Hebrews 11:21

Heb_11:21

Jacob, when he was a dying

The death-bed of Jacob:

In this chapter St.

Paul sets himself to the collecting, from the history of patriarchs and others, examples of the power of faith. Inspired as be was, we may not doubt that the instances which he selects are at least as strong as any which the histories present. Yet they do not always seem so. In many cases, had the selection been left with ourselves, we should not have fixed on the same example as St. Paul; so that we have cases in which what men would account best is not so accounted by Him who readeth the heart. In regard, for instance, to our text: the life of the patriarch Jacob was a singularly eventful one; many and great were the occasions which it furnished for the exercise of faith. Would this, we ask, have been the fact on which an uninspired writer would have fastened when choosing out of the history of Jacob what might best illustrate the faith which the patriarch had in God? Hardly, I think; more especially as Jacob blessed his own sons as well as those of Joseph; so that, even if we fix on the dying scene as most demonstrative of faith, we should probably not have taken the benediction on Ephraim and Manasseh in preference to that on some one of the twelve tribes. Indeed, when you remember that in blessing his son Judah Jacob delivered the illustrious prediction, The sceptre shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come, and thus displayed faith in the promised Messiah, it may not be easy to understand how his faith could be more conspicuous in blessing Josephs sons, seeing that he seems to have predicted their temporal increase and greatness. This, however, it is which we must now endeavour to do. We may not, indeed, be able to prove to you that the selected instance is the strongest which the history furnishes, but we may at all events ascertain that it thoroughly establishes the power of the principle which it is quoted to illustrate. Now there is one very marked point on which we may fasten, to draw from it an illustration of the patriarchs faith; and this is, the adoption of Josephs children for his own--an adoption, you observe, on which the dying man dwells with all possible earnestness; for, not content with having already said, Thy two sons are mine, he makes it part of his final benediction, as though the redeeming Angel could do nothing more glorious for the lads: Let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. And what shall we say of this eagerness of Jacob to engraft into his own family Manasseh and Ephraim? He seems to make it his object, and to represent it as a privilege, that he should take the lads out of the family of Joseph, though that family was then among the noblest in Egypt, and transplant them into his own, though it had no outward distinction but what it derived from its connection with the other. It seems to me, as I stand by the bedside of Jacob, as though two wholly different processions must have passed before his mind--the one a procession of human power and pomp, the other of poverty and shame, though with the favour of God and employment in His service. In the first procession, the procession of splendour and even sovereignty, the sons of Joseph seem born to take part. They had only to remain incorporated among the Egyptians, and theirs, in all human probability, would be the wealth and the majesty which passed with so stately a step before the dying mans vision. In the second procession, the procession of tribulation and hardship, the leading figures are those of Jacobs own children; the failing father discerns Judah and Simeon and Dan amongst the victims of oppression and the wrestlers for liberty. And it is for Jacob to determine whether he shall frame his parting blessing so as to leave Manasseh and Ephraim in the first procession, or so as to transfer them to the second. And was there no temptation to prefer the present to the future--the dignities of earth to the less palpable advantages of being numbered with a people set apart by God? There was but one principle which could have nerved the patriarch for doing as he did; nay, but one which could have justified him therein. Had he not been thoroughly confident in the Word of the Lord; had he not possessed an un-doubting assurance that no amount of temporal advantages could compensate the want of spiritual blessing--that poverty and contempt endured in the service of God were incalculably preferable to opulence and glory enjoyed in the service of sin--he could hardly have been bold enough, and we could hardly have applauded him, in the desire that his own name and the name of his father Isaac might be named upon the lads. But whilst we admit this we equally admit the greatness of the exhibited faith when the expiring patriarch decided for the procession made up of the suffering people of God, and not for that which was composed of the great ones of the earth. You have but to contemplate Jacob as executing a deed by which Manasseh and Ephraim were transferred from a position of almost regal eminence to one of dependence and poverty, and you must all acknowledge that it was by faith--aye, and by faith so conspicuous and illustrious, as that it deserved to be singled out when an apostle was searching through past ages for examples--that it was by faith that Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph. We