Reference: Manasseh (1)
Fausets
("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" (Ge 41:51). Jacob adopted them as his own, though "horn in Egypt" and by an alien to Israel (Ge 48:5,9); "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 De 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): Ge 48:16,20.
The term "thousands" is especially applied to Manasseh (De 33:17; Jg 6:15 margin.) Manasseh's son by an Aramitess (Syrian) concubine, Machir, had children "borne upon Joseph's knees" (Ge 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 (De 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 (Nu 1:10,35; 2:20-21; 7:54-59), Ephraim 40,500. But 40 years later, at Jordan, Manasseh 52,700, Ephraim 32,590 (Nu 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 (Nu 32:39-42; De 3:4,13-15; 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 12:31,37). 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 Jg 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 (Jg 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 (Nu 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 30:1,10-11,18; 31:1), and Josiah (2Ch 34:6-9).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Joseph called the firstborn Manasseh [making to forget], For God, said he, has made me forget all my toil and hardship and all my father's house.
And now your two sons, [Ephraim and Manasseh], who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. [I am adopting them, and now] as Reuben and Simeon, [they] shall be mine.
And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. And he said, Bring them to me, I pray you, that I may bless them.
The redeeming Angel [that is, the Angel the Redeemer -- "not a created being but the Lord Himself] Who has redeemed me continually from every evil, bless the lads! And let my name be perpetuated in them [may they be worthy of having their names coupled with mine], and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them become a multitude in the midst of the earth.
And he blessed them that day, saying, By you shall Israel bless [one another], saying, May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation; the children also of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph's knees.
Of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud; of Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;
Then the Tent of Meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; as they encamp so shall they set forward, every man in his place, standard after standard. On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim by their companies, the leader of the sons of Ephraim being Elishama son of Ammihud. read more. Ephraim's host as numbered totaled 40,500. Beside Ephraim shall be the tribe of Manasseh, the leader of the sons of Manasseh being Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.
Beside Ephraim shall be the tribe of Manasseh, the leader of the sons of Manasseh being Gamaliel son of Pedahzur. Manasseh's host as numbered totaled 32,200.
Manasseh's host as numbered totaled 32,200. Then the tribe of Benjamin, the leader of the sons of Benjamin being Abidan son of Gideoni. read more. Benjamin's host as numbered totaled 35,400. The whole number [of the three tribes] in the camp of Ephraim totaled 108,100. They shall go forward in third place.
The eighth day Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, leader of the sons of Manasseh, offered. His offering was one silver platter of the weight of 130 shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering; read more. One golden bowl of ten shekels, full of incense; One young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; One male goat for a sin offering; And for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.
These are the families of Manasseh, and their number was 52,700. These are the sons of Ephraim according to their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the family of the Becherites; of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites. read more. And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites. These, the families of the sons of Ephraim according to their number, totaled 32,500. These are the sons of Joseph after their families.
And the sons of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. And Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he settled in it. read more. Jair son of Manasseh took their villages and called them Havvoth-jair. And Nobah took Kenath and its villages and called it Nobah after his own name.
And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them, sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
The rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, that is, all the region of Argob in Bashan, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. It is called the land of Rephaim [of giant stature]. Jair son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called it after his own name, Havvoth-jair, so called to this day. read more. And I gave Gilead to Machir [son of Manasseh].
But he shall acknowledge the son of the disliked as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he was the first issue of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
And of Joseph he said: Blessed by the Lord be his land, with the precious gifts of heaven from the dew and from the deep that couches beneath, With the precious things of the fruits of the sun and with the precious yield of the months, read more. With the chief products of the ancient mountains and with the precious things of the everlasting hills, With the precious things of the earth and its fullness and the favor and goodwill of Him Who dwelt in the bush. Let these blessings come upon the head of Joseph, upon the crown of the head of him who was separate and prince among his brothers. Like a firstling young bull his majesty is, and his horns like the horns of the wild ox; with them he shall push the peoples, all of them, to the ends of the earth. And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
Like a firstling young bull his majesty is, and his horns like the horns of the wild ox; with them he shall push the peoples, all of them, to the ends of the earth. And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
Allotment was made for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan because he was a man of war.
