bly clear: "the first man Adam." It is so employed throughout the Apocrypha without exception (2 Esdr. iii, 5, 10, 21, 26; iv, 30; vi, 54; vii, 11, 46, 48; Tobit viii, 6; Ecclus. xxxiii, 10; x1, 1; xlix, 16), and by Josephus (ut infra). Gesenius argues that, as applied to the first man, it has the article almost without exception. It is doubtless often thus used as an appellative, but the exceptions are decisive: Gen. iii, 17, "to Adam he said," and see Sept., Deut. xxxii, 8, "the descendants of Adam;" "if I covered my transgressions as Adam" (Job xxxi, 33); "and unto Adam he said," etc. (Job xxviii, 28), which, when examined by the context, seems to refer to a primeval revelation not recorded in Genesis (see also Hos. vi, 7, Heb. or margin): Gesenius further argues that the woman has an appropriate name, but that the man has none. But the name Eve was given to her by Adam, and, as it would seem, under a change of circumstances; and though the divine origin of the word Adam, as a proper name of the first man, is not recorded in the history of the creation, as is that of the day, night, heaven, earth, seas, etc. (Gen. i, 5, 8, 10), yet its divine origin as an appellative is recorded (comp. Heb., Gen. i, 26; v, 1); from which state it soon became a proper name, Dr. Lee thinks from its frequent occurrence, but we would suggest, from its peculiar appropriateness to "the man," who is the more immediate image and glory of God (1 Cor. xi, 7). Other derivations of the word have been offered, as 7, "to be red" or "redhaired;" and hence some of the rabbins have inferred that the first man was so. The derivation is as old as Josephus, who says that "the first man was called Adam because he was formed from the red earth," and adds, "for the true virgin earth is of this color" (Ant. i, 1, 2). The following is a simple translation of the more detailed (Jehovistic) account given by Moses (Gen. ii, 47, 18-25) of the creation of the first human pair, omitting the paragraph concerning the garden of Eden. See COSMOGONY. made earth and heavens. Now no shrub of the field had This is the] genealogy of the heavens and the earth, when they were created, in the day [that] Jehovah God yet been [grown] on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprung up for Jehovah God had not [as yet] caused [it] to rain upon the earth, nor [was there any] man to till the ground; but mist ascended from the earth, and watered all the face of the ground. Then Jehovah God formed the man, dust from the ground, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life; so the man became a living creature. But Jehovah God said, "[It is] not good [that] the man be alone; I will make for him a help as his counterpart." Now Jehovah God had formed from the ground every living [thing] of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and he brought [each] towards the man to see what he would call it so whatever the man called it [as] a living creature, that [was] its name; thus the man called names to every beast, and to the bird of the heavens, and to every living [thing] of the field: yet for man [there] was not found a help as his counterpart. Then Jehovah God caused a lethargy to fall upon the man, so he slept; and he took one of his ribs, but closed flesh instead of it: and Jehovah God built the rib which he took from the man for a woman, and brought her towards the man. Thereupon the man said, "This now [is] bone from my bones, and flesh from my flesh; this [being] shall be called Woman [ishah, vira], because from man [ish, vir] this [person] was taken; therefore will a man leave his father and his mother, and cling to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." Now they were both of them naked, the man and his wife: yet they were not mutually ashamed [of their condition]. (b.) It is the generic name of the human race as originally created, and afterwards, like the English word man, person, whether man or woman, equivalent to the Latin homo and Greek аv‡ршπоç (Gen. i, 26, 27; v, 2; viii, 21; Deut. viii, 3; Matt. v, 13, 16; 1 Cor. vii, 26), and even without regard to age (John xvi, 21). It is applied to women only, "the human persons or women" (Numb. xxxi, 35), Sept. vxai ȧv‡ρúñшv áñò TV Yuvakov. Thus avoоç means a woman (Herod. i, 60), and especially among the orators (comp. 1 Macc. ii, 28). (c.) It denotes man in opposition