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According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Manasseh (; ) was one of the Tribes of Israel. Together with the Tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh also formed the ''House of Joseph''. From after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in c. 1050 BC, the Tribe of Manasseh was a part of a loose confederation of Israelite tribes. No central government existed, and in times of crisis the people were led by ad hoc leaders known as Judges. (see the Book of Judges) With the growth of the threat from Philistine incursions, the Israelite tribes decided to form a strong centralised monarchy to meet the challenge, and the Tribe of Manasseh joined the new kingdom with Saul as the first king. After the death of Saul, all the tribes other than Judah remained loyal to the House of Saul, but after the death of Ish-bosheth, Saul's son and successor to the throne of Israel, the Tribe of Manasseh joined the other northern Israelite tribes in making David, who was then the king of Judah, king of a re-united Kingdom of Israel. However, on the accession of Rehoboam, David's grandson, in c. 930 BC the northern tribes split from the House of David to reform a Kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom. Manasseh was a member of the kingdom until the kingdom was conquered by Assyria in c. 723 BC and the population deported. From that time, the Tribe of Manasseh has been counted as one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, though some groups claim descent from the tribe. ==Tribal territory== Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE,〔Kitchen, Kenneth A. (2003), "On the Reliability of the Old Testament" (Grand Rapids, Michigan. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company)(ISBN 0-8028-4960-1)〕 Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes. At its height, the territory it occupied spanned the Jordan River, forming two "half-tribes", one on each side; the eastern half-tribe was almost entirely discontiguous with the western half-tribe, only slightly touching at one corner - the south west of the eastern half-tribe and north east of the western half-tribe. The western half-tribe occupied the land to the immediate north of Ephraim, in the centre of western Canaan, between the Jordan and the coast, with the Tribe of Issachar to the north, the north west corner being at Mount Carmel; the eastern half-tribe was the northernmost Israelite group on the east of the Jordan, occupying the land north of the tribe of Gad, extending from the Mahanaim in the south to Mount Hermon in the north, and including within it the whole of Bashan. These territories abounded in water, a precious commodity in Canaan, and thus constituted one of the most valuable parts of the country; additionally, Manasseh's geographic situation enabled it to defend two important mountain passes - Esdraelon on the west of the Jordan and Hauran on the east. In c. 732 BCE, Pekah, king of Israel allied with Rezin, king of Aram, and threatened Jerusalem. Ahaz, king of Judah, appealed to Tiglath-Pileser III, the king of Assyria, for help. After Ahaz paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser Tiglath-Pileser sacked Damascus and Israel, annexing Aram〔Lester L. Grabbe, ''Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?'' (New York: T&T Clark, 2007): 134〕 and territory of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh in Gilead (east of the Jordan River) including the desert outposts of Jetur, Naphish and Nodab. The population of these territories were taken captive and resettled in Assyria, in the region of the Khabur River system. ( and ) The diminished kingdom of Israel was again invaded by Assyria in 723 BCE and the rest of the population deported. The riverine gulch, ''naḥal Ḳanah'' (Joshua 17:9), divided Ephraim's territory in the south from Manasseh's territory in the north. The modern Israeli town of Karnei Shomron is built near this gulch, which runs in an easterly-westerly direction.〔''Carta's Official Guide to Israel and Complete Gazetteer to all Sites in the Holy Land'' (3rd edition 1993), Jerusalem〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tribe of Manasseh」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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