Genesis 48:3

48:1-7 The death-beds of believers, with the prayers and counsels of dying persons, are suited to make serious impressions upon the young, the gay, and the prosperous: we shall do well to take children on such occasions, when it can be done properly. If the Lord please, it is very desirable to bear our dying testimony to his truth, to his faithfulness, and the pleasantness of his ways. And one would wish so to live, as to give energy and weight to our dying exhortations. All true believers are blessed at their death, but all do not depart equally full of spiritual consolations. Jacob adopted Joseph's two sons. Let them not succeed their father, in his power and grandeur in Egypt; but let them succeed in the inheritance of the promise made to Abraham. Thus the aged dying patriarch teaches these young persons to take their lot with the people of God. He appoints each of them to be the head of a tribe. 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 know, that it is better to be low, and in the church, than high, and out of it.

And Jacob said unto Joseph,.... Being come into his bedchamber, and sitting by him, or standing before him: God Almighty appeared unto at Luz in the land of Canaan; the same with Bethel, where God appeared, both at his going to Padanaram, and at his return from thence, Genesis 28:11; which of those times is here referred to is not certain; very likely he refers to them both, since the same promises were made to him at both times, as after mentioned: and blessed me; promised he would bless him, both with temporal and spiritual blessings, as he did as follows.

(3) God Almighty. —Heb., El Shaddai. The act recorded in this chapter is grounded by Jacob upon the promise made to him at Bethel on his return from Padan-aram; and it was under the old covenant name by which God had revealed Himself to Abram ( Genesis 17:1 ) that he was there made the heir of the Abrahamic promises. (See Note on Genesis 35:11 .) Luz.—This use of the old name shows how very slowly the new titles of places, derived from incidents in the history of a small tribe, took the place of their native and original appellations. In a similar manner in the recent exploration of Palestine, it has been found that the high-sounding titles given by the Seleucidæ and Romans to towns there have never been adopted by the peasantry, who still call them by their old names.

3 . God Almighty ] Heb. El Shaddai : see note on Genesis 17:1 . This title for the Deity and the phrases “make fruitful and multiply” (cf. Genesis 1:28 ), “a company of peoples” (cf. Genesis 28:3 , Genesis 35:11 ), “an everlasting possession” (cf. Genesis 17:8 ), are characteristic of the style of P. “Appeared”: the appearance referred to is that of Genesis 35:9-13 . Luz ] See Genesis 28:19 , Genesis 35:6 ; Genesis 35:9 .

3, 4. 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.

Verses 3, 4. - And Jacob said unto Joseph , - recalling the experiences of early days - God Almighty - El Shaddai ( vide Genesis 17:1 ) - appeared unto me at Luz - i.e. Bethel ( vide Genesis 28:17, 19 ; Genesis 35:6, 15 ) - in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. It is obvious that Jacob principally has in his mind the theophany at Bethel on his return from Padan-aram. Genesis 48:3

After these things. - After the arrangements concerning the funeral, recorded in the chapter. "Menasseh and Ephraim." They seem to have accompanied their father from respectful affection to their aged relative. "Israel strengthened himself" - summoned his remaining powers for the interview, which was now to him an effort. "God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz." From the terms of the blessing received it is evident that Jacob here refers to the last appearance of God to him at Bethel Genesis 35:11 . "And now thy sons." After referring to the promise of a numerous offspring, and of a territory which they are to inherit, he assigns to each of the two sons of Joseph, who were born in Egypt, a place among his own sons, and a separate share in the promised land. In this way two shares fall to Joseph. "And thy issue." We are not informed whether Joseph had any other sons. But all such are to be reckoned in the two tribes of which Ephraim and Menasseh are the heads. These young men are now at least twenty and nineteen years of age, as they were born before the famine commenced. Any subsequent issue that Joseph might have, would be counted among the generations of their children. "Rachel died upon me" - as a heavy affliction falling upon me. The presence of Joseph naturally leads the father's thoughts to Rachel, the beloved mother of his beloved son, whose memory he honors in giving a double portion to her oldest son.

Referring to the promise which the Almighty God had given him at Bethel ( Genesis 35:10 . cf. Genesis 38:13 .), Israel said to Joseph ( Genesis 48:5 ): "And now thy two sons, which were born to thee in the land of Egypt, until (before) I came to thee into Egypt...let them be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, like Reuben and Simeon (my first and second born), let them be mine." The promise which Jacob had received empowered the patriarch to adopt the sons of Joseph in the place of children. Since the Almighty God had promised him the increase of his seed into a multitude of peoples, and Canaan as an eternal possession to that seed, he could so incorporate into the number of his descendants the two sons of Joseph who were born in Egypt before his arrival, and therefore outside the range of his house, that they should receive an equal share in the promised inheritance with his own eldest sons. But this privilege was to be restricted to the two first-born sons of Joseph. "Thy descendants," he proceeds in Genesis 48:6 , "which thou hast begotten since them, shall be thine; by the name of their brethren shall they be called in their inheritance;" i.e., they shall not form tribes of their own with a separate inheritance, but shall be reckoned as belonging to Ephraim and Manasseh, and receive their possessions among these tribes, and in their inheritance.

These other sons of Joseph are not mentioned anywhere; but their descendants are at any rate included in the families of Ephraim and Manasseh mentioned in Numbers 26:28-37 ; 1 Chronicles 7:14-29 . By this adoption of his two eldest sons, Joseph was placed in the position of the first-born, so far as the inheritance was concerned ( 1 Chronicles 5:2 ). Joseph's mother, who had died so early, was also honoured thereby. And this explains the allusion made by Jacob in Genesis 48:7 to his beloved Rachel, the wife of his affections, and to her death-how she died by his side (עלי), on his return from Padan (for Padan-Aram, the only place in which it is so called, cf. Genesis 25:20 ), without living to see her first-born exalted to the position of a saviour to the whole house of Israel.

[Bible] Genesis Chapter 48 Joseph visiteth his father in his sickness, who adopteth his two sons Manasses and Ephraim, and blesseth them, preferring the younger before the elder. 48:1. After these things, it was told Joseph that his father was sick; and he set out to go to him, taking his two sons Manasses and Ephraim. 48:2. And it was told the old man: Behold thy son Joseph cometh to thee. And being strengthened, he sat on his bed. 48:3. And when Joseph was come in to him, he said: God almighty appeared to me at Luza, which is in the land of Chanaan, and he blessed me, 48:4. And said: I will cause thee to increase and multiply, and I will make of thee a multitude of people: and I will give this land to thee, and to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. 48:5. So thy two sons, who were born to thee in the land of Egypt before I came hither to thee, shall be mine: Ephraim and Manasses shall be reputed to me as Ruben and Simeon. 48:6. But the rest whom thou shalt have after them, shall be thine, and shall be called by the name of their brethren in their possessions. 48:7. For, when I came out of Mesopotamia, Rachel died from me in the land of Chanaan in the very journey, and it was spring time: and I was going to Ephrata, and I buried her near the way of Ephrata, which by another name is called Bethlehem. 48:8. Then seeing his sons, he said to him: Who are these? 48:9. He answered: They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said: Bring them to me, that I may bless them. 48:10. For Israel's eyes were dim by reason of his great age, and he could not see clearly. And when they were brought to him, he kissed and embraced them, 48:11. And said to his son: I am not deprived of seeing thee; moreover God hath shewn me thy seed. 48:12. And when Joseph had taken them from his father's lap, he bowed down with his face to the ground.