NAPHISH

(Naʹphish) [perhaps, refresher].

The eleventh listed of Ishmael’s twelve sons. (Gen. 25:13-16; 1 Chron. 1:29-31) As chieftain he also headed an Ishmaelite tribe that took his name and presumably resided in territory bordering on the E or NE frontier of the Promised Land. In the days of Saul the Israelite tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh living E of the Jordan successfully made war on the Hagrites and their confederates, including the tribe of Naphish, and captured a great quantity of livestock and people. (1 Chron. 5:10, 18-22) It is possible, as some scholars suggest, that these Naphish captives were put to work as Nethinim slaves of the sanctuary, and that after the return from Babylonian exile their descendants were called the sons of Nephushesim or Nephusim.—Neh. 7:46, 52; Ezra 2:43, 50.