View source for Tribe of Manasseh

{{Short description|One of the two Half-Tribes of Joseph}}
{{Tribes of Israel}}

According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], the '''Tribe of Manasseh''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|n|æ|s|ə}}; [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: {{Script/Hebrew|שֵׁבֶט מְנַשֶּׁה‎}} ''Ševet Mənašše,'' [[Tiberian Hebrew|Tiberian:]] ''Šēḇeṭ Mănašše'')<ref>{{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Geoffrey |title=The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, Volume 1. |publisher=Open Book Publishers |year=2020 |isbn=978-1783746767}}</ref> was one of the [[twelve tribes]] of [[Israelites| Israel]]. After the [[Shalmaneser V#Conquest of Samaria and western wars| Assyrian invasion]] of 720 BCE, it is counted as one of the [[ten lost tribes]]. Together with the [[Tribe of Ephraim]], Manasseh also formed the [[House of Joseph]].

==Symbols==
Their banner is a black flag with an embroidered unicorn.<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia.com v643">{{cite web | title=MANASSEH | website=JewishEncyclopedia.com | url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10343-manasseh | access-date=2023-12-06}}</ref>

==Biblical narrative==
According to the Tanakh, the Tribe of Manasseh was a part of a loose confederation of Israelite tribes from after the conquest of the land by [[Joshua]] until the formation of the first [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|Kingdom of Israel]] in c. 1050 BC. No central government existed, and in times of crisis the people were led by ad hoc leaders known as [[Biblical judges|Judges]] (see [[Book of Judges]]). With the growth of the threat from [[Philistine]] incursions, the Israelite tribes decided to form a strong centralised monarchy to meet the challenge, and the Tribe of Manasseh joined the new kingdom with [[Saul]] as the first king. After the death of Saul, all the tribes other than [[Tribe of Judah|Judah]] remained loyal to the House of Saul, but after the death of [[Ish-bosheth]], Saul's son who succeeded him to the throne of Israel, the Tribe of Manasseh joined the other northern Israelite tribes in making Judah's king [[David]] the king of a re-united Kingdom of Israel. However, on the accession of David's grandson [[Rehoboam]], in c. 930 BC the northern tribes split from the [[Davidic line|House of David]] and from Saul's tribe [[Tribe of Benjamin|Benjamin]] to reform [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel as the Northern Kingdom]]. Manasseh was a member of the Northern Kingdom until the kingdom was conquered by [[Assyria]] in c. 723 BC and the population deported.

From that time, the Tribe of Manasseh has been counted as one of the ten lost tribes of Israel.

=={{anchor|Tribal territory}} Tribal territory==
[[File:12 Tribes of Israel Map.svg|thumb|400px|Territory allotted to the twelve tribes of Israel; Manasseh was given the large green-yellow area]]
[[File:Manasseh. 1852 Philip Map of Palestine - Israel - Holy Land - Geographicus - Palestine-philip-1852.jpg|thumb|An alternative reconstruction makes the western and eastern territories discontinuous (1852 map).]]
The Bible narrates that following the completion of the conquest of [[Canaan]] by the [[Israelite]] tribes, [[Joshua]] allocated the land among the twelve tribes. According to biblical scholar Kenneth Kitchen, this conquest should be dated slightly after 1200 BCE.<ref name="pnxthp">Kitchen, Kenneth A. (2003), ''On the Reliability of the Old Testament'' (Grand Rapids, Michigan. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company)({{ISBN|0-8028-4960-1}})</ref> Some modern scholars argue that the conquest of Joshua, as described in the Book of Joshua, never occurred.<ref name="BakerArnold2004" /> "Besides the rejection of the Albrightian 'conquest' model, the general consensus among OT scholars is that the Book of Joshua has no value in the historical reconstruction. They see the book as an ideological retrojection from a later period—either as early as the reign of Josiah or as late as the Hasmonean period."<ref name="BakerArnold2004">{{cite book|editor1=David W. Baker|editor2=Bill T. Arnold|author=K. Lawson Younger Jr.|chapter=Early Israel in Recent Biblical Scholarship|title=The Face of Old Testament Studies: A Survey of Contemporary Approaches|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vO8XRZyhvpMC&pg=PA200|date=1 October 2004|publisher=Baker Academic|isbn=978-0-8010-2871-7|page=200}}</ref> "It behooves us to ask, in spite of the fact that the overwhelming consensus of modern scholarship is that Joshua is a pious fiction composed by the deuteronomistic school, how does and how has the Jewish community dealt with these foundational narratives, saturated as they are with acts of violence against others?"<ref>{{cite book|author=Carl S. Ehrlich|title=Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Volume 1: Biblical, Rabbinical, and Medieval Studies|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZlRPQJ8Qd4C&pg=PA117|year=1999|chapter=Joshua, Judaism and Genocide|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-11554-5|page=117}}</ref><ref name="BerlinBrettler2014" /> Recent decades, for example, have seen a remarkable reevaluation of evidence concerning the conquest of the land of Canaan by Joshua. As more sites have been excavated, there has been a growing consensus that the main story of Joshua, that of a speedy and complete conquest (e.g. Josh. 11.23: 'Thus Joshua conquered the whole country, just as the {{Lord}} had promised Moses') is contradicted by the archaeological record, though there are indications of ''some'' destruction at the appropriate time.<ref name="BerlinBrettler2014">{{cite book|author1=Adele Berlin|author2=Marc Zvi Brettler|title=The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT951|date=17 October 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-939387-9|page=951}}</ref>

