1
¶ And 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
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.
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.
Upon hearing that Jacob was ill Joseph took his sons,
Manasseh and Ephraim, to see him. Jacob was apparently pretty out of it as he
had to be told they were there. He then relates the blessing God bestowed on
him through his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham.
Genesis
28:13 And, behold, the LORD stood above
it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:
the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the
earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the
north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of
the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I
am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will
bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done
that which I have spoken to thee of.
Remember that it was Abraham who would be told that
Canaan was to be an everlasting possession.
Genesis 17:7 ¶ And I will establish my covenant between me
and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting
covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed
after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for
an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
Jacob states that Joseph’s sons are just as much a
part of this blessing as are Joseph’s brothers, Jacob’s own sons Reuben and
Simeon. He established them as tribes included in the inheritance by saying
that their descendants would be named after them. Then, Jacob mentions his
beloved Rachel and where she was buried. It has been many, many years but the
pain is still there as it is with many of us who have lost a loved one decades
in the past.
Genesis
35:16 ¶ And they journeyed from Bethel;
and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and
she had hard labour. 17 And it came to
pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not;
thou shalt have this son also. 18 And it
came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his
name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. 19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to
Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. 20 And
Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto
this day.
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