Zebulun

by Brad Scott

In Genesis we have the birth of Ya'aqov's (Jacob) son Zebulun.

Bere’shiyt (Genesis) 30:20And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.

Zebulun was so named because Leah now assumed that because Ya'aqav had six sons with her that he would now dwell with her. His name comes from the Hebrew word zaval (זבל), which means to prepare to dwell or settle. This name, combined with two other prophecies, gives us the meaning behind Yeshua''s command to his disciples to not go at that time to the Samaritans and the gentiles, but rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Ya'aqov's prophecy over Zebulun in Bere’shiyt 49:13 states that Zebulun was to settle at the haven (coasts) of the seas. This tribe would always be associated with ships and the sea. In Isaiah we have another prophecy concerning Zebulun.

Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 9:1-2Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

The land that Zebulun was given as a tribe is the land that lies between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. This is the land where Yeshua‘ was raised and began His ministry. The prophecy is that this would be the land in which His ministry would begin. Later we know that the disciples would be sent to Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. It was prophesied that Messiah's ministry would go first to a land in which the people dwelt in darkness, but would be first to see the great light.

Mattityahu (Matthew) 4:15-17The land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Yeshua‘ began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Shalom Alecheim! ◊