Manasseh
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This entry incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation.
Manasseh or Menashe (מְנַשֶּׁה, Samaritan Hebrew Manatch, Standard Hebrew Mənašše, Tiberian Hebrew Mənaššeh: from נשני naššānî "who makes to forget") was the name of several individuals from the Old Testament.
- The elder of the two sons of Joseph. He and his brother Ephraim were afterwards adopted by Jacob as his own sons (Genesis 48:1). There is an account of his marriage to a Syrian (1 Chronicles 7:14); and the only thing afterwards recorded of him is, that his grandchildren were "brought up upon Joseph's knees" (Gen. 50:23; R.V., "born upon Joseph's knees") i.e., were from their birth adopted by Joseph as his own children. He is considered the founder of the Tribe of Manasseh.
- Manasseh of Judah, the king of Judah.
- In Judges 18:30 the correct reading could possibly read "Moses," and not "Manasseh." Some scholars believe that the name "Manasseh" was introduced by a transcriber to avoid the scandal of naming the grandson of Moses the great lawgiver as the founder of an idolatrous religion.