Thenceforth the rivalry of Ephraim and Judah was merged in that between the two kingdoms ; although still the predominance of Ephraim in the kingdom of Israel was so conspicuous as to occasion the whole realm to be called by its name, especially when that rivalry is mentioned. This title is particularlj' em- ployed in the prophetical books (Isa. ix, 8; xvii, 3; xxviii,3; Hos. iv, 17 ; v, 3; ix, 3). When the land of Ephraim is meant, the word is fem. in the original (Hos. V, 9); when the people, masc. (Isa. vii, 8). Thus in two senses the histor}' of Ephraim is the historj' of the kingdom of Israel, since not only did the tribe be- come a kingdom, but the kingdom embraced little be- sides the tribe. This is not sinprising, and quite sus- ceptible of explanation. North of Ephraim tlie coun- try apjiears never to have been really taken possession of by the Israelites. Whether from want of energy on their part, or great stubbornness of resistance on that of the Canaanites, certain it is that of the list of towns from which the original inhabitants were not expelled, the great majority belong to the northern tribes, Manasseh, Asher, Issachar, and Naphtali. In addition to this original defect there is much in the phj-sical formation and circumstances of the upper por- tion of Palestine to explain Avh}' those tribes never took any active part in the kingdom. They were ex- posed to the inroads and seductions of their surround- ing heathen neighbors — on one side the luxurious Phoe- nicians, on the other the plundering Bedouins of JMidi- an ; they were open to the attacks of Syria and Assyria from the north, and Egypt from the south ; the gVeat plain of Esdraelon, which communicated more or loss with all the northern tribes, was the natural outlet of the no less natural higli roads of the maritime plain from Egypt, and the Jordan valley for the tribes of the East, and formed an admiral>le base of operations for an invading army. But, on the other hand, the po- sition of Ephraim was altogether different. It was one at once of great richness and security. Her fer- tile plains and well-watered valleys could only be reached b}' a laborious ascent through steep and nar- row ravines, all but impassable for an army. There is no record of any attack on the central kingdom, either from the Jordan valley or the maritime plain.
On the north side, from the plain of Esdraelon, it wag more accessible, and it was from this side that the final invasion appears to have been made. But even on that side the entrance was so difficult and so easily de- fensible— as we learn from the description in the book of Judith (iv, G, 7) — that, had the kingdom of Samaria been less weakened by internal dissensions, the attacks even of the great Shalmaneser might liave been re^^ sisted, as at a later date were those of Holofernes. There are few things more mournful in the sacred story than the descent of this haughty and jealous tribe, from the culminating point at which it stood when it entered on the fairest portion of the Land of Promise — the chief sanctuary and the chief settlement of the nation within its limits, its leader the leader of the whole people — through the distrust which marked its intercourse with its fellows, while it was a member of the confederac}^, and the tumult, dissension, and un- godliness which characterized its independent exist- ence, down to the sudden captivity and total oblivion which closed its career. Judah had her times of re- vival and of recurring prosperity, but here the course is uniformly downward — a sad picture of op]iortunities wasted and personal gifts abused. " When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. . . . I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms, but thej' knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love . . . but the Assyrian shall be their king, because they refused to return. . . . How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? how shall I deliver thee, Israel ? how shall I make thee as Admah ? how shall I set thee as Ze- boim.?" (Hos. xi, IS). See Israel, Kingdom of.
2. Mount EriiRAui, a mountain or group of moun- tains in Central Palestine, in the tribe of the same name, on or towards the borders of Benjamin (Josh, xvii, 15; xix, 50; xx, 7; Judg. vii, 2-1; xvii, 1; 1 Sam. ix, 4 ; 1 Kings iv, 8). From a comparison of these passages it may be collected that the name of "Mount Ephraim" was applied to the whole of the ranges and groups of hills which occujjy the central part of the southernmost border of this tribe, and which are prolonged southward into the tribe of Ben- jamin. (See above.) In the time of Joshua these hills were densely covered with trees (Josh, xvii, 18), which is l)y no means the case at present. In Jer. 1, 19, Mount Ephraim is mentioned in apposition with Bashan, on the other side of the Jordan, as a region of rich pastures, suggesting that the valleys among these mountains were Avell watered and covered with rich herbage, which is true at the present day. Joshua was buried in the border of his own inheritance in Timnath-heres, "in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash" (Judges ii, 9).