- EPHPHATHA the Greek form of a Syro-Chaldaic or Aramaic word,
meaning “Be opened,” uttered by Christ when healing the man who was
deaf and dumb (Mark 7:34). It is one of the characteristics of Mark that he
uses the very Aramaic words which fell from our Lord’s lips. (See 3:17;
5:41; 7:11; 14:36; 15:34.) - EPHRAIM double fruitfulness (“for God had made him fruitful in the
land of his affliction”). The second son of Joseph, born in Egypt (Genesis
41:52; 46:20). The first incident recorded regarding him is his being placed,
along with his brother Manasseh, before their grandfather, Jacob, that he
might bless them (48:10; comp. 27:1). The intention of Joseph was that
the right hand of the aged patriarch should be placed on the head of the
elder of the two; but Jacob set Ephraim the younger before his brother,
“guiding his hands wittingly.” Before Joseph’s death, Ephraim’s family
had reached the third generation (Genesis 50:23). - EPHRAIM, GATE OF one of the gates of Jerusalem (2 Kings 14:13; 2
Chronicles 25:23), on the side of the city looking toward Ephraim, the
north side. - EPHRAIM IN THE WILDERNESS (John 11: 54), a town to which our
Lord retired with his disciples after he had raised Lazarus, and when the
priests were conspiring against him. It lay in the wild, uncultivated
hill-country to the north-east of Jerusalem, betwen the central towns and
the Jordan valley. - EPHRAIM, MOUNT the central mountainous district of Palestine
occupied by the tribe of Ephraim (Joshua 17:15; 19:50; 20:7), extending
from Bethel to the plain of Jezreel. In Joshua’s time (Joshua 17:18) these
hills were densely wooded. They were intersected by well-watered, fertile
valleys, referred to in Jeremiah 50:19. Joshua was buried at Timnath-heres
among the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash
(Judges 2:9). This region is also called the “mountains of Israel” (Joshua
11:21) and the “mountains of Samaria” (Jeremiah 31:5, 6: Amos 3:9). - EPHRAIM, THE TRIBE OF took precedence over that of Manasseh by
virtue of Jacob’s blessing (Genesis 41:52; 48:1). The descendants of
Joseph formed two of the tribes of Israel, whereas each of the other sons
of Jacob was the founder of only one tribe. Thus there were in reality
thirteen tribes; but the number twelve was preserved by excluding that of
kiana
(Kiana)
#1