The Suspended Nun and the Priest Who Repented at the End

"Jonathan the son of Gershom the son of Manasseh" (Judges 18:30). Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said: The letter nun is suspended [in Manasseh] - if he was worthy, he was the son of Moses [Mosheh], and if not, the son of Manasseh [Menasheh]. They asked before Rabbi Shimon bar Nachmani: A priest for idolatry, and he lived so very long? He said to them: Because his eye was stingy toward the idol. A man would come bringing near to it an ox or a lamb. He would say to him, What use is this? It does not see, it does not hear, it does not speak. The man would say to him, What then shall we do? And he would tell him, Go make a dish of fine flour and place ten eggs upon it and set it before the idol, then go on your way - and he himself would eat it. They challenged Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani: You said "Shevuel" means he returned to God, yet it is written "until the day of the exile of the land"? He said to them: Once David died, Solomon arose and replaced all his father's officials and removed him, and he returned to his first corruption. This is the meaning of "a certain old prophet was dwelling in Bethel" (1 Kings 13:11). They say it was he who had set himself up for idolatry, and on that very day he repented and the holy spirit rested upon him, as it is written, "And the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back" (1 Kings 13:20).