Joseph— The four last were the sons of the two handmaids; from whom Jacob passes with a seeming joy to those of his beloved Rachel; and Joseph, whose turn came next, heard his blessing pronounced in the most sublime and endearing terms.
This difficult verse is differently interpreted. 1st, Those who vindicate our version say, that Joseph, of whom came two tribes, is here properly compared to a fruitful bough, shooting forth two luxuriant stems or branches: and this bough is said to be by a well; i.e.. in a moist and well-watered soil, where plants grow fastest; and the same idea is here used as in the first Psalm, where, Genesis 49:3 the good man is compared to a tree planted by the rivers of water. What we render branches is, in the Hebrew, daughters; whose DAUGHTERS run over the wall; for, in the Hebrew, whatever comes from another, is called its son or daughter. Ainsworth, after the Chaldee and Jerusalem paraphrase, understands here the vine-tree, which is usually planted against a wall or other prop, Psalms 128:3. Now these spreading branches, by an easy metaphor, signify the prodigious increase of these tribes. 2nd, Others think the words may be translated, Joseph is a son of beauty, the daughters ran upon the walls to see him; in which sense they are understood by the Vulgate and some other versions. "This reading has by far the most votes," say the authors of the Universal History.