Manas´seh, Tribe of. When the tribe of Manasseh departed from Egypt, it numbered 32,200 adult males (), being 8300 less than the tribe of Ephraim, the younger son of Joseph. This was the lowest number of adult males in any tribe at that period; but if we add the two together, the tribe of Joseph, composed of these two tribes, reached to 72,700, which was more than any other tribe contained, except Judah. During the sojourn in the wilderness, the tribe of Manasseh rose to 52,700 (), being an increase of 20,500. This gave it rank in point of population as the sixth of the tribes, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Dan, and Asher only being more numerous. In the same period Ephraim had declined to nearly the same position which Manasseh had previously occupied, its numbers being reduced to 32,500. Yet the prophecy of Jacob was fulfilled, and, when settled in Canaan, Ephraim became superior in wealth, power and population, not only to Manasseh, but to all the tribes except Judah. One circumstance tending to weaken Manasseh may have been the division which took place in it on entering Palestine. The pastoral half of the tribe was allowed to establish itself with Reuben and Gad, on the east of the Jordan, where it occupied the northernmost portion, consisting of Argob and Bashan, from the Jabbok to Mount Hermon (; :;;; ), while the other half was provided for with the rest of the tribes in Canaan proper, west of the Jordan, where it had a fine tract of country extending from that river to the Mediterranean, with the kindred tribe of Ephraim on the south, and Issachar on the north (; ). The half-tribe west of the river was not, however, for some time able to expel the former inhabitants of the territory, so as to obtain the exclusive possession of it (; ). The tribe of Manasseh makes no figure in the history of the Hebrews.
This Encyclopedia of Biblical Literature is a 6 volume set in 1 book. It has over 2Read More
John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
Wikipedia