Genesis 48

Genesis 48:1

It all begins with God An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Genesis www.easyenglish.info Marie Wetherill and Keith Simons This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 48 Jacob’s *blessing for Joseph’s sons v1 After that, Joseph heard that his father was ill. So Joseph took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him. v2 Jacob heard also that his son Joseph had come to him. Then Israel used all his strength and he sat up in bed.

v3 Then Jacob said this to Joseph. ‘The *Almighty God appeared in front of me at Luz. That is in the country called Canaan. And he *blessed me. v4 God said to me, “Look! I will make you rich and you will have a large family. I will make your family into very many nations. I will give this country to your *descendants. They will have it for always.”

v5 Now your two sons shall be mine. They were born to you in this country, Egypt. That was before I came here. Then I came to you here in Egypt. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be my sons, as Reuben and Simeon are. v6 After these two sons, other children may be born to you. Any other children shall be yours. They will share the country that God has promised to their brothers. v7 When I came from Paddan, Rachel died on the way. She died in the country called Canaan. We were still some miles from Ephrath. That made me very sad. I buried her there on the way to Ephrath. (That is, Bethlehem.)’

v8 Israel saw Joseph’s sons. Then Israel said, ‘Who are these?’

v9 Joseph replied to his father, ‘They are my sons, whom God has given to me here.’

Then Israel said, ‘Please bring them to me so that I can *bless them.’

v10 Because Israel was old, his eyes were weak. He could not see clearly. So Joseph brought his sons near to Israel. Israel kissed them and he hugged them.

v11 Israel said to Joseph, ‘I thought that I would never see your face again. Now God has let me see your children as well.’

v12 Then Joseph took his sons from near Israel’s knees and Joseph *bowed low to the ground. v13 Joseph then took both his sons. Joseph had Ephraim in his right hand, at Israel’s left side. And Joseph had Manasseh in his left hand, at Israel’s right side. Joseph led his sons near to Israel. v14 Then Israel put his hands across each other. He stretched out his right hand and he put it on Ephraim’s head. Ephraim was the younger son. Then Israel put his left hand on Manasseh’s head. Manasseh was the oldest son, the one that was born first.

v15 Israel *blessed Joseph. And Israel said, ‘This God is the God in whose sight my fathers Abraham and Isaac lived. This God has led me all my life, even until today. v16 The *angel of God has *redeemed me from all evil things. Let God *bless these boys. I pray that because of them, people will continue to remember my name. And they will continue to remember the name of my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac. Let the boys grow. Let them become a great crowd in the middle of the earth.’

v17 Joseph’s father had laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head. Joseph was unhappy when he saw that. He took his father’s hand. And Joseph tried to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. v18 Joseph said to his father, ‘This is not right, my father. This son is the oldest. He was born first. Put your right hand upon his head.’

v19 But Joseph’s father refused. And he said, ‘I know, my son. I know. The oldest son, who was born first, shall also become the father of a nation. He too will be great. But his younger brother will be greater than he is. The younger brother’s *descendants will become very many nations.’ v20 So Israel *blessed them that day. And he said,

‘Israel (the *Israelites) will use your names to *bless people. They will say, “Let God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” ’

So Israel considered Ephraim more important than Manasseh.

v21 Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘Look! I am dying, but God will be with you. He will bring you back to your father’s and grandfather’s country. v22 Also, I have given to you a slope of a mountain. I have not given that to your brothers. I took that slope out of the *Amorites’ possession, with my sword and my bow.’

The *blessings that Jacob gave to his family start in this chapter. These *blessings were not just Jacob’s own ideas about his sons and grandsons. In fact, the *blessings were *prophecies about the future. Jacob spoke these things by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

Many of Jacob’s *blessings are difficult for us to understand. Some phrases have several possible meanings. But we need to remember that the *descendants of Jacob’s 12 sons became the 12 *tribes of Israel. So, often the words in the *blessing describe the places where the *tribes would live in Canaan.

The *blessings were also a type of poetry. They use descriptions that may seem strange to us today. And they often repeat the same ideas in different words.

Jacob began with his *blessings for Joseph’s sons. Joseph received the *birthright because of Reuben’s *sin (1 Chronicles 5:1-2). So, Jacob gave a special *blessing to Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob wanted people to include Ephraim and Manasseh when they made lists of his (Jacob’s) sons. So, the *descendants of Ephraim became another *tribe of Israel. So did the *descendants of Manasseh. And the *descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh would receive their own land in Canaan (Joshua chapters 16 and 17).

The writer often uses Jacob’s other name, Israel, in this chapter. Notes on the verses Verse 1 Isaac gave his final *blessing to his sons when he expected to die (Genesis 27:2). That *blessing was very important. It included *prophecies about the future.

So, when Jacob was old and ill, Joseph went to receive his father’s *blessing. There would be a special *blessing for Joseph because he had the *birthright (1 Chronicles 5:2). And Joseph probably hoped that God would give a *prophecy to Jacob.