should further observe the peculiarity of the language which he employs with regard to his Preserver, and his decided preference of the younger brother to the elder, notwithstanding the remonstrance of Joseph. There was illustrious faith in both. He speaks of the Angel which had delivered him from all evil; and desires that this Angel might bless his grandsons. And whom did Jacob mean by this Angel? Certainly no finite, no created being. He speaks of this Angel as God; as having redeemed him from all evil. There is music, there is gospel in this word redeemed. It were hard to persuade me that it had no reference to the finished work of Christ. Redemption from all evil--this redemption attributed to an Angel or Messenger, whose appearance had been that of a man, but in whom the patriarch recognised God--what is this but the New Testament on the page of the Old? But whilst thankful for our own superior advantages, we ought greatly to admire that faith which could apprehend something of the mystery of redemption when there were but yet few and feeble notices of Gods wondrous design; which could trace the movements of a Divine Being in the rare appearance of the Angel of the covenant; which could detect in strange and solemn actions parables of the worlds deliverance from the consequence of the Fall. And thus was Jacobs faith displayed in his parting benediction. Though, as we have said, it was not only in the words that he uttered that Jacob showed faith. There was faith in the disposition of the hands, in the guiding them wittingly, so that the left was on the elders head, the right on the younger. Not, we believe, without a typical design was it so often ordered of God that the younger son should be preferred to the elder. Such a preference was almost characteristic of the earlier dispensations. It occurred so frequently that we can hardly doubt that God designed to fix attention upon it as illustrating in some way His purposes towards the world. And if the preference of the younger to the elder were a type under the earlier dispensations of that great revolution which should follow the introduction of the gospel, does it not add vastly to the exhibition of faith in the patriarch Jacob, that when speaking of the redeeming Angel he should have guided his hands wittingly, and have refused, though entreated, to follow the order of nature, and bless Manasseh and Ephraim according to the birthright? Coupling the words with the action--the mention of a Divine Being, which redeemed him from all evil, with the resolute preference of the younger to the elder--I could almost say that we have the gospel preached, and the effect of the preaching accurately predicted. And I take it as a proof of the faith of Jacob that he persisted in setting Ephraim before Manasseh. His own father, Isaac, had acted differently; for though aware that Jacob, the younger, was to be preferred before Esau, the elder, he still sought to gratify parental partiality, and would have given, had not his purpose been defeated, the blessing to the firstborn; but Jacob betrayed no wavering on this occasion, though it could not have been other than painful to him to thwart the wishes of Joseph, and thus to make his last act on earth one of disappointment to the son whom he so tenderly loved. It was faith which upheld the dying man, and caused his parting word and deed to be so significant. Stand by the dying patriarch. What speaks he of? The Angel which redeemed me from all evil. Nay, whom is he addressing if not the Lord Jesus Christ, though it required indeed a strong vision to see Christs day, then so remote? How guides he his hands, though Joseph would change the direction? He is transferring the birthright, preferring the younger to the elder, and thus predicting not merely what must pain Joseph, as showing Ephraim greater than Manasseh, but what must pain himself, as showing the Jews, his own descendants, giving place to the Gentiles. Ah! see and hear all this, and you will see, I think, that St. Paul, commemorating what was most illustrious in the faith of early days, should have given as one example--By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph. But the apostle adds one more passage, which we have not taken into the account: whilst endeavouring to make you aware of the faith displayed by Jacob, he speaks of the patriarch as worshipping, leaning upon the top of his staff. The fact, first of all, of Jacobs worshipping may be taken as proving his faith. For what has the dying man to do with worshipping unless he be a believer in another state of being; unless he believe that death is not annihilation, but that he is about to appear before God in judgment? In the act of dissolution a man can have nothing to ask of God if he suppose himself about to perish with the brute. Whilst living he would have to worship God, though he were not or might not know himself immortal; but when dying he must at least think it possible that the soul will survive the body, else there is no place whatsoever, no subject for prayer. But it is commemorated of Jacob, not only that he worshipped, but that he worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff. This leaning upon the staff is given as an additional evidence of Jacobs faith. But what made it such? Indeed, this is not easy to answer; but we may conjecture where we can make no pretention to certainty.

