I. MANASSEH. The eldest Son of Gen. xli. 50, 51.Joseph, and Grandson of the Patriarch Jacob. Manasseh was born in the Year of the World 2290, before Jesus Christ 1710, before the Vulgar Æra 1714. The Name Manasseh signifies Forgetfulness, because Joseph said; God has made me forget all my Toil, and all my Father’s House. When Jacob was going to die1, Joseph brought his two Sons to him, that his Father might give Gen. xlviii. 1, 2, 3, &c.them his last Blessing. Jacob having seen them, tells Joseph; thy two Sons, which were born to thee in Egypt, shall be my Sons: I adopt them, and they shall be to me as Reuben and Simeon. Then he made them come to his Bed-side, kissed them, and embracing them, said to his Son: God has not only been favourable to me, in making me see thy Face, but thy Children also. At the same Time Joseph taking his two Sons away, prostrated himself to the Ground before his Father, and having placed Ephraim at Jacob’s left Hand, and Manasseh at his right, he desired him to bless them. Then Jacob put his right Hand upon Ephraim, and his left on Manasseh, and began to bless them. But Joseph observing that his Father had put his right Hand upon Ephraim; and his left on Manasseh, would have him alter this Disposition, and change his right Hand to Manasseh, and his left to Ephraim. But Jacob would not agree to this Change, and told him; “ I know what I am doing, my “ Son, the eldest shall be Father of a great “ People, but his younger Brother shall be “ greater than he.” His Posterity shall be multiplied, and grow into a great Nation. He continued to bless them, and said; in thee shall Israel be blessed, and it shall be said, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh.
The Tribe of Manasseh came out of Egypt2, in Number thirty two Thousand and two hundred Men, fit for Battle; upwards of twenty Years old, under the Conduct Numb. ii. 20, 21.of Gamaliel Son of Pedahzur. This Tribe was divided at their Entrance into the Land of Promise. One half had its Portion beyond the River Jordan, and the other half on this Side the River. The half Tribe of Manasseh which settled beyond the River, possessed the Countrey of Bashan, from the River Jabbok, to Mount Libanus, Numb. xxxii. 33, 34, &c.and the half Tribe of Manasseh on this Side Jordan obtained for its Inheritance the Countrey between the Tribe of Ephraim to the South, and the Tribe of Issachar to the North, having the River Jordan to the East, and the Mediterranean Sea to the Josh. xvi. xvii.West.
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