I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 48-50.

Why did Jacob “adopt” Joseph’s sons as his own and bless them?  It works out conveniently later when the Levites become the “priestly” tribe, leaving twelve tribal territories.  It also provides a foreshadowing of Jesus with his 12 Apostles (Jesus being the priest/Levite and the Apostles representing the other tribes).  But none of that is hinted at in the account here.  Those are all things which we see looking back and do not seem to play any role in the account given.  Having written the above and gone back to the passage to compose the thoughts I will put in the next passage I saw that Jacob gave a reason for his actions here.  He was once again showing favoritism to Joseph.  By adopting Joseph’s two sons he gave Joseph, through his descendants, an additional share of the land which God had promised Jacob would be given to his descendants.

When I read the account of Jacob blessing Joseph’s two sons I think of the Isaac’s attempt to bless Esau. If Isaac had brought both of his sons to him and given each of them a blessing, he would have forestalled Jacob stealing the blessing he intended for Esau.  I do not think that there is any intention to provide parenting advice in today’s passage, but parents can learn from the comparison I just made.  Jacob’s blessings to Ephraim and Manasseh were not equal, but they were open and fair.  Both knew what the other had been given and received an expression of their grandfather’s love.  In the same way, Jacob gathered all of his sons to him and gave them a last blessing.  Each is given a different blessing and you can see who Jacob’s favorites are, but these blessings seem more to reflect the personality of each son than Jacob’s wishes for them (except possibly his blessing of Joseph).