1 Chronicles 7:13

The sons of Naphtali . In an order quite different from the otherwise parallel passages ( Genesis 46:24 ; Numbers 26:48-50 ), the tribe of Naphtali is taken. Naphtali was the second son of Rachel's handmaid Bilhah, and in order of birth the fifth sen of Jacob, and was of course more closely allied to Dan, Ephraim, and Benjamin. The family was distinguished for its spirit throughout its history. At the Sinai census it numbered fifty-three thousand four hundred fighting men ( Numbers 1:42 , Numbers 1:43 ); but at the close of the wanderings through the wilderness its numbers had become only forty-five thousand four hundred. Its territory in the north, largely mountainous, bounded by Asher, Zebulun, and Manasseh, was some of the finest, and covered the district afterwards called Galilee, "the cradle of the Christian faith, the native place of most of the apostles, and the home of our Lord" (Grove). The slight difference in the spelling of Jahziel in Genesis, and of Shallum in Numbers, may be noticed. The following are interesting references to Naphtali in one or another portion of its history: — Deuteronomy 33:23 ; Joshua 20:7 ; Joshua 21:32 ; 1:33 ; 5:18 ; 1 Chronicles 27:19 ; Ezekiel 48:3 , Ezekiel 48:4 , Ezekiel 48:34 ; Matthew 4:15 ; Revelation 7:6 . It played a considerable and prominent part also in the conflicts with Titus and Vespasian, when the days of Jerusalem were numbered.