ASRIEL

(Asʹri·el).

A male descendant of Manasseh who became the family head of the Asrielites. Numbers 26:29-31 indicates that he was the great-grandson of Manasseh through Machir and his son Gilead. According to 1 Chronicles 7:14, Asriel was a son of Manasseh born to him by his Syrian concubine. However, part of an apparent parenthetical statement that follows reads: “She bore Machir the father of Gilead.” Hence, as is not uncommon in Biblical genealogies, Asriel may here be termed a “son” of Manasseh only in the sense of being one of his later descendants (through Machir, Manasseh’s son by his Syrian concubine). But it is possible that Manasseh had both a direct son and a great-grandson bearing the same name. “The sons of Asriel” were among the descendants of Manasseh to whom Joshua made territorial allotments in the Promised Land.​—Jos 17:1-4.