Genesischapter 48
22 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
But Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger; and crossing his hands, he put his left on Manasseh’s head, although Manasseh was the firstborn.
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Genesis Overview.
Jacob is near death, and this chapter records one of the last things he does as head of his house. It is a legal act as much as a blessing, and it settles the shape of the tribes. Israel's camp in the wilderness carried the names decided here on its standards. Listen for how often Jacob recalls the past, from Bethel to the road where Rachel died. Watch his hands, since this book has reversed the order of brothers before. Ask why God keeps choosing the younger.
Context
- Who
- Israel in the wilderness, marching under standards for Ephraim and Manasseh
- What
- A narrative of Jacob adopting Joseph's two sons as his own and blessing the younger above the elder.
- Where
- Jacob's bedside in Goshen.
- When
- Shortly before Jacob's death, about 1859 BC on the traditional chronology.
- Why
- To show how Joseph received the double portion through Ephraim and Manasseh, and that God's blessing follows His choice over the order of birth.
Historical context
The chapter is Jacob's, and what he does in it has legal force, since he adopts two grandsons as his own sons and blesses them with his hands crossed. The time is the end of the seventeen years in Egypt, and the place is a bedside in Goshen.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The occasion is an adoption performed at a deathbed, and the formula is exact, that Ephraim and Manasseh shall be his as Reuben and Simeon are his. Two grandsons are raised to the standing of sons, which means they inherit as sons, and that is how Joseph receives the double portion of the firstborn that Reuben forfeited at 35:22.
What a first hearer recognised were the gestures. The boys are set between Jacob's knees and taken from there, which is the knee gesture used when Rachel and Leah claimed their maids' sons. James B. Pritchard's collection of ancient Near Eastern texts carries the same adoption forms from outside Israel.
Hands are laid on heads to convey the blessing, and the right hand carries the greater share, which is why Joseph's protest at verse 18 is a real objection. He had positioned Manasseh the firstborn under the right hand, and Keil and Delitzsch note that the verb used of the crossing carries a considered movement.
Significance
Two boys born to an Egyptian priest's daughter became tribes of Israel, and the wilderness camp carried their names on its standards.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
Jacob's blessing rests on the God who had been his shepherd all his life and on the Angel who redeemed him from all harm. It is an old man's summary of a life he had spent mostly grasping.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The words with which Jacob sets Ephraim and Manasseh into the blessing of Israel, at the twentieth verse, are the wording a Jewish parent says over a son on the eve of the Sabbath. That custom is the writer's reading and is marked as such here: this repository does not yet record it in any file, and the corpus for this chapter carries no comment on that verse under a licence permitting quotation, so the statement stands without a source until one is added to the sources page. What the corpus does carry at the verse is a citation, Bamidbar Rabbah 14:4, and a comment of Rashi that stands as a reference alone.
How it is read
Rashi comments at nineteen places in this chapter and the corpus holds no English of any of them under a licence permitting quotation, so his whole commentary here stands as citation: Rashi on Genesis 48:1:1, 48:1:2, 48:2:1, 48:2:2, 48:4:1, 48:5:1, 48:6:1, 48:7:1, 48:8:1, 48:9:1, 48:11:1, 48:12:1, 48:13:1, 48:14:1, 48:16:1, 48:17:1, 48:19:1, 48:20:1 and 48:22:1. Five comments carry English. Radak reads Jacob's opening as a return to a place and a promise, "that was the location where G'd had introduced Himself to Yaakov with His attribute of Shaddai", and points back to the blessing given there (Radak on Genesis 48:3:1, translated by Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY). On the blessing of the grandsons he explains why the verse says that Jacob blessed Joseph when the words are said over the boys: "anyone blessing his sons, automatically was conferring a blessing on him also" (Radak on Genesis 48:15:1). Jacob's last words to Joseph he reads as a command about a future generation, "I am close to dying, therefore I command you that when the time comes and the Lord will bring you back", the promise being to the descendants rather than to the sons standing there (Radak on Genesis 48:21:1). Sforno explains Joseph's attempt to move his father's hands as a reading of his father's mind: "Once he would place his hand on the head of Menashe, Joseph felt sure that his father's mind would follow the direction of his hand" (Sforno on Genesis 48:18:1, Munk translation, CC-BY).
