[15] And he blessed Joseph,
and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God
which fed me all my life long unto this day,
The God who fed me all my life long unto this day - As
long as we have lived in this world we have had continual experience of
God's goodness to us in providing for the support of our natural life.
Our bodies have called for daily food, and we have never wanted food convenient.
He that has fed us all our life long will not fail us at last.
[16] The Angel which redeemed
me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and
the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude
in the midst of the earth. [17] And
when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim,
it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from
Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. [18]
And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn;
put thy right hand upon his head.
The angel who redeemed me from all evil - A great deal
of hardship he had known in his time, but God had graciously kept him from
the evil of his troubles. Christ, the angel of the covenant is he that
redeems us from all evil. It becomes the servants of God, when they are
old and dying, to witness for our God that they have found him gracious.
Joseph had placed his children so, as that Jacob's right - hand should
be put on the head of Manasseh the eldest, Genesis 48:12,13, but Jacob
would put it on the head of Ephraim the youngest, Genesis 48:14. This displeasedJoseph,
who was willing to support the reputation of his first - born and would
therefore have removed his father's hands, Genesis 48:17,18, but Jacob
gave him to understand that he knew what he did, and that he did it neither
by mistake nor in a humour, nor from a partial affection to one more than
the other, but from a spirit of prophecy.
[19] And his father refused,
and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people,
and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater
than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. [20]
And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying,
God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Ephraim shall he greater - When the tribes were mustered
in the wilderness Ephraim was more numerous than Manasseh, and had the
standard of that squadron, Numbers 1:32,33,35 - 2:18,20, and is named first,
Psalms 80:2.Joshua was of that tribe. The tribe of Manasseh was divided,
one half on one side Jordan, the other half on the other side, which made
it the less powerful and considerable. God, in bestowing his blessings
upon his people, gives more to some than to others, more gifts, graces
and comforts, and more of the good things of this life. And he often gives
most to those that are least likely: he chuseth the weak things of the
world, raiseth the poor out of the dust. Grace observes not the order of
nature, nor doth God prefer those whom we think fittest to be preferred
but as it pleaseth him.
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