24 And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.

25 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.

27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.

A. M. 2315. B. C. 1699.

28 ↑ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so & the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.

29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, i put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and *deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:

m

1

30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou

b Ch. 33. 15-c Ver. 22-d Or, princes, Ver. 22-e Ver. 11.-f Ch. 46. 3.-g Heb. the days of the years of his life. See Ver. 9.-h So Deut. 31. 14. 1 Kings 2 1.

that Pharaoh had no power to levy taxes upon his subjects, to increase his own revenue, until he had bought the original right which each individual had in his possessions. And when Joseph bought this for the king, he raised the crown an ample revenue, (though he restored the lands) by obliging each to pay one-fifth of the product to the king, ver. 24. And it is worthy of remark, that the people of Egypt well understood the distinction between subjects and servants; for when they came to sell their land, they offered to sell themselves also; and said, buy us and our land, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh, ver. 19.

Diodorus Siculus, lib. 1. gives the same account of the ancient constitution of Egypt. The land, says he, was divided into three parts: 1. One belonged to the PRIESTS, with which they provided all sacrifices, and maintained all the ministers of religion. 2. A second part was the KING's, to support his court and family; and to supply expenses for wars, if they should happen. Hence there were no taxes, the king having so ample an estate. 3. The remainder of the land belonged to the SUBJECTS; who appear, from the accounts of Diodorus, to have been all soldiers, a kind of standing militia, liable, at the king's expense, to serve in all wars for the preservation of the state. This was a constitution something like the British: the government appears to have been mixed, and the monarchy properly limited, till Joseph, by buying the land of the people, made the king in some sort despotic. But it does not appear that any improper use was made of this, as in much later times, we find it still a comparatively limited monarchy.

Verse 26. And Joseph made it a law] That the people should hold their land from the king, and give him a fifth part of the produce, as a yearly tax. Beyond this it appears the king had no farther demands. The whole of this conduct in Joseph has been as strongly censured by some, as applauded by others. It is natural for men to run into extremes in attacking or defending any position. Sober and judicious men will consider what Joseph did by divine appointment, as a prophet of God; and what he did merely as a statesman, from the circumstances of the case, the complexion of the times, and the character of the people over whom he presided. When this is dispassionately done, we shall see much reason to adore God, applaud the man, and perhaps, in some cases, censure the minister. Joseph is never held up to our view as an unerring prophet of God. He was an honoured instrument in the hands of God of saving two nations from utter ruin, and especially of preserving that family from which the Messiah was to spring; and of perpetuating the true religion among them. In this character he is represented in the sacred pages. His conduct, as the prime minister of Pharaoh, was powerfully indicative of a deep and consummate politician, who had high notions of prerogative, which led him to use every prudent mean to aggrandize his master; and at the same time to do what he judged best on the whole, for the people he governed.

nasseh, and went to Goshen to visit him, 1. Jacob strengthens himself to receive them, 2. Gives Joseph an account of God's appearing to him at Luz, and repeating the promise, 3, 4. MenAdopts Ephraim and Manasseh as his own sons, 5, 6. tions the death of Rachel at Ephrath, 7. He blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, preferring the former, who was the younger, to his elder brother, 8-17. Joseph supposing his father had mistaken, in giving the right of primogeniture to the youngest, endeavours to correct him. 18. Jacob shows that he had done it designedly, prophecies much good concerning both; but sets Ephraim the youngest before Manasseh, 19, 20. Jacob speaks of his death, and predicts the return of his posterity from Egypt, 21. And gives Joseph a portion above his brethren, which he had taken from the Amorites, 22.

A ND it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at 'Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee

i Ch. 24. 2-k Ch. 24. 49.-1 So Ch. 50. 25.-m 2 Sam. 19 37.-n Ch. 49. 29. & 50. 5, 13-0 Ch. 48. 2. 1 Kings 1 47. Heb. 11. 21.-p Ch. 29. 13, 19. & 35. 6, 9. &c.

Verse 29. Put thy hand under my thigh] See on chapter xxiv. 9.

