Genesis 48:1 - Exposition

And it came to pass after these things ( i.e. the events recorded in the preceding chapter, and in particular after the arrangements which had been made for Jacob's funeral), that one told Joseph ,—the verb וַיֹּאמֶר is here used impersonally, or passively, for " one told," or "it was told," to Joseph ( LXX ; ἀπεγγέλη; Vulgate, munciatum est ; Rosenmüller, Keil, Kalisch, Murphy, et alii ); or probably emphatically, by way of calling attention to the circumstance—denoting perhaps a special messenger (Tayler Lewis). Behold, thy father is sick . The word in the original conveys the idea of being worn down or becoming infirm through age or disease, and may suggest the notion that Jacob was now regarded as rapidly approaching dissolution. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh end Ephraim— who at this time must have been about eighteen or twenty years of age (Keil), and who appear to have accompanied their father from respectful affection to their aged relative (Murphy), or to have been taken in the hope that "the words of their blessed grand father would make an indelible impression on their hearts (Lawson), rather than in order to obtain from Jacob "a pledge of their unqualified admission as members of his house," of their exclusion from which Joseph was not altogether groundlessly apprehensive, in consequence of their being the children of an Egyptian mother (Kalisch).