Manasseh
MANASSEH
1. The eldest son of Joseph, born in Egypt. His descendants constituted a full tribe. This was divided in the promised land: one part having settled east of the Jordan, in the country of Bashan, from the river Jabbok northwards; and the other west of the Jordan, between Ephraim and Issachar, extending from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. It was far inferior to Ephraim in wealth and power, according to the prediction of Jacob, Gen 41:50,51 48:1-22 Jos 16:10 .2. The son and impious successor of the good Hezekiah, king of Judah. He began to reign at twelve years old, B. C. 698, and reigned fifty-five years. For his shocking idolatries, tyranny, and cruelties, God suffered him to be carried as a prisoner to Babylon in the twenty-second year of his reign, probably by Esarhaddon king of Assyria. Here, however, he so humbled himself that God moved the Assyrians to restore him to his throne, as a tributary; and thenceforth he set himself to undo the evil he had done. He abolished the idols he had worshipped and the diviners he had consulted; accomplished many reforms for the spiritual and material good of his kingdom; repaired the defenses of Jerusalem, enclosing with Ophel on the southeast; and strengthened the walled cities of Judah. After a reign longer than that of any other king of Judah, he died in peace and was buried in Jerusalem, 2Ki 21:1-26 2Ch 33:24 .
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Manasseh
See Tribes.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Manasseh
(Heb. Menahssheh’, , who makes to forget; see Gen 41:51; Sept., Josephus, and N.T. ; Manasses in Mat 1:10; Rev 7:6), the name of four men and of a tribe descended from one of them; also of another man mentioned by Josephus.
1. The elder of the two sons of Joseph, born in Egypt (Gen 41:51; Gen 46:20) of Asenath, the priest’s daughter of Heliopolis. B.C. 1882. He was afterwards, together with his brother, adopted by Jacob as his own (Gen 48:1), by which act each became the head of a tribe in Israel. B.C. 1856. SEE JACOB.
The act of adoption was, however, accompanied by a clear intimation from Jacob that the descendants of Manasseh, although the elder, would be far less numerous and powerful than those of the younger Ephraim. The result corresponded remarkably with this intimation. SEE EPHRAIM.
He married a Syrian concubine, by whom he had several children (1Ch 7:14). SEE MACHIR. The only thing subsequently recorded of him personally is that his grandchildren were brought up on Joseph’s knees (Gen 1:23). The ancient Jewish traditions are, however, less reticent. According to them Manasseh was the steward of Joseph’s house, and the interpreter who intervened between Joseph and his brethren at their interview; and the extraordinary strength which he displayed in the struggle with and binding of Simeon first caused Judah to suspect that the apparent Egyptians were really his own flesh and blood (see Targums Jerusalem and Pseudojon. on Gen 42:23; Gen 43:15; also the quotations in Weil’s Bibl. Legends, p. 88, note).’
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Manasseh
who makes to forget. “God hath made me forget” (Heb. nashshani), Gen. 41:51. (1.) The elder of the two sons of Joseph. He and his brother Ephraim were afterwards adopted by Jacob as his own sons (48:1). There is an account of his marriage to a Syrian (1 Chr. 7:14); and the only thing afterwards recorded of him is, that his grandchildren were “brought up upon Joseph’s knees” (Gen. 50:23; R.V., “born upon Joseph’s knees”) i.e., were from their birth adopted by Joseph as his own children.
The tribe of Manasseh was associated with that of Ephraim and Benjamin during the wanderings in the wilderness. They encamped on the west side of the tabernacle. According to the census taken at Sinai, this tribe then numbered 32,200 (Num. 1:10, 35; 2:20, 21). Forty years afterwards its numbers had increased to 52,700 (26:34, 37), and it was at this time the most distinguished of all the tribes.
The half of this tribe, along with Reuben and Gad, had their territory assigned them by Moses on the east of the Jordan (Josh. 13:7-14); but it was left for Joshua to define the limits of each tribe. This territory on the east of Jordan was more valuable and of larger extent than all that was allotted to the nine and a half tribes in the land of Palestine. It is sometimes called “the land of Gilead,” and is also spoken of as “on the other side of Jordan.” The portion given to the half tribe of Manasseh was the largest on the east of Jordan. It embraced the whole of Bashan. It was bounded on the south by Mahanaim, and extended north to the foot of Lebanon. Argob, with its sixty cities, that “ocean of basaltic rocks and boulders tossed about in the wildest confusion,” lay in the midst of this territory.
The whole “land of Gilead” having been conquered, the two and a half tribes left their wives and families in the fortified cities there, and accompanied the other tribes across the Jordan, and took part with them in the wars of conquest. The allotment of the land having been completed, Joshua dismissed the two and a half tribes, commending them for their heroic service (Josh. 22:1-34). Thus dismissed, they returned over Jordan to their own inheritance. (See ED)
On the west of Jordan the other half of the tribe of Manasseh was associated with Ephraim, and they had their portion in the very centre of Palestine, an area of about 1,300 square miles, the most valuable part of the whole country, abounding in springs of water. Manasseh’s portion was immediately to the north of that of Ephraim (Josh. 16). Thus the western Manasseh defended the passes of Esdraelon as the eastern kept the passes of the Hauran.
(2.) The only son and successor of Hezekiah on the throne of Judah. He was twelve years old when he began to reign (2 Kings 21:1), and he reigned fifty-five years (B.C. 698-643). Though he reigned so long, yet comparatively little is known of this king. His reign was a continuation of that of Ahaz, both in religion and national polity. He early fell under the influence of the heathen court circle, and his reign was characterized by a sad relapse into idolatry with all its vices, showing that the reformation under his father had been to a large extent only superficial (Isa. 7:10; 2 Kings 21:10-15). A systematic and persistent attempt was made, and all too successfully, to banish the worship of Jehovah out of the land. Amid this wide-spread idolatry there were not wanting, however, faithful prophets (Isaiah, Micah) who lifted up their voice in reproof and in warning. But their fidelity only aroused bitter hatred, and a period of cruel persecution against all the friends of the old religion began. “The days of Alva in Holland, of Charles IX. in France, or of the Covenanters under Charles II. in Scotland, were anticipated in the Jewish capital. The streets were red with blood.” There is an old Jewish tradition that Isaiah was put to death at this time (2 Kings 21:16; 24:3, 4; Jer. 2:30), having been sawn asunder in the trunk of a tree. Psalms 49, 73, 77, 140, and 141 See m to express the feelings of the pious amid the fiery trials of this great persecution. Manasseh has been called the “Nero of Palestine.”
Esarhaddon, Sennacherib’s successor on the Assyrian throne, who had his residence in Babylon for thirteen years (the only Assyrian monarch who ever reigned in Babylon), took Manasseh prisoner (B.C. 681) to Babylon. Such captive kings were usually treated with great cruelty. They were brought before the conqueror with a hook or ring passed through their lips or their jaws, having a cord attached to it, by which they were led. This is referred to in 2 Chr. 33:11, where the Authorized Version reads that Esarhaddon “took Manasseh among the thorns;” while the Revised Version renders the words, “took Manasseh in chains;” or literally, as in the margin, “with hooks.” (Comp. 2 Kings 19:28.)
