NAPHTALI  , in the

Bible, the name of an Israelite tribe, the " son " of Jacob by Bilhah, Rachel's maid, and the uterine brother of Dan (Gen. xxx . 8) . It lay to the south of Dan in the eastern half of upper Galilee (Josh. xix . 32-39), a fertile mountainous district (cf . Gen. xlix . 21; Dent. xxxiii . 23), open to the surrounding influences of Phoenicia and Aram . Apart from its share in the war against Sisera (Judg. iv. seq., see DEBORAH), little is known of it . It evidently suffered in the bloody conflicts of Damascus with Israel (I Kings xv . 2o), and was depopulated by Tiglath-Pileser IV . (2 Kings xv . 29; Isa. ix .

I) . ' Naphtali and Dan are "

brothers," perhaps partly on geographical grounds, but Dan also had a seat in the south (south-west of Ephraim), and the name of the " mother " Bilhah is apparently connected with Bilhan, an Edomite and also a Benjamite name (Gen. xxxvi . 27; I Chron. vii. so) . For the view connecting Naphtali (perhaps a geographical rather than a tribal term), or rather its Israelite inhabitants, with the south see the full discussion by H . W . Hogg, Ency . Bib. iii. col . 3332 sqq• with references .