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-six of them Midrash and four Talmud. Bereshit Rabbati is cited at Parashat Vayechi 2, 4, 5, 52 and 53, and Midrash Tanchuma three times, at Vayechi 2:4 and 8:2 and at Bamidbar 12:1. Aggadat Bereshit is cited at 5:1, 5:2, 40:1, 52:1, 52:3, 63:1 and 81:2, Midrash Lekach Tov at Genesis 48:8:1, 48:9:1 and 48:13:1 and at Genesis 30:37:1 and Exodus 6:3:1, and Midrash Aggadah at Genesis 48:2:1, 48:8:1 and 48:12:1. Bereshit Rabbah stands at 37:7, 65:9, 70:7, 97:4 and 97:6, Bamidbar Rabbah at 14:4, 14:5 and 14:7, and Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael at Tractate Pischa 13:18. The Ein Yaakov collection is cited twice in the Glick edition, at Horayot 1:2 and Sanhedrin 11:14, and Sefer HaYashar once at the Book of Genesis, Vayigash. The four Talmud locators fall on the adoption of the two boys and on the portion Jacob gives Joseph above his brothers: Bava Metzia 87a:15 at the news of the illness, Bava Batra 123a:10 at the adoption and 123a:6 at the extra portion, and Avodah Zarah 25a:2 at the setting of the younger before the elder.
Sources: Radak, Radak on Genesis 48:3:1, 48:10:1, 48:15:1 and 48:21:1, translated by Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY; Sforno, Sforno on Genesis 48:18:1, translated by Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY; Rashi, Rashi on Genesis 48:1:1, 48:1:2, 48:2:1, 48:2:2, 48:4:1, 48:5:1, 48:6:1, 48:7:1, 48:8:1, 48:9:1, 48:11:1, 48:12:1, 48:13:1, 48:14:1, 48:16:1, 48:17:1, 48:19:1, 48:20:1 and 48:22:1, cited only, no English version in the corpus under a licence permitting quotation; Midrash, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 2, 4, 5, 52 and 53; Midrash Tanchuma, Vayechi 2:4 and 8:2 and Bamidbar 12:1; Aggadat Bereshit 5:1, 5:2, 40:1, 52:1, 52:3, 63:1 and 81:2; Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 48:8:1, 48:9:1, 48:13:1 and 30:37:1 and Exodus 6:3:1; Midrash Aggadah, Genesis 48:2:1, 48:8:1 and 48:12:1; Bereshit Rabbah 37:7, 65:9, 70:7, 97:4 and 97:6; Bamidbar Rabbah 14:4, 14:5 and 14:7; Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Pischa 13:18; Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Horayot 1:2 and Sanhedrin 11:14; Sefer HaYashar (midrash), Book of Genesis, Vayigash; Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia 87a:15, Bava Batra 123a:6 and 123a:10, Avodah Zarah 25a:2; MannaFest, the writer's reading on the Sabbath blessing of sons, marked as such on the surface and carried by no file of this repository, 2026.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Ephraim and Manasseh Made Mine
Genesis 48:1-2
he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim: Joseph comes with both sons the moment he hears his father is ill. Verse 1 names them in birth order, Manasseh then Ephraim, with the order reversed by verse 20. He is called Jacob when the message reaches him and Israel when he rallies his strength and sits up in bed. The chapter trades the two names throughout.
Genesis 48:1
“For, since he knew that he was invested by God with no common character, in being made the father of the fathers of the Church, he fulfilled, in the immediate prospect of death, the prophetic office, respecting the future state of the Church, which had been enjoined upon him.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
rallied his strength and sat up in bed: Rallied translates a Hebrew verb meaning to make himself strong. The blessing costs Israel effort, and he spends it sitting up. The bed frames his last days, from his worship at 47:31 to drawing his feet into it at 49:33.
Genesis 48:2
“Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed - He had been confined to his bed before, (see Gen 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, Gen 47:31.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Genesis 48:3-4
Before Jacob gives anything away, he recites what he was given. God Almighty is El Shaddai, the name under which the covenant was cut with Abraham at Genesis 17:1. Luz is the place of the stone and the stairway at Genesis 28:19 and the second appearing at Genesis 35:6. He quotes the everlasting possession of the land from a bed in Egypt.