The severity of Manasseh’s imprisonment brought him to repentance. God heard his cry, and he was restored to his kingdom (2 Chr. 33:11-13). He abandoned his idolatrous ways, and enjoined the people to worship Jehovah; but there was no thorough reformation. After a lengthened reign extending through fifty-five years, the longest in the history of Judah, he died, and was buried in the garden of Uzza, the “garden of his own house” (2 Kings 21:17, 18; 2 Chr. 33:20), and not in the city of David, among his ancestors. He was succeeded by his son Amon.
In Judg. 18:30 the correct reading is “Moses,” and not “Manasseh.” The name “Manasseh” is supposed to have been introduced by some transcriber to avoid the scandal of naming the grandson of Moses the great lawgiver as the founder of an idolatrous religion.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Manasseh (1)
(“causing to forget”.) Joseph’s firstborn by Asenath, whose birth “made him forget all his toil and all (the sorrow he endured through) his father’s house” (Gen 41:51). Jacob adopted them as his own, though “horn in Egypt” and by an alien to Israel (Gen 48:5; Gen 48:9); “as Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine,” i.e. patriarchal heads of tribes, as Jacob’s immediate sons were; Manasseh and Ephraim gave their names to separate tribes. Joseph had the portion of the firstborn by having the double portion, i.e. two tribal divisions assigned to his sons (1Ch 5:1-2; compare Deu 21:17). When Joseph took Ephraim in his right toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left toward Israel’s right hand, Israel put his right upon Ephraim the younger, and his left upon Manasseh wittingly, notwithstanding Joseph’s remonstrance. Their name should be a formula of blessing, “God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh,” and they should “grow as fish do increase” (a natural image near the fish abounding Nile): Gen 48:16; Gen 48:20.
The term “thousands” is especially applied to Manasseh (Deu 33:17; Jdg 6:15 margin.) Manasseh’s son by an Aramitess (Syrian) concubine, Machir, had children “borne upon Joseph’s knees” (Gen 50:23), i.e. adopted as his from their birth. Manasseh, Ephraim, and Benjamin, the three sprung from Rachel, marched W. of the tabernacle. Moses in his last blessing (Deu 33:13-17) gives Joseph (i.e. Ephraim and Manasseh) the “precious things of the earth” by “the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush, “in contrast to Joseph’s past “separation from his brethren,” his horns like the two of the wild bull (not “unicorn”), namely, “the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh shall push,” etc. At Sinai Manasseh numbered 32,200 (Num 1:10; Num 1:35; Num 2:20-21; Num 7:54-59), Ephraim 40,500. But 40 years later, at Jordan, Manasseh 52,700, Ephraim 32,590 (Num 26:34-37).
Manasseh here resumes his place as firstborn (his having two portions of Canaan, one on each side of Jordan, being also a kind of privilege of the firstborn), probably as having been foremost in the conquest of Gilead, the most impregnable portion of Palestine, as Lejah (asylum) the modern name of Argob implies; their inheritance was northern Gilead, Argob, and Bashan (Num 32:39-42; Deu 3:4; Deu 3:13-15; Jos 17:1). Gideon, the greatest of the judges, and one whose son all but established hereditary monarchy in their line, and Jephthah, were samples of their warriors. They advanced from Bashan northwards to the base of Mount Hermon (1Ch 5:23). When David was crowned at Hebron western Manasseh sent 18,000, eastern Manasseh with Gad and Reuben 120,000 armed men (1Ch 12:31; 1Ch 12:37). Moreover, a prince of each of the two sections of Manasseh stands on a level with the princes of entire tribes (1Ch 27:20-21).
But because of apostasy from the God of their fathers to the gods of the people whom He destroyed before them, Manasseh was first cut short by the Syrian Hazael (2Ki 10:32), then God stirred up the spirit of Pul and of Tiglath Pileser of Assyria to carry the eastern half of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad captives to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan (1Ch 5:25-26). Manasseh failed to occupy all the territory assigned to them. “Geshur and Aram (Syria) took the 23 towns of Jair and the 37 of Kenath and her daughters, 60 in all, from them”; so 1Ch 2:23 ought to be translated In Jdg 10:4 we find Jair the judge in possession of 30 of them, recovered from the enemy. Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh successfully warred with and dispossessed the Hagarites with Jetar, Nephish, and Nodab (1Ch 5:18-22). The western half of Manasseh failed for long to dispossess completely the Canaanites (Jdg 1:27; Jos 17:11-12).
On their complaining that but one portion had been allotted to them, and that the Canaanite chariots prevented their occupying the Esdraelon and Jordan plains, Joshua advised them to go into the wooded mountain, probably Carmel. Accordingly their towns Taanach, Megiddo, Ibleam, and Endor are in the region of Carmel, within the allotments of other tribes. Bethshean was in the hollow of the Ghor or Jordan valley, the connecting point between the eastern and the western Manasseh. Kerr shows that the land of Manasseh, instead of crossing the country from E. to W., occupied only half that space, and lay along the sea to the W., bounded on the E. by the range of Mount Carmel.
Jos 17:7 defines its coast. En Tappuah is Atuf. The town was given to Ephraim, the land N. of it was Manasseh’s. Conder thinks that Asher was separated from Manasseh by Zebulun, and that the Asher in Jos 17:10 is Asherham-Michmethah (now Es Sireh) at the N.W. corner of Ephraim. Issachar lay to the E. of Ephraim and Manasseh, along the entire line of the Jordan, from the sea of Chinneroth to the wady Kelt not far from the Salt Sea: thus it was a triangle, its apex at Jericho, its base N. of the Jezreel plain (Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement, January, 1877, p. 41-50). In the declension of the nation Isaiah (Isa 9:20-21) foretells that the two sons of Joseph, once so intimately united, should be rent into factions thirsting for one another’s blood, “they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm, Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and they together against Judah.”
After the fall of the ten tribes, Psalm 80 expresses Judah’s prayer of sympathy for her sister: “give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock. … Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh (advancing at their head, as formerly in the pillar of cloud in the wilderness) … come and save us.” The book of Numbers (Num 2:17-24) represents these three kindred tribes together marching after the ark; so in the Psalms. Many out of Manasseh were among the penitents coming southwards to Judah, and joining in the spiritual revivals under Asa (2Ch 15:9), Hezekiah (2Ch 30:1; 2Ch 30:10-11; 2Ch 30:18; 2Ch 31:1), and Josiah (2Ch 34:6-9).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Manasseh (2)
1. Jdg 18:30. Father of Gershom and grandfather of the Levite Jonathan, priest of the Danite graven image taken from Micah. So the Masoretic text but with the Hebrew letter nun (n) of “Ma-n-asseh” suspended above. The true reading is “Moses.” The Talmud (Baba Bathr. f. 109 b.) conjecturing says: “because he did the deeds of Manasseh (2 Kings 21), Hezekiah’s idolatrous son, who also made the graven image in the temple, Scripture assigns him (Jonathan) to the family of Manasseh though he was a son of Moses.”
So Rabbabar bar Channa says: “the sacred author avoided calling Gershom son of Moses because it would have been ignominious to Moses to have had an ungodly son; he calls him son of Manasseh raising the Nun ( ) above the line that it might be either inserted or omitted … to show that he was son of Manasseh in impiety, of Moses by descent.” Jonathan was probably grandson (as “son” often means, or descendant) of Gershom, for the son of Gershom was not a “young man” (Jdg 17:7) but old shortly after the death of Joshua, the earliest date of the last five chapters of Judges, which no doubt refer to earlier events than those after which they are placed. (See JUDGES.)
