CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 48:12. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees.] “His,” i.e., Jacob’s. He was in a sitting posture, and in embracing them had drawn them between his knees.—
Genesis 48:14. And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head.] This is the first mention of the imposition of hands in blessing. Also used for the investiture of office. In both senses, retained by the Christian Church (Numbers 27:18; Numbers 27:23; Deuteronomy 24:9; Matthew 19:13; Acts 6:6; Acts 8:17). Guiding his hands wittingly. The LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac have, he changed, or crossed his hands. The expression denotes a conscious and intelligent purpose.—
Genesis 48:15. And he blessed Joseph.] In Ephraim and Manasseh, his representatives. The two are comprehended in the dying blessing of Jacob (Genesis 49:22); and of Moses (Deuteronomy 33:13, etc.). The God which fed me. “Fed,” i.e., guided and tended me as a shepherd (Psalms 23; Psalms 28:9).—
Genesis 48:16. The angel.] The angel of God’s presence (Isaiah 63:9); the Covenant angel. Redeemed me from all evil. Heb. Goel: the same as the word used for “Redeemer” in Job 19:25. And let my name be named on them, and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac. “My name,” i.e. Israel; and let them be counted Abraham’s seed and Isaac’s. There is special reference to the blessing of the Divine promise on the seed of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 21:12). (Alford.)—
Genesis 48:20. In thee shall Israel bless.] “The tribe of Joseph was only regarded as an example of prosperity for the rest of the Hebrews, whereas the Israelites were viewed as the cause of blessing for all the other nations.” (Kalisch.)—
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH— Genesis 48:8-20
THE BLESSING OF EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH
I. Its nature and property.
1. They were blessed in the person of Joseph. He is blessed in his sons. (Genesis 48:15; Genesis 48:20.) The principle is recognised of blessing mankind in the name and for the sake of another.
2. With the covenant blessing. Not with that of the gods of Egypt, though he had cause to be grateful to that nation. He would have his children to know the true fount of blessedness. He invoked the blessing of the God of his fathers. (Genesis 48:15.) The assurance that others have shared the gifts of grace with us is a support to our faith. We of the Church belong to a holy nation, which has a great and venerable past.
3. With the blessing of which he himself had experience. “The God which fed me all my life long until this day.” (Genesis 48:15.) He felt that God had tended and cared for him like a shepherd. This speech was dear to all the patriarchs, and was a favourite image with David and the prophets. In Jacob’s lips, the figure is singularly appropriate, for he remembered his shepherd life with Laban. Jacob also invoked the blessing of “the angel which redeemed him from all evil.” This was that covenant angel with whom he wrestled, even God appearing as his Redeemer. The chief aspect under which he contemplates God is that of one who rescues from evil—“the Deliverer.” (Romans 11:26.) This idea is represented in its various forms by the words “Kinsman,” “Redeemer,” “Vindicator,” “Rescuer,” or “Avenger.” (Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 43:1; Exodus 6:6; Psalms 19:14; Psalms 103:4; Jeremiah 50:34; Hosea 13:14; Job 19:25.)
4. With a different blessing for each. He bestows the larger blessing upon the younger. (Genesis 48:19.)
II. Its outward form. It was conveyed by the imposition of hands. (Genesis 48:14.) The blessing was not merely a wish or a hope, but a reality. This laying on of hands was the outward means or symbol of its conveyance. Outward forms impress, they steady the mind, and assist contemplation. The blessing was as real as the outward act which accompanied it, the reality of nature leading on to the reality of grace.
III. Its warrant.
1. The covenant position in which God had placed him. He stood with his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, in the same covenant relation with God. (Genesis 48:15-16.)
2. The act was divinely directed. Old Jacob crossed his hands, and thus in bestowing the blessing reversed the order of nature. (Genesis 48:14; Genesis 48:17.) He refused to be corrected by Joseph, for though his sight was dim, his spiritual eye discerned the will of God. He guided his hands “wittingly,” with full knowledge of the decree of the Most High. God, who distributes His gifts as He will, prefers the younger to the elder. Nature and grace often take cross directions. Jacob had spiritual insight and foresight. He was a true prophet of God, and this was his warrant for that great act of faith when he “blessed both the sons of Joseph.” (Hebrews 11:21).
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 48:8-9. The dying hour must have made an impression on those young men. In death itself there is nothing naturally instructive; but in this death there was simplicity; they saw the sight of an old man gathered ripe unto his fathers, and they would remember in their gaiety and strength what all life at last must come to.—(Robertson).
