At the time of the descent of Jacob into Egypt, Zeb- ulun had three sons — Sered, Elon, and Jahlecl (Gen. xlvi. 14) — who became the founders of the three great families into which the tribe was divided (Numb, xxvi, 26). Though the first generation was so small, this tribe ranked fourth in nmnbers among the twelve, when the census was taken at Mount Sinai, in the year of the Exode; Judah, Dan, and Simeon being more numerous. During the wilderne.ss journey it increased from 57,400 males to 60,500 ; but it held just the same relative place among the twelve — Judah, Dan, and Issachar being be- fore it when the census was made on the plains of Moab (ver. 27).
History is almost as silent regarding the acts of the tribe during the long period of Egyptian bondage and the desert march as it is regarding the patriarch Zebu- lun himself. During the journey from Egypt to Pales- tine, the tribe of Zebulun formed one of the first camp, with Judah and Issachar (also sons of Leah), marching under the standard of Judah. T.he head of the tribe at Sinai was Eliab son of Ilelon (Numb, vii, 24); at Shi- loh, Elizaphan son of Parnach (xxxiv, 25). Its repre- sentative among the spies was Gaddiel son of Sodi (xiii, 10). The only point worthy of note previous to its set- tlement in Palestine is the fact that, on the solemn proc- lamation of the law, Zebulun was among the six tribes stationed on Mount Ebal to pronounce the curses (Deut. xxvii, 13).
The position and physical character of Zcbulun's des- tined territory in the Land of Promise had been sketch- ed in the prophetic blessings of Jacob and Closes. Look- ing <lown into a far-distant age, Jacob exclaimed, as his son stood by his bedside, " Zebulun shall dwell on the shore (rjin, choph, a cove, the modern Haifa) of seas; and he shall be for a shore of ships; and his side will be to Zidon" (Gen. xlix, 13). Though If^sachar was an elder brother, Jacob seems to have already noticed and acknowledged the political superiority of Zebulun by placiiig him first in order. This superiority was after- wards more fully displayed in the blessing of Moses,
ZEBULUN
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ZEBULUN
which, though embracing both tribes, appears as if ad- liressed to Zebiikm alone — " And of Zebulun he said, Ivejoice, Zebuhui, in thy going out ; and, Issachar, in thy tents. They shall call the people unto tiie mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness; for they shall suck of the abmidance of tlic seas, and of treasures hid in the sand" (Deut. xxxiii, 18, 19). Zeb- uhui's territory was one of the richest and most beauti- ful sections of Western Palestine. Its allotment was the third of the second distribution (Josh, xix, 10). Joshua defines its borders with his usual miiuiteness, though, in consequence of the disajjpearance of many old cities, it cannot now be entirely identified. Its po- sition, however, and general extent, are clear enough. Asher and Naphtali bounded it on the north, and Issa- char on the south. It stretched nearly across the coun- try from the Sea of (ialilee on the east, to the maritime plain of Phcenicia on the west; embracing a strip of Es- draelon, a little of the plain of Akka, the whole of the rich upland plain of Battauf (equal in fertility, and al- most equal in extent, to that of Jezreel, and with the immense advantage of not being, as that was, the high- road of the Bedawin): with a part of the fertile table- land between it and the great basin of the Sea of (iali- lee ; and, last, not least, it included sites so strongly for- tified by nature that in the later struggles of the nation they proved more impregnable than any in the whole countrj'. The sacred vicinity of Tabor, Zebulun ap- pears to have shared with Issachar (Deut. xxxiii, 19), and it and Kimmon were allotted to the Merarite Le- vites (1 Chron. vi, 77). The beautiful wooded hills and ridges extending from Tabor, by Nazareth and Sefiiri- yeh, to the plain of Akka, were also in Zebidun. It touched Carmel on the south-west; and though it did not actually reach to the shore of the Mediterranean, its sides joined the narrow maritime territory of Phoenicia, to which Jacob, according to common Eastern custom, gives the naine of its chief city, Zidon — "And his side (T!"!'^, thigh, i. e. flank) will be to Zidon." Its opposite extremit}' resting on the shore of the Sea of (ialilee, the words of Jacob were fulfilled : " Zebulun shall dwell on the coast of seas." His fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, and his merchants navigating the INIediterranean, in company with their Phoenician neighbors, illustrate re- markably the other blessings : '• He shall be for a shore of ships;" '-he shall rejoice in his goings out." Pos- sessing thus a rich agricultural country, abundance of wood, and an outlet for commercial enterprise, both in the jMediterrauean and in the Sea of Galilee, the future state and history of Zebulun were influenced and mould- ed by external circumstances. The four Northern tribes — Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, and Naphtali — were in a great measure isolated from their brethren. The plain of Esdraelon, almost unceasingly swept b)' the incur- sions of hostile nations, separated them from Ephraim and Judah; while the deep Jordan valley formed a bar- rier on the east. Isolation from their brethren, and their peculiar position, threw them into closer inter- course with their Gentile neighbors — the old momUain- eers whom they were never able entirely to expel (Judg. i, 30), and especially the commercial Phoenicians. Their national exclusiveness was thus considerably modified ; their manners and customs were changed ; their lan- guage gradually assumed a foreign tone and accent (Matt, xxvi, 73); and even their religion lost much of its original purity (2 Chron. xxx, 10, 18). "Galilee of the Gentiles" and its degenerate inhabitants came at length to be regarded with distrust and scorn by the haughty people of Judah (Isa. ix, 1; Matt, iv, 15; xxvi, 73).