MACHIR mă’ kĭr (מָכִיר׃֙, LXX Μαχαὶ̀ρ, meaning uncertain, perhaps means valuable). Name of the eldest son of Manasseh and of the son of Ammiel.

1. The son of Manasseh: while Joseph was still alive in Egypt, his older son Manasseh’s eldest son Machir brought his children to the patriarch (Gen 50:23). Machir again was at the head of the list of the sons of Manasseh (Num 26:29); he was the father of Gilead who gave his name or was named for the area in Trans-Jordan that this family of the tribe of Manasseh inhabited (Num 32:39, 40). The text says, “And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he settled in it” (v. 40). Bashan, with Gilead, was also allotted to Machir “because he was a man of war” (Josh 17:1).

Numbers (chs. 27 and 31) tell of the great-great-granddaughters of Machir, the daughters of Zelophehad whose case Moses brought before the Lord that they might be able to share in the inheritance with their father’s brothers since there were no sons in the family.

Further light is thrown on the exact situation regarding the Machirites and their inheritance in Joshua 13:29-31. This passage gives an insight into the method by which the tribe of Manasseh was divided; half the family of Machir moved into Trans-Jordan, the other half went with the other half of the tribe of Manasseh into Pal. (v. 31).

2. The son of Ammiel: identified as the one in whose house Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan stayed (2 Sam 9:4, 5). He was of the same Manassite family as above, and helped David when he was in exile (2 Sam 17:27-29).