to woman (Gen. iii, 12; Matt. xix, 10), though more properly, the husband in opposition to the wife (compare 1 Cor. vii, 1). (d.) It is used, though very rarely, for those who maintain the dignity of human nature, a man, as we say, meaning one that deserves the name, like the Latin rir and Greek ȧvip: "One man in a thousand have I found, but a woman," etc. (Eccles. vii, 28). Perhaps the wond here glances at the original uprightness of man. (e) It is frequently used to denote the more degenerate and wicked portion of mankind: an instance of which occurs very early, "The sons (or worshippers) of God married the daughters of men (or the irreligious)" (Gen, vi, 2). We request a careful examination of the following passages with their respective contexts: Psa. xi, 4; xIL 1, 2, 8; xiv, 2, etc. The latter passage is often adduced to prove the total depravity of the whole human Tan, whereas it applies only to the more abandoned Jews, of possibly to the more wicked Gentile adversaries of Israel. It is a description of "the fool," or wicked man (ver. 1), and of persons of the same class (ver. 1, 2), “the workers of iniquity, who eat up God's people like bread, and called not upon the name of the Lord” (ver. 4% For the true view of Paul's quotations from this psalın (Rom. iii, 10), see M'Knight, ad loc.; and observe the use of the word "man" in Luke v, 20; Matt. x, 17. It is applied to the Gentiles (Matt. xxvii, 22; comp. Mark x, 33, and Mark ix, 31; Luke xviii, 32; see Mountency, ad Demosth. Phil. i, 221). (f.) The word is used to denote other men, in opposition to those already named, as "both upon Israel and other men” (Jer. xxxii, 20, i. e. the Egyptians. "Like other men" (Psa. lxxiii, 5), i. e. common men, in opposition to better men (Psa. lxxxii, 7); men of inferior rank, as opposed to men of higher rank (see Hebrew, Isa. ii, 9; v, 15: Ps. xlix, 3; lxii, 10; Prov. viii, 4). The phrase "son of man," in the Old Testament, denotes man as frail and unworthy (Numb. xxiii, 19; Job xxv, 6; Ezek. ii, 1, 3) ; as applied to the prophet, so often, it has the force of "O mortal!" 2., ish, is a man in the distinguished sense, like the Latin vir and Greek ȧvýp. It is used in all the several senses of the Latin vir, and denotes a man as distinguished from a woman (1 Sam. xvii, 33; Matt. xiv, 21); as a husband (Gen. iii, 16; Hos. ii, 16); and in reference to excellent mental qualities. A beautiful instance of the latter class occurs in Jer. v, 1: "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judg ment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it." This reminds the reader of the philosopher who went through the streets of Athens with a lighted lamp in his hand, and being asked what he sought, said, “I am seeking to find a man" (see Herodot, ii, 120; Homer, Il v, 529). It is also used to designate the superior classes (Prov. viii, 4; Psa. cxli, 4, etc.), a courtier (Jer. xxxvill 7), the male of animals (Gen. vii, 2). Sometimes it means men in general (Exod. xvi, 29; Mark vi, 44). 3. Wig, enosh', mortals, ßporoi, as transient, perishable, liable to sickness, etc.: "Let not man [margin. mortal man'] prevail against thee" (2 Chron. xiv, 11. "Write with the pen of the common man" (Isa. viii, 1`ì, i. e. in a common, legible character (Job xv, 14; Psa viii, 5; ix, 19, 20; Isa. li, 7; Psa. ciii, 15). It is applied to women (Josh. viii, 25). 4., ge'ber, vir, man, in regard to strength, etc. All etymologists concur in deriving the English word “man” from the superior powers and faculties with which man is endowed above all earthly creatures; so the Latin rir, from vis, vires; and such is the idea conveyed by the present Hebrew word. It is applied to man as distinguished from woman: "A man shall not put on a woman's garment" (Deut. xxii, 5), like äveρowoc in Matt. viii,9; John 1,6; to men as distinguished from children (Exod. xii, 37); to a male child, in opposition to a female (Job iii, 3; Sept. ãprev). It is much used in poetry: "Happy is the man" (Psa. xxxiv, 9; xl, 5; lii, 9; xciv, 12). Sometimes it denotes the species at large (Job iv, 17; xiv, 10, 14). For a complete exemplification of these words, see the lexicons of Gesenius and Schleusner, etc. 5., methim', "men," always masculine. The singular is to be traced in the antediluvian proper names Methusael and Methuselah. Perhaps it may be derived from the