Jacob had known much of poverty and trouble; as an exile from his home, he had wandered in strange lands, with only his staff for his companion; and he may have always preserved this staff as a memento of eventful pilgrimage. When appealing earnestly to God before his meeting with Esau, he says, With my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. He contrasts, you see, his former with his present condition. He had then nothing but his staff, whereas now his numerous family and flocks make up two bands. The staff is appealed to as the emblem of his poverty. May it not, then, have been always such to Jacob? May it not have been kept in the days of his prosperity as a memento of the days of his adversity? (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Jacobs deathbed

I. SEE JACOB, WHEN A-DYING, LEANING UPON THE TOP OF HIS STAFF. What a picture of human frailty! What an illustration of the touching words of the ninetieth psalm, that the very strength of old men is labour and sorrow! The glory of young men is their strength; but they have need to consider that in extreme age the keepers of the house tremble, and even the grasshopper is a burden. But we have more here than the patriarchs bodily frailty. He was worshipping; and he had studiously put his body, though in his feebleness it required no small effort to do so--into the best posture for that solemn work. In worship bodily attitude profiteth little. But it is not, therefore, a matter of absolute indifference. God is to be glorified in our bodies as well as in our spirits. The seraphim are represented as covering their faces and their feet with their wings when they adore in His presence.

II. SEE JACOB, WHEN A-DYING, WORSHIPPING. Men generally die as they live; and Jacobs death-bed exercise was in fine keeping with his life. He had his infirmities; but he was a man who, with all his infirmities, had ted a devout life, a life of worship. He raised his altar to God wherever he went; he breathed much of the atmosphere of that better country, the ceaseless employ of which is worship; and now that he was on the verge of it, we behold him worshipping.

1. It doubtless included confession--humble self-denying, self-abasing confession. Some persons talk much of looking back from a death-bed on a well-spent life. The good man, in so far as he has differed from others, knows who made him to differ. But in the review of the past, Oh, how little he sees that he can contemplate with satisfaction; and how much to lay him in the dust, and to strip him of all confidence in the flesh!

2. It doubtless included thanksgiving. What grateful emotions must have fired his bosom, as he thought of all the way in which the Lord had led him, so signally fulfilling the promises made to him.

3. It doubtless included prayer, properly so called, that is, petition, supplication. He had yet to take the solemn step into eternity. And we may be sure that, in view of it, he implored dying grace, with all the importunity of a prince with God.

III. SEE JACOB, WHEN A-DYING, BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH. What is that to us? Much in many ways: in particular, it reads to u q one great lesson. It says to us, Be ye useful to the last. Be ambitious to do good, be ambitious to bless, not only living, but dying. And what opportunities of good-doing does a death-bed like Jacobs furnish? If it shall be our lot to be laid on such a death-bed; if we shall have the possession of our reason; if we shall have freedom from agonising pain; if we shall have the requisite strength of body; if we shall be surrounded by dear friends eager to catch every syllable that shall fall from our lips:--Oh, will it not be well that our words be words of blessing? Will it not be well that they hear them rising to the throne for a blessing on them; and directing, entreating, and charging them to walk in the way in which the blessing runs? Parting words, words uttered in deaths parting, how peculiarly impressive and memorable they are, and what a blessing has often been in them!

IV. SEE JACOB, WHEN A-DYING, EXEMPLIFYING THE POWER OF FAITH. In all that we have now been looking at, we have been witnessing the working, the solace, the joy, the victory, of faith. And a great sight it is, to see faith not only enduring to the end, but supporting and cheering the heart when the earthly house of this tabernacle is falling, and triumphing in the last and solemn hour. (W. Marshall, D. D.)

Dying in faith

I. IT IS AN EMINENT MERCY WHEN FAITH NOT ONLY HOLDS OUT TO THE END, BUT WAXETH STRONG TOWARDS THE LAST CONFLICT WITH DEATH, as it was with Jacob.

II. It is so also to be able by faith, in the close of our pilgrimage, TO RECAPITULATE ALL THE PASSAGES OF OUR LIVES, IN MERCIES, TRIALS, AFFLICTIONS, SO AS TO GIVE GLORY TO GOD WITH RESPECT TO THEM ALL, as Jacob did in this place.

