Genesis · Chapter 48

Verse 1. One told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick] He was ill before, and Joseph knew it; but it appears that a messenger had been now despatched to in form Joseph that his father was apparently at the point of death.

Verse 1. His two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. We here see again with what alacrity, reverence and devotion the sons of the holy patriarchs awaited the final benediction of their departing Sires, while the children after the flesh paid no regard to it. God had on special occasions appeared to the patriarchs, and blessed them and their seed. The believing children therefore awaited it at the hands and from the prophetic spirit of their sires, being assured that they had a right to confer it. In the christian church the same custom is preserved, on the admission of young people to communion; on the appointment of ministers to their work; and in the apostolic age, they laid their hands upon them anew for almost every important mission, praying devoutly for God to give the Spirit.

ADOPTION AND BLESSING OF JOSEPH’S SONS, 1-22.

“At the very close of his career, Jacob’s character greatly rises in moral grandeur. The spirit of prophecy comes upon him, and he utters some of the most inspiring words of revelation. The world is fading on his dim eyes, but he has now the piercing vision of the seer, which reveals what is to take place ‘in the last days.’ Cut off from the outer world by his infirmities, his soul has retired within the great covenant promises made to his fathers, which he now sees to be splendid prophetic blessings for his children. He recalls the heavenly stairway of Bethel, on which he saw the angels in his youthful exile; the struggle and victory of Peniel, where ‘Jacob’ was changed to ‘Israel;’ the renewal of the covenant promise and covenant name on his return to Bethel; the grave of Bethlehem, into which his hopes were crushed with his beloved Rachel; and finally, the strange career of Joseph, which must have seemed in retrospect like the death and resurrection of his best beloved son. All these providences he now recounts to his son Joseph, and by them he ascends into the mount of vision. Genesis 47:3-7. There is a dramatic vividness and life-like warmth in this picture of the aged patriarch, ‘strengthening himself’ to speak these last words, rising from his Egyptian bed, and sitting upon its side, as did Socrates in his last day. Phaedo, 60, B. He sees not Joseph’s sons so much as the tribes behind them; for these are not personal, but national predictions; and yet they are suggested by individual peculiarities, along which, by the path of prophetic association, the patriarch travels into the future. The return to Canaan and the far-off possession of that land of promise, are the field of his contemplation, and he takes no notice of the intervening ages of Egyptian sojourn and servitude.” — Newhall.

1. After these things — Probably soon after the events narrated at the close of the previous chapter. Thy father is sick — Extreme old age, accompanied by any unusual symptoms of physical disorder, would excite attention, and admonish Jacob’s children that the day of his death was near at hand. Accordingly, as soon as Joseph heard the report of his father’s illness he took with him his two sons, and hastened to his bedside. It is possible Joseph feared that the two sons here named, having been born in Egypt and of an Egyptian woman, might not be allowed full inheritance among the sons of Israel. So he would have them obtain the holy patriarch’s blessing ere he died. Manasseh and Ephraim “are here mentioned, as was natural, in the order of age, but the tribes were always designated as Ephraim and Manasseh, since there were ‘ten thousands of Ephraim, and thousands of Manasseh.’ Deuteronomy 33:17. Joseph came not simply to pay his dying father a visit of sympathy and affection, but to receive his blessing, and to have his children formally recognised as heirs of the covenant promises from which their Egyptian birth had alienated them for a time. Joseph here remarkably reveals his characteristic faith, and his keen moral and spiritual sense. An Egyptian prince, and the highest subject of Pharaoh, honours and wealth without stint were within his reach for his children; buthe turned away from wealth and power in his manhood, as he had from sinful pleasure in his youth. The family pride that has ruined so many virtuous men had no blandishments for him. His sons were never presented for preferment among the princes of Pharaoh, for he saw grander dignities and riches for them among the despised shepherds of Goshen than could be conferred in the courts of the Pharaohs. He presented his children to be blessed and adopted into the patriarchal family.” — Newhall.

Verse 2. Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.] He had been confined to his bed before, (see Genesis 47:31,) and now, hearing that Joseph was come to see him, he made what efforts his little remaining strength would admit, to sit up in bed to receive his son. This verse proves that a bed, not a staff, is intended in the preceding chapter, Genesis 47:31.

Verses 2, 4. Israel strengthened himself — The tidings of Joseph’s approach refreshed his spirits, and gave him new strength: and he put forth all the strength he had. God blessed me — And let that blessing be entailed upon them. God had promised him two things, a numerous issue, and Canaan for an inheritance. And Joseph’s sons, pursuant hereunto, should each of them multiply into a tribe, and each of them have a distinct lot in Canaan, equal with Jacob’s own sons. Set how he blessed them by faith in that which God had said to him, Hebrews 11:21.

2. Strengthened himself — “Gathered up his energies for the last interview, and sat upon the bed. If Jacob leaned upon the top of his staff (Hebrews 11:21, and Genesis 47:31, in the Sept.,) the bed must have been elevated upon a divan, or a bedstead. Bedsteads were not common among the Hebrews, but are represented in the Egyptian monuments, according to Wilkinson, elevated and richly sculptured.” — Newhall.

V. 3. God blessed me-And let that blessing be entailed upon them. God had promised him two things, a numerous issue, and Canaan for an inheritance. And Joseph’s sons, pursuant hereunto, should each of them multiply into a tribe, and each of them have a distinct lot in Canaan, equal with Jacob’s own sons. See how he blessed them by faith in that which God had said to him Hebrews 11:21.

Verse 3. God Almighty] ydv la El Shaddai, the all-sufficient God, the Outpourer and Dispenser of mercies, (see Genesis 17:1,) appeared to me at Luz, afterwards called Beth-El; see Genesis 28:13; 35:6, 9.

Verses 2, 4. Israel strengthened himself — The tidings of Joseph’s approach refreshed his spirits, and gave him new strength: and he put forth all the strength he had. God blessed me — And let that blessing be entailed upon them. God had promised him two things, a numerous issue, and Canaan for an inheritance. And Joseph’s sons, pursuant hereunto, should each of them multiply into a tribe, and each of them have a distinct lot in Canaan, equal with Jacob’s own sons. Set how he blessed them by faith in that which God had said to him, Hebrews 11:21.