root mûth, "he died," in which case its use would be very appropriate in Isa. xli, 14, "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, ye men of Israel." If this conjecture be admitted, this word would correspond to ẞporóg, and might be rendered "mortal." Other Heb. words occasionally rendered man in the A. V. are by, báal, a master (husband), VẸ‡, néphesh, an animate being, etc. The Greek words properly thus rendered are avρwños, homo, a human being, and avo, vir, a man as distinguished from a woman. Some peculiar uses of the word in the New Testament remain to be noticed. "The Son of Man," applied to our Lord only by himself and St. Stephen (Acts vii, 56), is the Messiah in human form. Schleusner thinks that the word in this expression always means woman, and denotes that he was the promised Messiah, born of a virgin, who had taken upon him our nature to fulfil the great decree of God, that mankind should be saved by one in their own form. 'O raλatós, "the old man," and o kaóc, "the new man"-the former denoting unsanctified disposition of heart, the latter the new disposition created and cherished by the Gospel; o tow av2pwπоç, "the inner man;" ò кρUTTÙÇ Tйs кapdías äv‡рwrоç, "the hidden man of the heart," as opposed to the ò Ew Avрwоç, "the external, visible man." "A man of God," first applied to Moses (Deut. xxxiii, 1), and always afterwards to a person acting under a divine commission (1 Kings xiii, 1; 1 Tim. vi, 11, etc.). Finally, angels are styled men (Acts i, 10). "To speak after the manner of men," i. e. in accordance with human views, to illustrate by human examples or institutions, to use a popular mode of speaking (Rom. iii, 5; 1 Cor. ix, 8; Gal. iii, 15). "The number of a man," i. e. an ordinary number, such as is in general use among men (Rev. xiii, 18); so also "the measure of a man," an ordinary measure, in common use (Rev. xxi, 17). Man'aën (Mavaýv, prob. i. q. MENAHEM; comp. Mavánuos, Josephus, Ant. ix, 11, 1), a Christian teacher at Antioch, who had been educated with Herod Antipas (Acts xiii, 1; see Kuinöl, ad loc.). A.D. 44. He was evidently a Jew, but nothing else is known of him beyond this passage, in which the epithet ouvrρopog may mean either playmate (Herod was brought up, however, at Rome, Josephus, Ant. xvii, 1, 3) or foster-brother, as having the same nurse (see Walch, Dissert. ad Act. p. 234). Some identify him with the person above named by Josephus, others with a Menahem mentioned in the Talmud (see Lightfoot, Harm. of N. Test. ad loc.), but in either case on very slender grounds. Managers, a committee of members appointed annually in many Presbyterian churches, intrusted with all merely secular affairs as to property and finance. Man'ahath (Heb. Mana'chath,, rest), the name of a man and of a place. 1. (Sept. Mavaxás.) The second named of the five sons of Shobal, the son of Seir the Horite (Gen. xxxvi, 23; 1 Chron. i, 40). B.C. cir. 1927. 2. (Sept. Mavaɣaði v. r. Maxavadi.) A town or region to which certain descendants of Ehud, of the tribe of Benjamin, appear to have been exiled from Geba by an act of his father Bela (1 Chron. viii, 6). The context would seem to indicate some locality in the land of Moab. See SHAHARAIM. Some refer it to the MENUCHAH of Judah (Judg. ix, 43, A. Vers. "with ease;" comp. 1 Chron. ii, 52, 54), but with little probability. See MENUCHITE. MENUCHOTH. Manasse'äs (Μανασσήας v. r. Μανασσίας, Vulg. Manas'seh (Heb. Menasseh',, who makes to forget; see Gen. xli, 51; Sept., Josephus, and N. T. Mavaoons; "Manasses" in Matt. i, 10; Rev. vii, 6), the name of four men and of a tribe descended from one of them; also of another man mentioned by Josephus. 1. The elder of the two sons of Joseph, born in Egypt (Gen. xli, 51; xlvi, 20) of Asenath, the priest's daughter of Heliopolis. B.C. 1882. He was afterwards, together with his brother, adopted by Jacob as his own (xlviii, 1), by which act each became the head of a tribe in Israel. B.C. 1856. See JACOB. The act of adoption was, however, accompanied by a clear intimation from Jacob that the descendants of Manasseh, although the elder, would be far less numerous and powerful than those of the younger Ephraim. The result corresponded remarkably with this intimation. See EPHRAIM. He married a Syrian concubine, by whom he had several children (1 Chron. vii, 14). See MACHIR. The only thing subsequently