†. Gen 48:1a . . Some time afterward, Joseph was told: Your father is
ill
The Hebrew word for "ill" is chalah (khaw-law') and can mean not only sick,
but also weak (Judg 16:17) sad (1Sam 22:8) suppliant (1Kgs 13:6) injured
(1Kgs 22:34) in pain (Jer 4:31) drunk (Hos 7:5) and evil: as disaster or
misfortune. (Ecc 5:13)
†. Gen 48:1b . . So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and
Ephraim.
The visit was probably just a comfort call; like visiting a friend or relative at
the hospital. I really don't think it was prompted by a fear that Jacob was
going to die at any moment. Joseph's boys apparently came on their own,
rather than by request, because Jacob wasn't expecting them; and what kid
can resist a trip to grandpa's house.
The boys by this time were young men, having been born during the seven
years of plenty, prior to the beginning of the seven years of famine (Gen
41:50). Jacob lived in Egypt at least seventeen years prior to this current
event (Gen 47:28), and immigrated during the second year of the seven
years of famine (Gen 45:6, Gen 45:11). So his grandsons Manasseh and
Ephraim were both in their early twenties by now.
†. Gen 48:2 . .When Jacob was told "Your son Joseph has come to
see you" Israel gathered his strength and sat up in bed.
No greetings or social graces are recorded from this meeting; though they
must have occurred. Surely Jacob wouldn't just launch into a speech the
moment his kin walked through the door. How weird would that be;
especially since Joseph was Jacob's very favorite son? But Genesis skips
over that part of the meeting, and without even so much as hinting how the
topic came up at this point in the visit; just goes right to the meat of it.
The speech Jacob is going to make was probably one he had been
rehearsing in his mind for some time as he sensed the nearness of his
impending death; which would certainly serve to remind him that he was
running out of time; so if he was ever going to get these things off his chest,
he better do it at the very next opportunity, while he was able, because who
really knows how many more opportunities one might have left? People
often put off important things-- e.g. making out their will --till sudden death,
or the onset of dementia finally closes the door. Jacob had something
important to say about his two grandsons, so it was fortuitous that they
came along with their dad to visit grandpa that day.
†. Gen 48:3a . . And Jacob said to Joseph: El Shaddai appeared to me
at Luz
El Shaddai-- the god who created and controls the laws of nature (cf. Col
1:17) --is also Yhvh because that's an appellation Genesis labels Him at
Bethel (Gen 28:13). And an appellation Jacob labeled Him too, at the very
same site. (Gen 28:16-20)
Luz is Bethel (Gen 28:10-19, Gen 35:6-7). That location was an especially
sacred site for Jacob because it was his very first personal encounter with
God. You know, hearing about God, and reading about God, and praying to
God, just aren't the same as actually meeting God. Not the same at all.
Head knowledge is one thing, personal experience is quite another; yes,
quite, quite another. There's nothing like a close encounter with God to set
someone's faith in concrete.
†. Gen 48:3b . . and He blessed me
At this point, Jacob paraphrases the essential elements of El Shaddai's Luz
blessing, with the exception of one element which I would esteem even
more valuable than the prosperity elements: God's ever-abiding
companionship.
"Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring
you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have
promised you." (Gen 28:15)
†. Gen 48:4 . . and said to me; "I will make you fertile and
numerous, making of you a nation; and I will assign this land to your
offspring to come for an everlasting possession."
Although Israel's possession of Palestine is eternal, their occupation of it
isn't, as the Jews' past evictions have easily demonstrated.
Jacob's statement of the blessing is selective, and left out a couple of items;
one of which is that God also assigned the land to Jacob himself, not just to
his offspring (Gen 28:13) so God will have to resurrect Jacob in order to
make good on that portion of the blessing.
What Jacob does next in the book of Genesis may seem weird; but
apparently not an unusual practice in his own day. What he did was to
legally adopt his two grandsons; thus positioning Manasseh and Ephraim as
his own sons rather than Joseph's, which elevated the boys from their
natural status as grandsons to that of children biologically produced in his
own bedroom by he and Rachel.
Exactly how Ephraim and Manasseh felt about that isn't stated; nor would
they have had a say in it anyway as Jacob was the reigning patriarch at the
time; and within his own clan, Jacob was only one step in rank below Yhvh.
