Editing Tribe of Manasseh (section)

=={{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>