3. God Almighty — “EL SHADDAI, the name by which God manifested himself at Bethel to Jacob, (Genesis 35:16,) in revelation of the fulness of his power to perform what seemed incredible.” — Newhall.

Verse 4. For an everlasting possession — His natural seed should long inherit Canaan, and his spiritual seed enjoy the heavenly inheritance typified by Canaan, for ever.

4. An everlasting possession — “The great family promise absorbs Jacob’s soul. He is identified with the nation which is to spring from his loins, whose home is to be Canaan, whence blessings are to flow down all ages and to all lands. He sets this sublime mission before Joseph as a far higher dignity for his children than princedoms in Egypt, and so claims for himself Ephraim and Manasseh.” — Newhall.

Verse 5. And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh-are mine] I now adopt them into my own family, and they shall have their place among my twelve sons, and be treated in every respect as those, and have an equal interest in all the spiritual and temporal blessings of the covenant.

Verse 5. Thy two sons are mine — By adoption: I shall own them as if they were my immediate children, and each of them shall have an equal share both in my present property, and in the future inheritance of Canaan with the rest of my children. Thus Jacob transfers the double portion, which was the right of the firstborn, upon Joseph, because Reuben fell from it by transgression; concerning which see Genesis 49:4, and 1 Chronicles 5:1. As Reuben and Simeon — Whom he names as being the eldest, and who, if any, might seem to claim a privilege above the rest.

Ver. 5. Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob, guided by the Spirit of God, preferred Ephraim before Joseph’s firstborn. He received them not as grandsons, but as sons begotten of his own body, and made them heads of tribes. Thus Ephraim shared with Reuben in the double portion given to the firstborn.

5. Thy two sons… are mine… as Reuben and Simeon — “They are to have the tribal rank of sons, although they were grandsons. In 1 Chronicles 5:1, 2, it is said that Reuben, the firstborn, was deprived of his birthright because of his sin, and it was given to the two sons of Joseph. Joseph thus had a double portion, which was reckoned one of the privileges of the firstborn.” — Newhall. The law of Deuteronomy 21:15-17, forbidding the transfer of right of the firstborn to a son of a more favoured wife, could not have governed the action of Jacob. This transfer was for sufficient cause.

Verse 6. Thy issue after them — The Scriptures nowhere mention, nor does it appear that Joseph had any more children than these. But Jacob speaks this on supposition that he might, and in case he should have any more. Shall be thine — Shall be reputed as thy children and my grand-children, and shall not have any distinct share of my present and future inheritance, but shall have a part of their brethren’s lot in such manner and proportion as thou shalt think fit.

Ver. 6. And thy issue. Whatever issue Joseph might have, if any survived, they were associated with the two half tribes of which his sons were the heads.

6. Which thou begettest after them — “It is probable that Joseph had other children, and that their descendants are reckoned with those of Ephraim and Manasseh, (Numbers 26:23-37,) the natural being undistinguished from the adopted sons.” — Newhall.

V. 7. Mention is made of the death and burial of Rachel, Joseph’s mother, and Jacob’s best beloved wife. The removal of dear relations from us is an affliction, the remembrance of which cannot but abide with us a great while. Strong affections in the enjoyment cause long afflictions in the loss.

Verse 7. Rachel died by me, &c.] Rachel was the wife of Jacob’s choice, and the object of his unvarying affection; he loved her in life-he loves her in death: many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. A match of a man’s own making when guided by reason and religion, will necessarily be a happy one. When fathers and mothers make matches for their children, which are dictated by motives, not of affection, but merely of convenience, worldly gain, &c., &c., such matches are generally wretched; it is Leah in the place of Rachel to the end of life’s pilgrimage.

Verse 7. Rachel died by me — This circumstance he here mentions, partly because the sight of Joseph and his children brought his beloved Rachel, Joseph’s mother, to his remembrance; and partly that he might assign a reason for transferring the right of the firstborn to Joseph, which was not only because Rachel was his first rightful wife by designation and contract, but because by her early death he was cut off from all hopes of having more children by her, and therefore it was but fit that he should supply that defect by adopting Joseph’s children. The removal of dear relations from us is an affliction the remembrance of which cannot but abide with us a great while. Strong affections in the enjoyment of any blessing cause long afflictions in the loss of it.

7. Rachel died by me — “Jacob honours his beloved Rachel by giving her eldest son the right of the firstborn. The reminiscence of the sudden and afflictive death of Jacob’s only real wife thus rises up amid these words of blessing.” — Newhall. The expression died by me has well been thought to contain emotional tenderness. According to Lange, “she died for him, since, while living, she shared with him and for him the toils of his pilgrimage life, and through this, perhaps, brought on her deadly travail.”

Verse 8. Who are these?] At Genesis 48:10 it is said, that Jacob’s eyes were dim for age, that he could not see-could not discern any object unless it were near him; therefore, though he saw Ephraim and Manasseh, yet he could not distinguish them till they were brought nigh unto him.

8-13. “Israel groped to embrace the children whom his dim eyes could not see, and Joseph placed them between his knees, and afterwards withdrew them (Genesis 5:12,) to present them in the order of their age for his dying blessing. Joseph expected that the chief blessing would be given to the eldest, Manasseh, and so placed him that the dim-eyed Jacob would naturally lay the right hand upon his head.” — Newhall.

8-13. “Israel groped to embrace the children whom his dim eyes could not see, and Joseph placed them between his knees, and afterwards withdrew them (Genesis 5:12,) to present them in the order of their age for his dying blessing. Joseph expected that the chief blessing would be given to the eldest, Manasseh, and so placed him that the dim-eyed Jacob would naturally lay the right hand upon his head.” — Newhall.

