Genesis 48:1-7
God’s covenant promises extend across generations through intentional transmission and divine faithfulness.
1 After these things, someone said to Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick.” He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
2 Someone told Jacob, and said, “Behold, your son Joseph comes to you,” and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed.
3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’
5 Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine.
6 Your offspring, whom you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
7 As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem).”
God’s covenant promises extend across generations through intentional transmission and divine faithfulness.
To present Jacob’s preparation for blessing Joseph’s sons, affirming covenant continuity through adoption and recalling God’s promises.
Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, Adopts Joseph’s Sons, and Reaffirms God’s Reversing Purpose in the Covenant Line
As Jacob nears death, he adopts Joseph’s sons into Israel, blesses them under the covenant promises, and deliberately places the younger before the elder, showing again that God’s redemptive purpose advances according to His own electing freedom rather than natural order alone.