2. Ezr 10:30.
3. Ezr 10:33.
4. The son born to Hezekiah, subsequently to that severe sickness in which the king’s bitterest sorrow was that he was likely to die without leaving an heir. His birth was 12 years before Hezekiah’s death, 710 B.C. (2Ki 21:1; 2Ki 20:3; in 2Ki 20:18 Isaiah spoke of Hezekiah’s children as yet to be born.) His mother Hephzibah was probably a godly woman (compare Isa 62:4-5), daughter of one of the princes at Jerusalem (Josephus, Ant. 10:3, sec. 1). (See HEPHZIBAH.) Isaiah made her name (“my delight is in her”) a type of Jerusalem, as Hezekiah was type of Messiah (Isa 32:1). The name “Manasseh” embodied Hezekiah’s cherished policy to take advantage of Shalmaneser’s overthrow of the rival northern kingdom, and gather round him the remnant left and attach them to the one national divinely sanctioned worship at Jerusalem (2Ch 30:6).
His proclamation had the desired effect upon “divers of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun” (2Ch 30:18; 2Ch 31:1); they came to the Passover at Jerusalem, and joined in breaking the idols in their own country. The name Manasseh (“forgetting”) given to the heir of the throne was a pledge of amnesty of past discords between Israel and Judah, and a bond of union between his crown and the northern people, a leading tribe of whom bore the name. Manasseh’s reign was the longest of the reigns of Judah’s kings, 55 years (2Ki 21:1-18; 2Ch 33:1-20). Hezekiah had allied himself with Babylon against Assyria, toward the close of his reign, and had displayed his treasures to show his power to the Babylonian ambassadors (2Ki 20:12-19; Isaiah 39; 2Ch 32:31). Manasseh inherited this legacy of ambition and close union with Babylon which Isaiah condemned. Then the idolatry which had been checked, not stifled (Isa 65:3-4), in Hezekiah’s reign broke out again.
The abominations of various lands, especially of Babylon, were brought together at Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 33), “altars for Baalim, “groves” (asheerot), and altars for the host of heaven, in the two courts of the Lord’s house.” “He caused too his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom,” the old Moloch worship of Ammon; and in imitation of the Babylonians “observed times, enchantments, witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit and wizards.” A religion of sensuous intoxication reigned on all sides. He made a graven image of the Asheerah (“grove”, the obscene symbol of the phallic worship), for which women dedicated to impurity wove hangings in Jehovah’s house! (2Ki 21:7.) Sodomites’ (qedeeshim), “consecrated men”) houses stood nigh to Jehovah’s house, for the vilest purposes in the name of religion (2Ki 23:7), Jehovah’s altar was cast down (2Ch 33:16), the ark was displaced (2Ch 35:3), the sabbath, the weekly witness for God, was ignored (Isa 56:2; Isa 58:13).
Then Jehovah spoke by the prophets: “Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever heareth it both his ears shall tingle, and I wilt stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab (i.e. I will destroy it as I did Samaria and Ahab), and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, turning it upside down,” so as not to leave a drop in it: complete destruction. Tradition represents Manasseh as having sawed Isaiah in sunder for his faithful protest (Heb 11:37). Josephus (Ant. 10:3, sec. 1) says Manasseh slew all the righteous and the prophets day by day, so that Jerusalem flowed with blood, Isaiah (Isa 57:1-4, etc.) alludes also to the “mockings” of which the godly “had trial” (Heb 11:36). The innocent blood thus shed was what the Lord would not pardon the nation, though He accepted Manasseh on repentance and honored the godly Josiah (2Ki 23:26; 2Ki 24:4; Jer 15:4). Judgment at last overtook Manasseh; he would not hear the word, he must hear the rod. Babylon, the occasion of his sin, was the scene of his punishment.
The captain of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon’s (see Ezr 4:2; Ezr 4:10; 2Ki 17:24) host, having first crushed the revolt of the Babylonian Merodach Baladan, next took his ally Manasseh “among the thorns,” chochim, (rather “with hooks”; an image From the ring passed through the noses of wild beasts to subdue and lead them; so 2Ki 19:28; Eze 29:4), and carried him to Babylon. In affliction he besought the Lord his God (compare Psa 119:67; Psa 119:71; Psa 119:75). The monuments mention “Minasi” (Manasseh) the king of Judah among Esarhaddon’s tributaries. Other Assyrian kings governed Babylon by viceroys, but he, like his grandfather Sargon, took the title of its “king,” and built a palace and held his court there. A Babylonian tablet was discovered dated by the year of his reign. The undesigned coincidence with secular monuments, whereby Scripture records he brought Manasseh to Babylon (where we might have expected Nineveh), confirms its truth.
The omission from 2 Kings 21 of Manasseh’s repentance is due to its having no lasting result so far as the kingdom was concerned. His abolition of outward idolatry did not convert the people, and at his death Amen restored it. Esarhaddon’s Babylonian reign was 680-667 B.C.; 676 is fixed on as the date of Manasseh’s captivity, the 22nd year of his reign. Manasseh “humbled himself greatly (1Pe 5:6) before the God of his fathers and prayed unto Him, and He was intreated of him and brought him again to Jerusalem. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord He is God.” This illustrates the exceeding riches of God’s grace to the vilest (1Ti 1:15-16). The benefit of sanctified affliction, the efficacy of self abusing suppliant prayer, both these teach experimental knowledge of God (Psa 9:16). Manasseh on his restoration built a wall outside the city of David, W. of Gihon, even to the entering in of “the fish gate” (Zep 1:10 alludes to this), compassing about Ophel.
He took away the strange gods and idol out of Jehovah’s house, and all the altars in the mount of the house of Jehovah and in Jerusalem, and repaired Jehovah’s altar, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah. The people still sacrificed in the high places, but to Jehovah. The book of the law was as yet a hidden book (2Ch 34:14). He put captains in Judah’s fenced cities to guard against Assyria on one side, Egypt on the other. He was buried in his own house (2Ki 21:18) in the garden of Uzza, as not being counted worthy of burial among the kings of David’s house. Isaiah and Habakkuk closed their prophesying in his reign; Jeremiah and Zephaniah were but youths in it. Infidelity resulted from the confused polytheism introduced, and from the cutting off of all the faithful (Zep 1:12).
“His prayer and the words of the seers to him were written in the book of the kings of Israel”; while special accounts of his prayer “and how God was intreated, and all his sins … before he was humbled … were written among the sayings of the seers” (the Qeri makes it Hozai a prophet: 2Ch 33:18-19). Amon succeeded Manasseh. “The Prayer of Manasseh” in the Apocrypha was rejected from the canon even by the Council of Trent. His recording his own shame and repentance and God’s grace to him (though not preserved to us) evidences the reality and depth of his change of heart (Psa 66:16; Joh 4:29; Mar 5:19).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Manasseh
MANASSEH.The well-known king of Judah, mentioned as a link in our Lords genealogy, Mat 1:10.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Manasseh
MANASSEH.1. In MT [Note: Massoretic Text.] and AV [Note: Authorized Version.] of Jdg 18:30 Manasseh is a scribal change for dogmatic purposes, the original being Moses (see Gershom, 1). 2. A son of Pahath-moab (Ezr 10:30 [1Es 9:31 Manasseas]). 3. Son of Hashum (Ezr 10:33). 4. 5. See next two articles.
MANASSEH.The firstborn son of Joseph, and full brother of Ephraim (Gen 41:51 f. [E [Note: Elohist.] ]), by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On (v. 48 [J [Note: Jahwist.] ]).
