The internal definition that we are given in Genesis 41:51 is "For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house." My margin in the New King James says that it literally means "making forgetful." Other lexicons say it is "to cause to forget," "one that makes to forget," or simply "one that forgets," the forgetter. This last one is the most interesting to me.
Now the biblical attribution of this name to Manasseh and to all his progeny by the way, implies it belongs to this people in a significant way. Just as Joseph means "adding" or "I will add" or "God will add" and Ephraim means "fruitful," well, "forgetter" or "to be forgetful" is something that means a whole lot to Manasseh and his people. God intends us to understand in Genesis 41:51 that Manassites as a people tend to be forgetful or maybe, I do not know, better or worse, want to forget the past. They are very happy to start over again and leave the past behind them.
So here we have Joseph rising to power. Pharaoh giving him pretty much total control, giving him a wife to marry, and then consequently he had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. This is the order in which they were born. Manasseh first and then Ephraim. And it is important that we understand here the indication of the meaning of their names. Manasseh means "making forgetful" or "made to forget." And Ephraim means "fruitfulness" or "prosperity." We are going to be hearing a lot about that in this sermon. Joseph himself, the name Joseph, means "He will add," meaning God will add or simply, his name means "increase."
It was even a blessing that God blocked the thought of his family out of his mind so that he could do what God needed him to do for those twenty years. It did not mean he never thought of them, but it means he did not dwell on it. He did not obsess on it.
