The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 570

and wl1y ho nsketl them to bo set close by the words which h,w been adoptcrl by tho l1is bed. And he (tlrnir father) brought best scholars (CalYin, Dathe, Roser,miiller, them near unto him ; and he (their old Keil, l{aliscb, Murphy, Tayler Lewis, and grandfather) kieeed them, and embraced others), though the translation, "he crossed them (ef. Isaac's blessing of Jacob, eh. xxvii. his hands," which regards ', '.;!~ as the piel of 26, 27). an unused root signifying· to intertwine, Ver. 11.-And Israel said unto Joseph, I !va>-Xu; rilt x•'ipa~ (LXX. ), commutans had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, manv,3 (Vulgate), is not entirely destitute of God (Elohim) bath shewed me also thy seed. learned supporters (Targums of.Jonathan anrl The first half of Israel's utterance is rendered Jerusalem, Pererins, Knobel, Dclitzsch, Ger- by the LXX. 11 'Ioov roii '11'p011W'll'OV 110V ovc lach, and others)-for Manasseh was the fonpTJ91Jv," firatbom. Ver. 12.-And Joseph brought tbem out Vera. 15, 16.-And heblessedJoseph(i.e. in from between his knees (literally, from 'MM his sons), and said, God,-literally, the Elo- his knees, i. e. the knees of his father, who him. 'rhe use of Elohim in a passage (vers. while in the act of embracing had dmwn 15-19) which is undoubtedly Jehovistic in them into that position), and he (viz. Joseph) its import, and is by advanced c1itics (David- bowed himself with hie foce to the earth. son, Colenso) assigned to that writer, has The reading "and they bowed themselves," been explained (Hengsten berg) as an indica- i. e. Ephraim and Manasseh (Samaritan, tion that "the great spirituo.l Sun, Jehovah, Michaelis),and therendering,cal '11'po11.:vv1111av was at that time," viz., at the entrance of avr,ji (LXX.), are incorrect. the captivity, "concealed behind a clourl Ver. 13.-And Joseph took them both, from the chosen race;" but, without resorting Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's to any such doubtful hypothesis, it is suffi- left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand cient to observe that Jacob practically iden- toward Israel's right hand, and brought tifies the Elohim spoken of with Jehovah, them near Ullto him. Joseph naturally ex- while by using the former expression he con- peete·d thnt Jaeob's right hand would fall veys the thought that the bleseing about to upon the head of Manasse]]., as the firstborn, be pronounced proceeded forth, not from Deity although with regard to even this a doubt in general, but from the po.rtienlar Elohim might have been suggested if he had re- who had grneiously manifested himself in the membered how Isaac had been preferred to manner after described-before whom my ~shmael, and Jo.cob to Esau. fa.there Abraham a.nd Isaac did walk,-{ct: Ver, 14.-And Israel stretched out hie eh. xvii. 1 ; xriv. 40) the God here referred right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, to was one who hod "a face," or manifested -the first instance of the imposition of hands J!rcsence; in other words, was Jeho,ah-the being used as a symbol of blessing. Though God which f.ed me-literally, the Elohirn not necessarily connected with the form of shepherding 1ne (cf. Ps. xxiii. 1; xxviii. 9)- benediction, it is not without a natural _fit- all my life long-literally, front as yet (sc. I ness to suggest the transmission of spiritual was), i. e. from the beginning of my existence, benefit. Accordingly it afterwards became i! v,or11roi; (LXX.)-Ullto this day, the the recognised mode of conveying to another Angel-the Mo.leach here spoken of cannot some su pernaturnl power or gift, and was possibly be a. creature, since he is explicitly employed in the Old Testament Church in identified with Elohim, but must have been the dedication of priests (Numb. rxvii 18, the Jehovah.Angel with whom Jacob wrestled 23; Dent. xxxiv. 9), o.nd in the New in the at the ford of Jnbbok (eh. x;uii. 23-29). ordination of Christian office-bearers (Acts vi. Tho reading of tho Samaritan codex, 7?.t,;l.J, 6 ; viii. 17; 1 Tim. iv. 14 ; 2 fim. i. 6), as the king, is open to suspicion-which· re· well as by the Saviour and his ,pasties in the deemed me from_ a.11 evil,-literally, tlte (sc. perfo1·mance of many of their miracles (Matt. angel) rcdeemin'l me; the first uso of tha xix. 13 ; Mark viii. 23, 25 • Acts ix. 17 ; xix. term goel, from ?~}, to buy back or redeem G ; xxviii. 8)-who was the younger (liter- ally, and he the little one, i. e. the younger), (Gesenius), to separate or untie (Furst), or to and his left hand upon Manaeseh's head, stain as with blood, hence to bo stained or guiding his hands wittingly;-literally, lM polluted, as one who suffers a kinsman's placed his hands JIT'll,dently, i. e. of set pur- blood to go urnwcngcd, hence to remove the stain of. blood by taking vengeance on tlw pose, the piel of ?;>~, to look nt, conveying murderer (Tayler Lewis). Applied under the the intensive signific11.tion of 11.cting with faw to the next of kin (Levit. xxv. 25; xxvii. prudence and deliberation (Gesenius, Fiirst); 13, 16, 19, &c., &c.), it is -also used of God intdligere fecil m.anus suas hoe e:it, docte, scite, redeeming men, and especfa.lly Israel, from et perite impomit eis manu,s (Vatablus, vide captivity (Exod. vi. 6 ; lsri.. xliii. 1). In this Glass. • Phil. Tract.,' p. 761); a rendering of sense it w11s eII'ployed by Jacob (cf. eh. xlviii.  THE nOOK OF GENESIS. [en. 'XLVIII. 1---22.