By faith Jacob, when he was a dying
Which was the usual time of blessing with the patriarchs; and the
reason of it was, that what was said might be more attended to
and regarded, and more strongly impressed upon the mind; and this
is a proof that it was done in faith by Jacob, when there was no
appearance of the fulfilment of these things, and it was not
likely that he should see them; and this shows the truth of what
the apostle says in ( Hebrews 11:1
Hebrews
11:13 ) , blessed both the sons of Joseph; whose names were
Ephraim and Manasseh; the form of blessing them is recorded in (
Genesis
48:15 Genesis
48:16 ) and which was done in faith, and under the direction
and inspiration of the Spirit of God, as appears by his setting
Ephraim before Manasseh, ( Genesis
48:13 Genesis
48:14 Genesis
48:17-19 ) and when he delivered the blessing he firmly
believed it would be fulfilled, though they were then in a
strange land:
and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his
staff;
not that he "worshipped the top of his staff", as the Vulgate
Latin version renders it, either his own, or Joseph's, or any
little image upon the top of it; which would be an instance of
idolatry, and not faith, contrary to the scope of the apostle;
nor is there any need to interpret this of civil worship and
respect paid to Joseph, as a fulfilment of his dream, and with a
peculiar regard to Christ, of whom Joseph was a type; whereas, on
the contrary, Joseph at this time bowed to his father, as was
most natural and proper, ( Genesis
48:12 ) nor is there any necessity of supposing a different
punctuation of ( Genesis
47:31 ) and that the true reading is not "mittah", a bed, but
"matteh"; a staff, contrary to all the Targums F6, and
the Talmud {g}, which read "mittah", a bed, seeing it is not that
place the apostle cites or refers to; for that was before the
blessing of the sons of Joseph, but this was at the same time;
and the apostle relates what is nowhere recorded in Genesis, but
what he had either from tradition, or immediate revelation; or
else he concludes it from the general account in ( Genesis
48:1-12 ) and the sense is, that Jacob, having blessed the
two sons of Joseph, being sat upon his bed, and weak, he leaned
upon the top of his staff, and worshipped God, and gave praise
and glory to him, that he had lived to see not only his son
Joseph, but his seed also, see ( Genesis 48:2
Genesis
48:11 Genesis
48:20 ) .