Tribe of Asher

When Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple, Luke introduces this elderly prophetess and he gives us a detail that's easy to read right past.

She belongs to the tribe of Asher.

Asher was one of the northern tribes, one of the supposedly lost tribes.

Yet centuries after the Assyrian conquest, here she is.

worshiping in Jerusalem and recognizing the arrival of Israel's Messiah.

So how did she get there? And if Anna belongs to Asher, what exactly do we mean when we say the 10 tribes were lost? To answer that, we need to follow the story through two kingdoms, two exiles, and a community you know from the ministry of Jesus, the Samaritans.

We'll also hear from Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, who has something surprising to say about where the ten tribes were in his own day.

Because the disappearance of a kingdom and the disappearance of its people are two completely different things.

And what does the New Testament say about this? In the New Testament, there are several references to individuals from different tribes of Israel who do not belong to the tribe of Judah.

A clear example of this appears in the Gospel of Luke, chapter two, verse thirty-six, which mentions Anna, a prophetess from the tribe of Asher.

Furthermore, we can mention the tribe of Benjamin, of which the Apostle Paul, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus, is one of the most well-known representatives.

Although there are other passages in the New Testament that mention various tribes, I bring up these two as examples to show that the Israelites did not disappear completely.

Listen to what Judges 1 says about this place called Tyre.

Asher, that is the tribe, Asher failed to drive out the residents of Sidon.

The Asherites lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land because they failed to drive them out.

And then a couple verses later, listen to the angel addressing Israel.

This is from Judges 2, 1 through 3.

This is Luke chapter 2, starting at verse 36.

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Penuel of the tribe of Asher.

She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin.

And then as a widow until she was 84, she did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer night and day.

She's an unexpected prophetess.

Secondly, she's from an unexpected family.

It says in verse 36 that she was the daughter of Panniel, of the tribe of Asher.

Now, this is interesting because many thought that the tribe of Asher had been completely lost, Asher being one of the 12 tribes.

The present Israel-Lebanon border is not some ancient sacred boundary.

The Bible itself describes the inheritance of the Tribe of Asher extending northward toward what is today Lebanon.

Joshua 19:28 describes Asher's territory reaching, quote, "As far as Greater Sidon." Look where that is on the map of Lebanon today.

And the very next wor- verse takes its boundary to, quote, "The fortified city of Tyre." Look where that is on the map today.

Judges 1:31 again lists Sidon among the places associated with Asher's allotted territory.

Then the Tribe of Naphtali's inheritance laid directly to Asher's east.

Joshua chapter 19 describes Naphtali as bordering Asher on the west, while biblical geography scholarship has interpreted its northern extent as reaching into the great valley between the Lebanon ranges, right? The Jewish people, we were historically in Lebanon.

And Jewish presence there did not simply disappear with the biblical period.