Genesis 48:3
“God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz--The object of Jacob, in thus reverting to the memorable vision at Beth-el [Ge 28:10-15] --one of the great landmarks in his history--was to point out the splendid promises in reserve for his posterity--to engage Joseph's interest and preserve his continued connection with the people of God, rather than with the Egyptians.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Genesis 48:3
“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 Heb. xi, 21.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Genesis 48:3
“God Almighty - אל שדי El Shaddai, the all-sufficient God, the Outpourer and Dispenser of mercies, (see Gen 17:1), appeared to me at Luz, afterwards called Beth-El; see Gen 28:13; Gen 35:6, Gen 35:9.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
a multitude of peoples: Multitude translates qahal, the word for an assembly called together. Isaac prayed for the same assembly of peoples over Jacob at 28:3. Later books use it for Israel gathered before God, as at Deuteronomy 9:10.
Genesis 48:4
“Whether these words are to be viewed in a limited sense, as pointing to the many centuries during which the Jews were occupiers of the Holy Land, or whether the words bear a wider meaning and intimate that the scattered tribes of Israel are to be reinstated in the land of promise, as their "everlasting possession," are points that have not yet been satisfactorily determined.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Genesis 48:5-6
shall be reckoned as mine: Jacob takes the two grandsons as his own sons and ranks them with Reuben and Simeon. Reuben and Simeon are the first and the second born, so Ephraim and Manasseh now stand at the head of the tribes. The double portion of a firstborn comes to Joseph through them. Children born to Joseph after these keep their brothers' names and inherit inside their territory.
Genesis 48:5
“The reasons for this procedure are stated (1Ch 5:1, 2). are mine--Though their connections might have attached them to Egypt and opened to them brilliant prospects in the land of their nativity, they willingly accepted the adoption (Heb 11:25).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
called by the names of their brothers: Genesis records no further sons of Joseph, and the tribal count of Numbers 26:28 to 37 lists only the clans of Manasseh and Ephraim. Any later children would be counted inside those two tribes. The adoption is a formal act of inheritance, settled before Jacob dies.
Genesis 48:6
“It does not appear that Joseph had any more children; however, it was Jacob's prudence to give this direction, for the preventing of contest and mismanagement. Note, In making settlements, it is good to take advice, and to provide for what may happen, while we cannot foresee what will happen.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Rachel died along the way in the land of Canaan: Jacob explains the adoption by going back to the road where Rachel died. She bore him two sons, and taking Joseph's two as his own turns her line into three tribes. The verse names the burial place beside the road to Ephrath, which the writer marks as Bethlehem. Rachel alone of the wives lies outside Machpelah.
Genesis 48:7
“Rachel died by me, etc. - 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Genesis 48:7
“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.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Genesis 48:7
“The blessing with which Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph, which is the more remarkable because the apostle makes such particular mention of it ( Heb. xi. 21 ), while he says nothing of the blessing which Jacob pronounced on the rest of his sons, though that also was done in faith.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The Angel Who Redeemed Me
Genesis 48:8-10
When Israel saw the sons of Joseph: Israel's eyes are poor with age, and he asks who the boys are. Isaac's eyes had failed the same way at Genesis 27:1, and a son was passed off as his brother. Joseph answers that God gave him these sons in Egypt. He asks for them to be brought close, so that he may bless them.
Joseph answers the way his father once answered Esau at 33:5, naming his children as God's gift. Sons born to an Egyptian wife in a foreign land are still counted as grace. Jacob's reply turns at once to blessing.
Genesis 48:9
“Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them--The apostle (Heb 11:21) selected the blessing of Joseph's son as the chief, because the most comprehensive, instance of the patriarch's faith which his whole history furnishes.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
his father kissed them and embraced them: Isaac kissed Jacob before blessing him at 27:27, and Jacob does the same over his grandsons. That kiss was part of a deception. Here the old man knows exactly whom he holds.
Genesis 48:10
“Jacob, like his father before him, when he was old, was dim-sighted. Note, (1.) Those that have the honour of age must therewith be content to take the burden of it. (2.) The eye of faith may be very clear even when the eye of the body is very much clouded.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Genesis 48:11-12
The last thing of Joseph's that Jacob held was a robe soaked in blood at Genesis 37:33. He refused to be comforted then, and now God has shown him the son and the son's children. Joseph takes the boys from his father's knees and bows facedown. He is on the floor before a blind old man.
Genesis 48:11
“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 favor, is about to add to the number of his own.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 48:11
“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.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
removed his sons from his father’s knees: The knees were the place of adoption in Genesis. Rachel had Bilhah bear children on her knees at 30:3, and Joseph's great-grandsons are received on his own knees at 50:23. Joseph lifts the boys off once the adoption is sealed and brings them forward for the blessing.
