The twelve tribes of Israel

The Tribe of Manasseh

Son of Jacob by Rachel (through Joseph) · Name means Making to forget (Joseph said, God hath made me forget all my toil) · Settled on both sides of the Jordan; half in Gilead and Bashan, half in the central hills

Manasseh was the elder son of Joseph, and his tribe was unique in being divided by the Jordan, with half settling east of the river and half to the west. Though Jacob gave the greater blessing to his younger brother Ephraim, Manasseh too became a great and numerous people. The judge Gideon, who delivered Israel from the Midianites, was of the tribe of Manasseh.

And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.Genesis 48:19 (KJV)

Manasseh the elder son

Manasseh was the firstborn son of Joseph in Egypt, born before the years of famine. Joseph named him Manasseh, saying, God hath made me to forget all my toil, and all my father's house, a name meaning to forget, for in the joy of his sons Joseph found healing from the sorrow of his past.

As the elder, Manasseh was set by Joseph at Jacob's right hand to receive the chief blessing, but Jacob crossed his hands and gave the greater blessing to the younger, Ephraim. Still, Jacob's word over Manasseh was not small: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Manasseh would be a mighty tribe, second among Joseph's sons but great in its own right, and often numbered among the largest of all the tribes of Israel.

The tribe on both sides of the Jordan

Manasseh holds a distinction shared by no other tribe: it was divided in two, settling on both sides of the Jordan River. Half the tribe, the eastern half, took the wild highland country of Gilead and Bashan, alongside Reuben and Gad, a vast and rugged land good for cattle. The other half settled west of the Jordan, in the hill country north of its brother Ephraim.

This double portion of territory reflected Manasseh's size and strength. The eastern Manassites included famous warriors and clans, and figures like Jair, who held many towns in Gilead. But being spread on both sides of the river, and far to the east, also left much of the tribe exposed, and the eastern tribes were among the first taken into exile when Assyria came from the north and east.

Gideon and the deliverance of Israel

The greatest son of Manasseh was Gideon, whom God raised up to deliver Israel from the Midianites who had crushed the land. When the angel of the LORD called him, Gideon protested, Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house, a true son of the tribes, sure of his own smallness. But God chose him, and with only three hundred men, torches, and trumpets, Gideon routed a vast army, so that all Israel would know the victory was the LORD's and not their own.

Gideon's story is one of the clearest lessons in Scripture that God saves not by strength of numbers but by his own power through the weak and the willing. The tribe of the forgotten toil brought forth a deliverer who won his battle precisely by being made small, so that God alone would be praised.

The eastern half of Manasseh also had its faithful daughters. It was for the sake of Zelophehad's daughters, who had no brother, that God gave a law allowing daughters to inherit their father's land, so that his name would not be lost, a rare provision of dignity and justice for women in the ancient world. Manasseh, spread across the Jordan and touching both the settled land and the wild frontier, held within it both mighty warriors and quiet keepers of the covenant.

Manasseh in God's plan

Manasseh has a quiet place of honor in the counting of the tribes. When Dan is left out of the list of the sealed tribes in the Revelation, it is Manasseh that is named in its place, twelve thousand of the tribe of Manasses sealed among the redeemed, even though Manasseh's father Joseph is also named. It is as if this tribe, the elder son who yielded the greater blessing to his brother, is given an honored remembrance at the last.

Manasseh teaches that to be second is not to be forgotten by God, and that the least in his own house may be the very one God raises up to save his people. The pattern runs straight to the gospel, where God chooses the weak things of the world to confound the mighty, and where the deliverance of all people came through one who was despised and rejected, that no flesh should glory, but that all glory should belong to God alone.

A note on counting the twelve: Jacob had twelve sons, but the tribes are reckoned in more than one way in Scripture. The tribe of Levi was set apart for the priesthood and received no territory of its own, and Joseph, given the double portion of the firstborn, was counted as two tribes through his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. So when the land was divided the tribes still numbered twelve, with Levi outside the count. Different lists in the Bible reflect this: the blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy leaves out Simeon, and the sealed tribes in Revelation 7 omit Dan and Ephraim while naming Levi, Joseph, and Manasseh. The number twelve is preserved as a sign of the whole people of God.

Related: The Tribe of Ephraim · The Tribe of Joseph · The Tribe of Dan · All twelve tribes