Genesis 48:21

21 Then Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am about to die, but 1God will be with you, and 2bring you back to the land of your fathers.

Genesis 48:21 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 48:21

And Israel said unto Joseph, behold, I die
Expected to die very shortly; and he not only speaks of it as a certain thing, and what would quickly be, but with pleasure and comfort, having no fear and dread of it on him, but as what was agreeable to him, and he had made himself familiar with: but God shall be with you;
with Joseph and his posterity, and with all his brethren, and theirs, to comfort and support them, to guide and counsel them, to protect and defend them, to carry them through all they had to endure in Egypt, and at length bring them out of it; he signifies he was departing from them, but God would not depart from them, whose presence would be infinitely more to them than his; and which, as it made him the more easy to leave them, so it might make them more easy to part with him: and bring you again unto the land of your fathers;
the land of Canaan, where their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had dwelt, and which was given to them and theirs for an inheritance, and where Joseph and his brethren had lived, and would be brought thither again, as the bones of Joseph were, and as all of them in their posterity were in Joshua's time.

Genesis 48:21 In-Context

19 But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations."
20 He blessed them that day, saying, "By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying, 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!' " Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
21 Then Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers.
22 "I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow."

Cross References 2

  • 1. Genesis 26:3
  • 2. Genesis 28:15; Genesis 46:4; Genesis 50:24
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