Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh (1-22) 

Joseph was then sent word that his father had taken ill and was nearing death, so he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim, and went to see his father (1). When Jacob heard his son Joseph had come to visit him, he gathered all his remaining strength and sat upon his bed (2), preparing himself to give to Joseph, and more particularly Joseph’s sons, the very thing he had stolen from his brother Esau for a pot of stew—the “birthright” (25:31).

• Jacob told the story of being visited the second time by “God Almighty” at Bethel (35:9-13), who blessed him with the power to be fruitful and multiply and become a great company of people, who would be given the land of Canaan as a possession (3-4).

• Jacob took Joseph’s sons and adopted them into the birthright of Jacob’s sons. In this way, Joseph was receiving the double portion as the firstborn to Jacob—Israel making Ephriam the firstborn of his family. Jacob then told Joseph any other children he sired would be his and be called under the names of their two brothers in the inheritance, treated like every other grandchild (5-6).

• Jacob reminded Joseph of where his mother was buried in Bethlehem (35:16-20). Jacob was obviously reminding Joseph of his commitment to bury him in Canaan, the place where they had laid his mother to rest. Joseph, as the leader of the family, would become the father to Jacob’s firstborn, Ephraim. Joseph was tasked with the responsibility of not losing sight of the driving promise of God. They were not to stay in Egypt but to receive Canaan as a possession (7).

• Jacob took Joseph’s sons, blessed them, kissed them, and gave thanks to God for allowing him to see not only Joseph but also his sons (8-11).

• Joseph removed his sons from Jacob’s knees and had them bow at his feet with their faces on the ground. Then Joseph helped his sons up from the ground and had them kneel before Jacob. As Joseph helped them up, he moved Ephraim with his right hand to be at Jacob’s left hand. He then helped Manasseh with his left hand, placing him before Jacob’s right hand (12-13). 

  With Joseph's right hand resting on Ephraim and his left hand resting on Manasseh, he expected his father Jacob to bless Manasseh with his right hand, as the first-born and Ephraim with his left hand as the second-born. Israel crossed his hands, however, placing his right hand on Ephraim and his left on Manasseh. The image is obvious that both fathers had their right hand and left hand on the same sons. (14).

• Jacob blessed his grandsons by the God who had walked with his father and grandfather, by the God who had shepherded him, and by the angel who had delivered him from evil. Jacob then blessed Joseph’s two sons and made them his sons, sons who would carry on the name Israel and grow into a multitude (15-16).

• Joseph became displeased with his father's action, and in an emotional yet honoring outburst of seeking to control and then correct an old man's mistake, grabbed his father's right hand to move it from Ephraim's head and place it on Manasseh (17). Jacob would have none of it and refused Joseph, telling him Manasseh would be great but not like his brother Ephraim, who would become a multitude of nations (18-19). Jacob placed such a great blessing on both boys that he predicted someday Israel would pronounce blessings on others by invoking the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh. In this invocation of a blessing, Jacob put Ephraim before Manasseh (20).

  The author does not give us a reason but tells us the slow-moving, Yahweh-giving blessing mysteriously moved to Ephraim as the firstborn and Manasseh as the secondborn. Their way of life, until a king arose, was to rest on Ephraim, and the hope and promise of blessing and land would be directed through the tribe of Ephraim. It was Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim who led Israel into their inheritance. 

  Jacob was calling on Ephraim to keep the mysterious promise visible. Jacob laid hands on the boys, transferring the blessing skin to skin, flesh to flesh, heart to heart. They would not be those who would grasp for wealth nor worship success; they would be the people blessed by God, waiting on blessing, hoping for a world to be born that was being formed by God’s hands. They would learn the blessing works its own way by the power of God, and none can resist it. 

• Jacob told Joseph God would faithfully bring the family back to the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to Canaan.

Then Jacob gave Joseph’s sons the land he had purchased from the sons of Hamor, a place he called El-Elohe-Israel, or “Mighty is the God of Israel” (33:19). It would seem before Jacob purchased the property, he had to fight for it with his sword and bow; the purchase price was a later gesture of grace and treaty from Jacob to the men living in Shechem. For some reason, this plot of property, bearing the name Israel, was special to Jacob, and he wanted Joseph’s sons to inherit it (21-22).