Difference between revisions of "Machir"

Machir <ref name="term_49190" />  

<p> (Heb. hakir', מָכַיר, sold; Sept. Μαχείρ and Μαχίρ ), the name of two men. </p> <p> 1. The oldest son of [[Manasseh]] ( Joshua 17:1), who even had children born to him during the lifetime of [[Joseph]] (Genesis 1, 23). B.C. 1802. His descendants were called MACHIRITES ( מָכַירי, Sept. Μαχειρί, Numbers 26:29), being the offspring of [[Gilead]] ( 1 Chronicles 7:17), whose posterity settled in the land taken from the [[Amorites]] ( Numbers 32:39-40; Deuteronomy 3:15; Joshua 13:31; 1 Chronicles 2:23), but required a special enactment as to their inheritance, owing to the fact that the grandson [[Zelophehad]] had only daughters ( Numbers 27:1; Numbers 36:1; Joshua 17:3). Once the name of [[Machir]] is put poetically as a representative of the tribe of Manasseh east ( Judges 5:14). His daughter became the mother of [[Segub]] by [[Hezron]] in his old age ( 1 Chronicles 2:21). The mother of Machir was an Aramitess, and his wife was Maachah, the granddaughter of Benjamin, by whom he had several sons ( 1 Chronicles 7:14-16). "The family of Machir come forward prominently in the history of the conquest of the trans-Jordanic portion of the Promised Land. In the joint expedition of [[Israel]] and Ammon, their warlike prowess expelled the Amoritish inhabitants from the rugged and difficult range of Gilead, and their bravery was rewarded by [[Moses]] by the assignment to them of a large portion of the district, ‘ half Gilead' ( Joshua 13:31), with its rich mountain pastures, and the towns of [[Ashtaroth]] and Edrei, the capitals of Og's kingdom ( Numbers 32:39-40; Deuteronomy 3:15; Joshua 13:31; Joshua 17:1). The warlike renown of the family of Machir is given as the reason for this grant ( Joshua 17:1), and we can see the sound policy of assigning a frontier land of so much importance to the safety of the whole country, exposed at the same time to the first brunt of the [[Syrian]] and [[Assyrian]] invasions, and to the never-ceasing predatory inroads of the wild desert tribes, to a clan whose prowess and skill in battle had been full proved in the subjugation of so difficult a tract (Stanley, S. and Pal. p. 327)." "The connection with [[Benjamin]] may perhaps have led to the selection by [[Abner]] of Maahanaim, which lay on the boundary between Gad and Mansasseh, as the residence of Ishbosheth ( 2 Samuel 2:8); and that with [[Judah]] may have also influenced [[David]] to go so far north when driven out of his kingdom." </p> <p> 2. A descendant of the preceding, son of Ammiel, residing at Lo-debar, who maintained the lame son of [[Jonathan]] until provision was made for him by David's care ( 2 Samuel 9:4-5), and afterwards extended his hospitality to the fugitive monarch himself ( 2 Samuel 17:27). B.C. 1037-1023. [[Josephus]] calls him the chief of the country of Gilead (Ant. 7:9, 8). (See [[David]]). </p>