ASER (Heb. ’āšēr—happy).—1. Eighth son of Jacob, born in Mesopotamia after Gad, by Zelfa, Lia’s maidservant.
Gen. 30:13 explains his name with Lia’s words: “In my happiness, yes, women will call me happy!” He had four sons: Jamne, Jesua, Jessui, and Beria, besides his daughter Sara (Gen. 46:17; I Par. 7:30). The account of the fortunes of Jacob’s family never mentions A.; Jacob’s blessing (Gen. 49:20) assigns agricultural prosperity to his descendants (“excellent bread and oil in abundance”).
2. Like the other sons of Jacob, A. gave his name to one of the twelve tribes of Israel. This tribe, which appears in the lists of the various censuses with a number first of 41,500 (Num. 1:41), then of 53,400 (Num. 26:47) men, never exercised much influence in the history of the Hebrew people and is therefore rarely mentioned (Iudc. 5:17; 7:23; I Par. 12:36; I Reg. 4:6). Its territory occupied north-western Palestine, from Carmel (included) to Phoenicia, that is, the western slope of the hills descending from the foothills of Lebanon to the plain of Esdrelon; it was bounded (Ios. 19:24-31) on the north by the Nahr el-Qasimijch (the boundary of Tyre), on the west it extended along the Mediterranean coast as far as the river Labanath (today Nahr ez-Zerqa’), while to the east a line of Galilean hills separated A. from the tribes of Zabulon and Neftali. Of the 22 cities listed by Ios., few have been archaeologically identified. The prophetess Anna belonged to the tribe of A. (Lc. 2:36).
3. Border city of the tribe of Manasse (Ios. 17:7), probably modern Teiasir, “on the road from Neapolis to Scythopolis” (St. Jerome, L. de situ et nomin. locorum hebr.; PL 23, 871), 15 miles (approximately 22 km) north of Nablus. Angelo Penna