When Joseph saw—it displeased him— Jacob was guided by the spirit of prophecy in what he did, Joseph only by paternal affection. Though Joseph himself was endowed with the spirit of prophecy, he possessed it not now; for prophets were not always inspired, nor with the knowledge of all things. Old Jacob speaks with prophetic energy: I know it, my son, I know it, Genesis 48:19. He also shall be great; but his younger brother shall be greater than he; his posterity shall be greater, both in number and in dignity: and in completion of this, the family of Ephraim was a more numerous tribe than that of Manasseh, Numbers 1:32-34. and in many respects had the pre-eminence, Numbers 18:20. Deuteronomy 33:17. Joshua and Jeroboam both were of this tribe; and the kingdom of the ten tribes is frequently called that of Ephraim, Isaiah 9:17; Isaiah 11:13; Isaiah 28:1. Hosea 5:12-13; Hosea 5:15. What is called a multitude of nations, shall become a multitude of nations, is, in the Hebrew, fulness of nations, that is, of families; as much as to say, "His offspring shall replenish the country with numerous families:" the fulness of the earth, and the fulness of the sea, is that which the earth and the sea contain, and which replenishes them, Psalms 96:11.Isaiah 42:10. Psalms 24:1.
Related Commentaries of Genesis 48:17
Genesis 48:17
17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeasedc him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.