Naphtali (sources)

Survey of sources on Naphtali

Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs

Testament of Judah

T. Judah 25:2 -- And the Lord will bless Levi; and the Angel of the presence, me; the powers of glory, Simeon; the heaven, Reuben; the earth, Issachar; the sea, Zebulon; the mountains, Joseph; the tabernacle, Benjamin; the stars, Dan; indulgence, Naphtali; the sun, Gad; the olive tree, Asher.

Joseph and Aseneth

25:5 -- And Naphtali and Asher said to Dan and Gad: "Why must you plot again against our father Israel and against our brother Joseph? For God looks after him as if he were the apple of his eye.

Jubilees

33:22 -- And these were the names of the sons of Jacob: the first-born Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, the sons of Leah; and the sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin; and the sons of Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali; and the sons of Zilpah, Gad and Asher; and Dinah, the daughter of Leah, the only daughter of Jacob.

38:5 -- And Judah went forth in front, and Naphtali and Gad with him and fifty servants with him on the south side of the tower, and they slew all they found before them, and not one individual of them escaped.

44:26 -- And the sons of Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, whom she bare to Jacob, were Dan and Naphtali.

44:30 -- And these are the names of the sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, and 'Îv. 31 And 'Îv, who was born after the years of famine, died in Egypt.

Philo

Som. 2:36 -- Napthali is a symbol of peace, for all things are opened and extended by peace, as on the other hand they are closed by war; and his name being interpreted means, "widening," or "that which is opened."

Josephus

Ant. 2:181 -- He [Joseph] had, besides, by Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel, Dan and Naphtali; which last had four sons that followed him--Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

Hippolytus

Fragment on Genesis

Gen. 49:21-26 -- Nephthalim is a slender thing, showing beauty in the shoot... And he (Naphtali) is adopted as a figure of things pertaining to us, as the Gospel shows: “The land of Zabulun, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan,” etc.; and, “To them that sat in darkness light has arisen.” And what other light was this but the calling of the Gentiles, which is the trunk, i.e., the tree of the Lord, in whom engrafted it bears fruit?