Verse 30. I will lie with my fathers] As God had promised the land of Canaan to Abraham and his posterity, Jacob considered it as a consecrated place, under the particular superintendence and blessing of God: and as Sarah, Abraham, and Isaac, were interred near to Hebron, he, in all probability, wished to lie not only in the same place, but in the same grave: and it is not likely that he would have been solicitous about this, had he not considered that promised land as being a type of the rest that remains for the people of God: and a pledge of the inheritance among the saints in light.

Verse 31. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head] Jacob was now both old and feeble, and we may suppose him reclined on his couch when Joseph came, that he afterward sat up erect (see chap. xlviii. 2.) while conversing with his son, and receiving his oath and promise; and that, when this was finished, he bowed himself on the bed's head: exhausted with the conversation, he again reclined himself on his bed as before. This seems to be the simple meaning, which the text, unconnected with any religious system or prejudice, naturally proposes. But because nnw shatach, signifies not only to bow but to wor ship, because acts of religious worship were performed by bowing or prostration: and because no mittah, a bed, by the change of the points only, becomes match, a staff, in which sense the Septuagint took it, translating the original words thus, xxooxunov sex BIT TO EXEDY THE exou ZUTOU, and Israel worshipped upon the top of his staff; which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. xi. 21, quotes literatim, therefore some have supposed that Jacob certainly had a carved image on the head or top of his staff, to which he paid a species of adoration; or that he bowed himself to the staff or sceptre of Joseph, thus fulfilling the prophetic import of his son's dreams! The sense of the Hebrew text is given above: if the reader prefer the sense of the Septuagint, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, the meaning is, that Jacob through feebleness supported himself with a staff; and that when he had got the requisite assurance from Joseph that his dead body should be carried to Canaan, leaning on his staff, he bowed his head in adoration to God, who had supported him all his life long, and hitherto fulfilled all his promises.

NOTES ON CHAPTER XLVIII.

Verse 1. One told Joseph, Behold thy father is sick) He was ill before, and Joseph knew it: but it appears that a messenger had been now despatched to inform Joseph that his father was apparently at the point of death.

Verse 2. Israel strengthened himself and sat upon the bed.] He had been confined to his bed before, see chap. xlvii. 31. And now hearing that Joseph was come to see him, he made what efforts his little remaining strength would admit, to sit up in bed to receive his son. verse proves that a bed, not a staff, is intended in the preceding chapter, ver. 31.

This

Verse 3. God Almighty] ~ ↳ El Shaday. The All

fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee, for an everlasting possession.

b

5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

6 And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. 7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem.

8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?

e

9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are

b Ch. 17. 8.-c Ch. 41 50. & 46. 20. Josh 13. 7. & 14. 4. Ch. 35. 9, 16, 19. e So Ch. 33. 5.

sufficient God, the outpourer and dispenser of mercies; see chap. xvii. 1. appeared to me at Luz, afterward called Beth-El; see chap. xxviii. 13. xxxv. 6, 9.

Verse 5. And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh are mine] I now adopt them into my own family, and they shall have their place among my twelve sons, and be treated in every respect as those, and have an equal interest in all the spiritual and temporal blessings of the

covenant.

Verse 7. Rachel died by me, &c.] Rachel was the wife of Jacob's choice, and the object of his unvarying affection; he loved her in life: he loves her in death: many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. A match of a man's own making, when guided by reason and religion, will necessarily be a happy one. When fathers and mothers make matches for their children, which are dictated by motives, not of affection, but merely of convenience, worldly gain, &c. &c. such matches are generally wretched. It is Leah in the place of Rachel to the end of the mortal story.

Verse 8. Who are these?] At ver. 10. it is said, that Jacob's eyes were dim for age, that he could not see; could not discern any object unless it were near him; therefore, though he saw Ephraim and Manasseh, yet he could not distinguish them till they were brought nigh to him.