III. THAT WHICH ENLIVENS AND ENCOURAGETH FAITH AS TO ALL OTHER THINGS IS A PECULIAR RESPECT TO THE ANGEL, THE REDEEMER BY WHOM ALL GRACE AND MERCY IS COMMUNICATED TO US.

IV. IT IS OUR DUTY SO TO LIVE IN THE CONSTANT EXERCISE OF FAITH, AS THAT WE MAY RE READY AND STRONG IN IT WHEN WE ARE DYING.

V. Though we should die daily, yet THERE IS A PECULIAR DYING SEASON, WHEN DEATH IS IN ITS NEAR APPROACH, WHICH REQUIRES PECULIAR ACTINGS OF FAITH.

VI. In all acts of Divine worship, whether solemn or occasional, it is our duty TO DISPOSE OUR BODIES INTO SUCH A POSTURE OF REVERENCE AS MAY REPRESENT THE INWARD FRAME OF OUR MINDS. SO did Jacob here, and it is reckoned as an act of duty and faith.

VII. THERE IS AN ALLOWANCE FOR THE INFIRMITIES OF AGE AND SICKNESS, IN OUR OUTWARD DEPORTMENT IN DIVINE WORSHIP, SO THAT THERE BE AN INDULGENCE TO SLOTH OR CUSTOM, BUT THAT AN EVIDENCE OF A DUE REVERENCE OF GOD AND HOLY THINGS BE PRESERVED. These postures which are commended in Jacob would not, it may be, become others in their health and strength. (John Owen, D. D.)

Jacob worshipping on his staff

When he was a dying. Death is a thorough test of faith. Beneath the touch of the skeleton finger shams dissolve into thin air, and only truth remains; unless indeed a strong delusion has been given, and then the spectacle of a presumptuous sinner passing away in his iniquities is one which might make angels weep. The text tells us that the patriarchs faith was firm while he was a-dying, so that he poured forth no murmurs, but plentiful benedictions, as he blessed both the sons of Joseph. May your faith and mine also be such that whenever we shall be a-dying our faith will perform some illustrious exploit that the grace of God may be admired in us.

I. His BLESSING.

1. His blessing the sons of Joseph was an act of faith, because only by faith could he really give a blessing to any one. He believed God. He believed that God spoke by him; and he believed that God would justify every word that he was uttering. Faith is the backbone of the Christians power to do good: we are weak as water till we enter into union with God by faith, and then we are omnipotent. We can do nothing for our fellow-men by way of promoting their spiritual interests if we walk according to the sight of our eyes; but when we get into the power of God, and grasp His promise by a daring confidence, then it is that we obtain the power to bless.

2. Not only the power to bless came to him by faith, but the blessings which he allotted to his grandsons were his upon the same tenure. His legacies were all blessings which he possessed by faith only. He had, as a matter of fact, neither house nor ground in Palestine, and yet he counts it all his own, since a faithful God had promised it to his fathers. Faith is wanted to enable us to point men to the invisible and eternal, and if we cannot do this how can we bless them. We must believe for those we love, and have hope for them; thus shall we have power with God for them, and shall bless them. Our legacies to our sons are the blessings of grace, and our dowries to our daughters are the promises of the Lord.

3. Jacob in his benediction particularly mentioned the covenant. His faith, like the faith of most of Gods people, made the covenant its pavilion of delightful abode, its tower of defence, and its armoury for war. If you have no faith you cannot plead the covenant, and certainly if you cannot plead it for yourselves you cannot urge it with God for a blessing upon your sons and your grandsons. It was by faith in the covenant that the venerable Jacob blest the two sons of Joseph, and without it we can bless no one, for we are not blessed ourselves. Faith is the priest which proclaims the blessing without fear.

4. Jacob showed his faith by blessing Josephs sons in Gods order. Faith prefers grace to talent, and piety to cleverness; she lays her right hand where God lays it, and not where beauty of person or quickness of intellect would suggest. Our best child is that which God calls best; faith corrects reason and accepts the Divine verdict.

5. Notice that he manifested his faith by his distinct reference to redemption. He alone who has faith will pray for the redemption of his children, especially when they exhibit no signs of being in bondage, but are hopeful and amiable.