The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethah east of Shechem; and the border went along southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah.
The land to the south was Ephraim's and that to the north was Manasseh's, and the sea was the boundary; on the north Asher was reached, and on the east Issachar. Also Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher [these six towns], their inhabitants and their villages: Beth-shean, Ibleam, Dor, Endor, Taanach, and Megiddo. read more. Yet the sons of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land.
Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or of Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their villages, but the Canaanites remained in that land.
Gideon said to Him, Oh Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Behold, my clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.
And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty towns called Havvoth-jair [towns of Jair] which to this day are in the land of Gilead.
[So] in those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel. Hazael [of Syria] defeated them in all the [across the Jordan] territory of Israel
But Geshur and Aram took from them Havvoth-jair, with Kenath and its villages, sixty towns. All these were the descendants of Machir the father of Gilead.
Now [we come to] the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. For [Reuben] was the eldest, but because he polluted his father's couch [with Bilhah his father's concubine] his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph [favorite] son of Israel; so the genealogy is not to be reckoned according to the birthright. Judah prevailed above his brethren, and from him came the prince and leader [and eventually the Messiah]; yet the birthright was Joseph's.
The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh -- "valiant men able to bear buckler and sword and to shoot with bow and skillful in war -- "were 44,760 able and ready to go forth to war. And [these Israelites, on the east side of the Jordan River] made war with the Hagrites [a tribe of northern Arabia], Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. read more. They were given help against them, and the Hagrites or Ishmaelites were delivered into their hands, and all who were allied with them, for they cried to God in the battle; and He granted their entreaty, because they relied on, clung to, and trusted in Him. And [these Israelites] took away their adversaries' herds: of their camels 50,000, and of sheep 250,000, and of donkeys 2,000, and of the lives of men 100,000. For a great number fell mortally wounded, because the battle was God's. And [these Israelites] dwelt in their territory until the captivity [by Assyria more than five centuries later]. And the people of the half-tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land; their settlements spread from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon.
They transgressed against the God of their fathers and played the harlot [by unfaithfulness to their own God and running] after the gods of the native peoples, whom God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, [that is,] the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day.
Of the half-tribe of Manasseh, 18,000, who were mentioned by name to come and make David king;
On the other [the east] side of the Jordan River, of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 120,000 men, armed with all the weapons and instruments of war.
Of the Ephraimites: Hoshea son of Azaziah; of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Joel son of Pedaiah; Of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead: Iddo son of Zechariah; of Benjamin: Jaasiel son of Abner;
And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to Asa out of Israel in large numbers when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
Hezekiah sent to all Israel [as well as] Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh to come to the Lord's house at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel.
So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun, but the people laughed them to scorn and mocked them. Yet, a few of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than Moses directed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, May the good Lord pardon everyone
Now when all this was finished, all Israel present there went out to the cities of Judah and broke in pieces the pillars or obelisks, cut down the Asherim, and threw down the high places [of idolatry] and the altars in all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the Israelites returned to their own cities, every man to his possession.
So he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even to Naphtali, in their ruins round about [with their axes], He broke down the altars and the Asherim and beat the graven images into powder and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem. read more. In the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, when he had purged the land and the [Lord's] house, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah governor of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. When they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites who kept the doors had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah, Benjamin, and Jerusalem.
They snatch in discord on the right hand, but are still hungry [their cruelty not diminished]; and they devour and destroy on the left hand, but are not satisfied. Each devours and destroys his own flesh [and blood] or his neighbor's. Manasseh [thirsts for the blood of his brother] Ephraim, and Ephraim [for that of] Manasseh; but together they are against Judah. For all this, [God's] anger is not turned away, but His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].