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Dear
Gramps, I am of the tribe of Manasseh and understand that all information of
my tribe was contained in the 116 pages lost by Martin Harris. I would like
to learn more of my tribe. Is there anything available? In the Bible
dictionary, after Manasseh, it uses the adjective "forgetting".
What does this mean? CS, from Ohio |
Dear
CS,
The
word, Manasseh, is the English translation of the Hebrew, Mnashsheh, which
means, “causing to forget.” The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were part of
the ten tribes who were carried captive into Assyria by Shalmaneser in 721 B.C.
After being freed from captivity they migrated northward and were lost to the
records of history. We know that Lehi was of the tribe of Manasseh and that
Ishmael was of the tribe of Ephraim. So both the Nephites and the Lamanites
carry the blood of both tribes. Here is a tidbit of information about the tribe
of Manasseh from the works of Hugh Nibley.
“Now
of all the tribes of Israel, Manasseh was the one which lived farthest out in
the desert, came into most frequent contact with the Arabs, intermarried with
them most frequently, and at the same time had the closest traditional bonds
with Egypt. And Lehi belonged to the tribe of Manasseh (Alma 10:3). The
prominence of the name of Ammon in the Book of Mormon may have something to do
with the fact that Ammon was Manasseh’s nearest neighbor and often fought her
in the deserts east of Jordan” (Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol.5, Part.1,
Ch.2, p.38-39).
Gramps