8-13. “Israel groped to embrace the children whom his dim eyes could not see, and Joseph placed them between his knees, and afterwards withdrew them (Genesis 5:12,) to present them in the order of their age for his dying blessing. Joseph expected that the chief blessing would be given to the eldest, Manasseh, and so placed him that the dim-eyed Jacob would naturally lay the right hand upon his head.” — Newhall.

V. 11. I had not thought to see thy face, (having many years given him up for lost) and lo God hath shewed me also thy seed?-See here, How these two good men own God in their comforts. Joseph saith, They are my sons whom God has given me-And to magnify the favour he adds, in this place of my banishment, slavery and imprisonment. Jacob saith here, God hath shewed me thy seed-Our comforts are then doubly sweet to us, when we see them coming from God’s hand.

Verse 11. I had not thought to see thy face] There is much delicacy and much tenderness in these expressions. He feels himself now amply recompensed for his long grief and trouble on account of the supposed death of Joseph, in seeing not only himself but his two sons, whom God, by an especial act of favour, is about to add to the number of his own. Thus we find that as Reuben and Simeon were heads of two distinct tribes in Israel, so were Ephraim and Manasseh; because Jacob, in a sort of sacramental way, had adopted them with equal privileges to those of his own sons.

Verse 11. I had not thought to see thy face — Having many years given him up for lost; and, lo, God hath showed me also thy seed! — See here, how these two good men own God in their comforts. Joseph saith, They are my sons whom God has given me — And to magnify the favour he adds, in this place of my banishment, slavery, and imprisonment. Jacob saith here, God hath showed me thy seed — Our comforts are then doubly sweet to us, when we see them coming from God’s hand.

8-13. “Israel groped to embrace the children whom his dim eyes could not see, and Joseph placed them between his knees, and afterwards withdrew them (Genesis 5:12,) to present them in the order of their age for his dying blessing. Joseph expected that the chief blessing would be given to the eldest, Manasseh, and so placed him that the dim-eyed Jacob would naturally lay the right hand upon his head.” — Newhall.

Verse 12. Joseph-bowed himself with his face to the earth.] This act of Joseph has been extravagantly extolled by Dr. Delaney and others. “When I consider him on his knees to God,” says Dr. Delaney, “I regard him as a poor mortal in the discharge of his duty to his CREATOR. When I behold him bowing before Pharaoh, I consider him in the dutiful posture of a subject to his prince. But when I see him bending to the earth before a poor, old, blind, decrepit father, I behold him with admiration and delight. How doth that humiliation exalt him!” This is insufferable! For it in effect says that it is a wondrous condescension in a young man, who, in the course of God’s providence, with scarcely any efforts of his own, was raised to affluence and worldly grandeur, to show respect to his father! And that respect was the more gratuitous and condescending, because that father was poor, old, blind, and decrepit! The maxim of this most exceptionable flight of admiration is, that “children who have risen to affluence are not obliged to reverence their parents when reduced in their circumstances, and brought down by the weight of years and infirmities to the sides of the grave; and should they acknowledge and reverence them, it would be a mark of singular goodness, and be highly meritorious.” Should positions of this kind pass without reprehension? I trow not. By the law of God and nature Joseph was as much bound to pay his dying father this filial respect, as he was to reverence his king, or to worship his God. As to myself, I must freely confess that I see nothing peculiarly amiable in this part of Joseph’s conduct; he simply acquitted himself of a duty which God, nature, decency, and common sense, imperiously demanded of him, and all such in his circumstances, to discharge. To the present day children in the east, next to God, pay the deepest reverence to their parents. Besides, before whom was Joseph bowing? Not merely his father, but a most eminent PATRIARCH; one highly distinguished by the Lord, and one of the three of whom the Supreme Being speaks in the most favourable and affectionate manner; the three who received and transmitted the true faith, and kept unbroken the Divine covenant; I AM the GOD of ABRAHAM, the GOD of ISAAC, and the GOD of JACOB. He has never said, I am the GOD of JOSEPH. And if we compare the father and the son as men, we shall find that the latter was exceeded by the former in almost endless degrees. Joseph owed his advancement and his eminence to what some would call good fortune, and what we know to have been the especial providence of God working in his behalf, wholly independent of his own industry, &c., every event of that providence issuing in his favour. Jacob owed his own support and preservation, and the support and preservation of his numerous family, under God, to the continual exercise of the vast powers of a strong and vigorous mind, to which the providence of God seemed ever in opposition; because God chose to try to the uttermost the great gifts which he had bestowed. If therefore the most humble and abject inferior should reverence dignity and eminence raised to no common height, so should Joseph bow down his face to the earth before JACOB. Besides, Joseph, in thus reverencing his father, only followed the customs of the Egyptians among whom he lived, who, according to Herodotus, (Euterpe, c. 80,) were particularly remarkable for the reverence they paid to old age. “For if a young person meet his senior, he instantly turns aside to make way for him; if an aged person enter an apartment, the youth always rise from their seats;” and Mr. Savary observes that the reverence mentioned by Herodotus is yet paid to old age on every occasion in Egypt. In Mohammedan countries the children sit as if dumb in the presence of their parents, never attempting to speak unless spoken to. Among the ancient Romans it was considered a crime worthy of death not to rise up in the presence of an aged person, and acting a contrary part was deemed an awful mark of the deep degeneracy of the times. Thus the satirist:— Credebant hoc grande nefas, et morte piandum,

Si Juvenis VETULO non assurrexerat; et si

Barbato cuicumque puer.

JUV. Sat. xiii., v. 54.

And had not men the hoary heads revered,

Or boys paid reverence when a man appear’d.

Both must have died.

DRYDEN.

Indeed, though Dr. Delaney is much struck with what he thinks to be great and meritorious condescension and humility on the part of Joseph; yet we find the thing itself, the deepest reverence to parents and old age, practised by all the civilized nations in the world, not as a matter of meritorious courtesy, but as a point of rational and absolute duty.

