Tribe of Manasseh as Judges. (see the Book of Judges) With the growth of the threat from Philistine incursions, the Israelite tribes decided to form a strong centralised monarchy to meet the challenge, and the Tribe of Manasseh joined the new kingdom with Saul as the first king. After the death of Saul, all the tribes other than Judah remained loyal to the House of Saul, but after the death of Ish-bosheth, Saul's son and successor to the throne of Israel, the Tribe of Manasseh joined the other northern Israelite tribes in making David, who was then the king of Judah, king of
Book of Judges recently, this view has been challenged, and there is an increasing willingness to see Judges as the work of a single individual, working by carefully selecting, reworking and positioning his source material to introduce and conclude his themes. A statement repeated throughout the book, "In those days there was no king in Israel" (, , , and ) implies a date in the monarchy for the redaction (editing) of Judges. Twice this statement is accompanied with the statement that "every man did that which was right in his own eyes", implying that the redactor is pro-monarchy, ( and ) and