Verse 11. I had not thought to see thy face] There is much delicacy and much tenderness in these expressions. He feels himself now amply recompensed for his long grief and trouble, on account of the supposed death of Joseph, in seeing not only himself, but his two sons, whom God by an especial act of favour is about to add to the number of his own. Thus we find, that as Reuben and Simeon were heads of two distinct tribes in Israel, so were Ephraim and Manasseh: because Jacob, in a sort of sacramental way, had adopted them with equal privileges with his

own sons.

Verse 12. Joseph bowed himself with his face to the earth] This act of Joseph has been extravagantly extolled by Dr. Delaney and others. "When I consider him on his knees to God," says Dr. Delaney, I "regard him as a poor mortal in the discharge of his duty to his CREATOR. When I behold him bowing before Pharaoh, I consider him in the dutiful posture of a subject to his prince. But when I see him bending to the earth before a poor, old, blind, decrepid father, I behold him with admiration and delight. How doth that humiliation exalt him!"-Stuff! insufferable! So then, it is a wondrous condescension in a young man, who in the course of God's providence, with scarcely any efforts of his own, was raised to affluence and worldly grandeur, to show respect to his father! And that respect was the more gratuitous and condescending, because that father was poor, old, blind, and decrepid! The maxin of this most insolent rhodomontade is, that "a child who has risen to affluence, is not obliged to reverence his parents when reduced in their circumstances, and brought down by the weight of years and infirmities to the sides of the grave; and should they acknowledge and reverence them, it would be a mark of singular goodness, and be highly meritorious." Should positions of this kind pass without execration? I trow not. By the law of God and nature, Joseph was as much bound to pay his dying father this filial respect, as he was to reverence his king, or worship his God. As to myself, I must freely confess that I see nothing peculiarly amiable in this part of Joseph's conduct: he simply acquitted him

my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.

10 (Now the eyes of Israel were h dim for age, so that he could not see.) And he brought them near unto him; and i he kissed them, and embraced them.

11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and lo, God hath showed me also thy seed.

12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.

14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's

f Ch. 27. 4.-g Ch. 27. L.--h Heb. heavy: Isai. 6. 10. & 59. 1.---i Ch. 27. 27. k Ch. 45. 26.

self of a duty which God, nature, decency, and common sense, imperiously demanded him, and all such in his circumstances, to discharge. To the present day, children in the East, next to God, pay the deepest reverence to their parents. Besides, before whom was Joseph bowing? not merely his father, but a most eminent PATRIARCH; one highly distinguished by the Lord; and one of the three of whom the Supreme Being speaks in the most favourable and affectionate manner; the three who received and transmitted the true faith, and kept unbroken the divine covenant: I AM the GOD of ABRAHAM, the GOD of ISAAC, and the GOD of JACOB. He has never said, I am the God of JOSEPH. And if we compare the father and the son, as men, we shall find that the latter was exceeded by the former in almost endless degrees. Joseph owed his advancement and his eminence to what some would call good fortune, and what we know to have been the especial providence of God, working in his behalf, wholly independent of his own industry, &c. every event of that providence turning up in his favour. Jacob owed his own support and preservation, and the support and preservation of his numerous family, under God, to the continual exercise of the vast powers of a strong and vigorous mind, to which the providence of God seemed ever in opposition; because God chose to try to the uttermost the great gifts which he had bestowed. If, therefore, the most humble and abject inferior, should reverence dignity and eminence raised to no common height-so should Joseph bow down his face to the earth before JACOB.

Besides, Joseph in thus reverencing his father, only followed the custom of the Egyptians among whom he lived, who, according to Herodotus, (Euterpe, c. 80.) were par ticularly remarkable for the reverence they paid to old age. "For if a young person meet his senior, he instantly turns aside to make way for him; if an aged person enter an apartment, the youth always rise from their seats," and Mr. Sarary observes, that the reverence mentioned by Herodotus, is yet paid to old age, on every occasion, in Egypt. In Mohammedan countries, the children sit as if dumb, in the presence of their parents, never attempting to speak, unless spoken to. Among the ancient Romans, it was considered a crime worthy of death, not to rise up in the presence of an aged person; and acting a contrary part, was deemed an awful mark of the deep degeneracy of the times. Thus the satirist :

Credebant hoc grande nefas, & morte piandum,
Si Juvenis vetulo non assurrexerat; et si
Barbato cuicumque puer. Juv. Sat. xiii. v. 54.
And had not men the hoary heads revered,

Or boys paid reverence when a man appear),
Both must have died.-

Dryden.