Verse 12. From between his knees — Not his own, but Jacob’s, between which they stood, while Jacob kissed and embraced them, and from which Joseph removed them, that they might not be burdensome to their aged and weak grandfather, and especially that he might place them in a fit order and a reverent posture to receive the blessing which he earnestly desired. He bowed himself — To testify his reverence for his father, his gratitude for the favour now shown to him and his children, and his humble request for his blessing upon them.

8-13. “Israel groped to embrace the children whom his dim eyes could not see, and Joseph placed them between his knees, and afterwards withdrew them (Genesis 5:12,) to present them in the order of their age for his dying blessing. Joseph expected that the chief blessing would be given to the eldest, Manasseh, and so placed him that the dim-eyed Jacob would naturally lay the right hand upon his head.” — Newhall.

8-13. “Israel groped to embrace the children whom his dim eyes could not see, and Joseph placed them between his knees, and afterwards withdrew them (Genesis 5:12,) to present them in the order of their age for his dying blessing. Joseph expected that the chief blessing would be given to the eldest, Manasseh, and so placed him that the dim-eyed Jacob would naturally lay the right hand upon his head.” — Newhall.

Verse 14. Israel stretched out his right hand, &c.] Laying hands on the head was always used among the Jews in giving blessings, designating men to any office, and in the consecration of solemn sacrifices. This is the first time we find it mentioned; but we often read of it afterwards. See Numbers 27:18, 23; Deuteronomy 34:9; Matthew 19:13, 15; Acts 6:6; 1 Timothy 4:14. Jacob laid his right hand on the head of the younger, which we are told he did wittingly-well knowing what he was about, for (or although) Manasseh was the first-born, knowing by the Spirit of prophecy that Ephraim’s posterity would be more powerful than that of Manasseh. It is observable how God from the beginning has preferred the younger to the elder, as Abel before Cain; Shem before Japheth; Isaac before Ishmael; Jacob before Esau; Judah and Joseph before Reuben; Ephraim before Manasseh; Moses before Aaron; and David before his brethren. “This is to be resolved entirely into the wise and secret counsel of God, so far as it regards temporal blessings and national privileges, as the apostle tells us, Romans 9:11; See Clarke on “Genesis 25:23”. But this preference has no concern with God’s conferring a greater measure of his love and approbation on one person more than another; compare Genesis 4:7, with Hebrews 11:4, and you will see that a difference in moral character was the sole cause why God preferred Abel to Cain.”-Dodd. The grace that converts the soul certainly comes from the mere mercy of God, without any merit on man’s part; and a sufficiency of this is offered to every man, Titus 2:11,12. But it is not less certain that God loves those best who are most faithful to this grace.

Ver. 14. Israel—guiding his hands wittingly. Joseph having placed his sons kneeling, and in order, according to their age, to receive the blessing, Israel, as Tertullian supposes, crossed his hands to confer it.

14. Guiding his hands wittingly — Literally, he made wise his hands. “Instructing his hands,” says the Targum Onk.; his hands acted as if wise, and crossed each other, to symbolically express the prophetic preference of Ephraim to Manasseh. “The sacred writer minutely details this wonderful manifestation of inspired prescience. By events like this were the chosen people incessantly indoctrinated in the great truths of the divine foreknowledge and supervision of all human plans, while at the same time human and secondary causes are never ignored.” — Newhall.

V. 15. The God who fed me all my life long unto this day-As long as we have lived in this world we have had continual experience of God’s goodness to us in providing for the support of our natural life. Our bodies have called for daily food, and we have never wanted food convenient. He that has fed us all our life long will not fail us at last.

Verse 15. He blessed Joseph] The father first, and then the sons afterwards. And this is an additional proof to what has been adduced under Genesis 48:12, of Jacob’s superiority; for the less is always blessed of the greater.

The God which fed me all my life long] Jacob is now standing on the verge of eternity, with his faith strong in God. He sees his life to be a series of mercies; and as he had been affectionately attentive, provident, and kind to his most helpless child, so has God been unto him; he has fed him all his life long; he plainly perceives that he owes every morsel of food which he has received to the mere mercy and kindness of God.

Verse 15. The God who fed me, &c. — As long as we have lived in this world we have had continual experience of God’s goodness to us in providing for the support of our natural life. Our bodies have called for daily food, and we have never wanted food convenient. He that has fed us all our life long will not fail us at last.

15, 16. He blessed Joseph — “Joseph is here identified with his children, after the true patriarchal conception of the divine covenant. There is herein a threefold benediction: God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk — The God of the past, the God of the covenant. The God which fed me all my life long unto this day — The God of providence, as he has revealed himself to me as well as my fathers: (how changed from the self-reliant, self-seeking Jacob of old!) The Angel which redeemed me from all evil — The redeeming God, the Jehovah-Angel. It is the God who leads, feeds, saves. Let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers — Let them be the true heirs of the three great patriarchs. And let them multiply as do the fishes, that swarm in the teeming Nile. The very imagery shows that the patriarch has come to Egypt, for now he no more sees his seed symbolized by the stars of the Asiatic firmament, nor by the sands of the Syrian sea-shore, but by the fatness of the all-fertilizing Nile.” — Newhall.

V. 16. The angel who redeemed me from all evil-A great deal of hardship he had known in his time, but God had graciously kept him from the evil of his troubles. Christ, the angel of the covenant is he that redeems us from all evil. It becomes the servants of God, when they are old and dying, to witness for our God that they have found him gracious. Joseph had placed his children so, as that Jacob’s right-hand should be put on the head of Manasseh the eldest, Genesis 48:12,13, but Jacob would put it on the head of Ephraim the youngest, Genesis 48:14. This displeased Joseph, who was willing to support the reputation of his first-born and would therefore have removed his father’s hands, Genesis 48:17,18, but Jacob gave him to understand that he knew what he did, and that he did it neither by mistake nor in a humour, nor from a partial affection to one more than the other, but from a spirit of prophecy.