6. Jacob showed his faith by his assurance that God would be present with his seed. How cheering is the old mans dying expression, made not only to his boys, but concerning all his family. He said, Now I die, but God will be with you. It is very different from the complaints of certain good old ministers when they are dying. They seem to say, When I die the light of Israel will be quenched. I shall die, and the people will desert the truth. When I am gone the standard-bearer will have fallen, and the watchman on the walls will be dead. Many in dying are afraid for the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof; and, sometimes, we who are in good health talk very much in the same fashion as though we were wonderfully essential to the progress of Gods cause.

II. HE WORSHIPPED BY FAITH.

1. First, while he was dying he offered the worship of gratitude. How pleasing is the incident recorded in the tenth and eleventh verses. Ah, yes, we shall often have to say, O Lord, I had not thought that Thou wouldst do as much as this, but Thou hast gone far beyond what I asked or even thought.

2. He offered the worship of testimony when he acknowledged Gods goodness to him all his life.

3. Notice, too, how reverently he worships the covenant messenger with the adoration of reverend love. We owe all things to the redeeming Angel of the covenant. The evils which He has warded off from us are terrible beyond conception, and the blessings He has brought us are rich beyond imagination. We must adore Him, and, though we see Him not, we must in life and in death by faith worship Him with lowly love.

4. If you read on through the dying scene of Jacob you will notice once more how he worshipped with the adoration of earnest longing, for just after he had pronounced a blessing on the tribe of Dan the old man seemed thoroughly exhausted, but instead of fainting, instead of uttering a cry of pain and weakness, he solemnly exclaims, I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord.

III. His ATTITUDE. He worshipped on the top of his staff--leaning on it, supporting himself upon it. In Genesis you read that he bowed himself upon the beds head. It is very easy to realise a position in which both descriptions would be equally true. He could sit upon the bed, and lean on the top of his staff at the same time. But why did he lean on his staff? I think besides the natural need which he had of it, because of his being old, he did it emblematically. That staff was his life companion, the witness with himself of the goodness of the Lord, even as some of us may have an old Bible, or a knife, or a chair which are connected with memorable events of our lives. But what did that staff indicate? Let us hear what Jacob said at another time. When he stood before Pharaoh he exclaimed, Few and evil have been the days of my pilgrimage. What made him use that word pilgrimage? Why, because upon his mind there was always the idea of his being a pilgrim. He had been literally so during the early part of his life, wandering hither and thither; and now, though he has been seventeen years in Goshen, he keeps the old staff, and he leans on it to show that he had always been a pilgrim and a sojourner like his fathers, and that he was so still. While he leans on that staff he talks to Joseph, and he says, Do not let my bones lie here. I have come hither in the providence, of God, but I do not belong here. I am in Egypt, but I am not of it. Take my bones away. Do not let them lie here, for if they do, my sons and daughters will mingle with the Egyptians, and that must not be, for we are a distinct nation. God has chosen us for Himself, and we must keep separate. To make my children see this, lo, here I die with my pilgrim staff in my band. The longer you live the more let this thought grow upon you: Give me my staff. I must begone. Poor world, thou art no rest for me; I am not of thy children, I am an alien and a stranger. My citizenship is in heaven. Singular enough is it that each descendant of Jacob came to worship on the top of his staff at last, for on the paschal supper night, when the blood was sprinkled on the lintel and the side posts, they each one ate the lamb with their loins girt and with a staff in his hand. The supper was a festival of worship, and they ate it each one leaning on his staff, as those that were in haste to leave home for a pilgrimage through the wilderness. (C. H.Spurgeon.)

Jacob worshipping

I. THE TIME HAD COME WHEN LIFE NEEDED A STAFF. How strange it seems, when we can walk, leap, run, when the agile limbs can obey the swift behest of the will, to think that the time will come when these limbs will refuse their easy and familiar work. A staff! how much it suggests to us! Leaning. In many senses a staff seems to hurt our pride, and it is very natural not to like to take to spectacles, or to a staff till we are quite obliged. Yet leaning is beautiful in many senses, as on the staff of Christian friendship, or the staff of Gods precious promises. Yes I Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Say what we will, the Bible keeps its old place in this respect. You will lean on it, rest on it, and the staff will be all-sufficient for you as it has been for multitudes before you.

