569b Who was Manasseh?

And Mary’s or Manasseh’s stains

569b Sacred Throne

Manasseh in the Bible refers to: 1) Joseph's eldest son, 2) to his descendants - the tribe of Manasseh, and 3) to King Manasseh. It is this third reference that we see in this song.

King Manasseh ruled the southern kingdom, Judah, from about 686 to 642 BCE (This is well after the northern kingdom has been overrun and annexed into Assyria.) The writer(s) of 2nd Kings clearly consider him the most evil in the line of kings of Judah.

2 Kings 21:9 But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.

Among the evils mentioned in 2 Kings 21 are: worship of other gods, e.g. of Baal and Asherah -- erecting altars and sacred poles (phallic symbols - these are fertility cults) and statues (graven images - forbidden in 10 commandments), putting these even in the courtyards of the Temple built as a house of God by Solomon. He "made his son pass through fire" apparently a reference to worship rites associated with Moloch, rites which included child sacrifice. He "practiced soothsaying and augury and dealt with mediums and with wizards." (all of these are forbidden) And "Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another."

Quite a collection of stains.

I would guess that the Mary refered to is Mary Magdalene, who in the west is seen in a conflation of three Biblical characters (recognized as separate individuals in the Eastern Christian churches): 1) Mary from the village of Magdala (Luke 8 tells us Jesus drove seven devils out of her; Matthew 15 puts her as one of the witnesses of the cruxifiction; John 20 presents her as the first witness to the resurrected Jesus); 2) Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus; and 3) the woman, "a sinner," who bathed Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair (Luke 7) of whom Jesus said, "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much."


***
Manesseh, Joseph's eldest son, e.g.
Genesis 41:51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.

Manasseh, the tribe, e.g.
Numbers 1:35 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred.


Thanks Dorothy for the question.