Genesis 48:10. Perhaps this might remind Jacob of his conduct to his old blind father, Isaac. In him we see all the powers of life fading, and we are tempted to say, Can this live for ever? The eye cannot see God, therefore the eye fails; the ear cannot hear Him, therefore it is filled with dust; but faith and love, the things that are to survive the grave, exist in their strength up to the grave.—(Robertson).
Genesis 48:11. How much better is God to us than our fears! Only let us wait with faith and patience, and our desponding thoughts will be turned into songs of praise.—(Fuller).
God delights to outbid the hopes of His people, and to be better to them than their deserts, than their desires, yea, than their faith (Isaiah 54:2-3; Isaiah 54:12; Isaiah 54:14). As it is storied of a certain emperor, that he delighted in no undertakings so much as in those that his counsellors and captains held impossible, and he seldom miscarried. So God— Exodus 15:11.—(Trapp).
Genesis 48:11-14. As a man and a father Jacob would have been of the same mind with Joseph, but as a prophet he must give the richest blessing to him who was to partake most richly of the blessings of heaven. The appearance is as if his hands knew what they were about; they seemed to move themselves intelligently; they performed the office of the eye.—(Bush).
Joseph did this for the best; but “God only wise” had otherwise ordered it. We many times think we do well, when it proves much otherwise. “Lean not therefore to thine own understanding,” saith the wise man (Proverbs 3:5); but make out to him that “dwells with prudence.” (Proverbs 8:12.)—(Trapp.)
Genesis 48:15. This is the highest praise that can be given to ancestors; this is the crown of all commendation, to have walked with God as a man walketh with his friend. This is better than a thousand escutcheons. “The God which fed me all my life long.” Jacob looks beyond all second causes, and sees, as once at Bethel, God on the top of the ladder. (Genesis 28.)—(Trapp.)
The Lord had been his shepherd, had kept and led him, as well as supplied all his wants. The Lord fed him when he was in his father’s house; when he procured his food by toil at Laban’s house; the Lord fed him even when in Egypt his beloved son supplied all his wants.—(Bush.)
Genesis 48:16. This is the all-sufficient Friend who wards off evil by himself satisfying the demands of justice and resisting the devices of malice. There is a beautiful propriety of feeling in Jacob ascribing to his father the walking before God, while he thankfully acknowledges the grace of the Quickener and Justifier to himself. The Angel is explicitly applied to the Supreme Being in this ministerial function. The God is the emphatic description of the true, living God, as contra-distinguished from all false gods. Jacob’s threefold periphrases is intended to describe the one God, who wills, works, and wards. And let my name be named on them. Let them be counted among my immediate sons, and let them be related to Abraham and Isaac, as my other sons are. This is the only thing that is special in the blessing. Let them grow into a multitude. The word “grow” in the original refers to the spawning or extraordinary increase of the finny tribe. The after history of Ephraim and Manasseh will be found to correspond with this special prediction.—(Murphy.)
God’s people are said to have His name called upon them (Deuteronomy 28:11,—Heb. “That the name of the Lord is called upon thee.” Let us endeavour to be an honour and a praise to that worthy name by which we are called.—(Bush).
Genesis 48:17-19. Here are a couple of Holy prophets differing in their judgments; yet not about the substance of the blessing, but the circumstance of it. Wonder not though such things still fall out in the true Church, and the doctors sometimes divided in points less material, and that touch not the foundation.—(Trapp).
One reason why the Most High does not follow the rules which men would prescribe to Him in the distribution of His favours undoubtedly is, that we may learn not to glory in the flesh, but in the Lord. Were He to dispense His bounties according to such rules as might appear reasonable to us, high thoughts of human worth would be apt to be cherished, and losing our impressions of Divine sovereignty, we should be tempted to “sacrifice to our own net, and burn incense to our own drag.”—(Bush).
Genesis 48:20. How God sometimes prefers the younger to the elder, we may see in the case of Shem who was preferred to Japheth, in the case of Isaac who was preferred to Ishmael, of Jacob who was preferred to Esau, of Judah and Joseph who were preferred to Reuben, of Moses who was preferred to Aaron, and finally, of David, who was preferred to all his brethren.
God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh. A form of speech to this day in use among the Jews. As they greet with it men and their young companions, so it is also said to wives and young women: God make thee as Sarah and Rebecca.—(Lange.)