GILEAD and BASHAN (gil'e-ad and ba'shan), as connected with the pre-Mosaic Manassite con quest.
(1) Legal Rights of Women. "Then came the daughters of Zelophehad . . . and they stood before Moses . . . saying, 'Our father died in the wilderness . . . and had no sons . . . Give us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.' And Moses brought their case before the Lord. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. Thou shalt surely give them a pos session of an inheritance among their father's brethren ; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them' " (Num. xxvii:f-8). This decision became the basis of a law in Israel in relation to the rights of daugh ters. The incident of these heiresses occurs in the tribe of Manasseh, after the later of the two "numberings," and this "numbering" had shown that the tribe of Manasseh had an increase of more than thirty-three per cent. over the highest increase which had been shown by any other tribe.
(2) Pre-Mosaic Share of Dilanasseh. The claim of the heirs and the great increase of this tribe seem both to have resulted from the same antecedent, and this antecedent was the conquest and annexation of the kingdoms of Sihon and Og.
In that conquest it seems evident that the tribe of Manasseh had a pre-Mosaic share. Immediately after that conquest, Moses received a request from the two preeminently pastoral tribes Gad and Reuben only, to be allowed to settle in the newly acquired territory. Their wish was granted on the ground of their possession of "much cattle," but in that concession is also included "the half tribe of Manasseh," although no petition seems to have come from the leaders of this tribe. The request comes from two tribes, and the concession is made to two and a half. The half of Mount Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og be ing awarded to the half tribe of Manasseh (Deut. iii :13). In connection with this allotment it will be noted that "the inheritance of their fathers" which is awarded to the daughters is spoken of as if it were ready for them, not future, but waiting to be filled. It appears that there was some clear ly established title which was so well known at the time as not to require any explanation; and what could the Alanassite title to eastern ter ritory be founded upon, if not upon pre-Mosaic conquests? The name of Gilead which is borne by a por tion of the country is another very significant point. Gilead was the third in descent from Jo
seph, Manasseh being his grandfather, and the "sons of Gilead" in Num. xxvi :3o appear as "male children of Manasseh." If on the older historical theory that the Manassite line shared the oppres sion in Egypt, went out at the Exodus, and merely took part in the Sihon-Og campaign with the rest of Israel, how can we account for the fact that this region bears the name of a Manas site prince who had been dead long ago and was buried in Egypt? But suppose Machir, the grandson of Joseph and his heir by adoption, to have led a victorious settlement north eastward from the Egyptian frontier, with all of his grandfather's Egyptian in fluence to second him, and we can see at once why his eldest son should share the name of the region which Ile first won by conquest. This would be similar to the case of Cain who called "the name of the city" which "he builded" after "the name of his son Enoch" (Gen. iv :17).
We need not suppose that tbe whole of the re gion of Gilead and Bashan had been previously won and held by Machir and his sons, but mere ly that so far as those areas had been conquered, the achicvement had been Manassite.
There is an old pman of victory recorded in Num. xxi. Verse 27 is the beginning of the exultation of Sihon the Amorite over Moab, but later comes the triumph of Israel over Sihon. Sihon and his people were exterminated (Deut. ii :34). How then was this Amorite pzean pre served? The conquered Moabites would not have treasured up Sihon's song of victory over them and passed it on to the Israelites, of whom they had a fear and a jealousy (Num. xxii :4)• But if there was a Manassite settlement there which had witnessed the crushing defeat of Moab, and heard the song on the lips of the victorious Amorites, the whole difficulty vanishes.