MAHANAIM
MAHANAIM (
Μαναϊμ, LXX.), a place, and afterwards a town, on the east side of the Jordan, so named from the incident related in Genesis (32.2), where the word is translated, both by the LXX. and Josephus,
Παρεμβολαί, and also by the latter
Θεοῦ στρατόπεδον (Ant. 1.20.1).
The following notices of its position occur in the Old Testament:--It was north of the brook Jabbok (
Gen. l.c., comp. 5.22), in the borders of Bashan (
Josh. 13.30), afterwards in the tribe of Gad (21.38), but on the confines of the half-tribe of Manasseh (13.29) assigned to the Levites. (1
Chron. 6.80.)
It was the seat of Ishbosheth's kingdom, during the time that David reigned in Hebron (2
Sam. ii.), and there he was assassinated (iv.). When David fled from Absalom, he was maintained at Mahanaim by Bar. zillai, the aged
sheikh of that district (2
Sam. 17.27, 19.32); and it was apparently in the vicinity of this city that the decisive battle was fought in the wood of Ephraim between the royal troops and the rebels (xviii).
A ruined site is mentioned in the
Jebel ‘Ajlûn, under the name of Mahneh, which probably marks the position of Mahanaim. (Robinson,
Bib. Res. vol. iii. Appendix, p. 166.)
[
G.W]
