Naphtali, Tribe of

The tribe of Naphtali, descended from Jacob's sixth son, received territory in the northernmost region of Canaan bordering Asher, Zebulun, and Issachar to the south and west, and Syria to the north (Josh. 19:32–39). In the census at Sinai they numbered 53,400 fighting men (Num. 1:42–43). Barak, the general who led Israel against Sisera under Deborah's direction, was from Naphtali (Judg. 4:6), as was Naphtali's primary contribution to that campaign (Judg. 5:18). The territory was the first to be carried into captivity by Tiglath-pileser of Assyria (2 Kgs. 15:29), fulfilling the "way of the sea" geography of Isaiah 9:1 that Jesus' Galilean ministry would later illuminate (Matt. 4:15).