Final Blessings of Jacob (Israel)

Genesis 48:1–49:33

Genesis 48–49 records Jacob's final acts as patriarch. He blesses Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, then gathers all sons for words that are both assessment and prophecy. The speeches are not flat predictions. They recall character, expose history, and anticipate tribal futures. Jacob's final command concerns burial in Machpelah, linking his death to Abrahamic covenant memory.

Blessing Ephraim and Manasseh

Joseph is told: "Behold, your father is ill." Joseph takes his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and goes to Jacob. Jacob is told: "Your son Joseph has come to you." Israel summons his strength and sits up in bed.

Jacob says to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.'"

Jacob continues: "And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. But your offspring that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance."

Joseph brings his sons near to Jacob. Jacob's eyes are dim with age, and he cannot see well. Joseph brings them near, and Jacob kisses them and embraces them.

Jacob says to Joseph: "I never expected to see your face; and behold, God has let me see your offspring also." Joseph takes his sons from Jacob's knees and bows himself with his face to the earth.

Then Joseph takes his two sons, Ephraim on his right toward Jacob's left, and Manasseh on his left toward Jacob's right, and brings them near to him. But Jacob crosses his hands and puts his right hand on Ephraim's head, who is the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, who is the firstborn.

Jacob blesses Joseph: "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

Joseph sees that his father has laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, and it displeases him. He takes his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Joseph says: "Not this way, my father; since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head."

But Jacob refuses. He says: "I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations."

Jacob blesses them that day, saying: "By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying, 'God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.'" Thus he puts Ephraim before Manasseh.

Jacob intentionally crosses his hands, giving the primary blessing to younger Ephraim over older Manasseh despite Joseph's objection. The younger-over-older pattern seen earlier in Genesis appears again. Many commentators read Genesis 48's hand-crossing as intentional theological symbolism: divine election does not always follow expected social order.

Blessings over the Twelve Sons

Jacob calls his sons and says: "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come."

Jacob addresses each son in turn. His words are poetic and dense, combining moral memory with future orientation. The sons are addressed as tribal ancestors, not only as private individuals.

To Reuben, his firstborn, Jacob says: "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. But unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it—you went up to my couch!"

To Simeon and Levi, Jacob says: "Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel."

To Judah, Jacob says: "Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stoops down; he crouches as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples."

Judah receives leadership and royal imagery. Genesis 49:10 in Judah's oracle has been interpreted in multiple ways across Jewish and Christian traditions, often as a key royal or messianic text.

To Joseph, Jacob says: "Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. The archers have bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him sorely, yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), by the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my ancestors, up to the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers."

Joseph receives expansive blessing language. The other sons receive blessings and assessments as well, each according to his character and future role.

Final Instructions and Death

Jacob finishes his blessings and says to his sons: "I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife. And there I buried Leah—the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites."

When Jacob finishes commanding his sons, he draws up his feet into the bed and breathes his last and is gathered to his people. The patriarch's death is narrated with covenant geography still central. Machpelah burial language keeps covenant land memory alive at the patriarch's death.

What to Notice

Jacob and Israel are both active names. The patriarch is called both Jacob and Israel in this section. Both names are part of his identity. The name change that happened earlier is now fully integrated.
Joseph's two sons receive elevated status. Ephraim and Manasseh are adopted into Jacob's lineage and receive tribal status. This affects the later tribal structure of Israel, as Joseph's line becomes two tribes instead of one.
The Judah oracle becomes especially influential. Jacob's words about Judah—the scepter, the ruler's staff, the obedience of the peoples—become foundational for later messianic interpretation in Jewish and Christian traditions.
Blessing includes moral realism. Calvin emphasizes that Jacob's final words are sober and truthful. He does not flatter his sons; he speaks truthfully about their character and their futures. Reuben is unstable; Simeon and Levi are violent; Judah is a leader. Blessing in Genesis includes moral realism, not sentimental flattening.