It seems that Joseph also wanted his own sons to receive a *blessing. They had lived a very strange life. Their mother’s father was the priest of a false god (Genesis 41:45). They had always lived in Egypt. They spoke the *Egyptian language. They wore *Egyptian clothes. They probably felt like *Egyptians. So, it was probably a great surprise for them to discover their real family. But Joseph wanted his sons to receive the benefit of God’s promise too. So, Joseph brought them to Jacob.

Verse 3 Luz is another name for Bethel. Jacob was describing the event in Genesis 28:10-15.

Verse 4 God had chosen certain people to be his servants. God had promised many times that he would make those servants ‘be *fruitful’. And he would make them ‘grow in number’. They would have many *descendants. And their *descendants would become a great nation. This was God’s promise to Abraham and Isaac. God repeated this promise to Jacob at Bethel. And now Jacob’s *blessings would include *prophecies with a relationship to this promise. God also promised that Jacob’s *descendants would rule Canaan.

It was as if Jacob was passing out these promises to his sons. Jacob would soon die. But Jacob’s sons would receive the benefit of these promises.

Verse 5 Jacob chose a special way to show that Ephraim and Manasseh belonged to his family. Jacob adopted them. The *descendants of all Jacob’s sons became *tribes. For example, there were a *tribe of Reuben and a *tribe of Simeon. And there were also a *tribe of Ephraim and a *tribe of Manasseh. Everybody knew that they belonged with Jacob’s *descendants. This was because Jacob adopted Ephraim and Manasseh.

Although Manasseh was the oldest son, Jacob mentioned Ephraim first here. Again, God especially *blessed the younger son. God had *blessed Joseph similarly, although his brothers were older than him.

Verse 6 Any other sons of Joseph would be part of the *tribes called Ephraim and Manasseh. And they would share the land of those *tribes.

Verses 8-9 The words that Israel used here may have been special words. People often used such words when they adopted children. But perhaps Israel (Jacob) was making sure whom he would soon *bless. He probably remembered how he had made Isaac *bless him.

Verse 10 Some Bible students say that this was actually a ceremony. When people were adopting children, they kissed those children. And they hugged the children. It was part of that event. In any case, it was natural that a grandfather would do that. He was very eager to love Joseph’s sons.

Verse 11 Israel (Jacob) and Joseph both knew that God had *blessed them.

Verse 12 We are not sure exactly where the grandsons were. They would not have been on Israel’s knees. They were both over 17 years old. Maybe they went near Israel’s knees because he was taking them into his family. It may have been part of that event. Look at Genesis 30:3.

There, Rachel offered her maid to Jacob. In the *Hebrew Bible, she did it so that ‘she can have babies upon my knees. And even I can have children by means of her.’ In Egypt, Joseph was a more important man than Israel (Jacob) was. Joseph *bowed low because Israel (Jacob) was old. And Israel (Jacob) was dying. And Israel (Jacob) was his father.

Joseph showed honour to Israel (Jacob) for those reasons. And Joseph also showed Israel (Jacob) honour because Israel (Jacob) was a holy man. Soon, like a priest, Israel (Jacob) would *bless his family. And he would give a *prophecy from God.

Verses 13-14 Israel (Jacob) clearly knew which son was which. He did not make a mistake. As he gave his *blessing, he was trusting God to guide him (Hebrews 11:21).

Verses 15-16 When Israel (Jacob) had *blessed Joseph’s sons, he *blessed Joseph. Israel (Jacob) cared more about God’s honour than he cared about his family’s happiness. He emphasised that God was really giving the *blessing.

Verses 17-19 Joseph wanted Manasseh to receive a greater *blessing. So, Joseph thought that his father had made a mistake. But there was no mistake. Israel (Jacob) knew what God wanted him to do.

Verse 20 ‘Israel will use your names to *bless people.’ In this sentence, ‘Israel’ means ‘*Israelites’. But in other places here, it means Jacob.

Verse 21 Israel (Jacob) had not forgotten the country that God had promised to him. He had been away from it for 17 years. But he had not forgotten it. He wanted to remind his family that they should return there.

Verse 22 Joseph had the *birthright. Usually, the oldest son in the family received the *birthright. But Reuben lost this right because of his evil behaviour.

The son with the *birthright received a double share of his father’s possessions. Of course, Joseph was very wealthy. He needed nothing more from his father. So, his father gave him some land in Canaan. It seems that this is the land in Genesis 33:19-20. (See also John 4:5.) This was a special place where Jacob built an *altar. So, this gift would remind Joseph to pray. And it would also remind Joseph that, in the future, his *descendants would return to Canaan.

Chapter 33 says that Jacob bought this land. But this chapter says that he fought for it. We do not know when he fought such a battle. Maybe he had to fight in order to protect his family after his sons attacked Shechem.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

May 2006

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var w1 = new Array;w1[0]=’<b%3Eblessing</b%3E ~ a good thing that God does for us; or when we ask God to help a person; or when we ask God to do something good in that person. In the Book of Genesis, blessings were often a type of prophecy.