†. Gen 48:5 . . Now, your two sons, who were born to you in the land
of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, shall be mine; Ephraim and
Manasseh shall be mine no less than Reuben and Simeon.
Reuben and Simeon are Jacob's biological eldest, so by adopting Ephraim
and Manasseh, Jacob is giving them a legal status equal to his own eldest
sons: that of tribal heads rather than just rank and file members of a tribe.
†. Gen 48:6 . . Progeny born to you after them shall be yours; but
they shall be recorded under the names of their brothers in their
inheritance.
"their brothers" are Jacob's twelve biological sons; so the sons of Jacob
altogether now number 14. What Jacob did is pretty weird but he had his
reasons.
†. Gen 48:7 . . As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel
died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little
distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to
Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
The adoption of his own grandsons had the effect of adding additional
children to Rachel's brood just as effectively as the children born of her maid
Bilhah-- Dan, and Naphtali. So Jacob's true motive for adopting the boys
was in sympathy for his ex wife in being cut off during her child bearing
years, which subsequently prevented her from having any more children of
her own. Ephraim and Manasseh bring Rachel's total up to six: two of her
own, two of her maid Bilhah, and two of her own grandchildren in
posthumous adoption.
This obscure bit of patriarchal prerogative has managed to evade the notice
of modern Jewry as evidenced by their vehement rejection of the New
Testament's Jesus as a valid candidate for David's throne on the basis that
the boy did not descend from Solomon biologically. By demanding a
biological connection to Solomon, they have effectively locked themselves
into perpetual error; and have impudently, and shamefully, taken it upon
themselves to overrule Jacob's precedent.
When the New Testament's Joseph stepped up to name Jesus at the lad's
ritual circumcision, he as much as claimed the boy as his own biological
offspring; thus elevating Jesus from the rank of a commoner in Judah's
tribe, to the rank of legal heir to Solomon's throne. That was something
Joseph had a patriarchal right to do since he-- though a lowly carpenter at
the time --would have been a Davidic monarch himself had not Israel been
under Rome's heel at the time.
Cont.
/
ill
The Hebrew word for "ill" is chalah (khaw-law') and can mean not only sick,
but also weak (Judg 16:17) sad (1Sam 22:8) suppliant (1Kgs 13:6) injured
(1Kgs 22:34) in pain (Jer 4:31) drunk (Hos 7:5) and evil: as disaster or
misfortune. (Ecc 5:13)
†. Gen 48:1b . . So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and
Ephraim.
The visit was probably just a comfort call; like visiting a friend or relative at
the hospital. I really don't think it was prompted by a fear that Jacob was
going to die at any moment. Joseph's boys apparently came on their own,
rather than by request, because Jacob wasn't expecting them; and what kid
can resist a trip to grandpa's house.
The boys by this time were young men, having been born during the seven
years of plenty, prior to the beginning of the seven years of famine (Gen
41:50). Jacob lived in Egypt at least seventeen years prior to this current
event (Gen 47:28), and immigrated during the second year of the seven
years of famine (Gen 45:6, Gen 45:11). So his grandsons Manasseh and
Ephraim were both in their early twenties by now.
†. Gen 48:2 . .When Jacob was told "Your son Joseph has come to
see you" Israel gathered his strength and sat up in bed.
No greetings or social graces are recorded from this meeting; though they
must have occurred. Surely Jacob wouldn't just launch into a speech the
moment his kin walked through the door. How weird would that be;
especially since Joseph was Jacob's very favorite son? But Genesis skips
over that part of the meeting, and without even so much as hinting how the
topic came up at this point in the visit; just goes right to the meat of it.
The speech Jacob is going to make was probably one he had been
rehearsing in his mind for some time as he sensed the nearness of his
impending death; which would certainly serve to remind him that he was
running out of time; so if he was ever going to get these things off his chest,
he better do it at the very next opportunity, while he was able, because who
really knows how many more opportunities one might have left? People
often put off important things-- e.g. making out their will --till sudden death,
or the onset of dementia finally closes the door. Jacob had something
important to say about his two grandsons, so it was fortuitous that they
came along with their dad to visit grandpa that day.
