16 with xlix. 1S) and by Job (xix. 21) to ther shall be greater than he (cf. Numb. i. describe the Dh·ine Rescuer who had delivered 33 with i. 35 ; ii. 19 with ii. 21), and hia them f,\)m ill both temporal and spiritual, seed shall become a multitude of nations- and who was to complete his emancipating literally, shall be a fulncss of nations. In the work by ultimately ransoming them from tho time of llfoses this prediction begnn to realise rower of the grave. The Goel to whom both itself. In the first census which took place in Jacob a.nd Job looked forward, and of whom tho wilderness the tribe of Ephraim ba.d both Moses and the prophets testified, wa.s 40,500 men, while that of Manasseh could Christ (Gal. iii. 11 ; Titus ii. 14 ; l Pet. i. only reckon 32,200; in the second the num- 18)-bless the lads. The singular verb sug- bers received a. temporary alteration, Ephraim gests to Luther the reflection that the writer counting only 82,500, and Manasseh 62,700; "conj1ingit in m10 opcre benediccndi tres per- but after the conquest the ascendancy of sMas, Dcum Palre,n, Deum Pastormn, et Ephraim was restored, so tha.t she easily .Angelum.," from which he draws the obvious assumed the lead among the ten northern conclusion, "sun,t igitur hi tres unus Deus et tribes, a.nd acquired a name and a.n influence unus bc·nedicwr." And let my no.me be only second to that of J uda.h •(cf. Judges iv; named on them, and the name of my fathers 5; v. 14; viii.; xii.). Abraham and Isaac ;-literally, and my name • Yer. 20.-And he (i. e. Ja.cob) blessed them and the name of my fathers shall be nam,ed, in tha.t day, saying, In thee (i. e. in Joseph, thcni, i. e. they shall be counted l)ly sons and who is still identified with his sons) shall the children of my ancestors, though born of Israel (the nation) bless, saying, God (Elo- thee (Calvin, Rosenmiiller, Lawson, Murphy, him, the supreme source of all blessing) make if ordsworth, a.nd others); or, May this name thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh : and he be preserved by them, and the race of Abra- set Ephraim before Manasseh - " in the ham propagated by them! ma:!'. the fathersa.nd position of his hands, and the terms of the I live in them! (Gerlach, Kalisch) ; or, what blessing" (Keil). seems more appropriate than either, May the Yer. 21.-And Israel (Jacob) said unto grace and salvation enjoyed by my fathers Joseph, :Behold, I die: but God (Elohim) =d myself be renewed in them! (Keil, Lange) shall be with you, and bring you again unto -and let them grow into a multitude in the the land of your fathers. "For Joseph and midst of the earth. The original conveys his children a great promise and dispensation" the sense of swarming like the fishes of the (Lange). sea, the ar.a,E >..Eyaµ,vov, i1t; (from which Yer. 22.-Moreover (literally, and) I have comes the term~"'µ a fish, from being so won- given-or, I give (Keil), I will give (Kalisch), derfully prolific), signifying to cover over the preterite being used prophetically as a with a multitude (vide Gesenius, 'Lexicon,' fu~re, or even as a present, the event being sub vocc). regarded, from its certainty, as already ac- Yer. 17.-And when (literally, and) Joseph coJDplished. It is thus not absolutely clear saw that his father laid (or was laying) his that Jacob here alludes to any past transac- right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it tion in his own personal history-to thee one displeased him :-literally, and it was evil i1i portion-literally, one shoulder, or ridge, or his C?JCS ( cf. eh. =viii B)-and (supposing his elevated tract of land, c:;ir:, ; unam parlem father had made a mistake) he held up (or (Yulgate), with which agree several of the took hold of) his father's hand, to remove it ancient versions (Onkelos, Syriac)-.above from Ephre.im's head unto Manasseh's head. thy brethren, which I took-or take (Keil), Ver. 18.-And Joseph said unto his father, or shall take (Kalisch)-out of the hand of Not so, my father: for this is the Jirstborn; the Amorite-a general name for the in- put thy right hand upon his head. "From habitants of Canaan (vide eh. xv. 16)-with .r oseph's behaviour we cannot certainly infer my sword and with my bow. As Scripture that, like Isaac, he loved the firstborn better has preserved no account of any military than the youngest; but be was sorry that exploit in tho history of Jacob such as is here an honour was not given to the eldest which described, the patriarch's language has been l1e would naturally expect, and bestowed on understood as referring to the plot of ground the youngest who did not expect it, and who at Shechem which Jacob J>Urchasedof Hamor would not h;ve been hurt by the want of it" the father of Shechem (eh. xxxiii. 19), and (Lawson). as signifying either that he had captured Yer. 19. -And his fa.ther refused, and it by sword and bow, in the sense that his said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also sons at the bead of his armed retainers shall become a people, and he also shall be had put the inhabitants of the town to the great: but truly (literally, and over against sword, and so taken possession of ihe en tire thal; Cl?~~. the strongly adversative particle, district (Calvin, Rosenrniiller, Murphy); or signifying that which stands in front of, or that, though he had peacefully paid for it, he opposite to, another thing) his younger bro- yet required at e ellbHequent period to recovel" OU. XLVIJI. 1-22.] THE ROOK OF GE~ESIS. 521
H by force of nnne from the Canaanites (Law- represents himself, in the persons of his de- son, Bush, W ordeworth) ; or that after the scendants, as taking from the Amorites by terrible tragedy at Shechem, when God put means of sword a.nd bow, and as intimating B fear upon the B1Irrounding cities, Ja.cob and that the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh his eons etood in the gate of Shechem in the would receive a doul;,le portion of the inherit- armed expectation of a hostile attack, and so ance, the word Cl~~ being prob'.l.bly designed may be said to have taken it by eword and to convey a hint that the tract to be in future bow (Rabbi Solomon, Lyra., Willet). Jt assigned to Joseph's descendants would bo seems, however, better to regard the worde the region round about the ancient city She- as a prophetic utterance pointing forward to chem (Ainsworth, Keil, Kalisch, Lange, &c.). the conquest of Canaan, which Ja.cob here