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Mahanaim - location profile

Location and Setting

• Mahanaim was one of the principal cities in the Transjordan, the Israelite territory east of the Jordan River. It was located on the north bank of the Jabbok, one of the few perennial rivers flowing into the Jordan River.
• Although two possible sites have been identified, the one most widely accepted lies about ten miles east of the Jordan River. The other is located nine miles farther upstream on the Jabbok River.
• The main road that passed by Mahanaim further contributed to the importance of the city. From Succoth, in the Jordan Valley, this route followed the Jabbok upstream into Gilead, to Mahanaim. From there, it turned southeasterly toward the Ammonite capital, Rabath-ammon, at the source of the Jabbok River.
• The city of Penuel was located on the southern bank of the Jabbok River, directly across from Mahanaim.
• The region of Gilead north of the Jabbok was largely forested in the time of the monarchy (2 Sam 18:6).

Historical and Biblical Significance

• After the Conquest, when tribal boundaries were established, Mahanaim was located on the border between the tribe of Gad (Josh 13:26) and the half-tribe of Manasseh (Josh 13:30).
• Mahanaim was designated as one of the three cities of refuge east of the Jordan (Josh 21:38). It was also a Levitical city (1 Chr 6:80).
• When Jacob was returning to Canaan after residing in Paddan-aram with his uncle, Laban, he feared his impending reunion with his brother, Esau. To encourage Jacob and to remind him of God’s presence, the angels of God met him before he crossed the Jabbok River. Jacob called the place Mahanaim, which means "two camps," apparently referring to his own camp and the camp of the angels. From there, Jacob crossed over the Jabbok River to Penuel (Peniel = "face of God"), where he wrestled with an angel all night (Genesis 32).
• After King Saul died, Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, established Saul’s son, Ish-bosheth, as king of Israel in Mahanaim (2 Sam 2:8). Ish-bosheth reigned in Mahanaim for two years before Rechab and Baanah assassinated him (2 Sam 2:10; 4:5-7). Mahanaim was in the same general area as Jabesh-gilead, a city that owed its freedom to Saul’s intervention some forty years earlier. This fact, and the current dominance of the Philistines in the west, would make Mahanaim a logical site for Ishbosheth’s capital.
• Some years later, when David fled from Jerusalem to escape the revolt led by his son, Absalom, he came to Mahanaim. The residents of Mahanaim and nearby rulers supplied a wide variety of provisions for David and the people that were with him (2 Sam 17:24-29).
• It was in the forested hills just north of Mahanaim that Joab, the commander of David’s army, murdered the fleeing Absalom. When he heard of his son’s death, David climbed up to the chamber above the city gate of Mahanaim and lamented (2 Samuel 18).
• It is significant that both Ish-bosheth and David located for a period in Mahanaim rather than in a more convenient location west of the Jordan. The Transjordanian tribes took a neutral stance in the on-going feuds between Judah and Israel. Their primary concern was to develop and support a strong centralized government, because the Transjordan cities were always the first to suffer economically and politically at the hands of foreign oppressors when the kingdom of Israel was weak. The residents of Mahanaim were understandably more than willing to accommodate Ish-bosheth of Benjamin, when he was aligned with the northern tribes. They were also willing to accommodate David, from the tribe of Judah, when Absalom had won the hearts of the tribes north of Judah.

For further study, see also: Penuel

Bibliography

1. Aharoni, Y. and M. Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993.
2. Aharoni, Yohanan. The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1962.
3. Alden, R.L. "Mahanaim" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.
4. Owen, G. Fredrick. The Holy Land. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1977.