YOUR TWO SONS BORN TO YOU IN EGYPT BEFORE I CAME TO YOU
HERE WILL BE RECKONED AS MINE; EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH WILL BE MINE, JUST AS REUBEN
AND SIMEON ARE MINE: Note the order: vv 19,20. Ephraim was the youngest, but
is mentioned first, as he afterwards was preferred in the blessing of him:
"which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee into
Egypt" -- and therefore must here be twenty years of age, or upwards: for Jacob
had been in Egypt seventeen years, and he came there when there had been two
years of famine, and Joseph's sons were born to him before the years of famine
began (Gen 41:50). Of these Jacob says, "they are mine: as Reuben and Simeon,
they shall be mine" -- that is, by adoption; they would be reckoned not as his
grandchildren, but as his children, even as his two eldest sons, Reuben and
Simeon; and so should be distinct tribes or heads of tribes, as his sons would
be, and have a distinct part and portion in the land of Canaan; and thus the
birthright was transferred from Reuben, because of his incest, to Joseph, who in
his posterity had a double portion assigned him.
Thus there were actually 13 tribes of Israel -- for the
Levites owned no land but had their inheritance in things spiritual. Two of the
tribes [Ephraim & Manasseh] are included through the principle of adoption
-- which principle opens the way for Gentiles also to be reckoned with Israel.
There is no tribe of Joseph mentioned in scripture... until Rev 7:8 -- and
obviously Joseph is here reckoned, showing the principle of adoption once more
for spiritual Israel.
Gen 48:7
AV: "Rachel died by me", or "because of me": ie,
because of his vow: "With whomsoever you find your gods, let him not live" (Gen
31:32).
3 stages of truth: (1) "Before whom my fathers walked": the
COVENANT GOD. (2) "Who has been my shepherd": the SHEPHERD GOD. (3) "Who has
delivered me" (v 16): the REDEEMER GOD.
MAY THEY BE CALLED BY MY NAME: Their descent from a
Gentile mother presents no impediment.
INCREASE GREATLY: AV mg: "As fishes do increase". "The
cod produces 9,384,000 eggs" (Xd 122:259). The gathering of men and women into
the hope of Israel is likened to the gathering of fish (Mat 4:19).
Possibly the miraculous appearance of the multitude of fish
(John 21:6), after the resurrection, typ the multitude of Israel, gathered back
to the hope of their fathers.
I GIVE... THE RIDGE OF LAND: Cp Jeremiah's purchase of
land, as a sign of God's lasting blessing upon Canaan, and Jeremiah's ultimate
inheritance: Jer 32. "Ridge" is the Heb "shekem". Jacob is telling Joseph that
he has given him a certain portion of the land of promise, ie, "Shechem" (=
portion in KJV). Here Joseph's bones were buried (Jos 24:32), in the territory
given to Ephraim (Jos 20:7).
I TOOK FROM THE AMORITES WITH MY SWORD AND BOW: But Gen
33:19,20 states that he bought it and set up an altar there. So either this
conquest was done by Jacob's sons on his behalf (which, if true, is not recorded
in Gen), or Jacob was prophesying of the conquest of the land under
Joshua.