Verse 16. The Angel which redeemed me from all evil] lagh Ëalmh hammalac haggoel. The Messenger, the Redeemer or Kinsman; for so lag goel signifies; for this term, in the law of Moses, is applied to that person whose right it is, from his being nearest akin, to redeem or purchase back a forfeited inheritance. But of whom does Jacob speak? We have often seen, in the preceding chapters, an angel of God appearing to the patriarchs; (see particularly Genesis 16:7, and the note there; See Clarke at “Genesis 16:7”) and we have full proof that this was no created angel, but the Messenger of the Divine Council, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who then was the angel that redeemed Jacob, and whom he invoked to bless Ephraim and Manasseh? Is it not JESUS? He alone can be called Goel, the redeeming Kinsman; for he alone took part of our flesh and blood that the right of redemption might be his; and that the forfeited possession of the favour and image of God might be redeemed, brought back, and restored to all those who believe in his name. To have invoked any other angel or messenger in such a business would have been impiety. Angels bless not; to GOD alone this prerogative belongs. With what confidence may a truly religious father use these words in behalf of his children: “JESUS, the CHRIST, who hath redeemed me, bless the lads, redeem them also, and save them unto eternal life!”

Let my name be named on them] “Let them be ever accounted as a part of my own family; let them be true Israelites-persons who shall prevail with God as I have done; and the name of Abraham-being partakers of his faith; and the name of Isaac-let them be as remarkable for submissive obedience as he was. Let the virtues of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob be accumulated in them, and invariably displayed by them!” These are the very words of adoption; and by the imposition of hands, the invocation of the Redeemer, and the solemn blessing pronounced, the adoption was completed. From this moment Ephraim and Manasseh had the same rights and privileges as Jacob’s sons, which as the sons of Joseph they could never have possessed.

And let them grow into a multitude] brl wgdyw veyidgu larob; Let them increase like fishes into a multitude. FISH are the most prolific of all animals; see the instances produced on See Clarke on “Genesis 1:20”. This prophetic blessing was verified in a most remarkable manner; see Numbers 26:34, 37; Deuteronomy 33:17; Joshua 17:17. At one time the tribe of Ephraim amounted to 40,500 effective men, and that of Manasseh to 52,700, amounting in the whole to 93,200.

Verse 16. The Angel which redeemed me — Not a created angel surely, but Christ, termed an angel, Exodus 23:20, and the Angel of the covenant, Malachi 3:1, and who was the conductor of Israel in the wilderness, 1 Corinthians 10:4-9. Add to this, that this Angel is called Jacob’s Redeemer, a title appropriated by God to himself, Isaiah 43:14, and 47:4; is said to redeem him from all evil, and therefore from sin, from which certainly no created angel, but only Christ can deliver us, Matthew 1:21; and he is worshipped and prayed to by Jacob here, for the blessing desired for Joseph’s sons: all which circumstances show, that he was God and not a creature. From all evil — A great deal of trouble and hardship he had had in his time, but God had graciously kept him from the evil of his troubles. It becomes the servants of God, when they are old and dying, to witness for God that they have found him gracious.

Ver. 16. The angel which redeemed me. The word Angel, being joined here with Goel, is not equivocal. He is the angel who appeared to Abraham under the oak of Mamrè, and called to him out of heaven by the name of Elohim, and of JEHOVAH. Genesis 18. 22. He is the ever-living Goel of Job; his only Redeemer and hope. 19:25. He is our near kinsman, to whom belonged the right of redemption. Ruth 3:12. Boaz said to Ruth, “There is a kinsman [Goel] nearer than I.” He is our Saviour and deliverer, as the word is constantly rendered in the book of Psalms. The christian fathers have so understood the word, and with common consent. Vide Bulli def. fid. This is the Word which was in the beginning, the Word that was made flesh, and dwelt among us. He is the Angel whom Jacob invoked in his last moments, as he had done through life; he is the Lord Jesus to whom St. Stephen commended his spirit. Acts 7:59. Where then, oh Socinian, where is thy Redeemer!

15, 16. He blessed Joseph — “Joseph is here identified with his children, after the true patriarchal conception of the divine covenant. There is herein a threefold benediction: God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk — The God of the past, the God of the covenant. The God which fed me all my life long unto this day — The God of providence, as he has revealed himself to me as well as my fathers: (how changed from the self-reliant, self-seeking Jacob of old!) The Angel which redeemed me from all evil — The redeeming God, the Jehovah-Angel. It is the God who leads, feeds, saves. Let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers — Let them be the true heirs of the three great patriarchs. And let them multiply as do the fishes, that swarm in the teeming Nile. The very imagery shows that the patriarch has come to Egypt, for now he no more sees his seed symbolized by the stars of the Asiatic firmament, nor by the sands of the Syrian sea-shore, but by the fatness of the all-fertilizing Nile.” — Newhall.

Verse 17. It displeased him — Joseph had placed his children so as that Jacob’s right hand should be put on the head of Manasseh the eldest, verses 12, 13; but Jacob would put it on the head of Ephraim the youngest, verse 14. This displeased Joseph, who was willing to support the reputation of his firstborn, and would therefore have removed his father’s hands, (verses 17, 18,) but Jacob gave him to understand that he knew what he did, and that he did it neither by mistake nor in a humour, nor from a partial affection to one more than the other, but from a spirit of prophecy.

17. It displeased him — Hebrews, it was evil in his eyes. He looked upon it as an evil omen, and interfered to correct what he regarded a mistake of his father. Nor was he the first or the last fond father who has been displeased with the order of divine providence touching his sons.

Verse 18. Joseph said-Not so, my father] Joseph supposed that his father had made a mistake in laying his right hand on the head of the youngest, because the right hand was considered as the most noble, and the instrument of conveying the highest dignities, and thus it has ever been considered among all nations, though the reason of it is not particularly obvious. Even in the heavens the right hand of God is the place of the most exalted dignity. It has been observed that Joseph spoke here as he was moved by natural affection, and that Jacob acted as he was influenced by the Holy Spirit.

ADOPTION AND BLESSING OF JOSEPH’S SONS, 1-22.

