Machir/Makir - meaning bartered - was the name of two figures in the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

.

1. Machir, the son of Manasseh

Manasseh (tribal patriarch)

Manasseh or Menashe was, according to the Book of Genesis, the first son of Joseph and Asenath. Asenath was an Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and the daughter of Potipherah, a priest of On. Manasseh was born in Egypt before the arrival of the children of Israel from Canaan...

, and father of Gilead.

In the Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

's account of the journey of the Israelites after the Exodus

The Exodus

The Exodus is the story of the departure of the Israelites from ancient Egypt described in the Hebrew Bible.Narrowly defined, the term refers only to the departure from Egypt described in the Book of Exodus; more widely, it takes in the subsequent law-givings and wanderings in the wilderness...

, Machir (the individual) is portrayed as conquering the territories known as Gilead

Gilead

In the Bible "Gilead" means hill of testimony or mound of witness, , a mountainous region east of the Jordan River, situated in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It is also referred to by the Aramaic name Yegar-Sahadutha, which carries the same meaning as the Hebrew . From its mountainous character...

and Bashan

Bashan

Bashan or Basan is a biblical place first mentioned in , where it is said that Chedorlaomer and his confederates "smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth", where Og the king of Bashan had his residence. At the time of Israel's entrance into the Promised Land, Og came out against them, but was utterly routed...

, which had previously been occupied by Amorites. Machir's descendants are described as having settled in Gilead and Bashan, and consequently is a key figure in Gilead's history.

2. According to the Books of Samuel

Books of Samuel

The Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...

, Machir son of Amiel was the name of a descendant of the Machir mentioned above, and resided at Lo-Debar

Lo-debar

Lo-debar was a town in the Old Testament in Gilead not far from Mahanaim, north of the Jabbok in ancient Israel. It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the home of Machir, a contemporary of David. ....

. The text states that here he looked after Meribaal, the son of Jonathan, until David

David

David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

 took over his care, and also looked after David himself, when David found himself a fugitive

See also

• Tribe of Manasseh
  Tribe of Manasseh
  According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Manasseh was one of the Tribes of Israel. Together with the Tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh also formed the House of Joseph....
  
  
• Machir (Biblical region)