Mahanaim

Mahanaim, a place east of the Jordan River where Jacob met angels and David found refuge during Absalom's rebellion (Genesis 32:2; 2Sa.17.24, 27).

Mahanaim was a city located east of the Jordan River, in the territory allocated to the tribe of Gad (Joshua 13:26, 30). It was designated as a Levitical city for the Merarites (Joshua 21:38; 1Ch.6.80). Mahanaim is first mentioned in Genesis 32:2, where Israel (or 'Jacob') encountered angels on his way back to Canaan, and he named the place Mahanaim, meaning "two camps." During the reign of King David, Mahanaim served as a refuge for David when he fled from his son Absalom's rebellion (2Sa.17.24, 27). Ishbosheth, Saul's son, was also based in Mahanaim when he ruled over Israel (2Sa.2.8, 12, 29). Later, during Solomon's reign, Mahanaim was the center of one of the twelve districts governed by Solomon's officers (1Ki.4.14).

Two camps, a place near the Jabbok, beyond Jordan, where Jacob was met by the “angels of God,” and where he divided his retinue into “two hosts” on his return from Padan-aram (Gen. 32:2). This name was afterwards given to the town which was built at that place. It was the southern boundary of Bashan (Josh. 13:26, 30), and became a city of the Levites (21:38). Here Saul’s son Ishbosheth reigned (2 Sam. 2:8, 12), while David reigned at Hebron. Here also, after a troubled reign, Ishbosheth was murdered by two of his own bodyguard (2 Sam. 4:5-7), who brought his head to David at Hebron, but were, instead of being rewarded, put to death by him for their cold-blooded murder. Many years after this, when he fled from Jerusalem on the rebellion of his son Absalom, David made Mahanaim, where Barzillai entertained him, his headquarters, and here he mustered his forces which were led against the army that had gathered around Absalom. It was while sitting at the gate of this town that tidings of the great and decisive battle between the two hosts and of the death of his son Absalom reached him, when he gave way to the most violent grief (2 Sam. 17:24-27).

The only other reference to Mahanaim is as a station of one of Solomon’s purveyors (1 Kings 4:14). It has been identified with the modern Mukhumah, a ruin found in a depressed plain called el-Bukie’a, “the little vale,” near Penuel, south of the Jabbok, and north-east of es-Salt.