CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 48:3. God Almighty.] Heb. El Shaddai (Genesis 17:1). He refers to the appearance recorded in Genesis 28:13-19.—
Genesis 48:5. As Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine.] “They shall not be two branches, merely, of one tribe, but two fully-recognised tribes of Jacob and Israel, equal in this respect to the firstborn Reuben and Simeon.” (Lange.)—
Genesis 48:6. Shall be thine.] “The sons afterwards born shall belong to Joseph, not forming a third tribe, but included in Ephraim and Manasseh; for Joseph is represented in a two-fold way through these:” (Lange.)
Genesis 48:7. Padan.]—Here alone used for Padan-Aram. Bethlehem. An addition of the narrator. Rachel died by me. Not near, as referring to space. The preposition has an emotional sense, and means on account of me, for my sake. She had borne for him the hardships of the journey, which brought on her fatal travail.—
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 48:1-7
JACOB’S ADOPTION OF ISRAEL’S TWO SONS
I. The authority which he claimed for this act. He refers to a leading point in the covenant history. God, the Almighty, who is able to perform His word, had appeared to him, had promised to make him a great nation, and to give his seed the land of Canaan. (Genesis 48:3.) God had spoken to him, and this is his authority. On this he bases all the family hopes. The mention of God’s appearance and promise would inspire confidence in Joseph.
II. The purpose he had in view.
1. To deliver them from the corrupting influences of the world. Though they had an Egyptian mother, and belonged to that nation by birth and circumstances, yet they were not to be suffered to remain Egyptians. Ordinary men would regard them as having brilliant prospects in the world. But it was a far nobler thing that they should espouse the cause of God, and cast in their lot with his people.
2. To give them a recognised place in the covenant family. This would impart a dignity and meaning to their life, and an impulse and an elevation to all their thoughts Godward.
3. To do special honour to Joseph. Joseph was worthy of special honour. He was the noblest son of the family. He saved the house of Israel, as well as of Egypt. This act of Jacob would give two shares in the land of promise to his beloved and distinguished son.
III. The sad memories which it awoke.
1. They were selected in the room of Jacob’s two sons, who had forfeited the blessing. Instead of Reuben and Simeon. They had grievously sinned, and thus lost their inheritance. The portion of Reuben was given to Ephraim; and of Simeon, to Manasseh. The grounds of this are given in 1 Chronicles 5:1; see also Genesis 34; Genesis 49:5-7; Numbers 26:28-37; 1 Chronicles 7:14 to 1 Chronicles 29:2. They reminded him of one whom he had loved and lost. (Genesis 48:7.) This reference to Rachel does not seem to have any direct connection with what is written before or after. But the old man cannot help remembering that there stood before him now the sons of Rachel’s son. He is forced now to think of her. After so many years, he still feels her loss. Time could not altogether heal the deep wound which, now touched by remembrance, opens afresh. It would seem as if he adopted these two boys for Rachel’s sake. He did not despise the fresh and deep feelings of his younger days. May we not hope that these tender human feelings which so persist through time and change may survive the grave? Surely they seem to be of such a nature that they are not destined to die. The effect of thus referring to the death of his mother would be to strengthen Joseph’s attachment to Canaan.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 48:1-2. We all know that the mind has a powerful influence on the body, and that strong passions sometimes communicate to it an extraordinary degree of strength. Jacob felt his strength return to him when he heard Joseph’s name, and exerted all his vigour to receive him with proper marks of gratitude and affection.—(Bush.)
Genesis 48:3-4. God Almighty.
1. The sure support of faith in the Divine promises.
2. The sufficient answer to every doubt.
3. The assurance that no obstacles can finally stand in the way of God’s purpose concerning His people.
The truly thankful keep calendars and catalogues of God’s gracious dealings with them, and delight to recount and reckon them up; not in the lump only and by wholesale, but by particular enumeration upon every good occasion; setting them forth one by one, as here, and ciphering them up, as David’s word is. (Psalms 9:1.) We should be like civet-boxes, which still retain the scent when the civet is taken out of them. (Psalms 114:1-2; Exodus 18:8.)—(Trapp.)
The earthly Canaan was secured by promise to the seed of Abraham till the time came when God should create, as it were a new world, by introducing a new dispensation of grace among them.—(Bush).
Genesis 48:5-6. Thus his sons, as well as himself, were taught to fix their faith and hope not in Egypt, whatever might be their expectations as the descendants of Joseph by an Egyptian princess, but in Canaan, or rather, in the promise of the God of Israel.—(Fuller).
Genesis 48:7. Jacob was the better for the loss of his beloved Rachel; he thence became less selfish than before; accordingly, when he came to Egypt there was no unseemly rejoicing as there would otherwise have been, over the brilliant prospects of his race, and the latter part of his life was that of affection, rather than as formerly, of avarice. There is something in this long continuance of affection for a lost wife that seems to tell us something of the possibility of reunion. Upon this subject, Scripture tells us almost nothing. When we look at the analogy of this world, and mark the growth of our affections as they develop in our life, first to parents, then to brother, and then to wife, and then to child, each in some measure supplanting the other, we might be inclined to believe that there would be a perpetual growth of attachments to spirits higher and higher still; but when we see a feeling like this of Jacob’s, we cannot but hope that that which had lasted so near to the grave might survive the grave. We know not, God grant that it may!—(Robertson).