Tag Archives: Gilead

Tribes of Israel – Manasseh

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Manasseh was the first-born child of Joseph who was put as a “second son” by Jacob. Joseph in naming Manasseh and Ephraim demonstrates that he was perfectly happy with his new life and had no intention of going back. (Genesis 41:51+52) He had the power to send a message back to his family but he did not.

I wonder how these two acted around the rest of the family? They were children of the ruler of the country they lived in and because of being Egyptian possibly had more privileges. From Genesis 48:1 I would wonder if Joseph even allowed them to live around his brothers? Joseph may have had them marry within the family but Manasseh definitely owned slaves and even had a foreign concubine.

1 Chronicles 7:14+15 talks about Manasseh’s two notable descendents: Gilead and Zelophehad.  In Numbers 36 Zelophehad dies in the exodus and leaves only daughters, these girls stand up for themselves and their father’s lineage. The daughters go to Moses and plead their case before God; this leads to a new decree to acknowledge women as heirs. It may not sound like much but that was groundbreaking territory when women were viewed much of the time as second-class people or property.   The other descendent was Gilead who was to lend his name to the area of the east bank of the Jordan River that wasTwelveTribesofIsraelebible the inheritance of the tribes of Manasseh, Rueben and Gad. This is a contrast to Zelophehad’s daughters; Gilead comes from an Aramean concubine and a group of people who were not Israelites (Huppites and Shuppites). Just like Bilhah and Zilpah this concubine was a slave that Manasseh used and was so elevated to a slightly better status in the household. You get the feeling that the children were valued but not the mother (Sarah and Hagar).

In 1 Chronicles 5: 18 -26 it gives two contrasting stories; one of faith and trust in God and the other of unfaithfulness to Him. In verse 20 the East Bank tribes cry out to God for help in the middle of a battle and are helped and overcome their enemies. In verse 25 it tells of the unfaithfulness that gets them taken away by Tiglath-Pileser.habor_river

Actually, Manasseh’s descendents were on par with the other tribes; they did their part in taking the Promise Land and showed up at all the right times and were active during the life time of Saul and David. Lo Debar is in the allotment of land given to Manasseh and it was this area that David went to when he ran from Absalom.

Map from http://www.biblestudytools.com/resources/maps/twelve-tribes-of-israel-map.html and eBibleTeacher.com.

http://bibleatlas.org/full/habor_river.htm  large map,

Tribes of Israel – Gad and Asher

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Zilpah and Her Boys

Zilpah is Leah’s slave and is not mentioned outside of Genesis. Even though she had children by Jacob you have to wonder if life really changed any for her because of the “marriage.” Like Bilhah she did not even name her children. (see comments under Bilhah)

Gad is Jacob’s seventh child and Zilpah’s first, his name means “good fortune.”

Deuteronomy 33: 20 About Gad he said:“Blessed is he who enlarges Gad’s domain! Gad lives there like a lion, tearing at arm or head. 21 He chose the best land for himself; the leader’s portion was kept for him. When the heads of the people assembled, he carried out the Lord’s righteous will, and his judgments concerning Israel.” (NIV)

Genesis 49:19 “Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels. (NIV)

Once again little is told about his life and his family became shepherds with lots of animals and settled on the east bank of the Jordan with Reuben and Manasseh. Those tribes seem to blend together and are called Gilead often in scripture. The Gadites produced warriors that “crossed the Jordan” with the half-tribe of Manasseh all the way to the time of David. With the other trans-Jordan tribes they built a large alter in order to announce their intentions of worshipping Jehovah.

Asher is Jacob’s eighth child and Zilpah’s second, his name means “happy.”

Deuteronomy 33: 24 About Asher he said: “Most blessed of sons is Asher; let him be favored by his brothers, and let him bathe his feet in oil. 25 The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze, and your strength will equal your days. (NIV)

Genesis 49:20 “Asher’s food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king. (NIV)

This word from Jacob was fulfilled in their allotment because that area has some of the best olive trees and orchids in the land. The tribe helped Gideon but for the most part they are rather quite throughout Israel’s history. Anna the prophetess, in the book of Luke, that met Mary in the Temple is about it for notable tribe members.

A place called Lo Debar

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After many years of reading the Bible, you start to ask questions because you see things that you know were “not there before.” Some of these blogs will be from “old treasures” and some will be “new treasure” because God wants us to keep moving forward going from “glory to glory” in our knowledge of Him.
A great reason to study the Bible on your own is what happened to me because of a place called Lo Debar (2 Samuel 9). A preacher had taught about Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of King Saul, who was living in Lo Debar. (see Lo Debar-Why Hide a Grandson There?)  ( see Lo Debar – Another Look this is a look at all of the people in the story.)
lo-debarLo Debar means “no pasture or no communication”. The negative of the place was so emphasized that I have for 20 years thought that it was a “dump”. Well, another preacher taught about it and did not highlight the “dump” idea, so I knew it was time to study. Part of the study was to go look on Google maps to find where it was, that was fun and it gave me an idea why it may have been called that. One of David’s benefactors (Makir of Ammiel, 2 Sam. 17:27) was from Lo Debar and he brought to David as he ran from Absalom pots, vessels, and bedding, which is what was made in Lo Debar. On further study it seems that Lo Debar possible locationLo Debar may have been a gateway to Gilead and important in its protection, so it seems that it may not have been a “dump.” Resources: Atlas of the Bible by Collins, Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance, and Easton’s Bible Dictionary

The map is from http://bibleatlas.org/lo-debar.htm ,the pic is a screen shot from Goggle Earth.