town or village

Mahanaim

• Today Tell edh Dhahab el Gharbi
• Most likely location

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History

Mahanaim, "two camps", was a town of Gilead east of the Jordan, near the river Jabbok, today's Zarqa. Its site is uncertain. The most common proposal, where the map places it, is Tell edh-Dhahab el-Gharbi, the western of two hills around which the Jabbok winds; the eastern hill is often taken for Penuel. Since 2005 a team from the University of Dortmund led by Thomas Pola has dug the western hill, finding traces of occupation from the Late Bronze and early Iron Ages and, on the summit, a palace of the late Hellenistic or early Herodian period.

Genesis tells that Jacob, returning from Laban, met the angels of God and said, "This is God's host", and called the place Mahanaim. In the Book of Joshua the town lies on the border of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh and is given to the Levites. After Saul fell, Abner, captain of his host, brought Saul's son Ish-bosheth over to Mahanaim and made him king over Israel; from there Abner went out to Gibeon against David's servants.

When Absalom rebelled, David crossed the Jordan to Mahanaim. Shobi of Rabbah, Machir of Lo-debar and Barzillai the Gileadite brought beds, vessels and food for him and his people, and Barzillai provided for the king while he stayed there. David sat between the two gates of the city waiting for news of the battle in the wood of Ephraim. Under Solomon, Ahinadab the son of Iddo was his officer at Mahanaim. Josephus calls it a very fine and very strong city and renders its name for Greek readers as "The Camps".

About 925 BC the Egyptian king Sheshonq I, the Shishak of the Bible, named Mahanaim among the places of his campaign in Palestine on the Bubastite Portal at Karnak. No later event is recorded there. In the early fourth century Eusebius listed Mahanaim only as a town of Gad given to the Levites in Gilead, without placing it. On Tell edh-Dhahab el-Gharbi the palace was burned in the later first century BC, and its ruins later fell in an earthquake.

Scripture: Gen 32:1–2; Josh 13:26; Josh 13:30; Josh 21:38; 2 Sam 2:8–12; 2 Sam 17:24–29; 2 Sam 18:6; 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Sam 19:32; 1 Kgs 4:14; 1 Kgs 14:25

Checked against its sources; not yet read by a historian.

Verses (16)

Gen 32:2

And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

Josh 13:26

And from Heshbon unto Ramath-mizpeh, and Betonim; and from Mahanaim unto the border of Debir;

Josh 13:30

And their coast was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, threescore cities:

Josh 21:38

And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Mahanaim with her suburbs,

2 Sam 2:8

But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul’s host, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

2 Sam 2:10

Ish-bosheth Saul’s son was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.

2 Sam 2:12

And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

2 Sam 2:29

And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain, and passed over Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim.

2 Sam 17:24

Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

2 Sam 17:27

And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

2 Sam 18:23

But howsoever, said he, let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi.

2 Sam 19:32

Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old: and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.

1 Kgs 2:8

And, behold, thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword.

1 Kgs 4:14

Ahinadab the son of Iddo had Mahanaim:

1 Chr 6:80

And out of the tribe of Gad; Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, and Mahanaim with her suburbs,

Song 6:13

Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.

King James Version

Tours through this place

• Jacob →
• The life of David →
• Absalom's revolt →