The popular etymology makes the name a Pil ptcp. of the verb nshh, to forget. Josephus (Ant. II. vi. 1) adopts this without criticism, as do our Hebrew Lexicons. In the Assyrian inscriptions the name appears as Mins, Menase. In Isa 65:11 the god Meni (RV [Note: Revised Version.] Destiny) is associated with Gad, the god of Fortune. Some scholars, consequently, equate Manasseh with Men-nasa = the god Men seized. Apparently Manasseh succeeded in establishing friendly relations with the Canaanites at an early date. His name points to such influences (Niebuhr, Gesch. d. Ebr. Zeit. p. 252; cf. Siegfried, Gad-Meni u. Gad-Manasse in Ztschr. f. prot. Theol., 1875, p. 366 f.). Hogg, who in EBi [Note: Encyclopdia Biblica.] , s.v., discusses the name at length, appears to favour the participial form, but (following Land) connects it with the Arahic nas, to inflict an injury. He thus brings it into relation with the story of Jacobs wrestling with the angel (Gen 32:1-32). It would appear, so runs the conclusion, that in the original story the epithet Manasseh was a fitting title of Jacob himself, which might be borne by his worshippers as in the case of Gad. But it is extremely unlikely that Jacob was originally regarded as a deity, as Luther (ZATW [Note: ATW Zeitschrift far die Alttest. Wissenschaft.] xxi. p. 68 ff.) also holds. The Babylonian form Yaqub-ilu found in the contract tablets of the period of Hammurabi (23rd cent. b.c.) and Jacdb-el (or -her) found on the scarab of an Egyptian king of the Hyksos period, is not to be translated Yakub is god. As forms like Yakbar-ilu, Yamlik-ilu, etc., render probable, ilu is subject. Nevertheless, there may have been some original connexion between Manasseh and Jacob. Jacobs name, we are told, was afterwards changed to Israel, and Manasseh is said to have been the elder brother of Ephraim, the name which later became almost synonymous with Israel, and, finally, in Jdg 1:27-28 Manasseh and Israel appear to be used as equivalents. But where no better data are obtainable, we must confess ignorance as frankly as we reject the etymologizing tales of our sources.
In our oldest source bearing upon the early tribal settlement (Jdg 5:1-31) the name of Manasseh does not appear, though that of Ephraim does. Machir there (Jdg 5:14) seems to take the place of Manasseh. In Gen 50:23 (E [Note: Elohist.] ) he is the only son of Manasseh; so also Num 26:29; Num 26:34 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ), but in Jos 17:1 b (perh. J [Note: Jahwist.] ) he is the firstborn of Manasseh. In Num 32:39; Num 32:41-42 (Num 32:40 is not original) we have an excerpt from JE [Note: Jewish Encyclopedia.] added to P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] s story of Reubens and Gads settlement on the East Jordan, which tells us that the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, went to Gilead and took it. Jair, it is said, and Nobah, two other descendants of Manasseh, also look towns in Gilead, to which they gave their own names. But, according to Deu 3:13, Moses, after completely exterminating the inhabitants, gave North Gilead, all Bashan, and Argob to the half tribe of Manasseh; cf. Jos 13:29 ff. etc. In P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] s account of the settlement of Reuben and Gad (Num 32:1-42) there was nothing said originally of this half-tribe being associated with them. The whole story is told before the Manassites are brought in in Num 32:33 (cf. Jos 13:21 ff. and ch. 17). The story of their early settlement on the East side is discredited by many scholars, who hold that the East was later conquered from the West. As we have seen in Jdg 5:14, where Machir takes the place of Manasseh, he appears to be in possession on the West; and Machir, the son of Manasseh, is said to have gone to Gilead and taken it (Num 32:39), and if so, he must have operated from his original seat. In Jos 17:14-18 we read of the complaint of the children of Joseph to Joshua that he had given them (him) only one lot, despite the fact that he was a great people. Nothing is said about any previous allotment by Moses on the East. Further, in Num 32:41 Bashan is conquered by Jair, who, according to Jdg 10:3, was a judge of Israel. The argument is strong but not cogent.
As we have already seen, the tribe on the West was represented by Machir (Jdg 5:1-31). J [Note: Jahwist.] , the next oldest document, includes Ephraim and Manasseh in the phrase sons of Joseph (Jos 16:1-4), house of Joseph (Jos 17:17 [Ephr. and Man. is a gloss] Jos 18:5, Jdg 1:22-23; Jdg 1:25). One lot only is consequently assigned to them, the limits of which are roughly sketched in Jos 16:1-3, Jos 17:1-18 gives Gilead and Bashan to Machir (making no mention of Jair and Nobah), and Jos 17:2 begins to tell of the assignments to the remainder of the Manassite clans, but fails to do so. But the clan names, Abiezer, Shechem, and the names of the cities appended show that they were on the West. It is clear from what is said of the cities which were in Issachar and Asher (Jos 17:11 ff.) that they were only ideally in Manassehs territory, and that the latter was confined on the north to the hill-country. Like the rest of the tribes, they were not able to drive out the Canaanites. When they made their complaint to Joshua (Jos 17:14-18) that they were too cramped in their abode to better themselves, he sententiously replied that being a great people as they boasted, they could clear out the mountain forests and develop in that way, and so ultimately get the upper hand of the Canaanites in the plains. It should be said that the names of the rest of the sons of Manasseh, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, Shemida, as well as the five daughters of Zelophehad, the great-grandson of Machir, are probably all place-names, as some of them certainly are, and not personal names.
Whether Joseph was a tribe has been doubted, because there is no mention of it in Jdg 5:1-31, and the fact that the name Machir appears to be from the root mchar, to sell, has raised the question whether the story of Josephs sale into Egypt did not arise in connexion with it.
For the clans see Jos 17:1-2 (J [Note: Jahwist.] ), Num 26:28-34 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ), 1Ch 7:14-19; 1Ch 2:21-23.
The tribe, owing to its situation, had much to endure during the Syrian wars (Amo 1:3, 2Ki 10:33), and, according to 1Ch 5:25, the eastern half was deported (b.c. 743) by Tiglath-pileser iii. (see Gad). See also Tribes of Israel.
James A. Craig.
MANASSEH, son of Hezekiah, reigned longer than any king of his linefifty-five years, according to our sources (2Ki 21:1). His reign was remarkable for the religious reaction against the reforms which had been made by Hezekiah. The record (2Ki 21:2-9) is that he built again the altars which Hezekiah had destroyed, and erected altars for Baal, and made an ashrah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and that he worshipped the host of heaven and served them. In restoring the old altars he doubtless thought he was returning to the early religion of the nation, and the Baal whom he worshipped was probably identified in the minds of the people with the national God Jahweh. The ashrah was a well-known accompaniment of the altars of Jahweh down to the time of Hezekiah. In all this Manassehs measures may be called conservative, while his worship of the host of heaven was no doubt a State necessity owing to the Assyrian rule. The sacrifice of his son and the practice of witchcraft and magic, of which he is accused, were also sanctioned by ancient Israelitish custom. The reaction was accompanied by active persecution of the prophetic party, which can hardly surprise us, toleration being an unknown virtue. On account of these sins, Manasseh is represented by later writers as the man who filled the cup of Judahs iniquity to overflowing, and who thus made the final catastrophe of the nation inevitable.
