Manasseh

(forgetting ), the eldest son of Joseph, ( Genesis 41:51 ; 46:20 ) born 1715-10 B.C. Both he and Ephraim were born before the commencement of the famine. He was placed after his younger brother, Ephraim, by his grandfather Jacob, when he adopted them into his own family, and made them heads of tribes. Whether the elder of the two sons was inferior in form or promise to the younger, or whether there was any external reason to justify the preference of Jacob, we are not told. In the division of the promised land half of the tribe of Manasseh settled east of the Jordan in the district embracing the hills of Gilead with their inaccessible heights and impassable ravines, and the almost impregnable tract of Argob. ( Joshua 13:29-33 ) Here they throve exceedingly, pushing their way northward over the rich plains of Jaulan and Jedur to the foot of Mount Hermon. ( 1 Chronicles 5:23 ) But they gradually assimilated themselves with the old inhabitants of the country, and on them descended the punishment which was ordained to he the inevitable consequence of such misdoing. They, first of all Israel, were carried away by Pul and Tiglath-pileser, and settled in the Assyrian territories. ( 1 Chronicles 5:25 1 Chronicles 5:26 ) The other half tribe settled to the west of the Jordan, north of Ephraim. ( Joshua 17:1 ) ... For further particulars see EPHRAIM EPHRAIM.