- sion of the sacerdotal establishment, which was a cen- tral oliject of attraction to all the other tribes, must, in no small degree, have enhanced its importance, and in- creased its wealth and population. It is, perhaps, to this fact that David alludes in P.'^a. cxxxii, 6, if by "IJphratuh" this tribe is there meant. 3. But there was a spirit about the tribe itself which maj' have been both a cause and a consequence of these advantages of position. That spirit, early domineering and haughtj' (Josh, xvii, 14), tliough sometimes taking the form of noble remonstrance and reparation (2 Chron. xxviii, 9-15), usually manifested itself in jealous complaint at some enterprise undertaken or advantage gained in which the}' had not a chief share. To Gideon (Judg. viii, 1), to Jephthah (xii, 1), and to David (2 Sam. xix, 41-43), the cry is still the same in effect — almost the same in words — " Why did ye despise us that our ad- vice should not have been first had?" "AVhy hast thou served us thus that thou calledst us not.'" The unsettled state of the country in general, and of the interior of Ephraim in particular (.Judg. ix), and the continual incursions of foreigners, prevented tlie pow- er of the tribe from manifesting itself in a more for- midable manner than bj' these murmurs during the time of the Judges and the first stage of the monarchy. Samuel, though a Levite, was a native of Eamah in Mount Ejihraim, and Saul belonged to a tribe closely allied to the family of Joseph, so that during the priest- hood of the former and the reign of the latter the su- premacy of Ephraim ma}' be said to have been prac- ticallv maintained. Certainly in neither case had any advantage been gained bj' their great rival in the south. But when the great tribe of Judah produced a king in the person of David, the pride and jealousy of Ephraim were thoroughly awakened, and it was doubt- less chiefly through their means that Abner was en- abled for a time to uphold the house of Saul ; for there are manifest indications that bj' this time Ephraim in- fluenced the views and feelings of all the other tribes. They were at length driven b}' the force of circum- stances to acknowledge David upon conditions ; and ' were probably not without hope that, as the king of the nation at large, he would establish his capital in their central portion of the land. Again, the luilliant successes of David, and his wide influence and relig- ious zeal, kept matters smooth for another period, even in the face of the blow given to both Shcchem and Shiloh by the concentration of the civil and ecclesias- tical ca])itals at .Jerusalem. Twenty thousand and eight hundred of the choice warriors of the tribe, " men of name throughout the house of their father," went as far as Hebron to make David king over Israel (1 Chron. xii, 30). Among the officers of his court we find more than one Ephraimite (1 Chron. xxvii, 10, 14), and the attachment of the tribe to his person seems to have been great (2 Sam. xix, 41-43). But as he not only established his court at Jerusalem, but proceeded to re- move the ark thither, making his native Judah the seat both of the theocratic and civil government, the
EPHRAIM
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EPHRAIM, WOOD OF
Ephi-iiimites, as a tribe, became thoroughly alienated, iiiid longed to establish their own ascendenc}'. The building of the temple at Jerusalem, and other meas- u.es of Solomon, strengthened this desire ; and al- thou"h the minute organization and vigor of his gov- ernment prevented any overt acts of rebellion, yet the train was then laid, and the reign of Solomon, splendid in appearance but oppressive to the people, developed both the circumstances of revolt and the leader who was to turn them to account. Solomon saw through the crisis, and if he could have succeeded in killing Jeroboam, as he tried to do (1 Kings xi, 40), the dis- ruption might have been postponed for another cen- tury. As it was, the outbreak was deferred for a time, but the irritation was not allayed, and the insane folly of his son brought the mischief to a head. Rehoboam probably selected Shechem — the old capital of the country — for his coronation, in the hope that his pres- ence and the ceremonial might make a favorable im- pression, but in this he failed utterly, and the tumult which followed shows how complete w^as the breach — " To j'our tents, 0 Israel ! now see to thine own house, David!" Rehoboam was certainlj' not the last king of Judah whose chariot went as far north as Shechem, but he was the last who visited it as a part of his own dominion, and he was the last who, having come so far, returned unmolested to his own cajiital. Jehosha- phat escaped, in a manner little short of miraculous, from the risks of the battle of Ramoth-Gilead, and it was the fate of two of his successors, Ahaziah and Jo- siah — differing in everything else, and agreeing onlj' in this — that thej' were Ijoth carried dead in their cha- riots from the pl-iin of Esdraelon to Jerusalem.