Genesis 48

Genesis 48:1

Jerome: (Chapter 48, Verse 1) And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And from this, what we said above is demonstrated, that Joseph had only two sons in that place, Ephraim and Manasseh. For if many years later, when Jacob his father died, he led only two sons for the blessing, surely at that time, when his sons were unable to beget children, being young and nursing infants, he could not have grandchildren from them at the entrance of his father and brothers. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis

Genesis 48:2

Jerome: (Version 2.) And Israel, strengthened, sat upon the bed. The reason why the Seventy Interpreters have rendered the same word differently, I do not know; but I boldly say this one thing, that the word itself, Meta, which they translated here as bed, in the place where we have said above that Jacob worshipped on it, they have rather called a rod than a bed. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis

Genesis 48:5

Ambrose of Milan: Joseph was eager to receive the blessing (Gen. XLVIII, 1 et seq.). Finally, he presented his sons Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Jacob blessed. And because he had twelve sons, and the thirteenth was to be the apostle Paul, as if a later chosen one, the thirteenth Tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim were sanctified in both, so that Paul would not be found outside the number of the paternal Tribes, who was an outstanding preacher of the Old and New Testament and could easily prove his inheritance of the paternal blessing. — THE PATRIARCHS 1.2

Cyril of Alexandria: And we the last became the first through faith, and the nation of the Gentiles inherited the glory of the firstborn. They obtained that honor through obedience and faith. And Christ himself testified about them by saying, “A people whom I did not know served me, with their ear’s hearing they obeyed me.” Even though we were born from a mother of different kinds, since the church was called among different nations, Christ is sufficient for us as a mediator, who unites us to God the Father, and ascribes some to the lot of the saints, and gives them the right glory and declares us to be a holy generation. But see how through Jacob’s love for Joseph he placed the sons of Joseph among his own sons. And so we are also beloved in Christ, and after we were born again through him in a spiritual generation, we are received by the Father, as I have already said, and added to the saints who preceded us. In fact, if we have been called children of God the Father, we also must be under the power and control of the one who led us and united us to him, that is, Christ. See how the holy Jacob received Ephraim and Manasseh among his own sons: “As for the offspring born to you after them, they will be yours.” You understand now that even though we are called children of God, nonetheless we will be children of Christ. And this is, I believe, what he says to the Father in another passage: “Those whom you gave me from the world were yours, and you gave them to me, and I have been glorified in them.” — GLAPHYRA ON GENESIS, 6.2

Hippolytus of Rome: This clearly shows [that Jacob makes Ephraim and Manasseh his own]. Since Jacob had twelve sons, to whom the twelve tribes owed their existence, he distributed the two sons of Joseph into two tribes; and so the tribes became thirteen as the tribe of Joseph was divided between his two sons. And therefore Paul himself, the apostle, was related to these events. After being chosen among the tribes, he was counted the thirteenth after the apostles, and so he was sent to the Gentiles as apostle. — ON THE BLESSINGS OF ISAAC AND JACOB 11

Jerome: (Verse 5.) And now behold, your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine, Ephraim and Manasseh, just as Reuben and Simeon shall be mine. But any children born to you after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the names of their brothers. If anyone doubted that seventy persons, the children of Israel, had entered Egypt, and that at the time when Jacob entered Joseph had not nine but only two sons, this is confirmed in the present chapter. Indeed, Jacob himself speaks, saying that he had two sons, not nine. And what he says, ‘Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon,’ that means, just as Reuben and Simeon were two tribes and were called by their own names, so Ephraim and Manasseh shall be two tribes, and they shall produce two peoples, and thus they shall inherit the land of promise, just like my sons. But the remaining sons, he says, whom you will bear after my death, showing that they were not yet born at that time, shall be yours. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis

Genesis 48:6

Jerome: (Verse 6.) They will be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance. No, he said, they will not receive land separately, nor will they have their own possessive cords like the other tribes, but they will be mixed in with the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, like appendages of the people. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis

Genesis 48:12

John Chrysostom: See how he also taught his sons from the very beginning to show due respect for the old man. Joseph brought them along according to seniority, the text says, and presented Manasseh and then Ephraim. At this point notice, I ask you, how the good man’s bodily eyes were by this time weak through old age (“His eyes had faded with age,” remember, “and he could not see”), but the eyes of his mind were strengthened, and by faith Jacob already saw what was going to happen. I mean, instead of heeding Joseph, Jacob crossed his hands over in blessing them and gave precedence to the younger, putting Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 66.9

Genesis 48:14

Ambrose of Milan: Although these mysteries are glorious in this, that Joseph, taking his sons whom he had adopted in Egypt, Ephraim, he placed at his right hand, but Manasseh at his left, so that Israel, their father, was on their right side. But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon the head of Ephraim, who was the younger and stood at his left side; and his left hand he laid upon Manasseh, who was at his right side. And thus, changing his hands, he blessed them. In this, Joseph also preserved the order of nature by giving more deference to his elder son, just as Isaac also desired to give the blessing to his firstborn son, Esau. But he believed that the younger son should be preferred in the role of the younger people, just as he himself was preferred by his mother.

