20 And Joseph had Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt, by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On.
And before the time of need, Joseph had two sons, to whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, gave birth. And to the first he gave the name Manasseh, for he said, God has taken away from me all memory of my hard life and of my father's house. And to the second he gave the name Ephraim, for he said, God has given me fruit in the land of my sorrow.
And Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, the priest of On, to be his wife. So Joseph went through all the land of Egypt.
And said to me, Truly, I will make you fertile and give you increase and will make of you a great family of nations: and I will give this land to your seed after you to be their heritage for ever. And now your two sons who came to birth in Egypt before I came to you here, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, in the same way as Reuben and Simeon are.
Then taking Ephraim with his right hand, Joseph put him at Israel's left side, and with his left hand he put Manasseh at Israel's right side, placing them near him. And Israel, stretching out his right hand, put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands on purpose, for Manasseh was the older.
So he gave them his blessing that day, saying, You will be the sign of blessing in Israel, for they will say, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh; and he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
The generations of the sons of Joseph were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war; Forty thousand, five hundred of the tribe of Ephraim were numbered. The generations of the sons of Manasseh were numbered by their families and their fathers' houses, every male of twenty years old and over who was able to go to war; Thirty-two thousand, two hundred of the tribe of Manasseh were numbered.
The sons of Joseph by their families: Manasseh and Ephraim. The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites: and Machir was the father of Gilead: of Gilead, the family of the Gileadites. These are the sons of Gilead: of Iezer, the family of the Iezerites: of Helek, the family of the Helekites: And of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites: and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites: And of Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites: and of Hepher, the family of the Hepherites. And Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, had no sons, but only daughters, and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. These are the families of Manasseh; and those who were numbered of them were fifty-two thousand, seven hundred. These are the sons of Ephraim by their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites: of Becher, the family of the Becherites: of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites. And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites: These are the families of Ephraim as they were numbered, thirty-two thousand, five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph by their families.
And of Joseph he said, Let the blessing of the Lord be on his land; for the good things of heaven on high, and the deep waters flowing under the earth, And the good things of the fruits of the sun, and the good things of the growth of the moons, And the chief things of the oldest mountains, and the good things of the eternal hills, The good things of the earth and all its wealth, the good pleasure of him who was seen in the burning tree: may they come on the head of Joseph, on the head of him who was prince among his brothers. He is a young ox, glory is his; his horns are the horns of the mountain ox, with which all peoples will be wounded, even to the ends of the earth: they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.
And the men of the half-tribe of Manasseh were living in the land: and their numbers were increased till all the land from Bashan to Baal-hermon and Senir and the mountain Hermon was theirs. And these were the heads of their families: Epher and Ishi and Eliel and Azriel and Jeremiah and Hodaviah and Jahdiel, men of war, of great name, heads of families. And they did evil against the God of their fathers, worshipping the gods of the people of the land, whom God had put to destruction before them. And the God of Israel put an impulse into the heart of Pul, king of Assyria, and of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who took them away as prisoners, all the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to Halah and Habor and Hara and to the river of Gozan, to this day.
The sons of Manasseh by his servant-wife, the Aramaean woman: she gave birth to Machir, the father of Gilead; (And Gilead took a wife, whose name was Maacah, and his sister's name was Hammoleketh;) and the name of his brother was Zelophehad, who was the father of daughters. And Maacah, the wife of Gilead, gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name Peresh; and his brother was named Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. And the son of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir the son of Manasseh. And his sister Hammoleketh was the mother of Ishhod and Abiezer and Mahlah. And the sons of Shemida were Ahian and Shechem and Likhi and Aniam. And the sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eleadah his son, and Tahath his son, And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead, whom the men of Gath, who had been living in the land from their birth, put to death, because they came down to take away their cattle. And for a long time Ephraim their father went on weeping for them, and his brothers came to give him comfort. After that, he had connection with his wife, and she became with child and gave birth to a son, to whom his father gave the name of Beriah, because trouble had come on his family. And his daughter was Sheerah, the builder of Beth-horon the lower and the higher, and Uzzen-sheerah. And Rephah was his son, and Resheph; his son was Telah, and his son was Tahan; Ladan was his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, Nun his son, Joshua his son. Their heritage and their living-places were Beth-el and its daughter-towns, and Naaran to the east, and Gezer to the west, with its daughter-towns, as well as Shechem and its daughter-towns as far as Azzah and its daughter-towns; And by the limits of the children of Manasseh, Beth-shean and its daughter-towns, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor, with their daughter-towns. In these the children of Joseph, the son of Israel, were living.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Genesis 46
Commentary on Genesis 46 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 46
Ge 46:1-4. Sacrifice at Beer-sheba.
