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Manasseh: Reflections on Tribe, Territory and Text View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Vanderbilt Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive MANASSEH: REFLECTIONS ON TRIBE, TERRITORY AND TEXT By Ellen Renee Lerner Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Religion August, 2014 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Professor Douglas A. Knight Professor Jack M. Sasson Professor Annalisa Azzoni Professor Herbert Marbury Professor Tom D. Dillehay Copyright © 2014 by Ellen Renee Lerner All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people I would like to thank for their role in helping me complete this project. First and foremost I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the members of my dissertation committee: Professor Douglas A. Knight, Professor Jack M. Sasson, Professor Annalisa Azzoni, Professor Herbert Marbury, and Professor Tom Dillehay. It has been a true privilege to work with them and I hope to one day emulate their erudition and the kind, generous manner in which they support their students. I would especially like to thank Douglas Knight for his mentorship, encouragement and humor throughout this dissertation and my time at Vanderbilt, and Annalisa Azzoni for her incredible, fabulous kindness and for being a sounding board for so many things. I have been lucky to have had a number of smart, thoughtful colleagues in Vanderbilt’s greater Graduate Dept. of Religion but I must give an extra special thanks to Linzie Treadway and Daniel Fisher -- two people whose friendship and wit means more to me than they know. Thanks also to Marie McEntire for her calming presence, cheerful smiles and great organization. My family has provided constant encouragement and without their support I could not have finished this project. My parents, Margaret and Paul, have offered immeasurable love and generosity. My sister Lisa and brother Jeff were always there to lend an ear. Oliver has been a patient, patient partner throughout the many years of graduate work and I truly appreciate all his help and support. Max and Nico, who came into the world during the writing process, provided a great inspiration to wrap it all up. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................... i LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................ iii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGIES, HISTORY OF RESEARCH AND BACKGROUND 1.1 Procedure and Methodological Considerations ....................................................................4 1.1.1 Caveats in Using Hebrew Bible as a Source for Israelite Tribes ..................................5 1.1.2 Corroborating Evidence for Israelite Tribalism ............................................................7 1.1.3 Caveats Related to Archaeology and Early Israelite History......................................15 1.2 Chapter Outline ...................................................................................................................18 1.3 History of Scholarship ........................................................................................................20 1.4 Setting the Stage .................................................................................................................28 1.4.1 Biblical Distinction Between East and West ..............................................................28 1.4.2 Defining “Tribe” .........................................................................................................33 1.4.3 Notes on Terminology ................................................................................................35 1.4.4 Notes on Dating ..........................................................................................................36 2. MANASSEH AS “TRIBE” .....................................................................................................37 2.1 The Notion of “Tribe” in the Hebrew Bible .......................................................................37 2.2 “Tribe” in Biblical Scholarship ...........................................................................................42 2.3 “Tribe” in Anthropological Scholarship .............................................................................46 2.3.1 Descent and Genealogy...............................................................................................51 2.4 Textual Perspectives on Manasseh’s Internal Composition ...............................................52 2.4.1 Manasseh in the Books of Num, Deut, Josh and 1 Chr ..............................................53 2.4.2 Manasseh in the Book of Judges .................................................................................65 2.5 Reconciling The Two Biblical Views of Manasseh ............................................................73 2.5.1 Social Fusion Among Tribal Groups ..........................................................................74 2.5.2 The Jordan River as Tribal Boundary .........................................................................76 2.5.3 East Manasseh as a Historiographical Category .........................................................80 3. THE MANASSITE TERRITORIES: THE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE ......................................82 3.1 Biblical Presentation of the Manassite Territory: General Notes .......................................83 3.2 Delineating Manasseh According to the Text .....................................................................83 ii 3.2.1 Joshua 13-19 ..............................................................................................................85 3.3 Locating West Manasseh: Josh 16-17.................................................................................92 3.4 West Manasseh and the Geography of the Canaanite Highlands .......................................99 3.5 West Manasseh and 1 Kings 4:7-19..................................................................................101 3.6 Locating East Manasseh ...................................................................................................105 3.6.1 Joshua 13:29-31 ........................................................................................................106 3.6.2 Numbers 32:39-42 ....................................................................................................108 3.6.3 Deuteronomy 3:12-17 ...............................................................................................109 3.7 Defining Gilead .................................................................................................................111 3.7.1 Defining/Locating Northern Gilead ..........................................................................114 3.7.2 Northern Gilead and the Topography of East Jordan ...............................................114 3.8 Defining Bashan................................................................................................................116 3.8.1 Bashan and the Topography of East Jordan ..............................................................117 3.8.2 Tensions with Manasseh’s Connection to Bashan ....................................................117 3.9 Relationship Between the West and East Manassite Territories ......................................119 4. THE MANASSITE TERRITORIES: THE MATERIAL EVIDENCE ..................................121 4.1 Methodological Considerations and Caveats ....................................................................121 4.2 Archaeological Examination of West Manasseh (Northern Samaria) ..............................126 4.2.1 Geography of Northern Samaria ...............................................................................128 4.2.2 Iron I Northern Samaria ............................................................................................130 4.2.3 Iron II Northern Samaria ...........................................................................................143 4.2.4 Iron III Northern Samaria .........................................................................................150 4.2.5 Persian Period Northern Samaria ..............................................................................154 4.3 Archaeological Examination of East Manasseh ..............................................................158 4.3.1 Iron I Northern Jordan ..............................................................................................160 4.3.2 Iron Age Golan and Hauran ......................................................................................162 4.3.3 Iron II Northern Jordan .............................................................................................166 4.3.4 Iron II Golan .............................................................................................................170 4.3.5 Iron III Northern Jordan and Golan ..........................................................................172 4.3.6 Persian Period ...........................................................................................................174 4.4 Relationship Between the East and West Regions of Manasseh .....................................174 5. MANASSEH AS TEXT .........................................................................................................176 5.1 Manasseh’s
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