Chapter 48

1 Joseph with his sons visiteth his sick father. 2 Jacob strengtheneth himself to bless them. 3 He repeateth the promise. 5 He taketh Ephraim and Manasseh as his own. 7 He telleth Joseph of his mother’s grave. 9 He blesseth Ephraim and Manasseh. 17 He preferreth the younger before the elder. 21 He prophesieth their return to Canaan.

1. Thy father is sick. Not long after the visit of Joseph, at which Jacob made arrangements for his burial, Joseph was informed of his father’s final illness. He immediately went to him with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, who were between 19 and 25 years of age (see v. 5; chs. 47:28; 41:50; 45:6).

2. And Israel. The change of name from Jacob to Israel is significant here as it was in ch. 45:27, 28. Jacob, the human warrior enfeebled with age, gathered together his remaining strength for a task he was about to perform as Israel, bearer of the gracious promises of God.

3. God Almighty appeared unto me. By way of an introduction to what was to follow, Jacob related experiences of his earlier days, particularly the divine appearance at Luz, or Bethel, after his return from Padan-aram (see ch. 35:9–15). Use of the sacred name, “God Almighty,” the account of the appearance, and the sequence of the different promises related by Jacob show that he did not refer to his dream there on the way to Haran, but to the later vision at the same place after his return to Canaan.

5. Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob interpreted God’s promise at Bethel as empowering him to adopt the sons of Joseph and give them the same status as his own children. Since God had promised the increase of his seed, and Canaan as their possession, he felt justified in granting to Ephraim and Manasseh each a share in the promised inheritance equal to that of his own sons. Thus “Joseph” would enjoy a double portion.

6. Which thou begettest after them. This privilege was to be restricted to the first two sons of Joseph. Other sons of Joseph are not mentioned in Scripture, but if there were any, their descendants were later included in the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, as Jacob predicted. The adoption of his two elder sons placed Joseph in the position of the first-born, so far as the inheritance was concerned.

7. Rachel died by me. Joseph’s mother, who had died so early, was also honored, posthumously, in the adoption of Joseph’s two elder sons. This accounts for the allusion made here by Jacob to his beloved Rachel. His words seem to express an unspoken wish that she might have lived to see her first-born son exalted to lordship over the world’s greatest empire of the time, and thereby in a position to become a savior to his father’s house.

8. Who are these? The failing sight of the patriarch (see v. 10) was probably the reason why Jacob did not recognize his grandchildren sooner. The fact that he was not at first aware of their presence shows that the act of adoption was prompted, not by beholding the youths, but by the inward promptings of the Spirit of God.

10. The eyes of Israel. The feeble patriarch, almost blind, may not have seen Ephraim and Manasseh for some years, so that he did not recognize them now that they were once more in his presence.

13. Joseph took them both. Joseph, who had prostrated himself before his father, either in filial reverence or in the realization that his father was speaking under inspiration, now took his two sons from between the knees of Israel, who had been sitting with the youths between his knees and embracing them. He took Ephraim, the younger, on his right hand, and Manasseh, the elder, on the left, so that Ephraim stood at Jacob’s left hand and Manasseh at his right.

14. His right hand. This is the first Scriptural record of the imposition of hands being a symbol of blessing. Though not essential to the transmission of blessing, the act is not without an appropriate fitness as being a symbol of the invisible fact. Accordingly, it became the recognized mode of conveying spiritual powers, or gifts. This procedure was employed in the OT period for the dedication of Joshua (Num. 27:18, 23; Deut. 34:9), as in the time of the NT church for the ordination of officers (Acts 6:6; 8:17; 1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6), and in the performance of many miracles (Mark 6:5; 8:23, 25; Acts 9:17; 19:6; 28:8).

15. He blessed Joseph. By the imposition of hands Jacob transferred to Joseph, through his sons, the blessing he besought for them from God.

16. The Angel. Here placed on an equality with God, “the Angel” could not possibly be a created being, but must be the “Angel of God,” meaning God manifested in the form of an angel (see Ex. 32:34; Isa. 63:9; 1 Cor. 10:4). To the more fully developed revelation of the writers of the NT, He is the “Word,” the “Shepherd,” and the “Redeemer,” Jesus Christ. Both Jacob and Job (Job 19:21) reveal acquaintance with this Divine One, who delivered them from ill, both temporal and spiritual, and who would complete His work of liberation by freeing them from the power of the grave. The Redeemer to whom Jacob and Job looked forward, and of whom both Moses and the prophets testified, was Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 10:4; Gal. 3:13; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:18).