1. Israel took his journey with all that he had—that is, his household; for in compliance with Pharaoh's recommendation, he left his heavy furniture behind. In contemplating a step so important as that of leaving Canaan, which at his time of life he might never revisit, so pious a patriarch would ask the guidance and counsel of God. With all his anxiety to see Joseph, he would rather have died in Canaan without that highest of earthly gratifications than leave it without the consciousness of carrying the divine blessing along with him.
came to Beer-sheba—That place, which was in his direct route to Egypt, had been a favorite encampment of Abraham (Ge 21:33) and Isaac (Ge 26:25), and was memorable for their experience of the divine goodness; and Jacob seems to have deferred his public devotions till he had reached a spot so consecrated by covenant to his own God and the God of his fathers.
2. God spake unto Israel—Here is a virtual renewal of the covenant and an assurance of its blessings. Moreover, here is an answer on the chief subject of Jacob's prayer and a removal of any doubt as to the course he was meditating. At first the prospect of paying a personal visit to Joseph had been viewed with unmingled joy. But, on calmer consideration, many difficulties appeared to lie in the way. He may have remembered the prophecy to Abraham that his posterity was to be afflicted in Egypt and also that his father had been expressly told not to go [Ge 15:13; 26:2]; he may have feared the contamination of idolatry to his family and their forgetfulness of the land of promise. These doubts were removed by the answer of the oracle, and an assurance given him of great and increasing prosperity.
3. I will there make of thee a great nation—How truly this promise was fulfilled, appears in the fact that the seventy souls who went down into Egypt increased [Ex 1:5-7], in the space of two hundred fifteen years, to one hundred eighty thousand.
4. I will also surely bring thee up again—As Jacob could not expect to live till the former promise was realized, he must have seen that the latter was to be accomplished only to his posterity. To himself it was literally verified in the removal of his remains to Canaan; but, in the large and liberal sense of the words, it was made good only on the establishment of Israel in the land of promise.
Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes—shall perform the last office of filial piety; and this implied that he should henceforth enjoy, without interruption, the society of that favorite son.
Ge 46:5-27. Immigration to Egypt.
5. And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba—to cross the border and settle in Egypt. However refreshed and invigorated in spirit by the religious services at Beer-sheba, he was now borne down by the infirmities of advanced age; and, therefore, his sons undertook all the trouble and toil of the arrangements, while the enfeebled old patriarch, with the wives and children, was conveyed by slow and leisurely stages in the Egyptian vehicles sent for their accommodation.
6. goods, which they had gotten in the land—not furniture, but substance—precious things.
7. daughters—As Dinah was his only daughter, this must mean daughters-in-law.
all his seed brought he with him—Though disabled by age from active superintendence, yet, as the venerable sheik of the tribe, he was looked upon as their common head and consulted in every step.
8-27. all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten—Strictly speaking, there were only sixty-six went to Egypt; but to these add Joseph and his two sons, and Jacob the head of the clan, and the whole number amounts to seventy. In the speech of Stephen (Ac 7:14) the number is stated to be seventy-five; but as that estimate includes five sons of Ephraim and Manasseh (1Ch 7:14-20), born in Egypt, the two accounts coincide.
Ge 46:28-34. Arrival in Egypt.
28. he sent Judah before him unto Joseph—This precautionary measure was obviously proper for apprising the king of the entrance of so large a company within his territories; moreover, it was necessary in order to receive instruction from Joseph as to the locale of their future settlement.
29, 30. Joseph made ready his chariot—The difference between chariot and wagon was not only in the lighter and more elegant construction of the former, but in the one being drawn by horses and the other by oxen. Being a public man in Egypt, Joseph was required to appear everywhere in an equipage suitable to his dignity; and, therefore, it was not owing either to pride or ostentatious parade that he drove his carriage, while his father's family were accommodated only in rude and humble wagons.
presented himself unto him—in an attitude of filial reverence (compare Ex 22:17). The interview was a most affecting one—the happiness of the delighted father was now at its height; and life having no higher charms, he could, in the very spirit of the aged Simeon, have departed in peace [Lu 2:25, 29].
31-34. Joseph said, … I will go up, and show Pharaoh—It was a tribute of respect due to the king to inform him of their arrival. And the instructions which he gave them were worthy of his character alike as an affectionate brother and a religious man.