Genesis 47 Footnotes

47:29-31 To put your hand under another’s thigh and make a promise was, in ancient cultures, a most solemn way of committing yourself to carry out your promise. Over time, Jacob had begun to take more seriously the Lord’s promises at Bethel to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants and to bring Jacob back to that land permanently (28:13,15; 48:4). When he first received those promises from God, he had been content to remain away from Canaan for twenty years (31:41). As he neared the end of his life, Jacob came to view things much differently.