Indeed, though Dr. Delaney is so much struck with what he thinks to be great and meritorious condescension and humility on the part of Joseph, yet we find the thing itself, the deepest reverence to parents and old age, practised by all the civilized nations in the world, not as a matter of meritorious courtesy, but as a point of rational and absolute duty.

Verse 14. Israel stretched out his right hand, &c.] Laying hands on the head was always used among the Jews in giving blessings, designating men to any office, and in the consecration of solemn sacrifices. This is the first time we find it mentioned; but we often read of it afterward. See Numb. xxvii. 19, 23. Deut. xxxiv. 9. Matt. xix. 13, 15. Acts vi. 6. 1 Tim. iv. 14. Jacob laid his right hand on the head of the younger, which we are

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,

16 The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let P 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,

1 Ver. 19.m Heb. 11. 21-n Ch. 17. 1. & 24. 40.0 Ch. 23. 15. & 31. 11, 13, 24. Pan. 31. 22. & 121. 7-p Amos 9. 12. Acts 15. 17.- Heb. as fishes do increase: See Numb. 1. 46. & 25. 31, 37. Ver. 11.

told he did wittingly, (well knowing what he was about) for, or although Manasseh was the first-born, knowing by the spirit of prophecy that Ephraim's posterity would be more powerful than that of Manasseh. It is observable how God from the beginning has preferred the younger to the elder, as Abel before Cain: Shem before Japheth: Isaac before Ishmael: Jacob before Esau: Judah and Joseph before Reuben: Ephraim before Manasseh: Moses before Aaron: and David before his brethren. "This is to be resolved entirely into the wise and secret counsel of God, so far as it regards temporal blessings and national privileges, as the apostle tells us, Rom. ix. 11. see the notes on chap. xxv. 23. But this preference has no concern with God's conferring a greater measure of his love and approbation on one person more than another: for this we are assured can arise from nothing but men's moral characters; it is the determination of truth, that with God there is no respect of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him, Acts x. 34, 35. Compare Gen. iv. 7. with Heb. xi. 4. and you will see that this difference in moral character was the sole cause why God preferred Abel to Cain."-Dodd.

Verse 15. He blessed Joseph] The father first, and then the sons afterward. And this is an additional proof to what has been adduced under ver. 12. of Jacob's superiority: for the less is always blessed of the greater.

The God who fed me all my life long] Jacob is now standing on the verge of eternity, and his faith strong in God. He sees his life to be a series of mercies: and as he had been affectionately attentive, provident, and kind to his most helpless child, so has God been unto him; he has fed him all his life long; he plainly perceives that he owes every morsel of food which he has received to the mere mercy and kindness of God.

Verse 16. The angel which redeemed me from all evil] Swan ban hamalak hagoel. The messenger, the Redeemer, or kinsman, for so SN goel signifies: for this term, in the law of Moses, is applied to that person whose right it is, from his being nearest akin, to redeem or purchase back a forfeited inheritance. But of whom does Jacob speak? We have often seen in the preceding chapters, an angel of God appearing to the patriarchs, see particularly chap. xvi. 7. and the note there; and we have full proof that this was no created angel, but the messenger of the Divine Counsel, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who then was the angel that redeemed Jacob, and whom he invoked to bless Ephraim and Manassch? Is it not JESUS? He alone can be called Goel, the redeeming kinsman, for he alone took part of our flesh and blood, that the right of redemption might be his. And that the forfeited possession of the favour and image of God might be redeemed, brought back, and restored to all those who believe in his name. To have invoked any other angel or messenger in such a business, would have been impiety. Angels bless not: to GoD alone this prerogative belongs. With what confidence may a truly religious father use these words in behalf of his children: JESUS, the CHRIST, who hath redeemed me, bless the lads, redeem them also, and save them unto eternal life!