Finally, Manasses is designated by the Latin interpretation as coming from oblivion (Gen. XLI, 51), because the people of Judah forgot their God who made them. And whoever from that people believes, is called back from oblivion. Ephraem, however, promises the abundance of faith by the interpretation of his name, who increased his father, as Joseph himself says: Because God increased me in the land of my humility (Ibid., 52). This is the characteristic of the younger people, who is the body of Christ, increasing the Father and not abandoning their own God. — THE PATRIARCHS 1.3-4

Ephrem the Syrian: Here too the cross is clearly symbolized to depict that mystery with which Israel the firstborn departed, just as Manasseh the firstborn, and the peoples increase in the manner of Ephraim the younger. — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 41:4

Genesis 48:16

John Chrysostom: Words of a grateful heart, of a God-fearing spirit keeping fresh in his mind God’s kindnesses. He to whom my forebears were pleasing, he is saying, who reared me from youth to the present, who from the beginning snatched me from every trouble, who showed such care for me, he “will bless these children; my name will be invoked in them, as also the name of my forebears Abraham and Isaac, and they will grow into a teeming multitude on the earth.” Do you see Jacob’s insight and, at the same time, his humility? His insight, on the one hand, in foreseeing with the eyes of faith, and so giving precedence to Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. And on the other his humility, in making no mention at all of his own virtue but instead invoking a blessing on them on the basis of the satisfaction given by his forebears and the kindnesses done to him. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 66.1

Genesis 48:20

Ambrose of Milan: Finally, the Lord, speaking in a spiritual manner about the people, declared this to be a mystery. For when the son thought his father had made a mistake due to his dull appearance, he wanted to turn his hands around, saying, ‘Not so, Father, for this one is the firstborn; place your right hand on his head.’ But his father refused and said, ‘I know, my son, I know. He will also become a people, and he will be exalted. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a multitude of nations.’ (Genesis 48:18-19). Finally, he preferred the elder Ephraem, even prophesying in a series of blessings, saying: ‘In you Israel shall be blessed, saying: May God make you like Ephraem and Manasseh’ (Ibid., 20). And therefore, since they were grandsons, they were adopted in place of sons, so that they would not be deprived of the ancestral blessing. — THE PATRIARCHS 1.5

John Chrysostom: Do you see how God’s grace foretold this to him and how, moved by a prophetic spirit, he blessed Joseph’s sons in this way, foreseeing as already present and visible to the brothers what would happen so long afterward? This is what prophecy is like, after all. Just as the eyes of the body can form an image of nothing beyond visible things, so the eyes of faith do not see visible things but form an image of things that are due to happen many generations later. You will gain a more precise notion of this from the blessings he bestows on his own sons. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 66.12

Genesis 48:21

John Chrysostom: Let us therefore not be anxious to amass money and bequeath it to our children; rather, let us teach them virtue and call down blessing from God on them. This, you see, this is the greatest wealth; this wealth is beyond counting, proof against consumption, leading to greater wealth as each day passes. Nothing in fact is equal to virtue; nothing more potent than it. Even if you were to mention kingship itself and the wearer of the crown, he would be worse off than any pauper clad in rags if he lacked virtue. What good, after all, could the crown or royal purple be to the man betrayed by his own indifference? I mean, surely the Lord has no respect for distinctions based on externals? Surely he is not moved by the fame of prominent people? One thing is to be sought after with him, to be able to find the door opened to confidence with him on the basis of the operation of virtue. The person who enjoys no such confidence will be among the least respected and least entitled to speak. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 66.14

Genesis 48:22

Jerome: (Verse 22.) And I gave ((Or, do)) to you Sicima, the special one, over your brothers, which I received from the hands of the Amorites with my sword and arrow. Sicima, according to Greek and Latin custom, is declined. Otherwise, in Hebrew it is called Sichem, as John the Evangelist also testifies (IV, 5): although erroneously, it is read as Sichar, the error has prevailed: and now it is the city of Neapolis, the city of the Samaritans. Therefore, because Sichem () is translated into Hebrew as shoulder, he cleverly alluded to the name, saying: And I will give you one shoulder. For it is written specially, that is, in Hebrew. And what he says that he possessed it in a bow and sword: the bow here, and the sword, he calls righteousness, through which he deserved to be delivered from danger as a stranger and sojourner, by slaying Shechem and Hamor. For, as we read above, he feared lest the neighboring cities and castles should rise up against him for the destruction of the federal city (Gen. 34): and the Lord did not permit them to harm him. Certainly, you should understand it this way: I will give you Sichem, which I acquired with my own strength, that is, with money, which I earned with much labor and much sweat. And what he said, surpassing your brothers, shows that it was given to Joseph without any obligation. For indeed, Joseph is buried in the same place, and his tomb can still be seen there today. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis

John Chrysostom: After he blessed the sons and promoted the younger ahead of the elder by way of forecasting the future, he wanted to convince Joseph that it was not idly or to no purpose that he had done this but to foretell what was due to happen. So he predicted his own death and the fact that they would return from foreign parts to Canaan, the land of their ancestors, and raised sound hope in them so as to cheer them up with the expectation. The hope of good things to come, after all, always mitigates the troubles of the present life. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 67.2