DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE DID?

Ephraim’s Daughter

Who enjoys reading the book of Numbers? Deuteronomy? How about I and II Chronicles?

List after list. Name after name. Rule after rule. It’s not where people start when they first pick up the Bible. In fact, it may take years for someone to get serious and actually read all the way through one of those books.

But that’s where I found myself one recent morning; in one of those books. Specifically, I Chronicles. And there, in that long list of male names, I read the name of a woman. What?! I read it again.

Wow! She did what?! Do you know what she did? Probably not, because even when people read I Chronicles they quickly skim through it because it’s boring and tedious. I know. I’ve done it. More than once. But there it was in Chapter 7, Verse 24.

His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Beth Horon, as well as Uzzen Sheerah. I Chronicles 7:24 NIV

Well! Who is she? Who was her father? What was the significance of these towns? Will you join me on this brief journey?

GENEOLOGY

Most likely, Sheerah’s father was Ephraim. Yes! That Ephraim, one of the sons of Joseph. Yes, Joseph the son of Israel (formerly called Jacob), the second-in-command in Egypt for a time, and the head of one of the twelve tribes.

So, Sheerah was the daughter of Ephraim, the granddaughter of Joseph, and the great-granddaughter of Israel.

Also, think about this. We know that Joseph married an Egyptian woman, Asenath. Asenath was the daughter of Potiphera, an Egyptian priest of On (a city in ancient Egypt, also known as Heliopolis). She and Joseph had two sons, Mannaseh and Ephraim (Genesis 41:45 and 50, and 46:20).

Ephraim marries – to whom we are not told – and he has several children. Sheerah is, most likely, Ephraim’s daughter. However, there is the possibility that she is the daughter of Beriah who was one of Ephraim’s sons. The specifics are a little vague, which you’ll understand if you read 1 Chronicles 7:20-26. But we learn from biblical genealogy that Sheerah was part Hebrew and part Egyptian.

LOCATION

Before Sheerah’s birth, the descendants of Israel had left Egypt and were residing near Gath which was the land of the Philistines (1 Chronicles 8:21). This land was then assigned to the tribe of Judah. To the North of Judah were the lands of Dan and Benjamin, and just a bit further North was the land allotted to Ephraim. A description of Ephraim’s land inheritance can be found in Joshua 16:4-7, Upper Beth Horon being mentioned in verse 5.

The pass between upper and lower Beth Horon was likely a transport route between Jerusalem and the sea-coast (https://www.wisdomlib.org). Archeological remnants still exist for both locations.

Not only is Sheerah credited as building these two towns or cities, but she also built Uzzen-Sheerah which appears to be on another route just west and south of Beth-horon (Lower).

Wow! I am impressed.

So, what can we do with this? We could speculate many things about who she was and her wisdom, talent and strength. How did her family raise and influence her in the culture and society of that day? We could ponder who she may have partnered with to accomplish what she did. However, I am satisfied with the given facts. She did great things which the Lord God had planned for her to do (Jeremiah 29:11, Ephesians 2:10).

God has great things for you to do as well. Women all over the world are capable of doing bold things and moving outside of socially-accepted – even self-inflicted – boundaries. Set your mind to seek and be led by the Lord. Your journey won’t always be smooth, or happen within your desired time-frame, but God will make a way for you.

Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 TLV

Here I am, doing a new thing; Now it is springing up—do you not know about it? I will surely make a way in the desert, rivers in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 TLV

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 NIV