II. THE WORSHIPPING SPIRIT KNOWS NO SEASON OF DECLINE. It is most vigorous in age. Well has Montgomery said, We enter heaven with prayer. Worship is the highest occupation of which our natures are capable. How it chastens the mind, cools the passions, awakens the memories of mercies past and inspires confidence for the time to come. When other occupations lose not only their interest, but are impossible to us--when we can no more journey, study, toil; in the truest sense, we can worship still. I see the grey-headed old man making an end of commanding his sons, about to yield up the ghost, not to perish, but to yield up the spirit. There is one thing he still can do: no longer can he put the lamb or the bullock on the altar--no longer can he offer the burnt-offering, but he can lift up his heart to God; the incense of prayer can go up to the open gate of the heaven he is so soon about to enter. And Jacob worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.

III. THE PRINCIPLE WHICH IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN UNDERLYING HIS WORSHIP. By faith! Yes! the faith which is older than the law shone forth in him. He takes his place in the list of Gods heroes. By faith! And this is the essence of worship. Worship is not mysterious fear before an unknown Power. Worship is not a matter of form, it is a matter of faith. Places may help us by their solitude or silence. Associations may help us by ridding us of worldly influences, but they can do no more. Prayer is a matter of personal faith, and in this as in all else, without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith brings before us a God who is, and who is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Faith rests in the revelation of Gods Fatherhood, and draws near to Him, through the way of His appointment--in Jacobs day by the foreshadowing sacrifice, and in these last days byHim who once in the end of the world has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. But faith feels worship to be real, intensely real,

IV. THE PERSONS HE IS SAID TO HAVE BLESSED. Not Joseph; but both the sons of Joseph. It is exceedingly wonderful to see how tenderly grandchildren are treated. On a summer visit I felt very much touched by seeing hour after hour a grandfather leading a little blind grandchild about the garden lawn and through the fields. It seemed as though there was a wonderful confidence of love between the child and the old man. There is something marvellously wise in the ordination of family life. We cannot live in mere masses or organisations, we must take the God-way! It is a good thing for children to have incentives to courage, manliness, and success in this life as earnest citizens; but how much better it is to feel that they may be soldiers of the Cross, that the posts we have so poorly occupied they may fill, and that the blessing which has followed us all our days will be with them, making them rich indeed, and adding no sorrow. On our escutcheons men may read no connection with the Plantagenets, but they may read thereon: Happy is the family that is in such a case. Yea, happy is that family whose God is the Lord.

V. THE LIFE HE WAS LEAVING BEHIND HIM. It is all very well, I hear some say, to give us this touching close to Jacobs life; but what about the phases of his history, weak, wicked, and contemptible. Think, men say; do not gloss over this history! True all you say is true. But this is also true, that blessings won by sin are miseries even here, so exquisitely is the world governed by moral law. And then because these were the sins of his youth, are we to deny him the honour of a noble fatherhood, or a beautiful old age? God forbid! where should we be if the critics were as severe on us? We too have erred, we have turned every one to his own way, and as the altars of Jacob prophesied of the Great Redemption, so now in the end of days Christ has borne the iniquities of us all.

VI. Some QUESTIONS NATURALLY SUGGEST THEMSELVES.

1. What is worship to us? Is it duty or delight? If earthly fellowship has in it some of the highest joys of which our nature is capable, shall not the heavenly fellowship immeasurably transcend these?

2. What hinders worship? Not want of time. No! Love never pleads this. Love is as swift to seize its opportunities as it is apt in making them.

