And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.
All Commentaries on Genesis 41:51 Go To Genesis 41
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Consider the man’s Godfearing attitude. By recording the memory of everything by the name of his son, Joseph purposely expressed his constant thankfulness. He did so that the one born to him might be in a position to know from his own name the trials and endurance that characterized the good man and so brought Joseph to such prominence. “Because he made me forget all my hardships and all those of my father.” What is the meaning of “all those of my father”? Here I think there is reference to the former enslavement and the latter, as well as the deprivation in prison. “All those of my father” means the separation he endured in being away from his father’s embrace and the fact that, being raised with such care, at a tender age he exchanged freedom for slavery.
