Asher

Asher was, according to the Book of Genesis, the eighth son of the patriarch Jacob and the second son of Zilpah, the maidservant of Leah. From him comes the tribe of Asher, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Church remembers him among the holy patriarchs and forefathers of the Lord, on the Sundays before the Nativity.

Birth and name

Leah had given Zilpah to Jacob so that she might bear children for him. Zilpah's first son was Gad and her second was Asher. At his birth Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy," and named him Asher (Genesis 30:12-13). The name means "happy" or "blessed" in Hebrew.

His family

Asher had four sons, Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah, and a daughter, Serah. The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel. Serah is the only granddaughter of Jacob named in the list of those who went down to Egypt (Genesis 46:17). Asher went down into Egypt with Jacob and his brothers.

The blessings

On his deathbed Jacob said of Asher: "His bread shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies" (Genesis 49:20). Moses blessed the tribe: "Most blessed of sons be Asher; let him be the favoured of his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil. Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be" (Deuteronomy 33:24-25). The words point to a fertile land, rich in olive trees.

The tribe of Asher

At the census in the wilderness of Sinai the tribe counted 41,500 men able to bear arms, and at the second census 53,400. When Canaan was divided, the tribe received the north-⁠western part, toward the sea, from the region of Carmel toward Sidon. The Book of Judges says that the tribe did not drive out the inhabitants of cities such as Acco and Sidon, so that the Asherites lived among the Canaanites (Judges 1:31-32). In the Song of Deborah, Asher is rebuked for staying on the seashore and not joining the battle (Judges 5:17).

In the New Testament the prophetess Anna, who spoke of the Child Jesus in the Temple, was "the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher" (Luke 2:36). In Revelation (7:6), twelve thousand of the tribe of Asher are sealed.

Veneration

Asher is remembered with the other patriarchs on the Sundays before the Nativity of the Lord. Scripture says nothing about the end of his life.