“At the very close of his career, Jacob’s character greatly rises in moral grandeur. The spirit of prophecy comes upon him, and he utters some of the most inspiring words of revelation. The world is fading on his dim eyes, but he has now the piercing vision of the seer, which reveals what is to take place ‘in the last days.’ Cut off from the outer world by his infirmities, his soul has retired within the great covenant promises made to his fathers, which he now sees to be splendid prophetic blessings for his children. He recalls the heavenly stairway of Bethel, on which he saw the angels in his youthful exile; the struggle and victory of Peniel, where ‘Jacob’ was changed to ‘Israel;’ the renewal of the covenant promise and covenant name on his return to Bethel; the grave of Bethlehem, into which his hopes were crushed with his beloved Rachel; and finally, the strange career of Joseph, which must have seemed in retrospect like the death and resurrection of his best beloved son. All these providences he now recounts to his son Joseph, and by them he ascends into the mount of vision. Genesis 47:3-7. There is a dramatic vividness and life-like warmth in this picture of the aged patriarch, ‘strengthening himself’ to speak these last words, rising from his Egyptian bed, and sitting upon its side, as did Socrates in his last day. Phaedo, 60, B. He sees not Joseph’s sons so much as the tribes behind them; for these are not personal, but national predictions; and yet they are suggested by individual peculiarities, along which, by the path of prophetic association, the patriarch travels into the future. The return to Canaan and the far-off possession of that land of promise, are the field of his contemplation, and he takes no notice of the intervening ages of Egyptian sojourn and servitude.” — Newhall.

1. After these things — Probably soon after the events narrated at the close of the previous chapter. Thy father is sick — Extreme old age, accompanied by any unusual symptoms of physical disorder, would excite attention, and admonish Jacob’s children that the day of his death was near at hand. Accordingly, as soon as Joseph heard the report of his father’s illness he took with him his two sons, and hastened to his bedside. It is possible Joseph feared that the two sons here named, having been born in Egypt and of an Egyptian woman, might not be allowed full inheritance among the sons of Israel. So he would have them obtain the holy patriarch’s blessing ere he died. Manasseh and Ephraim “are here mentioned, as was natural, in the order of age, but the tribes were always designated as Ephraim and Manasseh, since there were ‘ten thousands of Ephraim, and thousands of Manasseh.’ Deuteronomy 33:17. Joseph came not simply to pay his dying father a visit of sympathy and affection, but to receive his blessing, and to have his children formally recognised as heirs of the covenant promises from which their Egyptian birth had alienated them for a time. Joseph here remarkably reveals his characteristic faith, and his keen moral and spiritual sense. An Egyptian prince, and the highest subject of Pharaoh, honours and wealth without stint were within his reach for his children; buthe turned away from wealth and power in his manhood, as he had from sinful pleasure in his youth. The family pride that has ruined so many virtuous men had no blandishments for him. His sons were never presented for preferment among the princes of Pharaoh, for he saw grander dignities and riches for them among the despised shepherds of Goshen than could be conferred in the courts of the Pharaohs. He presented his children to be blessed and adopted into the patriarchal family.” — Newhall.

V. 19. Ephraim shall he greater-When the tribes were mustered in the wilderness Ephraim was more numerous than Manasseh, and had the standard of that squadron, Numbers 1:32,33,35-2:18,20, and is named first, Psalm 80:2. Joshua was of that tribe. The tribe of Manasseh was divided, one half on one side Jordan, the other half on the other side, which made it the less powerful and considerable. God, in bestowing his blessings upon his people, gives more to some than to others, more gifts, graces and comforts, and more of the good things of this life. And he often gives most to those that are least likely: he chuseth the weak things of the world, raiseth the poor out of the dust. Grace observes not the order of nature, nor doth God prefer those whom we think fittest to be preferred but as it pleaseth him.

Verse 19. Truly his younger brother shall be greater than he — This prophecy was evidently fulfilled in the posterity of these two children: a convincing proof that Jacob spoke by inspiration of God; for who but he can foresee what is to happen in distant ages? About two hundred years after this, when the Israelites were first numbered in the wilderness, the tribe of Ephraim had eight thousand three hundred men more than that of Manasseh, Numbers 1:32, 35. In encamping about the tabernacle, Ephraim had the standard, and was set before Manasseh, Numbers 11:18-20. Of him came Joshua, the conqueror of Canaan, Numbers 13:18, and Jeroboam, king of Israel, 1 Kings 11:26. So that the name of Ephraim is often used to signify that whole kingdom. God, in bestowing his blessings upon his people, gives more to some than to others, more gifts, graces, and comforts, and more of the good things of this life. And he often gives most to those that are least likely: he chooseth the weak things of the world, raiseth the poor out of the dust. Grace observes not the order of nature, nor doth God prefer those whom we think fittest to be preferred, but as it pleaseth him.

ADOPTION AND BLESSING OF JOSEPH’S SONS, 1-22.

“At the very close of his career, Jacob’s character greatly rises in moral grandeur. The spirit of prophecy comes upon him, and he utters some of the most inspiring words of revelation. The world is fading on his dim eyes, but he has now the piercing vision of the seer, which reveals what is to take place ‘in the last days.’ Cut off from the outer world by his infirmities, his soul has retired within the great covenant promises made to his fathers, which he now sees to be splendid prophetic blessings for his children. He recalls the heavenly stairway of Bethel, on which he saw the angels in his youthful exile; the struggle and victory of Peniel, where ‘Jacob’ was changed to ‘Israel;’ the renewal of the covenant promise and covenant name on his return to Bethel; the grave of Bethlehem, into which his hopes were crushed with his beloved Rachel; and finally, the strange career of Joseph, which must have seemed in retrospect like the death and resurrection of his best beloved son. All these providences he now recounts to his son Joseph, and by them he ascends into the mount of vision. Genesis 47:3-7. There is a dramatic vividness and life-like warmth in this picture of the aged patriarch, ‘strengthening himself’ to speak these last words, rising from his Egyptian bed, and sitting upon its side, as did Socrates in his last day. Phaedo, 60, B. He sees not Joseph’s sons so much as the tribes behind them; for these are not personal, but national predictions; and yet they are suggested by individual peculiarities, along which, by the path of prophetic association, the patriarch travels into the future. The return to Canaan and the far-off possession of that land of promise, are the field of his contemplation, and he takes no notice of the intervening ages of Egyptian sojourn and servitude.” — Newhall.