H. P. Smith.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Manasseh
The eldest son of Joseph. (Gen 41:51) His name was given him by his father, because, he said, God had made him forget all his toil, and all his father’s house. The word in the margin of the Bible is forgetting, from Nahash, to forget. There was another Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, whose history we have, 2Ki 20:1-21; 2Ki 21:1-26
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Manasseh (1)
ma-nase (, menashsheh, causing to forget; compare Gen 41:51; (), Man(n)asse):
(1) The firstborn of Joseph by Asenath, daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On. See next article.
(2) The tribe named from Manasseh, half of which, with Gad and Reuben, occupied the East of Jordan (Num 27:1, etc.). See next article.
(3) The Manasseh of Jdg 18:30, Jdg 18:31 the King James Version is really an intentional mistake for the name Moses. A small nun (n), a Hebrew letter, has been inserted over and between the first and second Hebrew letters in the word Moses, thus for . The reason for this is that the individual in question is mentioned as priest of a brazen image at Dan. His proper name was Moses. It was felt to be a disgrace that such a one bearing that honored name should keep it intact. The insertion of the nun hides the disgrace and, moreover, gives to the person a name already too familiar with idolatrous practices; for King Manasseh’s 55 years of sovereignty were thus disgraced.
(4) King of Judah. See separate article.
(5) Son of PAHATH-MOAB (which see), who had married a foreign wife (Ezr 10:30). Manaseas in 1 Esdras 9:31.
(6) The Manasses of 1 Esdras 9:33. A layman of the family of Hashum, who put away his foreign wife at Ezra’s order (Ezr 10:33).
In the Revised Version (British and American) of Mat 1:10 and Rev 7:6 the spelling Manasseh is given for the King James Version Manasses. The latter is the spelling of the husband of Judith (Judith 8:2, 7; 10:3; 16:22, 23, 24); of a person named in the last words of Tobit and otherwise unknown (Tobit 14:10), and also the name given to a remarkable prayer probably referred to in 2Ch 33:18, which Manasseh (4) is said to have uttered at the end of his long, unsatisfactory life. See MANASSES, PRAYER OF. In Jdg 12:4, the Revised Version (British and American) reads Manasseh for the King James Version Manassites.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Manasseh (2)
1. Son of Joseph:
Following the Biblical account of Manasseh (patriarch, tribe, and territory) we find that he was the eider of Joseph’s two sons by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On (Gen 41:51). The birth of a son marked the climax of Joseph’s happiness after the long bitterness of his experience. In the joy of the moment, the dark years past could be forgotten; therefore he called the name of the firstborn Manasseh (causing to forget), for, said he, God hath made me to forget all my toil. When Jacob was near his end, Joseph brought his two sons to his father who blessed them. Himself the younger son who had received the blessing of the firstborn, Jacob preferred Ephraim, the second son of Joseph, to Manasseh his elder brother, thus indicating the relative positions of their descendants (Gen 48). Before Joseph died he saw the children of Machir the son of Manasseh (Gen 50:23). Machir was born to Manasseh by his concubine, an Aramitess (1Ch 7:14). Whether he married Maacah before leaving for Egypt is not said. She was the sister of Huppim and Shuppim. Of Manasseh’s personal life no details are recorded in Scripture. Acccording to Jewish tradition he became steward of his father’s house, and acted as interpreter between Joseph and his brethren.
2. The Tribes in the Wilderness and Portion in Palestine:
At the beginning of the desert march the number of Manasseh’s men of war is given at 32,200 (Num 1:34 f). At the 2nd census they had increased to 52,700 (Num 26:34). Their position in the wilderness was with the tribe of Benjamin, by the standard of the tribe of Ephraim, on the West of the tabernacle. According to Targum Pseudojon, the standard was the figure of a boy, with the inscription The cloud of Yahweh rested on them until they went forth out of the camp. At Sinai the prince of the tribe was Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur (Num 2:20). The tribe was represented among the spies by Gaddi, son of Susi (Num 13:11, where the name tribe of Joseph seems to be used as an alternative). At the census in the plains of Moab, Manasseh is named before Ephraim, and appears as much the stronger tribe (Num 26:28 ff). The main military exploits in the conquest of Eastern Palestine were performed by Manassites. Machir, son of Manasseh, conquered the Amorites and Gilead (Num 32:39). Jair, son of Manasseh, took all the region of Argob, containing three score cities; these he called by his own name, Havvoth-jair (Num 32:41; Deu 3:4, Deu 3:14). Nobah captured Kenath and the villages thereof (Num 32:42; Jos 17:1, Jos 17:5). Land for half the tribe was thus provided, their territory stretching from the northern boundary of Gad to an undetermined frontier in the North, marching with Geshur and Maacah on the West, and with the desert on the East. The warriors of this half-tribe passed over with those of Reuben and Gad before the host of Israel, and took their share in the conquest of Western Palestine (Josh 22). They helped to raise the great altar in the Jordan valley, which so nearly led to disastrous consequences (Jos 22:10 ff). Golan, the city of refuge, lay within their territory.
The possession of Ephraim and Manasseh West of the Jordan appears to have been undivided at first (Jos 17:16 ff). The portion which ultimately fell to Manasseh marched with Ephraim on the South, with Asher and Issachar on the North, running out to the sea on the West, and falling into the Jordan valley on the East (Jos 17:7 ff). The long dwindling slopes to westward and the fiat reaches of the plain included much excellent soil. Within the territory of Issachar and Asher, Beth-shean, Ibleam, Dor, Endor, Taanach and Megiddo, with their villages, were assigned to Manasseh. Perhaps the men of the West lacked the energy and enterprise of their eastern brethren. They failed, in any case, to expel the Canaanites from these cities, and for long this grim chain of fortresses seemed to mock the strength of Israel (Jos 17:11 ff)
Ten cities West of the Jordan, in the portion of Manasseh, were given to the Levites, and 13 in the eastern portion (Jos 21:5, Jos 21:6).
Manasseh took part in the glorious conflict with the host of Sisera (Jdg 5:14). Two famous judges, Gideon and Jephthah, belonged to this tribe. The men of the half-tribe East of Jordan were noted for skill and valor as warriors (1Ch 5:18, 1Ch 5:23 f). Some men of Manasseh had joined David before the battle of Gilboa (1Ch 12:19).
3. Its Place in Later History:
Others, all mighty men of valor, and captains in the host, fell to him on the way to Ziklag, and helped him against the band of rovers (1Ch 12:20 ff). From the half-tribe West of the Jordan 18,000 men, expressed by name, came to David at Hebron to make him king (1Ch 12:31); while those who came from the East numbered, along with the men of Reuben and Gad, 120,000 (1Ch 12:37). David organized the eastern tribes under 2,700 overseers for every matter pertaining to God and for the affairs of the king (1Ch 26:32). The rulers of Manasseh were, in the West, Joel, son of Pedaiah, and in the East, Iddo, son of Zechariah (1Ch 27:20, 1Ch 27:21). Divers of Manasseh humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem at the invitation of Hezekiah to celebrate the Passover (2Ch 30:11). Although not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary, they ate the Passover. Pardon was successfully sought for them by the king, because they set their hearts to seek God (2Ch 30:18 ff).
Of the eastern half-tribe it is said that they went a-whoring after the gods of the land, and in consequence they were overwhelmed and expatriated by Pul and Tiglath-pileser, kings of Assyria (1Ch 5:25 f). Reference to the idolatries of the western half-tribe are also found in 2Ch 31:1; 2Ch 34:6.
