Genesis 48:5 Commentary and Bible Study

Jacob names Joseph’s two sons, and he names them in the order in which he is going to bless them – Ephraim is first, and Manasseh second. Joseph may have heard this and assumed his father had forgotten which was the firstborn, but there are no mistakes here. This is the blessing of the Lord and the Lord ensures that everything is done right, for Jacob is acting the prophet of the Lord. The focus of Jacob’s attention is on Joseph’s two sons. Did he know that Joseph would bring them with him? Had they agreed in advance what would take place? Given the importance of that matter – that the two sons should become heads of two new tribes – it is hard to believe that this just happened to occur to Jacob at that moment. The blessing involved Jacob’s laying his hands on the boy’s head, so they needed to be present. Clearly this was planned and he had been told by the Lord to appoint them as heads of tribes. This is why Joseph can say nothing for it or against it; he must accept what God has determined. Jacob in effect adopts them as his own children, and they become just as much his as Reuben and Simeon, his first and second born sons through Leah. Any further sons that Joseph may have – and there is no evidence that he did have any other children (Joshua 16:4) – are to be counted as Joseph’s. They are to belong to one or the other of the two tribes represented by Ephraim and Manasseh.Luther points out a connection between the reminiscence about Rachel, and the adoption of the two sons. They are the grandsons of her whom Jacob loved most. Leupold observes that Rachel was the only wife chosen by Jacob, and her sons should have been Jacob’s firstborn and so received a double portion. The Scripture explicitly states that the honour of being the firstborn was taken from Reuben and given to Joseph. The Messiah would come from Judah but Joseph was counted as the firstborn: ‘Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. ² For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's:) …’ (1 Chronicles 5:1-2). This blessing is also a fitting compensation for all the suffering Joseph has gone through, and it is recognition that through Joseph the whole family had been preserved. The reminder that his mother was buried in Canaan would further draw Joseph back to his native land. ‘For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim: therefore they gave no part unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance’ (Joshua 14:4). In the matter of the land allocation, the sending out of the spies, and the arrangement of the camps, Ephraim and Manasseh look the place of Joseph the tribe of Levi.