And let my name be named on them] "Let them be ever accounted as a part of my family. Let them be true Israelites, persons who shall prevail with God as I have done; and the name of Abraham, being partakers of his faith; and the name of Isaac, let them be as remarkable for submissive obedience as he was. Let the virtues of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, be accumulated in them, and invariably displayed by them!" These are the very words

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 w 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.

21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.

22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of

t Was evil in his eyes. Ch. 23 8-u Ver. 14.- Numb. 1. 33, 35. & 2. 19, 21. Deut. 33. 17. Rev. 7. 6,8--- Heb. fulness.-x So Ruth 4. 11, 12-y Ch. 46. 4. & 50. 24-z Josh. 24. 32. 1 Chron. 5. 2 John 4. 5.

of adoption: and by the imposition of hands, the invocation of the Redeemer, and the solemn blessing pronounced, the adoption was completed. From this moment, Ephraim and Manasseh had the same rights and privileges as Jacob's sons; which, as the sons of Joseph, they could have never possessed.

And let them grow into a multitude.] 75 Ve-yideg gula-rob: Let them increase like fishes into a multitude. FISH are the most prolific of all animals; see the instances produced on chap. i. ver. 20. This prophetic blessing was verified in a most remarkable manner; see Num. xxvi. 34, 37. Deut. xxxiii. 17. Josh. xvii. 17. At one time the tribe of Ephraim amounted to 40,500 effective men; and that of Manasseh to 52,700, amounting in the whole to 93,200. See the notes on Num. i. 46. and xxvi. 2. Verse 18. Joseph said, Not so, my father] Joseph supposed that his father had made a mistake in laying his right hand on the head of the youngest, because the right hand was considered as the most noble, and the instru ment of conveying the highest dignities; and thus it has ever been considered among all nations, though the reason of it is not particularly obvious. Even in the heavens, the right hand of God is the place of the most exalted dignity. It has been very properly observed, that Joseph spoke here as he was moved by natural affection; and that Jacob acted as he was influenced by the Holy Spirit.

Verse 20. In thee shall Israel bless] That is, in future generations the Israelites shall take their form of wishing prosperity to any nation or family from the circumstance of the good which it shall be known that God has done to Ephraim and Manasseh. May God make thee as fruitful as Ephraim, and multiply thee as Manasseh! So to their daughters, when married, the Jewish women are accustomed to say, God make thee as Sarah and Rebekah! These forms are still in use.

Verse 21. Behold, I die] With what composure is this most awful word expressed! Surely of Jacob it might now be said, "He turns his sight undaunted on the tomb." For though it is not said that he was full of days, as were Abraham and Isaac, yet he is perfectly willing to bid adieu to earthly things, and lay his body in the grave. Could any person act as the patriarchs did in their last moments, who had no hopes of eternal life, no belief in the immor tality of the soul? Impossible! With such a conviction of the being of God, with such proofs of his tenderness and regard, with such experience of his providential and miraculous interference in their behalf, could they suppose, that they were only creatures of a day; and that God had wasted so much care, attention, providence, grace, and goodness, on creatures, who were to be ultimately like the beasts that perish? The supposition that they could have no correct notion of the immortality of the soul, is as dishonourable to God as to themselves. But what shall we think of Christians who have formed this hypothesis into a system, to prove what? Why, that the patriarchs lived and died in the dark! That either the soul has no immortality, or that God has not thought proper to reveal it. Away with such an opinion! It cannot be said to merit serious refutation.

Verse 22. Moreover, I have given to thee (Joseph) one portion] No Shecem achad, one Shechem, or one shoulder. We have already seen the transactions between Jacob and his family on one part, and Shechem and the sons of Hamor on the other; see chap. xxxiii. 18, 19. and chap. xxxiv. As he uses the word Shechem here, I think it likely, that he alludes to the purchase of the field or parcel of ground mentioned chap. xxxiii. 18, 19. It has been supposed that this parcel of ground which Jacob