3. What fosters worship? Ah! Trials foster a spirit of prayer. Would it not be well if we cultivated more of the spirit of worship in lifes day-time? (W. M.Statham, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. When he was a dying—Our author blends two successive scenes in Jacob’s history: Gen_47:28-31; Gen_48:8-14. In the former, Jacob, feeling that he was in a dying condition, called for Joseph, and exacted from him an oath to convey his body, when dead, to Canaan. Then it is added, “Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.” It is this phrase which our author, in accordance with the Septuagint, interprets, that he “worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff,” Heb_11:21. The reason of this discrepancy is this. The same Hebrew word, according as it is differently vowelled, may read either staff or bed. By the vowel points of our present Hebrew Bibles (which points were invented and inserted in the fifth century of our era) it reads as in the English translation. But our author, probably correctly, follows the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew made two hundred and fifty years before Christ. Stuart plausibly argues that the eastern bed has no “head,” and forcibly adds that no such phrase as bed’s head occurs in the Old Testament. Jacob, having obtained his oath from Joseph, devoutly thanked God, feebly standing, as an old man, and leaning upon the top of his staff. Our author connects this event with the dying blessing of his sons by Jacob, because the whole formed one dying prophecy of Israel’s future in Canaan.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Heb_11:21. Leaning upon the top of his staff.—Probably meaning “upon the head of the bed”; only this assumes more of a bedstead than was usual among tribal Eastern people. The LXX. rendered mitteh, staff, instead of mittah, bed. The idea is that aged Jacob, rising from his bed, and unable to support himself, leaned on the staff associated with his pilgrimage, and bowed over the staff in an act of worship. The Vulgate renders, “he adored the top of Joseph’s staff”; and Cornelius à Lapide quotes the sentence in defence of image-worship.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Heb_11:21-22

Faith in the Hour of Death.—The illustrations of the practical power of faith would have been manifestly incomplete if no instances had been given to show how it was retained, and made to bring strength and cheer to men, in the closing and sternest experience of life. Two illustrations may suffice.

I. Faith for the family maintained in the death-hour.—This is illustrated in the dying acts and words of the patriarch Jacob. He had held through a chequered life a firm faith in God’s promise concerning his family. Could the bodily weariness and weakness and pain of the death-time cloud that faith? Could the solemnity and mystery of the death-time overstrain the faith? Must a man lose that which has brightened and ennobled his whole life when his feet touch the waters of the river of death? Will he then despair concerning those who are dear to him, as if with his going all their hopes were going? From Jacob’s example we learn that faith may even grow brighter and stronger in the hour and article of death.

1. Jacob was so positive about the future of his sons that he could even anticipate their locations and characteristics and history, when they reached Canaan, in his prophetic song concerning them.

2. Jacob could even see the future for Joseph’s sons with such certainty that he could discriminate between them, and point out which would prove the greater. That grip of God for him, and God for his family, which faith gave Jacob, he held fast right up to and right through his death-hour. His God was the God of the generations to come.

II. Faith for the nation maintained in the death-hour.—This is illustrated in Joseph, who “gave commandment concerning his bones.” The associations of Jacob’s life made him think along family lines. The associations of Joseph made him think along national lines. The faith that saw the people of Israel a settled and independent nation was an advanced faith. Did it stand the strain of the death-hour? Very possibly Joseph, as a statesman, anticipated the troubles that were coming, but he died in absolute assurance that God would fulfil His word, make Israel a nation, and settle it in Canaan.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

Heb_11:21. Reminiscences of Jacob’s Staff.—“Leaning upon the top of his staff.” It would seem that one particular staff had been Jacob’s companion through many years, possibly during his whole life of manhood. Indeed, that staff was as characteristic of Jacob as the rod was of Moses, and the mantle of Elijah. It was only an ordinary shepherd’s staff. Sometimes such a staff is bent into a crook, but more commonly it is a long, stout, straight, oak stick, often cased at its lower end in iron, to beat off the thief or wild beast. This staff to help, and the club to protect, are the staff and the rod with which God comforts His people (Psa_23:4). (David, when advancing towards Goliath, carried with him his shepherd’s staff. Indeed, the staff was inseparable from the shepherd; it was with him night and day.) Associate Jacob’s staff with the main incidents of Jacob’s chequered and changeful life: e.g.

1. The staff in the simple home-life.

2. The staff in his eventful journeying.

3. The staff in his hard-working and perilous life with Laban.

4. The staff laid aside for the great struggle at Peniel.

5. The staff shown to the reconciled brother.

6. The staff taken down into Egypt.

7. The staff steadying trembling and aged limbs. (An address to children might be constructed by making the “staff” tell the story of Jacob’s life.)