Genesis 48:12
“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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Genesis 48:13-14
Joseph sets the elder under his father's right hand. Israel crosses his hands and lays the right on Ephraim's head. The Hebrew verb behind the crossing is the verb for acting with understanding, so the old man knows what his hands are doing. Adam Clarke marks this as the first hands laid on a head to bless.
Genesis 48:13
“Joseph took them both--The very act of pronouncing the blessing was remarkable, showing that Jacob's bosom was animated by the spirit of prophecy.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger: The right hand was the hand of honour and strength. Rachel's last son was named Benjamin, son of the right hand, at 35:18, and now her grandson Ephraim receives Jacob's right hand. The favour of the younger runs through Rachel's line again.
Genesis 48:14
“Israel stretched out his right hand, etc. - 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the God who has been my shepherd: The blessing is spoken over Joseph and lands on his two sons. It names God by the fathers who walked before Him, which puts two boys born in Egypt into a line that starts at Ur. The second clause calls God his shepherd all his life to this day. The keeper of Laban's flocks was himself kept.
Genesis 48:15
“He blessed Joseph - The father first, and then the sons afterwards. And this is an additional proof to what has been adduced under Gen 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the angel who has redeemed me: This is the first time the canon uses the word redeem. The Hebrew is goel, the near kinsman whose right it is to buy back a relative's forfeited land or freedom. Matthew Henry reads the angel who has redeemed me as Christ, the Angel of the covenant. Jacob asks that his own name and his fathers' names be called on the boys.
Genesis 48:16
“The Angel which redeemed me from all evil - המלאך הגאל hammalac haggoel. The Messenger, the Redeemer or Kinsman; for so גאל 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?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 48:16
“Note, Those are worthy of double honour who, through God's grace, break through the temptations of worldly wealth and preferment, to embrace religion in disgrace and poverty. Jacob will have Ephraim and Manasseh to believe that it is better to be low and in the church than high and out of it, to be called by the name of poor Jacob than to be called by the name of rich Joseph.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Crossed Hands, the Younger First
Genesis 48:17-18
he was displeased: Joseph is displeased and takes his father's hand to move it back to Manasseh. He assumes a blind man has made a mistake. The son who was set over ten older brothers argues here for the rights of the firstborn. He says Not so, my father, and the seeing man corrects the blind one.
Genesis 48:17
“Grace observes not the order of nature, nor does God prefer those whom we think fittest to be preferred, but as it pleases him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joseph holds a firstborn's double portion himself only because Reuben lost it, as 1 Chronicles 5:1 explains. Now he pleads for Manasseh's right as firstborn and asks his father to move his right hand. The younger son argues for the elder.
Genesis 48:18
“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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
But his father refused: The refusal is flat, and the knowing is said twice. Manasseh will become a people and will be great, and the younger brother will be greater still. The crossed hands were a decision, and the words now state it. Genesis has set a younger son ahead before, and here the father says so out loud.
Genesis 48:19
“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.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
So he put Ephraim before Manasseh: The blessing becomes a set form of words for Israel to use. Adam Clarke reports Jewish families in his own day praying it over their sons, with Sarah and Rebekah named over their daughters. The verse closes by saying he put Ephraim before Manasseh. The prophets afterwards use Ephraim as the name of the whole northern kingdom.
Genesis 48:20
“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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
God will be with you and bring you back: Israel states his own death without ceremony. What he hands over is the one thing his family will need in Egypt, that God will bring them back to the land of their fathers. God had said it to him at Beersheba on the road down, at Genesis 46:3 and 4. A dying man in Egypt speaks of Canaan as their land.
Genesis 48:21
“Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die--The patriarch could speak of death with composure, but he wished to prepare Joseph and the rest of the family for the shock. but God shall be with you--Jacob, in all probability, was not authorized to speak of their bondage--he dwelt only on the certainty of their restoration to Canaan.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Genesis 48:21
“Accordingly, Joseph, when he died, left it with his brethren, ch. l. 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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Genesis 48:21
“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!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the ridge of land that I took from the Amorites: The Hebrew word behind the ridge of land is shechem, a shoulder of ground. Jerome and Matthew Henry read it as the town of Shechem and the parcel Jacob bought there at Genesis 33:19. Genesis never tells of taking it with sword and bow. Joshua 24:32 buries Joseph's bones in that plot, and John 4:5 sets Jesus on the same ground.
