ASHER
(ash' uhr) HEBREW: ASER
"happy one"
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The eighth son of Jacob, Asher was the second born to Zilpah, also the mother of Gad. Since Zilpah was the slave of Leah, Jacob's older wife named the woman's son with the exclamation, "Happy am I! For the women will call me happy" (Gen. 30:13). Besides being "happy," the name Aher is also the masculine form of the name of the goddess Asherah.
Asher was born in Paddan-aram while Jacob was laboring for his father-in-law, Laban. For good and ill, he shared the life of Jacob's growing clan, never separating from his father's family. By the time the clan migrated to Egypt, Asher had four adult sons and a daughter. When the nation of Israel returned to Canaan, the tribe of Asher settled in western Galilee.
{E2 Dictionary of Biblical People}