MANASSEH
A. THE NAME: (gr. form) = “that makes one forget.”
(a) Joseph’s firstborn son, born in Egypt; His mother was Asenath, daughter of Potipherah, a priest of On. Manasseh, like his brother Ephraim, was half Hebrew and half Egyptian (Gen. 41:50, 51).
When Jacob wanted to bless the two boys, Joseph put Ephraim to his left and Manasseh to his right. But Jacob, dying, crossed his arms, put his right hand on Ephraim’s head and his left hand on Manasseh’s, to indicate that Ephraim would beget a larger people (Gen. 48: 8-21).
(b) Intentional modification of the name of Moses (Judg. 18:30). (See JONATHAN, a.)
(c and d) One of the sons of Pahat-moab and one of the sons of Hasum. Ezra persuaded each of them to send away his foreign wives.
(e) Son and successor of King Hezekiah. At the age of 12, around 693 BC, he acceded to the throne. He destroyed the reforming work of his father, erecting pagan sanctuaries on high places, to honor Baal, erecting altars in the temple of Jerusalem dedicated to the worship of the stars; He also sacrificed one of his sons to Molech.
Manasseh paid no attention to the stern warnings of the prophets; He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. He especially persecuted those who, out of fidelity to Jehovah, opposed his decrees (2 Kings 21; 1-16). Rabbinic tradition accuses him of having killed the prophet Isaiah by sawing him in half; in the NT it seems to refer to it (cf. Heb. 11:37).
God handed this king over to the enemy. Esar-haddon and Ashurbanipal, kings of Assyria, declare that they received tribute from Manasseh.
Manasseh deeply repented when his kingdom was returned to him. He then destroyed the idols, the cause of their ruin, and reestablished the worship of Jehovah; he fortified Jerusalem (2 Chron. 33:12-19).
His reign, the longest of the kings of Judah, lasted 55 years. Manasseh died around 639 BC, leaving his son Amon on the throne (2 Kings 21:17, 18; 2 Chron. 33:20).
B. Archaeology:
The Assyrian annals do not speak of Manasseh’s displacement to Babylon (2 Chr. 33:11). But an inscription by Esar-haddon recounts a forced visit that he had to make to Nineveh, around the year 678 BC. Esar-haddon says in it: «… and I summoned (after having built a larger royal palace) the kings of Syria; …Baalu, king of Tyre; Manasseh, king of Judah; Kaushgabri, king of Edom; Mussuri, king of Moab… (etc.).
Twenty kings in total. I gave them my orders. (D. D. Luckenbill, “Ancient Records of Syria and Babylon 2”, Sect. 690). Critics therefore believe that Manasseh’s deportation took place to Nineveh, and not to Babylon as the biblical text states.
However, cuneiform inscriptions demonstrate that Esar-haddon had rebuilt and beautified Babylon, destroyed by his father Sennacherib (ibid., Sect. 646-647); It is perfectly possible that he took these twenty gathered kings to see that splendor. And, of course, it cannot be argued from the silence that Manasseh had not been sent there.
The Stele of Esar-haddon, also called Endjirli, shows Baalu, king of Tyre, bound and in a supplicating attitude before the king of Assyria. Beside him stands Tirhakah, the king of Ethiopia (2 Kings 19:9), with his lips pierced by a hook attached to a rope held by Esar-haddon (S. Caiger, “Bible and Spade”, 1947 , pp. 163-164).
C. The tribe:
Emerging from Manasseh it included seven clans. Machish, son of Manasseh, founded one; the other six descended from Gilead, grandson of Manasseh (Gen. 50:23; Num. 26:28-34; Josh. 17:1, 2). During the first census in the wilderness, Manasseh had 32,200 men capable of bearing weapons (Num. 1:34, 35); at the second census, 38 years later, he numbered 52,700 (Num. 26:34).
When Moses had defeated Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, half of the tribe of Manasseh joined the tribes of Reuben and Gad to ask permission to stay east of the Jordan.
They received this permission on the condition that they pass in arms before their brothers, to help them conquer the country west of the Jordan (Num. 32:33-42; cf. Num. 32:1-32; 34:14, 15 ; Deut. 3:12, 13; 29:8; Jos. 12:4-6; 18:7). They fulfilled this condition (Josh. 1:12-18; 4:12).
After having achieved victory, they returned to the regions they had chosen. A misunderstanding about the construction of an altar jeopardized concord, which was soon restored (Josh. 22:1-34). The country assigned to the half-tribe of Manasseh, east of the Jordan, included a part of Gilead and all of Bashan (Deut. 3:13-15), beginning with Mahanaim (Josh. 13:29-33).
This territory extends 100 km from east to west, and 65 or more from north to south. It is largely made up of a 760 m plateau. high, one of the richest regions of Palestine and one of the main granaries of Syria.
It is full of ruins of cities. The other half tribe crossed the Jordan and received their inheritance in central Palestine, west of the Jordan. Its limits were: to the south, Ephraim; to the northwest, Asher; to the northeast, Issachar.
Its southern border passed through Janoah and Taanath-silo, near Shechem; It followed the northern bank of the Brook of Cana to its mouth into the Mediterranean (Josh. 16:6, 7; 17:5-10). But the children of Ephraim had cities among the children of Manasseh (Josh. 16:9) and the latter had cities in the interior of Issachar and Asher: Bethshean, Ibleam, Dor, Endor, Taanach, Megiddo (Josh. 17 :11; cf. 1 Chr. 7:29).
The descendants of Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of the Canaanite cities, but were content to exact tribute from them (Josh. 17:12, 13; Judges 1:27, 28). There were cities of Manasseh designated for the Levites, as in the other tribes: Golan, in Bashan, east of the Jordan, was one of the six cities of refuge (Josh. 20:8; 21:27).
Gideon, hero and judge, was the most illustrious of the descendants of Manasseh (Judges 6:15; cf. 6:35; 7:23). There were men from Manasseh who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chron. 12:19, 20), and 18,000 of them placed themselves at his disposal at Hebron (1 Chron. 12:31; cf. 1 Chron. 12:37) .
The half-tribe east of the Jordan, associated with Reuben and Gad, warred against the Hagarenes and seized their territory. Tiglath-pileser then deported these Israelites (1 Chron. 5:18-26). From Manasseh they joined Asa of Judah, when they saw that the Lord was with him (2 Chron. 15:9). Also from this same tribe came to the great Passover celebrated under Hezekiah, and later to that of Josiah (2 Chron. 20:1, 10, 11, 18; 31:1; 34:6, 9).