There is a portion for Manasseh in Ezekiel’s ideal picture (Eze 48:4), and the tribe appears in the list in Rev (Eze 7:6).
The genealogies in Jos 17:1 ff; Num 26:28-34; 1Ch 2:21-23; 1Ch 7:14-19 have fallen into confusion. As they stand, they are mutually contradictory, and it is impossible to harmonize them.
The theories of certain modern scholars who reject the Biblical account are themselves beset with difficulties: e.g. the name is derived from the Arabic, nasa, to injure a tendon of the leg. Manasseh, the Piel part., would thus be the name of a supernatural being, of whom the infliction of such an injury was characteristic. It is not clear which of the wrestlers at the Jabbok suffered the injury. As Jacob is said to have prevailed with gods and men, the suggestion is that it was his antagonist who was lamed. It would appear therefore that in the original story the epithet Manasseh was a fitting title of Jacob himself, which might be borne by his worshippers, as in the case of Gad (EB, under the word, par. 4).
It is assumed that the mention of Machir in Jdg 5:14 definitely locates the Manassites at that time on the West of the Jordan. The raids by members of the tribe on Eastern Palestine must therefore have taken place long after the days of Moses. The reasoning is precarious. After the mention of Reuben (Jdg 5:15, Jdg 5:16), Gilead (Jdg 5:17) may refer to Gad. It would be strange if this warlike tribe were passed over (Guthe). Machir, then probably the strongest clan, stands for the whole tribe, and may be supposed to indicate particularly the noted fighters of the eastern half.
In dealing with the genealogies, the difficult name Zelophehad must be got rid of. Among the suggestions made is one by Dr. Cheyne, which first supposes the existence of a name Salhad, and then makes Zelophehad a corruption of this.
The genealogies certainly present difficulties, but otherwise the narrative is intelligible and self-consistent without resort to such questionable expedients as those referred to above.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Manasseh (3)
A king of Judah, son and successor of Hezekiah; reigned 55 years (2Ki 21:1; 2Ch 33:1), from circa 685 onward. His was one of the few royal names not compounded with the name of Yahweh (his son Amon’s was the only other if, as an Assyrian inscription gives it, the full name of Ahaz was Jehoahaz or Ahaziah); but it was no heathen name like Amon, but identical with that of the elder son of Joseph. Born within Hezekiah’s added 15 years, years of trembling faith and tender hope (compare Isa 38:15 f), his name may perhaps memorialize the father’s sacred feelings; the name of his mother Hephzibah too was used long afterward as the symbol of the happy union of the land with its loyal sons (Isa 62:4). All this, however, was long forgotten in the memory of Manasseh’s apostate career.
I. Sources of His Life.
The history (2 Ki 1 through 18) refers for the rest of his acts to the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah, but the body of the account, instead of reading like state annals, is almost entirely a censure of his idolatrous reign in the spirit of the prophets and of the Deuteronomic strain of literature. The parallel history (2 Ch 33:1-20) puts the rest of his acts among the acts of the kings of Israel, and mentions his prayer (a prayer ascribed to him is in the Apocrypha) and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of Yahweh. This history of Chronicles mentions his captive journey to Babylon and his repentance (2Ch 33:10-13), also his building operations in Jerusalem and his resumption of Yahweh-worship (2Ch 33:14-17), which the earlier source lacks. From these sources, which it is not the business of this article either to verify or question, the estimate of his reign is to be deduced.
II. Character of His Reign.
1. Political Situation:
During his reign, Assyria, principally under Esar-haddon and Assur-banipal, was at the height of its arrogance and power; and his long reign was the peaceful and uneventful life of a willing vassal, contented to count as tributary king in an illustrious world-empire, hospitable to all its religious and cultural ideas, and ready to take his part in its military and other enterprises. The two mentions of his name in Assyrian inscriptions (see G.A. Smith, Jerusalem, II, 182) both represent him in this tributary light. His journey to Babylon mentioned in 2Ch 33:11 need not have been the penalty of rebellion; more likely it was such an enforced act of allegiance as was perhaps imposed on all provincial rulers who had incurred or would avert suspicion of disloyalty. Nor was his fortification of Jerusalem after his return less necessary against domestic than foreign aggression; the more so, indeed, as in so long and undisturbed a reign his capital, which was now practically synonymous with his realm (Esar-haddon calls him king of the city of Judah), became increasingly an important center of wealth and commercial prosperity. Of the specific events of his reign, however, other than religious, less is known than of almost any other.
2. Reactionary Idolatry:
That the wholesale idolatry by which his reign is mainly distinguished was of a reactionary and indeed conservative nature may be understood alike from what it sought to maintain and from what it had to react against. On the one side was the tremendous wave of ritual and mechanical heathen cults which, proceeding from the world-centers of culture and civilization (compare Isa 2:6-8), was drawing all the tributary lands, Judah with the rest, into its almost irresistible sweep. Manasseh, it would seem, met this not in the temper of an amateur, as had his grandfather Ahaz, but in the temper of a fanatic. Everything old and new that came to his purview was of momentous religious value – except only the simple and austere demands of prophetic insight. He restored the debasing cults of the aboriginal Nature-worship which his father had suppressed, thus making Judah revert to the sterile Baal-cults of Ahab; but his blind credence in the black arts so prevalent in all the surrounding nations, imported the elaborate worship of the heavenly bodies from Babylon, invading even the temple-courts with its numerous rites and altars; even went to the horrid extreme of human sacrifice, making an institution of what Ahaz had tried as a desperate expedient. All this, which to the matured prophetic sense was headlong wickedness, was the mark of a desperately earnest soul, seeking blindly in this wholesale way to propitiate the mysterious Divine powers, his nation’s God among them, who seemed so to have the world’s affairs in their inscrutable control. On the other side, there confronted him the prophetic voice of a religion which decried all insincere ritual (‘wickedness and worship,’ Isa 1:13), made straight demands on heart and conscience, and had already vindicated itself in the faith which had wrought the deliverance of 701. It was the fight of the decadent formal against the uprising spiritual; and, as in all such struggles, it would grasp at any expedient save the one plain duty of yielding the heart to repentance and trust.
3. Persecution:
Meanwhile, the saving intelligence and integrity of Israel, though still the secret of the lowly, was making itself felt in the spiritual movement that Isaiah had labored to promote; through the permeating influence of literature and education the remnant was becoming a power to be reckoned with. It is in the nature of things that such an innovating movement must encounter persecution; the significant thing is that already there was so much to persecute. Persecution is as truly the offspring of fear as of fanaticism. Manasseh’s persecution of the prophets and their adherents (tradition has it that the aged Isaiah was one of his victims) was from their point of view an enormity of wickedness. To us the analysis is not quite so simple; it looks also like the antipathy of an inveterate formal order to a vital movement that it cannot understand. The vested interests of almost universal heathenism must needs die hard, and much innocent blood was its desperate price before it would yield the upper hand. To say this of Manasseh’s murderous zeal is not to justify it; it is merely to concede its sadly mistaken sincerity. It may well have seemed to him that a nation’s piety was at stake, as if a world’s religious culture were in peril.