1. After these things — Probably soon after the events narrated at the close of the previous chapter. Thy father is sick — Extreme old age, accompanied by any unusual symptoms of physical disorder, would excite attention, and admonish Jacob’s children that the day of his death was near at hand. Accordingly, as soon as Joseph heard the report of his father’s illness he took with him his two sons, and hastened to his bedside. It is possible Joseph feared that the two sons here named, having been born in Egypt and of an Egyptian woman, might not be allowed full inheritance among the sons of Israel. So he would have them obtain the holy patriarch’s blessing ere he died. Manasseh and Ephraim “are here mentioned, as was natural, in the order of age, but the tribes were always designated as Ephraim and Manasseh, since there were ‘ten thousands of Ephraim, and thousands of Manasseh.’ Deuteronomy 33:17. Joseph came not simply to pay his dying father a visit of sympathy and affection, but to receive his blessing, and to have his children formally recognised as heirs of the covenant promises from which their Egyptian birth had alienated them for a time. Joseph here remarkably reveals his characteristic faith, and his keen moral and spiritual sense. An Egyptian prince, and the highest subject of Pharaoh, honours and wealth without stint were within his reach for his children; buthe turned away from wealth and power in his manhood, as he had from sinful pleasure in his youth. The family pride that has ruined so many virtuous men had no blandishments for him. His sons were never presented for preferment among the princes of Pharaoh, for he saw grander dignities and riches for them among the despised shepherds of Goshen than could be conferred in the courts of the Pharaohs. He presented his children to be blessed and adopted into the patriarchal family.” — Newhall.

Verse 20. In thee shall Israel bless] That is, in future generations the Israelites shall take their form of wishing prosperity to any nation or family from the circumstance of the good which it shall be known that God has done to Ephraim and Manasseh: May God make thee as fruitful as Ephraim, and multiply thee as Manasseh! So, to their daughters when married, the Jewish women are accustomed to say, God make thee as Sarah and Rebekah! The forms are still in use.

20. He set Ephraim before Manasseh — “Manasseh outnumbered Ephraim at the Exodus, (Numbers 26:34 and 37,) yet the Ephraimite Joshua led Israel into Canaan, and after the conquest Ephraim was the leading tribe of the northern nation, as Judah was of the southern.” — Newhall.

V. 21. I die, but God shall be with you, and bring you again-This assurance was given them, and carefully preserved among them, that they might neither love Egypt too much when it favoured them, nor fear it too much when it frowned upon them. These words of Jacob furnish us with comfort in reference to the death of our friends: But God shall be with us, and his gracious presence is sufficient to make up the loss. They leave us, but he will never fail us. He will

bring us to the land of our fathers, the heavenly Canaan, whither our godly fathers are gone before us. If God be with us while we stay behind in this world, and will receive us shortly to be with them that are gone before to a better world, we ought not to sorrow as those that have no hope.

Verse 21. Behold, I die] With what composure is this most awful word expressed! Surely of Jacob it might be now said, “He turns his sight undaunted on the tomb;” for though it is not said that he was full of days, as were Abraham and Isaac, yet he is perfectly willing to bid adieu to earthly things, and lay his body in the grave. Could any person act as the patriarchs did in their last moments, who had no hopes of eternal life, no belief in the immortality of the soul? Impossible! With such a conviction of the being of God, with such proofs of his tenderness and regard, with such experience of his providential and miraculous interference in their behalf, could they suppose that they were only creatures of a day, and that God had wasted so much care, attention, providence, grace, and goodness, on creatures who were to be ultimately like the beasts that perish? The supposition that they could have no correct notion of the immortality of the soul is as dishonourable to God as to themselves. But what shall we think of Christians who have formed this hypothesis into a system to prove what? Why, that the patriarchs lived and died in the dark! That either the soul has no immortality, or that God has not thought proper to reveal it. Away with such an opinion! It cannot be said to merit serious refutation.

Verse 21. I die, but God shall be with you, and bring you again — This assurance was given them, and carefully preserved among them, that they might neither love Egypt too much when it favoured them, nor fear it too much when it frowned upon them. These words of Jacob furnish us with comfort in reference to the death of our friends: but God shall be with us, and his gracious presence is sufficient to make up the loss. They leave us, but he will never fail us. He will bring us to the land of our fathers, the heavenly Canaan, whither our godly fathers are gone before us. If God be with us while we stay behind in this world, and will receive us shortly to be with them that are gone before to a better world, we ought not to “sorrow as those that have no hope.”

21. Behold, I die; but God shall be with you — “Sublime and inspiring faith! Your father dies, but his God, and his father’s God, remains.” — Newhall.

V. 22. He bestowed one portion upon him above his brethren. The lands bequeathed are described to be those which he took out of the hand of the Amorite with his sword and with his bow. He purchased them first, Joshua 24:32, and it seems was afterwards disseized of them by the Amorites, but retook them by the sword, repelling force by force, and recovering his right by violence when he could not otherwise recover it. These lands he settled upon Joseph. Mention is made of this grant, John 4:5. Pursuant to it, this parcel of ground was given to the tribe of Ephraim as their right, and the lot was never cast upon it: and in it Joseph’s bones were buried, which perhaps Jacob had an eye to as much as to any thing in this settlement. It may sometimes be both just and prudent to give some children portions above the rest: but a grave is that which we can most count upon as our own in this earth.

