In our previous study, Jacob discussed his funeral arrangements with his son, Joseph (Genesis 47:29-31), so the seventeen years he had spent in Egypt (Genesis 47:28) were near their end, and he was now 147 years old. According to the text, both Jacob and Joseph understood that the time of Jacob’s death was drawing near (Genesis 47:29). Presumably, we could include Jacob’s other sons, as well, but they’re not mentioned in the text. So, when Joseph was told that his father was sick, he knew Jacob’s death was near (Genesis 48:1). In fact, the word translated sick (H2470; chalah) means to become weak or worn out. It doesn’t have to mean that he was ill or caught a disease. He was simply old, and his health had turned so that he felt extremely weak. Many folks know when their time has come, and there is no good reason to doubt that Jacob also knew. Moreover, it is implied in the text that he sent for Joseph, and presumably the same servant returned to Jacob to say that Joseph was coming (Genesis 48:1-2).
Apparently, it was only a short time after Jacob had discussed his funeral arrangements with Joseph that his health took a turn for the worst, and he sent for Joseph again (Genesis 48:1). Knowing his father’s time had come, Joseph took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim with him to Jacob’s bedside. Jacob was also informed of Joseph’s coming, and, although he was very weak, he strengthened himself enough to sit upon his bed, no doubt with the help of one of the servants (Genesis 48:2).
As soon as Joseph arrived, Jacob began telling him of his last recorded meeting with the Lord (Genesis 48:3). It occurred just after he was told of Joseph’s death by his other ten sons; Rachel had also made the journey to Shechem, and she was pregnant with Benjamin. They had come to Shechem from Hebron, hoping to find their son alive. Immediately afterward, however, his daughter Dinah was defiled by Shechem, a local prince. Simeon and Levi had entered into a covenant with the man and his father’s family, deceiving them into believing a marriage between Shechem and Dinah, their sister, could be arranged. After the two brothers slew every male in the city, including Shechem and his father, Jacob and his family had to flee the vicinity, and in doing so, he came to Luz, which he renamed Bethel, because the Lord met with him there.
It was at that time that the Lord appeared to him at Bethel a second time in a dream, telling Jacob he was God Almighty (Genesis 35:11; cp. 48:3), and he promised to make him a great multitude of people, who would inherit the Land of Canaan, just as he had promised his fathers, Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 48:4; cp. 35:11-12).
Therefore, Jacob told Joseph how he wanted that blessing to materialize. The Lord promised that he would increase Jacob’s descendants into a multitude of nations. So, in that context he told Joseph that for the purpose of inheritance he was taking Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh and making them his own sons, as though they came from his own loins. By doing this, Joseph would receive a double blessing. The blessing of God’s promise to multiply Jacob’s descendants would come upon Joseph twice, through Ephraim and Manasseh, who stood in Joseph’s stead, as far as the blessing was concerned (Genesis 48:5-6).
Jacob concluded by recalling the death of Rachel, Joseph’s mother, which occurred as they were returning to Hebron from Bethel by journeying through Bethlehem (Genesis 35:16-19). Rachel died, in great sorrow, while she gave birth to Benjamin, Joseph’s only full brother. She named him Benoni, meaning son of my sorrow, but Jacob renamed him Benjamin, meaning son of my right hand (Genesis 35:18). Rachel named him so, because she believed Joseph had died a terrible death near Shechem, and she refused to be comforted on her return to Hebron (cp. Matthew 2:18). Thus, by taking Manasseh and Ephraim as his own sons, it was as though Jacob was saying Rachel would be comforted in knowing she had four sons, instead of only one, for she died believing Joseph was dead (Genesis 48:7), perhaps thinking that, although God promised to make Jacob’s descendants a multitude (Genesis 35:11), for some unknown reason he was taking her contribution away.
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