Matthew Henry on Genesis 48:8–end
Here is, I. The blessing with which Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph, which is the more remarkable because the apostle makes such particular mention of it (Heb 11:21), while he says nothing of the blessing which Jacob pronounced on the rest of his sons, though that also was done in faith. Observe here,
1. Jacob was blind for age, Gen 48:10. It is one of the common infirmities of old age. Those that look out at the windows are darkened, Ecc 12:3. It is folly to walk in the sight of our eyes, and to suffer our hearts to go after them, while we know death will shortly close them, and we do not know but some accident between us and death may darken them. Jacob, like his father before him, wh…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 48:13
Joseph took them both--The very act of pronouncing the blessing was remarkable, showing that Jacob's bosom was animated by the spirit of prophecy.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 48:15
He blessed Joseph - The father first, and then the sons afterwards. And this is an additional proof to what has been adduced under Gen 48:12, of Jacob's superiority; for the less is always blessed of the greater.
The God which fed me all my life long - Jacob is now standing on the verge of eternity, with his faith strong in God. He sees his life to be a series of mercies; and as he had been affectionately attentive, provident, and kind to his most helpless child, so has God been unto him; he has fed him all his life long; he plainly perceives that he owes every morsel of food which he has received to the mere mercy and kindness of God.
John Gill on Genesis 48:15
And he blessed Joseph,.... In his sons who were reckoned for him, and became the heads of tribes in his room:
and said, God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk; in whom they believed, whom they professed, and whom they feared, served, and worshipped, and with whom they had communion:
the God which fed me all my long unto this day; who had upheld him in life, provided for him all the necessaries of life, food and raiment, and had followed him with his goodness ever since he had a being, and had fed him as the great shepherd of the flock, both with temporal and spiritual food, being the God of his life, and of his mercies in every sense.