4. Return to Better Mind:
The Chronicler, less austere in tone than the earlier historian, preserves for us the story that, like Saul of Tarsus after him, Manasseh got his eyes open to the truer meaning of things; that after his humiliation and repentance in Babylon he knew that Yahweh he was God (2Ch 33:10-13). He had the opportunity to see a despotic idolatry, its evils with its splendors, in its own home; a first-fruit of the thing that the Hebrew exiles were afterward to realize. On his return, accordingly, he removed the altars that had encroached upon the sacred precincts of the temple, and restored the ritual of the Yahweh-service, without, however, removing the high places. It would seem to have been merely the concession of Yahweh’s right to a specific cult of His own, with perhaps a mitigation of the more offensive extremes of exotic worship, while the toleration of the various fashionable forms remained much as before. But this in itself was something, was much; it gave Yahweh His chance, so to say, among rivals; and the growing spiritual fiber of the heart of Israel could be trusted to do the rest. It helps us also the better to understand the situation when, only two years after Manasseh’s death, Josiah came to the throne, and to understand why he and his people were so ready to accept the religious sanity of the Deuteronomic law. He did not succeed, after all, in committing his nation to the wholesale sway of heathenism. Manasseh’s reactionary reign was indeed not without its good fruits; the crisis of religious syncretism and externalism was met and passed.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Manasseh
[Manas’seh]
1. Eldest son of Joseph and Asenath, and head of one of the tribes of Israel. When Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph he crossed his hands so that Ephraim the younger son should have the chief blessing. And when Moses blessed the twelve tribes he spoke of the ten thousands of Ephraim, but the thousands of Manasseh. Nothing personally is recorded of Manasseh. Gen 41:51: Gen 48:1-20; Gen 50:23.
The tribe numbered at the first census 32,200 and forty years later they were 52,700. Being a numerous tribe they had a large possession in the north on the east of the upper Jordan and of the Sea of Galilee. They conquered the mountaineers of Gilead, Bashan, and Argob; but with the Reubenites and Gadites were the first to be carried away captive by Pul and Tiglath-pileser. 1Ch 5:18-26. Those on the east of the Jordan are often called the half-tribe of Manasseh; the other half were on the west of the Jordan, about the centre of the land, between Ephraim and Issachar.
When Hezekiah invited the twelve tribes to join him in keeping a passover to Jehovah, certain of the tribe of Manasseh humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem. 2Ch 30:11. In Psa 80:2 we read, “Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us,” in allusion to these three being the tribes that immediately followed the ark of God in the wilderness. Num 2:17-22. The tribe is called MANASSES in Rev 7:6.
2. King of Judah: he was son of Hezekiah and father of Amon. He began to reign when twelve years of age, and reigned 55 years: B.C. 698-643. The records concerning him are few, but very sad. He worshipped the host of heaven and built altars for them in the courts of the house of the Lord. He made his son to pass through the fire, and dealt with familiar spirits. Of him it is said that he exceeded the heathen in wickedness! and shed much innocent blood. He was warned by God’s prophets, but ceased not to do evil. As he began to reign when young, it is probable that he had not been under good instructors.
God brought the king of Assyria against Manasseh, who took him ‘among the thorns,’ or ‘bound him with chains of brass,’ and carried him to Babylon. There Manasseh, in his affliction, greatly humbled himself, and prayed to the Lord his God. His prayer was heard, and he was restored to Jerusalem. Then he knew that Jehovah was God. He removed the idols, repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed to Him. He commanded Judah to serve Jehovah the God of Israel. Thus God gave repentance to this wicked king, for His mercy endureth for ever. He is often held up as a trophy of God’s marvellous grace in Old Testament times, as Saul of Tarsus and the thief on the cross are given under the New Testament dispensation. 2Ki 20:21; 2Ki 21:1-20; 2Ki 23:12; 2Ki 23:26; 2Ch 33; Jer 15:4. He is called MANASSES in Mat 1:10.
3. Father of Gershom, the father of Jonathan, the idolatrous priest in the tribe of Dan. Jdg 18:30. Jerome, the Vulgate, three Hebrew MSS, and two or three ancient copies of the LXX read Moses instead of Manasseh. In many Hebrew MSS the letter nun (N) is written over or between the letters mem (M) and shin (S), so as to alter the name of Moses to Manasseh. The reason alleged by the Rabbis for the supposed correction is that the copyists desired to clear the name of Moses from the obloquy of having a descendant among idolaters in Israel. We have no other trace of a Gershom being the son of Manasseh; but there was one well known as the son of Moses. Doubtless Moses should be read instead of Manasseh.
4, 5. Two who had married strange wives. Ezr 10:30; Ezr 10:33.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Manasseh
H4519 H4520
1. Son of Joseph and Asenath:
– General references
Gen 41:50-51; Gen 46:20
– Adopted by Jacob on his deathbed
Gen 48:1; Gen 48:5-20
– Called Manasses
Rev 7:6
2. Tribe of, descendants of Joseph. (The two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, were reckoned among the primogenitors of the twelve tribes, taking the places of Joseph and Levi)
– Prophecy concerning
Gen 49:25-26
– Enumeration of
Num 1:34-35; Num 26:29-34
– Place of, in camp and march
Num 2:18; Num 2:20; Num 10:22-23
– Blessing of Moses on
Deu 33:13-17
– Inheritance of:
b One-half of tribe east of Jordan
Num 32:33; Num 32:39-42
b One-half of tribe west of Jordan
Jos 16:9; Jos 17:5-11
– The eastern half assist in the conquest of the country west of the Jordan
Deu 3:18-20; Jos 1:12-15; Jos 4:12-13
– Join the other eastern tribes in erecting a monument to testify to the unity of all Israel; misunderstood; make satisfactory explanation
Jos 22
– Join Gideon in war with the Midianites
Jud 1:6-7
– Malcontents of, join David
1Ch 12:19; 1Ch 12:31
– Smitten by Hazael
2Ki 10:33
– Return from captivity
1Ch 9:3
– Reallotment of territory to, by Ezekiel
Eze 48:4
– Affiliate with the Jews in the reign of Hezekiah
2Ch 30
– Incorporated into kingdom of Judah
2Ch 15:9; 2Ch 34:6-7 Israel, 3, Tribes of
3. Father of Gershom
Jdg 18:30
4. King of Judah, history of
2Ki 21:1-18; 2Ch 33:1-20
5. Two Jews who put away their Gentile wives after the captivity
Ezr 10:30; Ezr 10:33
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Manasseh
Manasseh (ma-ns’seh), forgetting. 1. The first-born of Joseph. When he and his brother Ephraim were boys, and Jacob, their grandfather, was about to die, Joseph took them into the patriarch’s presence to receive his blessing. Gen 48:5-20. Nothing further is known of the personal history of Manasseh. The eastern part of the tribe of Manasseh prospered much and spread to Mount Hermon, but they finally mixed with the Canaanites, adopted their idolatry, became scattered as Bedouins in the desert, and were the first to be carried away into captivity by the kings of Assyria. 1Ch 5:25. The western Manasseh, of which only a few glimpses are visible in the later history of Israel, always showed itself on the right side; as, for instance, in the cases of Asa, 2Ch 15:9; Hezekiah, 2Ch 30:1; 2Ch 30:11; 2Ch 30:18, and Josiah, 2Ch 34:6; 2Ch 9:2. Son and successor of Hezekiah, king of Judah, ascended the throne at the age of twelve years, b.c. 696. The earlier part of his reign was distinguished for acts of impiety and cruelty, 2Ki 21:1-26, and he succeeded in drawing his subjects away from the Lord to such an extent that the only kind of worship which was not allowed in Judah was that of Jehovah. 2Ki 21:2-9. Having supported the Babylonian viceroy in his revolt against Assyria, he was at last taken captive by the Assyrian king and ignominiously transported to Babylon. Upon his repentance, however, he was liberated, and returned to his capital, where he died b.c. 641, after having done much to repair the evils of bis former life. 2Ch 33:1-20.
