mas´a ( משּׂא , massā' , "burden"): Descendant of Abraham through Ishmael ( Genesis 25:14; 1 Chronicles 1:30 ). His people may be the Masani of Ptolemy, having Eastern Arabia near Babylon as their habitat. The marginal reading of the heading to Prov 31 mentions Lemuel as king of Massa. If that reading is accepted, it would seem that a tribe and probably a place were named from Ishmael's descendant. The reading is doubtful, however, for where the phrase recurs in Prov 30 (Revised Version (British and American)) it appears to be a gloss.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) was edited by James Orr, John Nuelsen, Edgar Mullins, Morris Evans, and Melvin Grove Kyle and was published complete in 1939. This web site includes the complete text.
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