Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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30 but I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt,
and bury me in their burying place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.
31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel
bowed himself upon the bed’s head.
Genesis -48
Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh
1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy
father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Here, Joseph, upon notice of his father's illness, goes to see him; though a man of honour and business, yet he will not fail to show this due respect to his aged father, Ge 48:1. Visiting the sick, to whom we lie under obligations, or may have opportunity of doing good, either for body or soul, is our duty. The sick bed is a proper place both for giving comfort and counsel to others and receiving instruction ourselves. Joseph took his two sons with him, that they might receive their dying grandfather's blessing, and that what they might see in him, and hear from him, might make an abiding impression upon them. Note,
1. It is good to acquaint young people that are coming into the world with the aged servants of God that are going out of it, whose dying testimony to the goodness of God, and the pleasantness of wisdom's ways, may be a great encouragement to the rising generation. Manasseh and Ephraim (I dare say) would never forget what passed at this time.
2. Pious parents are desirous of a blessing, not only for themselves, but for their children. "O that they may live before God!" Joseph had been, above all his brethren, kind to his father, and therefore had reason to expect particular favour from him.