recorded of him personally that his grandchildren were "brought up on Joseph's knees" (Gen. 1, 23). "The ancient Jewish traditions are, however, less reticent. According to them Manasseh was the steward of Joseph's house, and the interpreter who intervened between Joseph and his brethren at their interview; and the extraordinary strength which he displayed in the struggle with and binding of Simeon first caused Judah to suspect that the apparent Egyptians were really his own flesh and blood (see Targums Jerusalem and Pseudojon, on Gen. xlii, 23; xliii, 15; also the quotations in Weil's Bibl. Legends, p. 88, note)" (Smith). MAN OF SIN (o av‡рwñоç τño àμapriac), an imper- MAN, PREADAMITE, See PREADAMITES. tion of Jacob, above referred to, although Manasseh, as MANASSEH, TRIBE OF.-On the prophetic benedicthe representative of his future lineage, had, like his grand-uncle Esau, lost his birthright in favor of his younger brother, he received, as Esau had, a blessing only inferior to the birthright itself. Like his brother, he was to increase with the fertility of the fish which swarmed in the great Egyptian stream, to "become a people, and also to be great"-the "thousands of Manas nable tract of Argob, which derives its modern name of Lejah from the secure "asylum" it affords to those whe take refuge within its natural fortifications. Had they not remained in these wild and inaccessible districts, but gone forward and taken their lot with the rest, who shall say what changes might not have occurred in the history of the nation, through the presence of such energetic and warlike spirits? The few personages of The position of the tribe of Manasseh during the march to Canaan was with Ephraim and Benjamin on the west side of the sacred tent. The standard of the three sons of Rachel was the figure of a boy, with the inscription "The cloud of Jehovah rested on them un-eminence whom we can with certainty identify as Matil they went forth out of the camp" (Targ. Pseudojon. on Numb. ii, 18). The chief of the tribe at the time of the census at Sinai was Gamaliel ben-Pedahzur, and its numbers were then 32,200 (Numb. i, 10, 35; ii, 20, 21; vii, 54-59). The numbers of Ephraim were at the same date 40,500. Forty years later, on the banks of the Jordan, these proportions were reversed. Manasseh had then increased to 52,700, while Ephraim had diminished to 32,500 (Numb. xxvi, 34, 37). On this occasion it is remarkable that Manasseh resumes his position in the catalogue as the eldest son of Joseph. Possibly this is due to the prowess which the tribe had shown in the conquest of Gilead, for Manasseh was certainly at this time the most distinguished of all the tribes. Of the three who had elected to remain on that side of the Jordan, Reuben and Gad had chosen their lot because the country was suitable to their pastoral possessions and tendencies. But Machir, Jair, and Nobah, the sons of Manasseh, were no shepherds. They were pure warriors, who had taken the most prominent part in the conquest of those provinces which up to that time had been conquered, and whose deeds are constantly referred to (Numb. xxxii, 39; Deut. iii, 13, 14, 15) with credit and renown. "Jair, the son of Manasseh, took all the tract of Argob... sixty great cities" (Deut. iii, 14, 4). "Nobah took Kenath and the daughter-towns thereof, and called it after his own name" (Numb. xxxii, 42). "Because Machir was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan" (Josh. xvii, 1). The district which these ancient warriors conquered was among the most difficult, if not the most difficult, in the whole country. It embraced the hills of Gilead, with their inaccessible heights and impassable ravines, and the almost impreg nassites, such as Gideon and Jephthah-for Elijah and others may with equal probability have belonged to the neighboring tribe of Gad-were among the most remarkable characters that Israel produced. Gideon was, in fact, "the greatest of the judges, and his children all but established hereditary monarchy in their own line" (Stanley, S. and P. p. 230). But, with the one excep tion of Gideon, the warlike tendencies of Manasseh seem to have been confined to the east of the Jordan. There they throve exceedingly, pushing their way northward over the rich plains of Jaulân and Jedûr-the Gaulsnitis and Ituræa of the Roman period-to the foot of Mount Hermon (1 Chron. v, 23). At the time of the coronation of David at Hebron, while the western Manasseh sent 18,000, and Ephraim itself 20,800, the eastern Manasseh, with Gad and Reuben, mustered to the number of 120,000, thoroughly armed-a remarkable demonstration of strength, still more remarkable when we remember the fact that Saul's house, with the great Abner at its head, was then residing at Mahanaim, on the border of Manasseh and Gad. But, though thu outwardly prosperous, a similar fate awaited them in the end to that which befel Gad and Reuben; they gradually assimilated themselves to the old inhabitants of the country-they "transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a-whoring after the gods of the people of the land whom God destroyed before them" (ver. 25). They relinquished, too, the settled mode of life and the definite limits which befitted the members of a federal nation, and gradually became Bedouins of the wilderness, spreading themselves over the vast deserts which lay between the allotted possessions of their tribe and the Euphrates, and which had from time inmemorial been the hunting-grounds and pastures of the wild Hagarites, of Jetur, Nephish, and Nodab (1 Chron. v, 19, 22). On them first descended the punishment which was ordained to be the inevitable consequence of such misdoing. They, first of all Israel, were carried away by Pul and Tiglath-Pileser, and settled in the Assyrian territories (ver. 26). The connection, however. between east and west had been kept up to a certain degree. In Bethshean, the most easterly city of the cisJordanic Manasseh, the two portions all but joined. David had judges or officers there for all matters sacred and secular (1 Chron. xxvi, 32); and Solomon's commissariat officer, Ben-Geber, ruled over the towns of Jair and the whole district of Argob (1 Kings iv, 13), and transmitted their productions, doubtless not without their people, to the court of Jerusalem. The genealogies of the tribe are preserved in Numb. xxvi, 28-34; Josh. xvii, 1, etc.; and 1 Chron vii, 14-19. But it seems impossible to unravel these so as to ascer tain, for instance, which of the families remained east of Jordan, and which advanced to the west. From the fact that Abi-ezer (the family of Gideon), Hepher (possibly Ophrah, the native place of the same hero), and Shechem (the well-known city of the Bene-Joseph) al: occur among the names of the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, it seems probable that Gilead, whose name is so intimately connected with the eastern, was also the immediate progenitor of the western half of the tribe. Nor is it less difficult to fix the exact position of the territory allotted to the western half. In Josh. xvii. 14-18, a passage usually regarded by critics as an exceedingly ancient document, we find the two tribes Joseph complaining that only one portion had been al lotted to them, viz. Mount Ephraim (ver. 15), and that they could not extend into the plains of Jordan or Es draelon, because those districts were still in the posses- | two kindred tribes is defined by a place called Asher ision of the Canaanites, and scoured by their chariots. (ver. 7), now Yasir, twelve miles north-east of Nablus. In reply Joshua advises them to go up into the forest Thence it ran to Michmethah, described as facing Sheda (ver. 15, A. V. "wood")-into the mountain which is a chem (Nablûs); then went to the right, i. e. southward, forest (ver. 18). This mountain clothed with forest can to the spring of Tappuah, and so doubtless to the Jorsurely be nothing but the various spurs and offshoots of dan. In the opposite direction it fell in with the waterthe Carmel, the "mountain" closely adjoining the portion courses of the torrent Kanah-probably the Nahr Falaik of Ephraim whose richness of wood was so proverbial. -along which it ran to the Mediterranean. See TRIBE. It is in accordance with this view that the majority of From the indications of the history, it would appear the towns of Manasseh-which, as the weaker portion that Manasseh took very little part in public affairs. of the tribe, would naturally be pushed to seek its for- They either left all that to Ephraim, or were so far retunes outside the limits originally bestowed-were actu- moved from the centre of the nation as to have little ally on the slopes either of Carmel itself or of the