Tribe of Asher

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Image:1695 Eretz Israel map in Amsterdam Haggada by Abraham Bar-Jacob.jpg Tribes of Israel
The Tribes Reuben Simeon Levi Judah Dan Naphtali Gad Asher Issachar Zebulun Joseph Manasseh Ephraim Benjamin
Topics Children of Israel Ten Lost Tribes
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The Tribe of Asher (אָשֵׁר "happy", Standard Hebrew Ašer, Tiberian Hebrew ʼĀšēr) is one of the Hebrew tribes, founded by Asher the eighth son of Jacob. Asher, his four sons and a daughter, settled in Egypt.

1 Background
- 1.1 Sea Peoples
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Background

The tribe may be the same as the Weshesh mentioned in Egyptian accounts (the W of Weshesh is a modern invention for ease of pronunciation: the Egyptian records containing mention of the group refer to Uashesh).

[edit] Sea Peoples

The Sea Peoples were known for contributing to the collapse of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia around 1200 BC, and continuing rapidly along the Mediterranean coast into Canaan, as well as for attacking Egypt around the same time, from apparent bases in Libya and Cyprus. There has been much speculation on their origins and affinities, with some theorists suggesting other correspondences between them and the twelve tribes of Israel.

Aside from the Weshesh (thus identified with Asher according to this theory), the Sea Peoples also included, among others, the Peleset (the Philistines), Danua (possibly Dan), Tjekker (similarly hypothesized to mean of Acco, and thus may refer to Manessah), and Shekelesh (thought to refer to Issachar).

Most modern scholars agree that the Peleset were the Philistines, and think that the other 'Sea Peoples' were predominantly of Mediterranean origin, although the Egyptians did depict them as being circumcised.