And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid [it] upon Ephraim's head, who [was] the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh [was] the firstborn.
Ver. 14. Guiding his hands wittingly.] Cognoscebat palpando manibus suis, saith Junius: Intelligere fecit manus, saith Patens. An emphatical metaphor; as if he should say, Jacob with his eyes could not distinguish them, but his hands shall therefore do the office of his eyes. Bartolus a writes of Dr Gabriel Nele, that by the motion of the lips only, without any utterance, he understood all men; perceived and read in every man's countenance what was his conceit. But that is far more credible, and no less admirable, that Jerome reports of Didymus of Alexandria; that though he had been blind of a little child, yet he was excellently skilled in all the liberal arts, and had written Commentaries upon the Psalms and Gospels, being at this time, saith he, eighty-three years of age. b
a Bartol., lib. i., De Ver. Oblig.
b Jerome, in Catalogo Virorum Illustrium.