Let my name. By this Jacob meant that Ephraim and Manasseh were to be counted as Jacob’s sons. Thus they would become in a special sense recipients of the blessings promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

18. Not so, my father. Assuring Joseph that Manasseh, the elder of the two, would also become a great nation, Jacob stated emphatically, however, that Ephraim would become even greater, a “multitude of nations,” or, more literally, a “fullness of nations.” This blessing began to meet its fulfillment from the time of the judges onward, by which time the tribe of Ephraim had so increased in extent and power that it took the leadership among the northern ten tribes, and its name acquired equal importance with the name Israel (see Isa. 7:2; Hosea 4:17; 13:1; etc.). At the time of Moses, Manasseh numbered 20,000 more than Ephraim (Num. 26:34, 37). Subsequent history shows that this promise was from God, and that the blessing of Jacob was not merely the pious wish of a dying grandfather but the actual bestowal of a blessing of definite prophetic significance and force.

22. One portion above thy brethren. The word translated “portion,” shekem, is the same as the name of the city of Shechem, in whose neighborhood Jacob had bought a piece of land (ch. 33:18, 19) and whose population two of Jacob’s sons had massacred. The word shekem means “shoulder” or “ridge.” Since Joseph was later buried at Shechem (Joshua 24:32), and there was a piece of land near Sychar, or Shechem, in the time of Christ which was still considered as that portion which Jacob had given to his son Joseph (John 4:5), it is very probable that this statement of Jacob, by which he presented a piece of land to Joseph, was a play on words. The piece of land that Jacob owned was at Shechem, and was perhaps a ridge or had the appearance of a shoulder, for which reason Jacob called it a shekem, a “shoulder” or “ridge.” The meaning “portion” for shekem is otherwise unattested, and is based entirely on the ancient versions. Shekem may appropriately be rendered “mountain slope” (RSV).

With my sword and with my bow. This is the only place reference is made to warlike acts on the part of Jacob. All other texts referring to the piece of land that Jacob gave to Joseph speak of it as purchased (Gen. 33:18, 19; Joshua 24:32). Since these texts must refer to the same piece of land that Jacob mentioned as having conquered with sword and bow, it must be that Jacob’s property had been taken away from him by the Amorites after he had left the Shechem region (Gen. 35:4, 5). Although the “terror of God” prevented them from attacking Jacob and avenging the massacre of the Shechemites, they seem to have taken Jacob’s estate, so that the patriarch was forced at some later time to rreconquer his property by force of arms. This explanation seems to be more reasonable than that of some commentators who wish to see in Jacob’s utterance a prophecy referring to the future conquest of Palestine in the time of Joshua.

Ellen G. White comments

1-25PP 45-51

1 DA 769

1-3GC 455; PK 180; PP 47, 336; 9T 212

2 GC 453; ML 140

2, 3 EW 217; GC 52; MM 215; PP 111; SR 145; 8T 197

3 DA 281; MB 99; 4T 147, 247

4 PP 112

6 PP 96; SR 66

7 MH 415; PP 56; 2T 300; 8T 264

8 AH 27; ML 136; PP 46; SR 58; 3T 77, 153

8, 9 Ed 20

8-17MYP 364

9 AH 27; Ed 23; PP 47, 48, 84; 6T 368; 8T 288

15 AH 27; CD 396; CT 147; Ed 21; FE 314, 327, 419, 512; LS 355;MH 261; ML 112; PP 47, 50; SR 24; 1T 568; 3T 77, 153; 4T 410

16 3T 50

16, 17 CH 108; Ed 23; 3T 72; 4T 11

17 CS 65; CT 12; EW 125, 147; GC 532; MH 449; PP 48, 53, 60; SR 24; 2T 561; 5T 365; 6T 386

18 AH 25; PP 56

18-20PP 46

19, 20 PP 51

21-23PP 56

22 AH 99; 3T 484

23 MB 99

23-25COL 310; FE 141

24 AH 25, 341; MB 99; PP 46

25 PP 445; SR 38

1-22PP 234-235

5 PP 234

7 PP 206

8-10PP 234

15, 16 Ed 147; PP 234

21 PP 235