In the [[Book of Joshua]], it is claimed that at its height, the territory Manasseh occupied spanned the [[Jordan River]], forming two "half-tribes", one on each side;<ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|22:7|HE}}</ref> the [[Transjordan (Bible)|eastern half-tribe]] was, by most accounts, almost entirely [[Geographic contiguity|discontiguous]] with the western half-tribe, only slightly touching at one corner—the southwest of East Manasseh and the northeast of West Manasseh.{{cn|date=March 2023}}<!-- This paragraph is at odds with the included map which shows the two half-tribes as contiguous across Jordan. Is this explicable, or should a different map be used? [edform ]  -->

West Manasseh occupied the land to the immediate north of Ephraim, thus just north of centre of western [[Canaan]], between the Jordan and the coast, with the northwest corner at [[Mount Carmel]], and neighbored on the north by tribes [[Tribe of Asher|Asher]] and [[Tribe of Issachar|Issachar]]. East Manasseh was the northernmost Israelite group east of the Jordan until the siege of [[Dan (ancient city)|Laish]] farther north by the [[tribe of Dan]]; other neighboring tribes were [[Tribe of Gad|Gad]] on the south and [[Tribe of Naphtali|Naphtali]] and Issachar on the west. East Manasseh occupied the land from the [[Mahanaim]] in the south to [[Mount Hermon]] in the north, and including within it the whole of [[Bashan]]. These territories abounded in water, a precious commodity in [[Canaan]], thus constituting one of the most valuable parts of the country; additionally, Manasseh's geographic situation enabled it to defend two important mountain passes—[[Esdraelon]] on the west of the Jordan and [[Hauran]] on the east.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

<blockquote>The half-tribe of Manasseh had the land from [[Jordan River|Jordan]] to the city [[Tel Dor|Dora]]; but its breadth was at [[Bethshan]], which is now called Scythopolis.<ref>{{cite book |last=Josephus |author-link=Josephus |title=Josephus Complete Works |publisher=Kregel Publications |translator=[[William Whiston]] |date=1981|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |page=108 (''Antiquities'' 5.1.22.) |language=en |isbn=0-8254-2951-X }}</ref></blockquote>

In c. 732 BCE, [[Pekah]], king of [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel (Samaria)]] allied with [[Rezin]], king of [[Aram Damascus|Aram]], and threatened [[Jerusalem]]. [[Ahaz]], [[king of Judah]], appealed to [[Tiglath-Pileser III]], the king of [[Assyria]], for help. After receiving tribute from Ahaz,<ref>{{Bibleverse|2|Kings|16:7-9|NIV}}</ref> Tiglath-Pileser sacked Damascus and Israel, annexing Aram<ref name=Grabbe>Lester L. Grabbe, ''Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?'' (New York: T&T Clark, 2007): 134</ref> and the territory east of the Jordan (tribes of [[Tribe of Reuben|Reuben]], [[Tribe of Gad|Gad]] and East Manasseh in Gilead), including the desert outposts of [[Jetur]], [[Naphish]] and [[Nodab]]. The population of these territories were taken captive and resettled in Assyria, in the region of the [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur River]] system. ({{Bibleverse|2|Kings|16:9|NIV}} and {{Bibleverse-nb|2|Kings|15:29|NIV}}) The diminished kingdom of Israel was again invaded by Assyria in 723 BCE and the rest of the population deported.

