Hebrews 11:21

By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.

Jacob's blessing the two sons of Joseph to the effect that they should become two tribes, with Ephraim being more powerful and greater than the tribe of Manasseh, is the incident here referred to; and, as in the case of Jacob's fathers, this blessing which he gave by faith concerned "things to come," or things not seen as yet.

And worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff ... This incident is not in chronological sequence, the author of Hebrews making a prior event the last mentioned, this being done possibly for the sake of emphasis on the patriarchal blessing as conferred by Isaac, just mentioned, and then in the case of Jacob here. The event connected with Jacob's worshipping while leaning on the top of his staff (Genesis 47:29-31) was a great demonstration of Jacob's faith; because it was there that he made Joseph swear that Jacob's body should not be buried in Egypt but in the cave of Machpelah. The circumstance that highlighted this act of faith was that Jacob was apparently settled in Egypt; but, despite this, Jacob knew by faith that the true dwelling place of Israel was Canaan and that in time God would bring them into it. Thus, "the things not seen as yet" continued to be the chief motivation of the patriarchs of Israel, a phenomenon frequently noted in this chapter.

And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head ... This is the language of the KJV (Genesis 47:31); and students of the New Testament have long been perplexed by the rendition of this verse, but the explanation is simple. "The Hebrew words for `staff' and `bed' differ only in punctuation."[34] The word of inspiration did not give the punctuation, that being added by uninspired men. Thus, it is permissible to choose the meaning most obviously required by the context; and, because there was no mention of Jacob's being or being in bed, until the following chapter; and added to that, the choice of meaning by the author of Hebrews, it becomes obvious that the proper rendition is "leaning upon the top of his staff." Milligan noted that:

Now as these points (punctuation) were added by uninspired men, there is really no ground whatever for the allegation that there is a discrepancy between the readings of the original Hebrew and Greek ... for on no condition can we concede, as some have done, that the apostle here has followed an incorrect version of the original. He never does this; but always expresses the thoughts of the Holy Spirit in words which the Holy Spirit teacheth.[35]

One other thing demands notice with reference to this problem text, and that is the rendition of it in the Rheims version, "By faith, Jacob dying, blessed every one of the sons of Joseph, and adored the top of his rod"! Thus they would make the text support image worship. Such is nothing but a bastard translation, called by Adam Clarke, "too contemptible for refutation!"[36] The reasons why no such translation can be legitimate are set forth by Clarke as follows:

Here (in the Rheims version) the preposition "upon" is wholly suppressed to make it favor the corrupt reading of the Vulgate. This preposition (making the Rheims version impossible to support) is found in the Hebrew text, in the Greek version of the Seventy (The Septuagint), the printed Greek text of the New Testament, and in every manuscript of this text yet discovered. It is also found in the Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic, Coptic: in which languages the connection necessarily shows that it is not an idle particle: and by no mode of construction can the text be brought to support image worship, any more than it can to support transubstantiation.[37]

Therefore, it is certain that Jacob did not worship the top of his staff, but was LEANING upon it!

[34] Thomas Whitelaw, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), Vol. 21, Hebrews, p. 515.

[35] R. Milligan, op. cit., p. 317.

[36] Adam Clarke, op. cit., Vol. 6, p. 766.

[37] Ibid.