†. Gen 48:3a . . And Jacob said to Joseph: El Shaddai appeared to me
at Luz
El Shaddai-- the god who created and controls the laws of nature (cf. Col
1:17) --is also Yhvh because that's an appellation Genesis labels Him at
Bethel (Gen 28:13). And an appellation Jacob labeled Him too, at the very
same site. (Gen 28:16-20)
Luz is Bethel (Gen 28:10-19, Gen 35:6-7). That location was an especially
sacred site for Jacob because it was his very first personal encounter with
God. You know, hearing about God, and reading about God, and praying to
God, just aren't the same as actually meeting God. Not the same at all.
Head knowledge is one thing, personal experience is quite another; yes,
quite, quite another. There's nothing like a close encounter with God to set
someone's faith in concrete.
†. Gen 48:3b . . and He blessed me
At this point, Jacob paraphrases the essential elements of El Shaddai's Luz
blessing, with the exception of one element which I would esteem even
more valuable than the prosperity elements: God's ever-abiding
companionship.
"Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring
you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have
promised you." (Gen 28:15)
†. Gen 48:4 . . and said to me; "I will make you fertile and
numerous, making of you a nation; and I will assign this land to your
offspring to come for an everlasting possession."
Although Israel's possession of Palestine is eternal, their occupation of it
isn't, as the Jews' past evictions have easily demonstrated.
Jacob's statement of the blessing is selective, and left out a couple of items;
one of which is that God also assigned the land to Jacob himself, not just to
his offspring (Gen 28:13) so God will have to resurrect Jacob in order to
make good on that portion of the blessing.
What Jacob does next in the book of Genesis may seem weird; but
apparently not an unusual practice in his own day. What he did was to
legally adopt his two grandsons; thus positioning Manasseh and Ephraim as
his own sons rather than Joseph's, which elevated the boys from their
natural status as grandsons to that of children biologically produced in his
own bedroom by he and Rachel.
Exactly how Ephraim and Manasseh felt about that isn't stated; nor would
they have had a say in it anyway as Jacob was the reigning patriarch at the
time; and within his own clan, Jacob was only one step in rank below Yhvh.
†. Gen 48:5 . . Now, your two sons, who were born to you in the land
of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, shall be mine; Ephraim and
Manasseh shall be mine no less than Reuben and Simeon.
Reuben and Simeon are Jacob's biological eldest, so by adopting Ephraim
and Manasseh, Jacob is giving them a legal status equal to his own eldest
sons: that of tribal heads rather than just rank and file members of a tribe.
†. Gen 48:6 . . Progeny born to you after them shall be yours; but
they shall be recorded under the names of their brothers in their
inheritance.
"their brothers" are Jacob's twelve biological sons; so the sons of Jacob
altogether now number 14. What Jacob did is pretty weird but he had his
reasons.
†. Gen 48:7 . . As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel
died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little
distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to
Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
The adoption of his own grandsons had the effect of adding additional
children to Rachel's brood just as effectively as the children born of her maid
Bilhah-- Dan, and Naphtali. So Jacob's true motive for adopting the boys
was in sympathy for his ex wife in being cut off during her child bearing
years, which subsequently prevented her from having any more children of
her own. Ephraim and Manasseh bring Rachel's total up to six: two of her
own, two of her maid Bilhah, and two of her own grandchildren in
posthumous adoption.
This obscure bit of patriarchal prerogative has managed to evade the notice
of modern Jewry as evidenced by their vehement rejection of the New
Testament's Jesus as a valid candidate for David's throne on the basis that
the boy did not descend from Solomon biologically. By demanding a
biological connection to Solomon, they have effectively locked themselves
into perpetual error; and have impudently, and shamefully, taken it upon
themselves to overrule Jacob's precedent.
When the New Testament's Joseph stepped up to name Jesus at the lad's
ritual circumcision, he as much as claimed the boy as his own biological
offspring; thus elevating Jesus from the rank of a commoner in Judah's
tribe, to the rank of legal heir to Solomon's throne. That was something
Joseph had a patriarchal right to do since he-- though a lowly carpenter at
the time --would have been a Davidic monarch himself had not Israel been
under Rome's heel at the time.
Cont.
/
