Genesis 47:31

And he said, swear unto me,.... This he required, not from any distrust of Joseph, but to show his own eagerness, and the intenseness of his mind about this thing, how much he was set upon it, and

And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and

Israel bowed himself, not to Joseph, who being now not upon his throne, nor amongst the Egyptians, but in his father’ s house, was doubtless more ready to pay that reverence than to receive veneration from him, which he owed to his father; but to God, who is here to be understood, as he is in the same phrase, , whom with this gesture he worshipped and praised, as for the promise of Canaan, and the assurance which he had now received from Joseph of his being buried there, so for all his favours to him and to Joseph, and by him to all his family. Jacob at this time was bedrid, through age and infirmity; but being now to give God solemn thanks, though the words and manner of it be not here expressed, he raised himself and sat upon the head or uppermost part of his bed, as he did also , that he might express his reverence to God as much as he could by bowing, when he could not do it as much as he would, being unable to do it kneeling. Others for bed read staff the discussion whereof I refer unto its proper place, .

Genesis 47:31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’ s head.Ver. 31. And Israel bowed himself.] In way of thankfulness to God, framing himself to the lowliest gesture he was able; rearing himself up upon his pillow, "leaning" also "upon" his third leg, "his staff." In effaeta senecta, fides non effaeta.

(31) Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.—The LXX., followed by the Epistle to the Hebrews (Genesis 11:21) and the Syriac, read, “on the top of his staff.” The word in the Hebrew, without vowels, may mean either bed or staff, and as we have mentioned above (Genesis 22:14), the points indicating the vowels were added in later times, and while valuable as representing a very ancient tradition, are nevertheless not of final authority. The rendering, however, of the Authorised Version is the most satisfactory. It was scarcely worth mentioning that Jacob bowed before Joseph, leaning on his staff; but the picture of the aged patriarch leaning back upon his bed, content and happy in his son’s promise, and giving thanks to God for the peace of his approaching end, is one full of pathos and dignity.

Verse 31. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.] Jacob was now both old and feeble, and we may suppose him reclined on his couch when Joseph came; that he afterwards sat up erect (see Genesis 48:2) while conversing with his son, and receiving his oath and promise; and that when this was finished he bowed himself upon the bed's head - exhausted with the conversation, he again reclined himself on his bed as before. This seems to be the simple meaning, which the text unconnected with any religious system or prejudice, naturally proposes. But because שחה shachah, signifies not only to bow but to worship, because acts of religious worship were performed by bowing or prostration, and because מטה mittah, a bed, by the change of the points, only becomes matteh, a staff, in which sense the Septuagint took it, translating the original words thus: ΚαιπροσεκυνησενΙσραηλεπιτοακροντηςῥαβδουαυτου, and Israel worshipped upon the top of his staff, which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 11:21, quotes literatim; therefore some have supposed that Jacob certainly had a carved image on the head or top of his staff, to which he paid a species of adoration; or that he bowed himself to the staff or sceptre of Joseph, thus fulfilling the prophetic import of his son's dreams! The sense of the Hebrew text is given above. If the reader prefers the sense of the Septuagint and the Epistle to the Hebrews, the meaning is, that Jacob, through feebleness, supported himself with a staff, and that, when he got the requisite assurance from Joseph that his dead body should be carried to Canaan, leaning on his staff be bowed his head in adoration to God, who had supported him all his life long, and hitherto fulfilled all his promises.

31. Israel bowed himself] Cf. 1 Kings 1:47, “and the king (David) bowed himself upon the bed.” Here Jacob “bows himself” upon the bed’s head, presumably in silent thanksgiving to God for the promise made to him by Joseph. So the Lat. adoravit Israel Deum conversus ad lectuli caput. Joseph’s promise was no slight undertaking (see chap. 50). Jacob is full of gratitude. the bed’s head] The LXX following a different vocalization of the same Hebrew consonants, and reading hammatteh instead of hammittah, gives the rendering followed in Hebrews 11:21, “and worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff,” ἐπὶτὸἄκροντῆςῥάβδουαὐτοῦ. The staff would be his own staff, not as some have suggested, Joseph’s staff of office. This reading is found also in the Vetus Itala and in Syr. Pesh. But the reading of the Hebrew text, “upon the bed’s head,” is probably the original one. The obscurity of the words led to the reading of the LXX. How should we explain “upon the bed’s head”? The simplest explanation seems the most probable. The words should be connected closely with the verb “bowed himself.” Ordinarily, the phrase “to bow oneself” was followed by some such expression as “to the ground,” cf. Genesis 18:2, Genesis 24:52, Genesis 33:3, Genesis 42:6, Genesis 43:26. The prostration was then made by those who were standing. Here, Jacob is recumbent. He bows himself in worship; and it was natural to express the inclination of his obeisance by some such word, as in David’s case, “upon the bed” (1 Kings 1:47); or, more picturesquely, as here, “upon the bed’s head.” He was too weak to move much. The suggestion that a figure of the household god, or Teraphim (cf. Genesis 31:19), was at the bed’s head, and that Jacob in worship turned towards it, has been ingeniously supported from the narrative of 1 Samuel 19:13. But, except as an example of conjectural ingenuity, it can hardly be considered worthy of more than a passing mention.

31. Upon the bed’s head — The Syriac and Sept., (quoted in Hebrews 11:21,) read, on the head (or top) of his staff.