3. The territory of Manasseh occupied by a tribe descended from Joseph, and divided into two portionsone east of the Jordan, and the other west of it 1. East of the Jordan. The country of Manasseh east of the Jordan included half of Gilead, the Hauran, Bashan, and Argob. 1Ch 5:18-23. The extensive pastures of Gilead and Bashan gave the best scope for the half-nomad and herdsman’s life led by this portion of the tribe. Psa 68:15. The people were powerful and brave, taking a leading part in the wars of Gideon, of Jephthah, and of David. See also Gilead and Bashan. 2. West of the Jordan. The portion of the half-tribe of Manasseh on the west of the Jordan extended from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, and lay between Asher and Issachar on the north and Ephraim on the south. Jos 17:7-10. They also gained some towns in Carmel within the bounds of Issachar, probably by capturing them from the ancient Canaanites. Jos 17:11-18. The dominant position of Ephraim seems to have obscured the power of Manasseh, and this portion of their country is frequently joined with Ephraim in the biblical allusions.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Manasseh
Manas’seh. (forgetting).
1. The eldest son of Joseph, Gen 41:51; Gen 46:20, born 1715-10 B.C. Both he and Ephraim were born before the commencement of the famine. He was placed after his younger brother, Ephraim, by his grandfather Jacob, when he adopted them into his own family, and made them heads of tribes. Whether the elder of the two sons was inferior in form or promise to the younger, or whether there was any external reason to justify the preference of Jacob, we are not told.
In the division of the Promised Land, half of the tribe of Manasseh settled east of the Jordan in the district embracing the hills of Gilead with their inaccessible heights and impassable ravines, and the almost impregnable tract of Argob. Jos 13:29-33. Here they throve exceedingly, pushing their way northward over the rich plains of Jaulan and Jedur to the foot of Mount Hermon. 1Ch 5:23.
But they gradually assimilated themselves with the old inhabitants of the country, and on them, descended the punishment which was ordained to be the inevitable consequence of such misdoing. They, first of all Israel, were carried away by Pul and Tiglath-pileser, and settled in the Assyrian territories. 1Ch 5:25-26. The other half tribe settled to the west of the Jordan, north of Ephraim. Jos 17:1. For further particulars See Epfraim.
2. The thirteenth king of Judah, son of Hezekiah, 2Ki 21:1, ascended the throne at the age of twelve, and reigned 55 years, from B.C. 608 to 642. His accession was the signal for an entire change in the religious administration of the kingdom. Idolatry was again established to such an extent that every faith was tolerated, but the old faith of Israel.
The Babylonian alliance, which the king formed against Assyria, resulted in his being made prisoner and carried off to Babylon in the twenty-second year of his reign, according to a Jewish tradition. There his eyes were opened and he repented, and his prayer was heard and the Lord delivered him, 2Ch 33:12-13, and he returned after some uncertain interval of time to Jerusalem. The altar of the Lord was again restored, and Peace Offerings and thank offerings were sacrificed to Jehovah. 2Ch 38:15-16. But beyond this, the reformation did not go.
On his death, B.C. 642, he was buried as Ahaz had been, not with the burial of a king, in the sepulchres of the house of David, but in the garden of Uzza, 2Ki 21:26, and long afterward, in suite of his repentance, the Jews held his name in abhorrence.
3. One of the descendants of Pahathmoab, who in the days of Ezra had married a foreign wife. Ezr 10:30.
4. One of the laymen, of the family of Hashum who put away his foreign wife at Ezra command. Ezr 10:33.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
MANASSEH
(a) Son of Joseph
Gen 41:51; Gen 48:5; Gen 48:14; Jos 16:4; Jos 17:5; 1Ch 9:3; 1Ch 12:19
(b) King of Judah, son of Hezekiah
2Ki21:1; 2Ki21:9; 2Ki21:16; 2Ki24:3; 2Ch 33:11; 2Ch 33:20
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Manasseh
the eldest son of Joseph, and grandson of the patriarch Jacob, Gen 41:50, was born, A.M. 2290, B.C. 1714. The name Manasseh signifies forgetfulness, because Joseph said, God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. When Jacob was going to die, Joseph brought his two sons to him, that his father might give them his last blessing, Genesis 48. Jacob, having seen them, adopted them. The tribe of Manasseh came out of Egypt in number thirty-two thousand two hundred men, upward of twenty years old, under the conduct of Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, Num 2:20-21. This tribe was divided in the land of promise. One half tribe of Manasseh settled beyond the river Jordan, and possessed the country of Bashan, from the river Jabbok, to Mount Libanus; and the other half tribe of Manasseh settled on this side Jordan, and possessed the country between the tribe of Ephraim south, and the tribe of Issachar north, having the river Jordan east, and the Mediterranean Sea west, Joshua xvi; 17.
2. MANASSEH, the fifteenth king of Judah, and son and successor of Hezekiah, was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty- five years, 2Ki 20:21; 2Ki 21:1-2; 2Ch 33:1-2, &c. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. He did evil in the sight of the Lord; worshipped the idols of the land of Canaan; rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; set up altars to Baal; and planted groves to false gods. He raised altars to the whole host of heaven, in the courts of God’s house; made his son pass through the fire in honour of Moloch; was addicted to magic, divinations, auguries, and other superstitions; set up the idol Astarte in the house of God; finally, he involved his people in all the abomination of the idolatrous nations to that degree, that Israel committed more wickedness than the Canaanites, whom the Lord had driven out before them. To all these crimes Manasseh added cruelty; and he shed rivers of innocent blood in Jerusalem. The Lord being provoked by so many crimes, threatened him by his prophets, I will blot out Jerusalem as a writing is blotted out of a writing tablet. The calamities which God had threatened began toward the twenty-second year of this impious prince.
The king of Assyria sent his army against him, who, seizing him among the briers and brambles where he was hid, fettered his hands and feet, and carried him to Babylon, 2Ch 33:11-12, &c. It was probably Sargon or Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, who sent Tartan into Palestine, and who taking Azoth, attacked Manasseh, put him in irons, and led him away, not to Nineveh, but to Babylon, of which Esar-haddon had become master, and had reunited the empires of the Assyrians and the Chaldeans. Manasseh, in bonds at Babylon, humbled himself before God, who heard his prayers, and brought him back to Jerusalem; and Manasseh acknowledged the hand of the Lord. Manasseh was probably delivered out of prison by Saosduchin, the successor of Esar-haddon, 2Ch 33:13-14, &c. Being returned to Jerusalem, he restored the worship of the Lord; broke down the altars of the false gods; abolished all traces of their idolatrous worship; but he did not destroy the high places: which is the only thing Scripture reproaches him with, after his return from Babylon. He caused Jerusalem to be fortified; and he inclosed with a wall another city, which in his time was erected west of Jerusalem, and which went by the name of the second city, 2Ch 33:14. He put garrisons into all the strong places of Judah. Manasseh died at Jerusalem, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza, 2Ki 21:18. He was succeeded by his son Amon.