E. Wheeler.
MANAEN (yiavarjv, Ac 13' = Menahem, cnjp, 'comforter,' 2 K 15" etc.). — Two facts only are re- corded in Scripture concerning Manaen. In his old age he was a Christian minister ; in youth he was foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, i.e. Antipas (Ac 13^). But this must be read side by side with a statement of Josephus, who tells us {Ant. XV. X. 5) that, some few years before, another Manaen (or Manaem) had come into touch with another Herod,— the Great. The double parallel appears too striking to be mere coincidence. It seems more reasonable to assume a connexion be- tween the two stories, and from them we may inferentially derive much light.
1. The connexion between the Manaen of Josephus I
and Herod the Great. — When Herod was yet a schoolboy, he was one day greeted in the street by this Manaen, who patted him on the back, and saluted him as future king of the Jews. As Anti- pater, Herod's father, was only a military governor, tlie prediction seemed absurd. But Manaen was an Essene, one of the stalwart Puritans of that day, who had a reputation not only for austerity but for predictive po\Vers {Jos. BJ II. viii. 12) ; and the words induced the lad to make further inquiry. Manaen persisted, adding that the coming dignity would not be accompanied by righteous living, and that God's punishment would visit his later life. About hfteen years later (B.C. 37), when the first part of the prophecy Avas fulfilled, Herod sent for the old Essene, and ever after honoured him and his sect. If, as Lightfoot conjectures, he was the same Manaen who, being vice-president of the Sanhedrin under Hillel, led away eighty others to the service of Herod, and inaugurated a system of laxer living, then the connexion did not issue in the moral profit of the older man, and he may have been alluded to (as Plumptre thinks) l>y our Lord under the figure of the shaken reed (]\It 11"), and as a soft-clad dweller in royal households. Perhaps, too, this defection was the origin of the sect of the Herodians (Mk 3", etc.).
2. Connexion between the later Manaen and Herod Antipas. — The facts related above seem to constitute an intelligible foundation for the circum- stances of Manaen's life noted in Ac 13^. Antipas was a son of Herod the Great, and if the old king- had an elder Manaen living in his household, nothing would be more natural than that a young Herod and a young Manaen (perhaps a grandson, since Manaen the elder was a man of standing when Herod the Great Avas a boy) should be brought up together. What this implied it is difficult to determine, since 'foster-brother' (criV- Tpo(/>os) has both a narrower and a wider meaning. It may only indicate that the children were much together. ]Manaen may well have shared both the home-life and the subsequent education, under a private tutor at Rome, which Antipas and Arclie- laus enjoyed {Ant. XVII. i. 3). On the other hand, Archelaus is not mentioned here, so perhaps the narrower sense of avvrpo^os may be pressed, that Manaen's mother was also nurse to Antipas. In either case it is suggestive to contemplate the murderer of John the Baptist and paramour of Herodias, side by side with the man of ascetic Essene stock, subsequently a teacher in the Church of Christ.
3. Manaen's religious development and influence. — One wonders how the companion of Herod became the servant of Christ. His name ('con- soler') may indicate that his parents were of that spiritually watchful circle who waited for the con- solation of Israel (Lk 2-^). According to the Talmud (Jerus. Ber. ii. 4), Menahem was to be one of the titles of the Messiah, and indeed it became so (see 1 Jn 2^ irapaKXriTos, used in Job 16- [Aq. Theod.] as tr. of oqj!?). The name was sometimes given to children at this period, with Messianic thoughts and hopes. Manaen is like a ferry- chain whose ends are visible and whose centre is submerged. We know of his childhood and old age : his mature manhood we can only con- jecture. But we know at least that he passed through the Gospel period of John the Baptist's preaching and Jesus Christ's ministry. He may liave been amongst the number of those who listened on the Jordan's banks, and brought tidings to Antipas. At any rate, in Herod's house- hold he must have heard the stirring words of the rugged jirophet of the old Essene type, and if Herod ' heard gladly,' how much more Manaen ! The twin-texts, ' Repent ye ' and ' Behold the
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Lamb,' may well have become the head-lights of his course, and the forenmners words have led to Christ one mure fmitful senant. There is much to indicate that the lonely ministry in the castle of Machaenis was not barren of results. Besides Manaen, we know of spiritual interests kindled in Joanna, wife of Herods major-domo (Lk 8^), in the kings courtiers {^a<n\iK6s, Jn 4*i, jterhaps in Hero- dion (Ro 16'), whose name indicates court c-on- nexions : we know, further, that there were servants to whom Herod talked on religious topics (Mt 14"-). And among these Manaen may well have Ijeen one of those unseen influences for good which alone can account for some of the l>etter impulses of Herods inconsistent life. What pa.ssed between the foster- brothers after John's murder? Was Manaen a silent or a prote-sting sjjectator when Jesus was mocked ? Did the death of Christ complete a work of grace already begun at the death of John ? Did the Resurrection of Clirist (no rumour this time, Mt 14-, but a well attested fact) seal for ever the allegiance of a halting disciple ? Did he remain in the train of his foster-brother till the latter left for Rome in a.d. 39? If so, he may have gone to Antioch at that date, and been one of the founders of the Church in that city, which c-omes into view about A.D. -41 (Ac 11^"). He would then rank amongst that honoured compony whose consistent practice of the faith they professed first won them the name ' Christian,' Christ's man, — honoured since with world-wide acceptance wherever the gospel message has spread. At Antioch, in any ca.se, we find htm four years later occupying a jtosition of authority (Ac 13'). If he was a prophet, we have an interesting link with the old E.s.sene foreteller 3f Herod the Great's reign. But perhaps the copu- lative particles, strictly pressed, rank him as teacher and not as prophet. He must by this time have Ijecome somewhat advanced in years. If St. Luke also came from Antioch (Euseb. HE 3. 4), it may have been from ^lanaen that he learned certain details (?onc-eming Herod and John which are i>eculiar to his Gospel. We last catch sight of Manaen in that hallowed gathering when he and his fellows in tlie ministry willingly surrendered their two ablest men, Bamalias and Saul, for the evangelization of the world. He who was called by his parents ' the comforter ' cheerfully j-ielded to the higher voice of the heavenly ' Comforter ' (Ac 13-), and tarried by the stuflf, while others went forth to the fight.