Genesis 48:8 Commentary and Bible Study

Jacob is nearly blind and does not know Joseph’s sons. This accounts for him asking who they are, and for Joseph’s attempt to correct his father – as he sees it – in what follows. It is very unlikely that during 17 years in Egypt Jacob had never seen these two boys before, and so we must interpret Jacob’s words as a reflection on his blessings. Matthew Henry makes a wonderful application here: ‘See here how these two good men own God in their comforts. Joseph says, ‘They are my sons whom God hath given me’, and … Jacob says here, ‘I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.’ Both of them want the sons to receive a blessing. There seems to be a certain formality in the interaction between them. Here are two believers of different generation, father and son, both able to give thanks for the blessings of God on their lives, lives which have been woven together by affection. Jacob’s calmest and happiest period of life was reserved for his old age.