Asher was the eighth son of Yaakov and the second born to him by Zilpah, Leah's handmaid. Leah named him: "What fortune! For women will deem me fortunate" (Genesis 30:13). He is the ancestor of the tribe of Asher. His sons were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah, and their sister was Serah (Genesis 46:17). According to Sefer HaYashar, Serah was the daughter of his second wife, Hadurah, and Asher adopted her.

Yaakov blessed him with the promise of a fertile land: "Asher's bread shall be rich, and he shall yield royal dainties" (Genesis 49:20). Moshe in turn blessed him: "Most blessed of sons be Asher; may he be the favorite of his brothers, may he dip his foot in oil" (Deuteronomy 33:24). On the breastplate of the Kohen Gadol, his tribe's stone was the tarshish.

According to Yalkut Shimoni, Asher was born on 20 Shevat and died at the age of 123; the Book of Jubilees places his birth on 2 Shevat.

According to the Jerusalem Talmud, each tribe brought the bones of its ancestor up to the Land of Israel, and Sefer HaYashar relates that Naftali and Asher were buried at Kedesh Naftali, each in the portion given to his descendants. His tomb is marked today on Route 899, opposite Tel Kedesh in the Upper Galilee, next to that of his brother Naftali; the sources for this location date mainly from the 17th century. A Samaritan tradition instead places his tomb at Nabi Tuba, near Tubas in Samaria.