Manasseh (1)

ma - nas´e ( מנשּׁה , menashsheh , "causing to forget"; compare Genesis 41:51; Μαν (ρ Ο2 νπ )ασσή , Man (n )assḗ ):

(1) The firstborn of Joseph by Asenath, daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On. See next article.

(2) The tribe named from Manasseh, half of which, with Gad and Reuben, occupied the East of Jordan (Numbers 27:1 , etc.). See next article.

(3) The "Manasseh" of Judges 18:30 , Judges 18:31 the King James Version is really an intentional mistake for the name Moses. A small nûn (n ), a Hebrew letter, has been inserted over and between the first and second Hebrew letters in the word Moses, thus מנשׁה for משׁה . The reason for this is that the individual in question is mentioned as priest of a brazen image at Dan. His proper name was Moses. It was felt to be a disgrace that such a one bearing that honored name should keep it intact. The insertion of the nūn hides the disgrace and, moreover, gives to the person a name already too familiar with idolatrous practices; for King Manasseh's 55 years of sovereignty were thus disgraced.

(4) King of Judah. See separate article.

(5) Son of PAHATH-MOAB (which see), who had married a foreign wife (Ezra 10:30 ). Manaseas in 1 Esdras 9:31.

(6) The Manasses of 1 Esdras 9:33. A layman of the family of Hashum, who put away his foreign wife at Ezra's order ( Ezra 10:33 ).

In the Revised Version (British and American) of Matthew 1:10 and Revelation 7:6 the spelling "Manasseh" is given for the King James Version "Manasses." The latter is the spelling of the husband of Judith (Judith 8:2, 7; 10:3; 16:22, 23, 24); of a person named in the last words of Tobit and otherwise unknown (Tobit 14:10), and also the name given to a remarkable prayer probably referred to in 2 Chronicles 33:18 , which Manasseh (4) is said to have uttered at the end of his long, unsatisfactory life. See MANASSES , PRAYER OF . In Judges 12:4 , the Revised Version (British and American) reads "Manasseh" for the King James Version "Manassites."