two kindred tribes is defined by a place called Asher (ver. 7), now Yasir, twelve miles north-east of Nablus. Thence it ran to Michmethah, described as facing She- chem (Nablus) ; then went to the right, i. e. southward, to the spring of Tappuah, and so doubtless to the Jor- dan. In the opposite direction it fell in with the water- courses of the torrent Kanah — probably the NahrFalaik — along which it ran to the Mediterranean. See TitiBE.
From the indications of the history, it would appear that Manasseh took very little part in public affairs. They either left all that to Ephraim, or were so far re- moved from the centre of the nation as to have little interest in what was taking place. That they attended David's coronation at Hebron has already been men- tioned. When his rule was established over all Israel, each half had its distinct ruler — the western, Joel ben- Pedaiah; the eastern, Iddo ben-Zechariah (1 Chron. xxvii, 20, 21). From this time the eastern Manasseh fades entirely from our view, and the western is hardly kept before us by an occasional mention. Such scat- tered notices as we do find have almost all reference to the part taken by members of the tribe in the reforms of the good kings of Judah — the Jehovah-revival under Asa (2 Chron. xv, 9) — the Passover of Hezekiah (xxx, 1, 10, 11, 18), and the subsequent enthusiasm against idolatry (xxxi, 1) — the iconoclasm of Josiah (xxxiv, 6), and his restoration of the buildings of the Temple (ver. 9). It is gratifying to reflect that these notices, faint and scattered as they are, are all colored with good, and exhibit none of the repulsive traits of that most repul- sive heathenism into which other tribes of Israel fell.
A positive connection between Manasseh and Benja- min is implied in the genealogies of 1 Chron. vii, where Macliir is said to have married into the family of Hupr pim and Shuppim, chief houses in the latter tribe (ver. 15). No record of any such relation appears aiiywhere else. — Smith, s. v.
The following are all the Biblical localities in both
Map of the half-tribe of Manasseh — West.
MANASSEH
692
MANASSEH
sections of the tribe, with their preserved modern rep- resentatives :
Manasseu East.
Apbok. Town.
Ai-litaroth. do.
Asbteroth-kavnaim) ■,
or Beeshteroth. )
Belhsaida. do.
Edrei. do.
Gadara [or Gergesa]. do.
Geshur. District.
Golan. City.
Ilavoth-Jair. District.
Judah-ou-Jordan. do.
Karnaim. Town.
Keuath or Nobah. do.
Tob. da.
Fik.
Tell Ashteralif
Mezareib ?
[El-Araj]? Dera ? Um-Keis. Jedur.
ITellel-Feras]? N. part of Gilead? S. of Banias ? See AsuTABOTn. Kunewat ? Bs-Sumrah ?
Abel-raeholah.
Adam.
.^uon.
Aner.
Armageddon.
Asher.
Beth-barah.
Beth-shean.
Betb-shittah.
Bezek.
Bileam.
Ciesarea. '
Dor.
Dothau.
Eudor.
Eti-tappuah.
Gilboa.
Gilead.
Hadad-rinimou.
Ha rod.
Hermon (Little).
Jehovah-slialom.
Megiddo.
]\li)rcb.
Ophrab.
Shamir.
Taaiiach.
Taanath-shiloh.
Tabbatb.
Tabor.
Tappiiah.
Manasseo West.
Town. [Khurbet-esh-SMik] ?
do. [N. of Bethshean") ?
Springs. Bir of Sheik Salim ?
Town. See Taanacu.
Valley. See Megiddo.
Town. Vasir.
Ford. [Near Jisr-Damieh] ?
Town. Beisan.
do. Shuttah T
do. [Khurbet-SIalelq ?
do. See lui.EAM.
do. Kaisariijeh.
do. Tantura.
do. Tell Dothan.
do. Emlur.
do. See Tappuaii.
Mount. Jebel Fukim.
do. See Giluoa.
Town. Rummaneh.
Fount. Ahi-Jalml.
]V[ount. [Jebel ed-Duhy]?
Altar. See Ophbau.
Town. El-Lcjjun.
11)11. See IIkk.mon.
Town. Erfai?
do. tSamniirt
do. Taiiuk.
do. Ahi Tana?
do. ITcll-Hnmah-i ?
JNIonnt. Jebel Tin:
District. Around Alaft
Town.
[S. of wady Osheb] ?
Zarethan or Zarta-' nab ; also Zereda or Zeredatha, Ze- ■ rerath. J
2. According to the usual reading of the text in Judg. xviii, 30, Manasseh was tlie fatlier of Gershom, who Is named as the father of Jonathan that acted as priest to the Danites at Laish; but besides that this would not make him a Levite, and, in addition to the fact that Gershom is a Levitical name, the reading is marked as suspicious (iTv^ip, Sept. ^lavaaai'i), and should doubt- less be corrected to " Jloses," as in the Vidg. and many copies of the Sept. See Jon,\tiiax.
3. Tlie fourteentli separate king of Judah, son and successor of Hezekiah, who began to reign at the early age (if twelve years, and reigned fifty-five years. B.C. (;'.)7-(i 12. (In the following account we chiefly follow that in Smith's Dictionarii of the Bible, s. v.) The reio-n of this monarch is thus longer than that of any other of tlie house of David. There is none of which we know less. In part, it may be, this was the direct result of the character and jjolicy of the man. In part, doubt- less, it is to be traced to the abhoiTence with which the following generation looked back upon it as the period of lowest degradation to which their country had ever fallen. Chroniclers and prophets pass it over, gather- ing from its horrors and disasters the great, broad les- sons in which they saw the foot-prints of a righteous retribution, the tokens of a divine compassion, and then they avert their eyes and will see and say no more. This is in itself significant. It gives a meaning and a value to event' fact which has escaped the sentence of oblivion. The very reticence of tlie historians of the <). T. shows how free they \i:ere from the rhetorical ex- aggerations and inaccuracies of a later age. The strug- gle of o]iposing worshi]>s must have been as fierce under Manasseh as it was under Antiochus, or Decius, or Dio- cletian, or Mary. Men must have suffered and died in