Genesis 48:22
“These lands he settled upon Joseph; mention is made of this grant, John iv. 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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 48:22
“Moreover I have given to thee one portion - שכם אחד 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Narrative, a deathbed adoption and blessing, the first laying on of hands in Scripture, as Clarke classes it.
A Joseph places Manasseh, the elder, at Israel's right hand
Genesis 48:13
B Joseph places Ephraim, the younger, at Israel's left hand
Genesis 48:13
C Israel crossed his arms, though Manasseh was the firstborn
Genesis 48:14
B′ Israel's left hand falls on Manasseh, the elder
Genesis 48:14
A′ Israel's right hand falls on Ephraim, the younger
Genesis 48:14
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The crossed hands | Joseph sets Manasseh at his father's right hand and Ephraim at his left at verse 13, and Israel crosses his arms at verse 14 so that the right hand falls on the younger head. Adam Clarke marks this as the first laying on of hands to bless in Scripture and notes that the Hebrew verb used of the crossing carries the sense of acting with understanding, so the arrangement is deliberate. Verse 19 says the knowing twice, I know, my son, I know.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Genesis 48:14. | Genesis 48:13, Genesis 48:14, Genesis 48:19 |
| The names of the fathers, called on the boys | The blessing at verses 15 and 16 names God three ways, the God before whom Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been Jacob's shepherd all his life, and the Angel who has redeemed him from all harm. Matthew Henry reads the redeeming Angel as Christ, and the word behind redeemed is goel, the near kinsman whose right it is to buy back a relative's land or freedom. The word stands once in the whole book of Genesis in the Berean text and it stands here, counted in the store, so this is the first place in the Bible where God is called a Redeemer.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Genesis 48:16. | Genesis 48:15, Genesis 48:16 |
| Ephraim before Manasseh | Verse 1 names the boys in birth order, Manasseh and then Ephraim, and verse 20 ends the blessing with Ephraim before Manasseh. Adam Clarke reports that Jewish families in his own day still said the words of verse 20 over their sons, with Sarah and Rebekah named over their daughters, so the sentence became a set form. The prophets later use Ephraim as the name of the whole northern kingdom.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Genesis 48:20. | Genesis 48:1, Genesis 48:20 |
The debated concept
8 more paragraphs on the patterns
Verse 22 is the chapter's hard verse. Jacob gives Joseph a ridge of land that he says he took from the Amorites with his sword and his bow, and Genesis nowhere records him taking it. The Hebrew word behind the ridge is shechem, a shoulder of ground, and Jerome and Matthew Henry read it as the town of Shechem. Jacob had bought that parcel at 33:19, and his sons took the town by the sword at 34:25 to 29, which he condemned then and condemns again at 49:5 to 7. Readers have taken the verse as a purchase spoken of as a conquest, as a claim to the ground his sons had fought over, or as a promise of what his descendants would take. Joshua 24:32 buries Joseph's bones in that parcel and calls it an inheritance for his descendants, and John 4:5 knows it as the plot of ground Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
How far the adoption at verses 5 and 6 reaches is a second question. Ephraim and Manasseh are ranked with Reuben and Simeon, so the tribes of the later nation are twelve with Joseph counted as two and Levi holding no territory. Later sons of Joseph, the verse says, are to be called by their brothers' names in the inheritance.
How the rest of Scripture reads this chapter
Hebrews 11:21 names this chapter as an act of faith, saying that by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. The verse takes in the end of chapter 47 and the blessing here as one act.
1 Chronicles 5:1 and 2 states the legal outcome plainly: Reuben's birthright was given to the sons of Joseph because he defiled his father's bed, and Judah prevailed over his brothers and a ruler came from him, while the birthright belonged to Joseph. Chapter 48 is where that transfer happens and chapter 49 is where Judah receives the rule.
The divine connection
The blessing at verses 15 and 16 puts two boys born in Egypt to an Egyptian mother into a line that begins at Ur. It names the God before whom Abraham and Isaac walked, and it asks that the name of Jacob and of his fathers be called on them, which is what makes them Israel rather than Egyptians of high birth.
Verse 21 hands the family the one promise it will need for four hundred years, that God will be with them and bring them back to the land of their fathers. It is the same sentence God spoke to Jacob at Beersheba at 46:4, now passed from a dying man to his son.
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Genesis 48:14; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Genesis 48:5 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Genesis 48:16.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.