Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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(1.) Those that have the honour of age must therewith be content to take the burden of it.
(2.) The eye of faith may be very clear even when the eye of the body is very much clouded.
Jacob was very fond of Joseph's sons: He kissed them and embraced them, Ge 48:10. It is common for old people to have a very particular affection for their grand-children, perhaps more than they had for their own children when they were little, which Solomon gives a reason for (Pr 17:6), Children's children are the crown of old men. With what satisfaction does Jacob say here (Ge 48:11), I had not thought to see thy face (having many years given him up for lost), and, lo, God has shown me also thy seed! See here,
(1.) How these two good men own God in their comforts. Joseph says (Ge 48:9), They are my sons whom God has given me, and, to magnify the favour, he adds, "In this place of my banishment, slavery, and imprisonment." Jacob says here, God has shown me thy seed. Our comforts are then doubly sweet to us when we see them coming from God's hand.
(2.) How often God, in his merciful providences, outdoes our expectations, and thus greatly magnifies his favours. He not only prevents our fears, but exceeds our hopes. We may apply this to the promise which is made to us and to our children. We could not have thought that we should have been taken into covenant with God ourselves, considering how guilty and corrupt we are; and yet, lo, he has shown us our seed also in covenant with him.
11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and,
lo, God hath showed me also thy seed.
12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he
bowed himself with his face to the earth.