Verse 22. Moreover I have given to thee one portion] אחד שכם shechem achad, one shechem or one shoulder. We have already seen the transactions between Jacob and his family on one part, and Shechem and the sons of Hamor on the other. See Genesis 33:18, 19, and Genesis 34:1-31. As he uses the word shechem here, I think it likely that he alludes to the purchase of the field or parcel of ground mentioned Genesis 33:18, 19. It has been supposed that this parcel of ground, which Jacob bought from Shechem, had been taken from him by the Amorites, and that he afterwards had recovered it by his sword and by his bow, i.e., by force of arms. Shechem appears to have fallen to the lot of Joseph’s sons; (see Joshua 17:1, and Joshua 20:7;) and in our Lord’s time there was a parcel of ground near to Sychar or Shechem which was still considered as that portion which Jacob gave to his son Joseph, John 4:5; and on the whole it was probably the same that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of money, Genesis 33:18,19. But how it could be said that he took this out of the hand of the Amorite with his sword and his bow, we cannot tell. Many attempts have been made to explain this abstruse verse, but they have all hitherto been fruitless. Jacob’s words were no doubt perfectly well understood by Joseph, and probably alluded to some transaction that is not now on record; and it is much safer for us to confess our ignorance, than to hazard conjecture after conjecture on a subject of which we can know nothing certainly.

1. ON filial respect to aged and destitute parents we have already had occasion to speak; see Genesis 48:11. The duty of children to their parents only ceases when the parents are laid in their graves, and this duty is the next in order and importance to the duty we owe to God. No circumstances can alter its nature or lessen its importance; Honour thy father and thy mother is the sovereign, everlasting command of God. While the relations of parent and child exist, this commandment will be in full force.

2. The Redeeming Angel, the Messenger of the covenant, in his preserving and saving influence, is invoked by dying Jacob to be the protector and Saviour of Ephraim and Manasseh, Genesis 48:16. With what advantage and effect can a dying parent recommend the Lord Jesus to his children, who can testify with his last breath that this Jesus has redeemed him from all evil! Reader, canst thou call Christ thy Redeemer? Hast thou, through him, recovered the forfeited inheritance? Or dost thou expect redemption from all evil by any other means? Through him, and him alone, God will redeem thee from all thy sins; and as thou knowest not what a moment may bring forth, thou hast not a moment to lose. Thou hast sinned, and there is no name given under heaven among men whereby thou canst be saved but Jesus Christ. Acquaint thyself now with him, and be at peace, and thereby good shall come unto thee.

3. We find that the patriarchs ever held the promised land in the most sacred point of view. It was God’s gift to them; it was confirmed by a covenant that spoke of and referred to better things. We believe that this land typified the rest which remains for the people of God, and can we be indifferent to the excellence of this rest! A patriarch could not die in peace, however distant from this land, without an assurance that his bones should be laid in it. How can we live, how can we die comfortably, without the assurance that our lives are hid with Christ in God, and that we shall dwell in his presence for ever? There remains a rest for the people of God, and only for the people of God; for those alone who love, serve, reverence, and obey him, in his Son Jesus Christ, shall ever enjoy it.

GENESIS

Verse 22. I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren — This seems to have been the parcel of ground near Shechem, which Jacob purchased of Hamor, the prince of the country, (Genesis 33:19,) and which, it is probable, he took or recovered with his sword and bow, that is, by force of arms, from the Amorites, who had seized on it after his removal to another part of Canaan, although this is not mentioned in Scripture. This parcel of ground he gave to Joseph, as is mentioned, John 4:5, of whose sons we find it was the inheritance, Joshua 17:1, and 20:7. And in it Joseph’s bones were buried, which perhaps Jacob had an eye to as much as to any thing in this settlement. It may sometimes be both just and prudent to give some children portions above the rest; but a grave is that which we can most count upon as our own in this earth.

Ver. 22. Which I took—with my sword. The scriptures being silent concerning any violence used by Jacob, we can only say that some of the ancients have thought that Jacob retook Shechem a second time out of the hands of the Amorites; others have thought that he fought to rescue the sepulchre of his fathers; but certain it is, that Shechem was given to Joseph’s children. Joshua 17:1. 24:32. John 4:5. There also Joseph’s bones were interred. But many think, that the patriarch solely alludes here to the act of Simeon and Levi, who put the males of Shechem to the sword.

22. I have given to thee one portion — The word rendered portion is shechem, (µkv, shoulder,) and may have been employed with some allusion to the town of this name, which was situated in the hill country of Ephraim, (Joshua 20:7,) and the place near which Joseph’s bones were buried. Joshua 24:32. Here was the “parcel of a field” which Jacob purchased of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Genesis 33:19. And this in later tradition was understood to be “the parcel of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph.” John 4:5. But this tract, acquired by peaceable purchase, could not have been spoken of by Jacob as having been taken out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. We have no record of any such forcible acquisition of land by the patriarchs. “Any conquest of territory,” says Delitzsch, “would have been entirely at variance with the character of the patriarchal history, which consisted in the renunciation of all reliance upon human power, and a devoted trust in the God of the promises.” Nor could Jacob have here referred to the vengeful slaughter of the Shechemites by Simeon and Levi, (Genesis 34:25-29,) which he ever reprobated as accursed and cruel, (Genesis 34:30; 49:5-7.) Rationalistic critics, who regard this whole narrative as a prophetic fiction written after the conquest of Canaan, explain it as an invention to account for or justify the double tribe-territory held by the house of Joseph, and find its historical basis in Joshua 17:14-18. But a later writer, inventing such a prophetic fiction, would not have used the preterite verb-forms, I have given, and I took; but rather, I give… what thou shalt take, or what thy sons shall take. The contest shows the aged patriarch to be speaking with his eye upon the future, and calling things that are not as though they were. The promise of the land of Canaan had been made so repeatedly to the patriarchs (comp. ver. 4) that it now rises up as an accomplished fact in Jacob’s prophetic vision, and is spoken of accordingly. The iniquity of the Amorite was not yet full, (see chap. 15:16,) but its punishment is a foregone conclusion in the Divine mind. A like use of the prophetic perfect may be seen in the prophecy concerning Ishmael. Chap. 17:20. Jacob here identifies himself with his descendants, and speaks as doing in person what his posterity will certainly accomplish in the after time.