The riverine gulch, ''naḥal Ḳanah'' <small>(Joshua 17:9)</small>, divided Ephraim's territory in the south from Manasseh's territory in the north. The modern Israeli settlement of [[Karnei Shomron]] is built near this gulch, which runs in an easterly-westerly direction.<ref>''Carta's Official Guide to Israel and Complete Gazetteer to all Sites in the Holy Land'' (3rd edition 1993), Jerusalem</ref>

==Origin==
[[file:Facial Chronicle - b.02, p.416 - Manasseh's tribe portion of land.jpg|thumb|Lands given to Tribe of Manasseh by Joshua after his wars]]
According to the [[Torah]], the tribe consisted of descendants of [[Manasseh (tribal patriarch)|Manasseh]], a son of [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]], from whom it took its name.<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|30|HE}}</ref> Some [[Biblical criticism|critics]], however, view this as a postdiction, an [[eponym]]ous [[metaphor]] providing an [[aetiology]] of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation<ref>''[[Peake's Commentary on the Bible]]''.</ref> In the Biblical account, Joseph is one of the two children of [[Rachel]] and [[Jacob]], a brother to [[Benjamin]], and father to both Ephraim, and his first son, Manasseh; Ephraim received the blessing of the firstborn, although Manasseh was the eldest, because Jacob foresaw that Ephraim's descendants would be greater than his brother's. Here the blessing of the first son was conferred by a grandfather rather than by the father, despite prevailing custom (great patriarchs supersede custom).

Though the biblical descriptions of the geographic boundary of the House of Joseph are fairly consistent, the descriptions of the boundaries between Manasseh and Ephraim are not, and each is portrayed as having [[exclave]]s within the territory of the other.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''.</ref> Furthermore, in the [[Blessing of Jacob]], and elsewhere ascribed by [[textual criticism|textual scholars]] to a similar or earlier time period, (e.g., {{bibleverse||Joshua|17:14-18|HE}}) Ephraim and Manasseh are treated as a single tribe, with ''Joseph'' appearing in their place. From this it is regarded that originally Ephraim and Manasseh were considered one tribe—that of ''Joseph''.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref>

==Fate==
As part of the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]], the territory of Manasseh was conquered by the [[ancient Assyrians|Assyrians]] in the 720's BC, and many members of the tribe were exiled; others fled south to the Kingdom of Judah. Either way, the manner of their exile and dispersal led to [[Lost Ten Tribes|their further history being lost]]. However, several modern day groups claim descent, with varying levels of academic and rabbinical support. Both the [[Bnei Menashe]] and the [[Samaritan]]s claim that some of their adherents are descended from this tribe.

==According to Biblical criticism==
Although Machir and Gilead, as individuals, are described in biblical genealogies as father and son, and as son and grandson of Manasseh, in the view of some critical scholars [[Machir (biblical region)|Machir]] and [[Gilead]] are treated as the names of tribes which are different from one another in the Song of [[Deborah]]. (Tradition regards these as region names with the region Gilead being named so, long before the grandson of Manasseh.) Additionally, Manasseh is absent from the poem; in the [[Elohist]] texts Manasseh is also frequently absent, while Machir is mentioned. Additionally, Machir is described as settling on the east of the [[Jordan River]], leaving the absence of the western half of Manasseh in these passages still unaccounted for. Critical scholars{{Who|date=June 2017}} argue that the two sections had different origins, noting that in the [[First Book of Chronicles]] separate tribal rulers were named for the western ''half tribe'' and the eastern ''half tribe''.<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|27:20-21|HE}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{eastons|wstitle=Manasseh}}

==External links==
* [http://primo.nli.org.il/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=NLI&docId=NNL_MAPS_JER002368256 Map of the Tribal territory of the tribe of Manasseh, Adrichem, 1590.] Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, the [[National Library of Israel]]

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[[Category:Twelve Tribes of Israel|Manasseh, Tribe of]]
[[Category:Samaritan culture and history|Manasseh]]
[[Category:Gilead]]
[[Category:Tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]]