MAHANAIM mā’ ə nā əm (מַחֲנַ֖יִם, LXX transliterates and translates it several ways: Μααναιν, Josh 13:26; 1 Kings 4:14; Μαναιν, Josh 13:30; 1 Chron 6:66 [v. 80 in Eng.] Μαναὲ̀μ, 2 Sam 2:8, 12; Μαναΐμ 2 Sam 17:24 27; 19:33 (v. 32 in Eng.); φυγαδευτήριον, Josh 21:38; παρεβολάι, Gen 32:2; παρεμβομήν, 2 Sam 2:29; all meaning two camps). A city in N Trans-Jordan important esp. in the time of the monarchy.

Mahanaim, according to Genesis 32:2, was named by Jacob after he left Laban, his father-in-law, and met God’s angels on the way back to Canaan. The word looks like a Heb. dual although it may not have originally been so. (Jerusalem, Y^erûshalāyim in Heb., has a similar ending.) Genesis 32:10 also may be connected with the name, for there the Heb. word for two companies is the same word but with a fem. pl. ending.

Mahanaim was on the border between Gad (Josh 13:26) and Manasseh (Josh 13:30). It also was one of the Trans-Jordanian cities of refuge (Josh 21:38) and a Levitical city (1 Chron 6:80).

It is in connection with David that Mahanaim is most frequently mentioned. After Saul died, a civil war was beginning in Israel. Abner, Saul’s general, wanted Ish-bosheth, a son of Saul, to be king (2 Sam 2:8). From their base of operations at Mahanaim, Abner and Ish-bosheth went to Gibeon where a war by representation was fought around the great pool. After an indecisive outcome, and some foul play by Abner, Joab, David’s general, chased Abner back to Mahanaim (2:29). Presumably it was there that Rechab, and Baanah murdered Ish-bosheth (4:5ff.).

In the war between David and Absalom, David made his headquarters temporarily at Mahanaim (17:24-27 and 19:32). At this time the battle of the forest of Ephraim occurred, where Absalom was caught by his hair in a tree and subsequently slain by Joab. Apparently David was at Mahanaim when news of Absalom’s death came and he wept and said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (18:33).

According to 1 Kings 4:14, Mahanaim was the seat of Ahinadab, one of Solomon’s twelve officers.

There is a place named Khirbet Mahneh N of the Jabbok River which bears a resemblance to the name Mahanaim. The Bible gives little to positively identify the site, apart from the deduction in Genesis 32:22 that it was N of the Jabbok. Another suggestion for the site is Tell edh-Dhahab el-Gharbi, which is across the Jabbok and W of Tell edh-Dhabab esh-Sherqiyeh, the tentative site for Penuel.

Bibliography E. Kraeling, Bible Atlas (1956), 204-206.