con- interest in what was taking place. That they attended tiguous ranges. Thus Taanach and Megiddo were on David's coronation at Hebron has already been menthe northern spurs of Carmel; Ibleam appears to have tioned. When his rule was established over all Israel, been on the eastern continuation of the range, some- each half had its distinct ruler-the western, Joel benwhere near the present Jenîn. En-Dor was on the Pedaiah; the eastern, Iddo ben-Zechariah (1 Chron. slopes of the so-called "Little Hermon." The two re- xxvii, 20, 21). From this time the eastern Manasseh maining towns mentioned as belonging to Manasseh fades entirely from our view, and the western is hardly formed the extreme eastern and western limits of the kept before us by an occasional mention. Such scattribe; the one, Bethshean (Josh. xvii, 11), was in the tered notices as we do find have almost all reference to hollow of the Ghôr, or Jordan Valley; the other, Dor the part taken by members of the tribe in the reforms (ibid.), was on the coast of the Mediterranean, sheltered of the good kings of Judah-the Jehovah-revival under behind the range of Carmel, and immediately opposite Asa (2 Chron. xv, 9)-the Passover of Hezekiah (xxx, the bluff or shoulder which forms its highest point. The 1, 10, 11, 18), and the subsequent enthusiasm against whole of these cities are specially mentioned as stand- idolatry (xxxi, 1)-the iconoclasm of Josiah (xxxiv, 6), ing in the allotments of other tribes, though inhabited and his restoration of the buildings of the Temple (ver. by Manasseh; and this, with the absence of any attempt 9). It is gratifying to reflect that these notices, faint to define a limit to the possessions of the tribe on the and scattered as they are, are all colored with good, and north, looks as if no boundary-line had existed on that exhibit none of the repulsive traits of that most repulside, but as if the territory faded off gradually into those sive heathenism into which other tribes of Israel fell. of the two contiguous tribes from whom it had borrowed its fairest cities. On the south side the boundary between Manasseh and Ephraim is more definitely described, and may generally be traced with tolerable certainty. Their joint possessions were bounded by the territory of Asher on the north and Issachar on the Dorth-east (xvii, 10), but the division line between the A positive connection between Manasseh and Benjamin is implied in the genealogies of 1 Chron. vii, where Machir is said to have married into the family of Huppim and Shuppim, chief houses in the latter tribe (ver. 15). No record of any such relation appears anywhere else.-Smith, s. v. The following are all the Biblical localities in both Map of the half-tribe of Manasseh-West. sections of the tribe, with their preserved modern rep- that struggle of whom the world was not worthy, and resentatives: yet no contrast can be greater than that between the short notices in Kings and Chronicles, and the martyrologies which belong to those other periods of persecution. 1. The birth of Manasseh is fixed (B.C. 709) twelve years before the death of Hezekiah (2 Kings xxi, 1). We must, therefore, infer either that there had been no heir to the throne up to that comparatively late period in his reign, or that any that had been born had died, or that, as sometimes happened in the succession of Jewish and other Eastern kings, the elder son was passed over for the younger. There are reasons which make the former the more probable alternative. The exceeding bitterness of Hezekiah's sorrow at the threatened approach of death (2 Kings xx, 2, 3; 2 Chron. xxxii, 24; Isa. xxxviii, 1-3), is more natural if we think of him as sinking under the thought that he was dying childless, leaving no heir to his work and to his kingdom. When, a little later, Isaiah warns him of the captivity and shame which will fall on his children, he speaks of those children as yet future (2 Kings xx, 18). This circumstance will explain one or two facts in the contemporary history. Hezekiah, it would seem, recovering from his sickness, anxious to avoid the danger that had threatened him, of leaving his kingdom without an heir, married, at or about this time, Hephzibah (2 Kings xxi, 1), the daughter of one of the citizens or princes of Jerusslem (Joseph. Ant. x, 3, 1). The prophets, we may weil imagine, would welcome