Genesis 48:4

4 saying to me, 'I will make you fruitful and numerous. I will make of you a group of peoples; and I will give this land to your descendants to possess forever.'

Genesis 48:4 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 48:4

And said unto me, behold, I will make thee fruitful
In a spiritual sense, in grace and good works; in a literal sense, in an increase of worldly substance, and especially of children: and multiply thee;
make his posterity numerous as the sand of the sea: and I will make of thee a multitude of people;
a large nation, consisting of many tribes, even a company of nations, as the twelve tribes of Israel were; and I will give this land unto thy seed after thee, [for] an
everlasting possession;
the land of Canaan, they were to possess as long as they were the people of God, and obedient to his law; by which obedience they held the land, even unto the coming of the Messiah, whom they rejected, and then they were cast out, and a "Loammi" (i.e. not my people, ( Hosea 1:9 ) ) written upon them, and their civil polity, as well as church state, at an end: and besides, Canaan was a type of the eternal inheritance of the saints in heaven, the spiritual Israel of God, which will be possessed by them to all eternity.

Genesis 48:4 In-Context

2 Ya'akov was told, "Here comes your son Yosef."Isra'el gathered his strength and sat up in bed.

3 Ya'akov said to Yosef, "El Shaddai appeared to me at Luz in the land of Kena'an and blessed me,

4 saying to me, 'I will make you fruitful and numerous. I will make of you a group of peoples; and I will give this land to your descendants to possess forever.'

5 Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Efrayim and M'nasheh will be as much mine as Re'uven and Shim'on are.

6 The children born to you after them will be yours, but for purposes of inheritance they are to be counted with their older brothers.