the prospect of a successor named by a king who had been so true and faithful Isaiah (in a passage clearly belonging to a later date than the early portions of the book, and apparently saggested by some conspicuous marriage), with his characteristic fondness for tracing auguries in names, finds in that of the new queen a prophecy of the ultimate resteration of Israel and the glories of Jerusalem (Isa. lxii, 4, 5; compare Blunt, Scriptural Coincid. part iii, 5). The city, also, should be a Hephzibah, a delightsome one. As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so would Jehovah rejoice over his people. See HEPHZIBAR. The child that is born from this union is called Manasseh. This name, too, is strangely significant. It appears nowhere else in the history of the kingdom of Judah. The only associations connected with it were that it belonged to the tribe which was all but the most powerful of the hostile kingdom of Israel. How are we to account for so singular and unlikely a choice? The answer is, that the name embodied what had been for years the cher 2. According to the usual reading of the text in Judg. xviii, 30, Manasseh was the father of Gershom, who is named as the father of Jonathan that acted as priest to the Danites at Laish; but besides that this would not make him a Levite, and, in addition to the fact that Gershom is a Levitical name, the reading is marked as suspicious (, Sept. Mavaσon), and should doubt-ished object of Hezekiah's policy and hope. To take less be corrected to "Moses," as in the Vulg. and many copies of the Sept. See JONATHAN. advantage of the overthrow of the rival kingdom by Shalmaneser, and the anarchy in which its provinces had been left, to gather round him the remnant of the population, to bring them back to the worship and faith of their fathers, this had been the second step in his great national reformation (2 Chron. xxx, 6). It was at least partially successful. "Divers of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerosalem." They were there at the great passover. The work of destroying idols went on in Ephraim and Mnasseh as well as in Judah (2 Chron. xxxi, 1). What could be a more acceptable pledge of his desire to receive the fugitives as on the same footing with his own subjects than that he should give to the heir to his throne the name in which one of their tribes exulted? What could better show the desire to let all past discords and offences be forgotten than the name which was itself an amnesty? (Gesenius). 3. The fourteenth separate king of Judah, son and successor of Hezekiah, who began to reign at the early age of twelve years, and reigned fifty-five years. B.C. 697-642. (In the following account we chiefly follow that in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, s. v.) The reign of this monarch is thus longer than that of any other of the house of David. There is none of which we know less. In part, it may be, this was the direct result of the character and policy of the man. In part, doubtless, it is to be traced to the abhorrence with which the following generation looked back upon it as the period of lowest degradation to which their country had ever fallen. Chroniclers and prophets pass it over, gathering from its horrors and disasters the great, broad lessons in which they saw the foot-prints of a righteous retribution, the tokens of a divine compassion, and then they avert their eyes and will see and say no more. The last twelve years of Hezekiah's reign were not, This is in itself significant. It gives a meaning and a however, it will be remembered, those which were likevalue to every fact which has escaped the sentence of ly to influence for good the character of his success. oblivion. The very reticence of the historians of the His policy had succeeded. He had thrown off the yoke O. T. shows how free they were from the rhetorical ex- of the king of Assyria, which Ahaz had accepted, bad aggerations and inaccuracies of a later age. The strug-defied his armies, had been delivered from extremes gle of opposing worships must have been as fierce under Manasseh as it was under Antiochus, or Decius, or Diocletian, or Mary. Men must have suffered and died in danger, and had made himself the head of an independ ent kingdom, receiving tribute from neighboring prins instead of paying it to the great king, the king of As |