Heb_11:22. The Witness of a Dead Man’s Bones.—Joseph’s body was embalmed. But a good point may be made by contrasting the idea which an Egyptian had when he arranged that his body should be embalmed, with the idea that Joseph had in arranging for the preservation of his bones. The Egyptian tried to secure some sort of immortality. Joseph had no merely personal aim. He wanted the presence of his mummy to be a constant reminder of God’s promises, a constant testimony to God’s faithfulness, and a constant inspiration to loyalty and trust and hope.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 11

Heb_11:21. Jacob’s Blessing of his Grandsons.—A few days previous to his death, the late Rev. Dr. Belfrage, of Falkirk, hearing his infant son’s voice in an adjoining room, desired that he should be brought to him. When the child was lifted into the bed, the dying father placed his hands upon his head, and said, in the language of Jacob, “The God before whom my fathers did walk, the God who fed me all my life long to this day, the Angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the lad!” When the boy was removed, he added, “Remember and tell John Henry of this; tell him of these prayers, and how earnest I was that he might become early acquainted with his father’s God.”—Whitecross.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

11:21 Jacob passed the ritual blessing on to Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen 48:8-22). • bowed in worship: Gen 47:31. The phrase as he leaned on his staff comes from the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Heb 11:21. Ἀποθνήσκων, when dying) near death; Gen 47:29.—τῶν υἱῶν Ἰωσὴφ, the sons of Joseph) He also blessed his own sons, Genesis 49, and divided the land of Canaan among them, as if it had been already in their possession; but the blessing of the sons of Joseph, on both of whom he laid his hands, had many things extraordinary; for he knew his own sons long ago; whereas he could not distinguish the sons of Joseph by sight, and yet he distinguished them by faith, Gen 48:10; and, from being grand-children, he declared them to be his sons, when he had transferred the right of primogeniture to Joseph, and had adopted his two children.—καὶ προσεκύνησεν) and worshipped the Lord; Gen 47:31. The apostle has respect to that very thing which Moses mentioned as having been done by Israel, when the oath of Joseph gave him the assurance that he would be buried in the Land of Promise; comp. Heb 11:22: whence the mind and body of the godly old man were raised.—ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ῥάβδου αὐτοῦ) So plainly the LXX., in the passage quoted above, on the top of his staff. They read הַמַּטֶּה for that which is read in the Hebrew הַמִּטָּה, τῆς κλίνης, of the bed; as we find it also in the Chaldee Paraphrast, Aquila, and Symmachus. Jacob’s bed is also mentioned immediately after, Gen 48:2; Gen 49:33; and yet we may suppose that even then Jacob had a staff at his hand, for that is usual in the case of weak old men. Hombergkius compares Homer, who brings in his heroes speaking, and commonly uses the expression, σκήπτρῳ ἐρεισάμενος, leaning on his staff or sceptre; but the same individual afterwards translates the word προσεκύνησεν, bent himself, which weakens the sense. Moses does not mention Jacob speaking, much less standing, during that act of worship. There was greater reason for Moses mentioning both the bed and the head of the bed, than for his mentioning the rod and the top of the rod. For in like manner, in 1Ki 1:47, King David worshipped on his bed: and Jacob, having slightly changed that position of body in which, reclining, he had received the oath of Joseph, sworn on his thigh [Gen 47:29], and having turned his face from the other part of the bed and towards the top, where the bolster is (ראש ἄκρον, the top of a mountain, of a wall, etc.), seems on his knees, and with collected strength to have worshipped, as in Gen 48:2. However he might on the bed itself support his side or arm with a staff. “Thus some writers of both the Old and New Testament are accustomed to supply what has been omitted by others, and, as opportunity offers, to insert some things from the tradition of their ancestors, which were not much known in the course of ages.”—Surenhusius. Whether the apostle knew, from divine or human evidence, that the circumstance concerning the staff also was true, or considered that it made no difference in the main facts, he rightly retains the reading of the LXX., as afterwards at Heb 11:23.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb_11:21. The conduct of Jacob, Genesis 48, analogous to the fact adduced Heb_11:20. Here, too, the blessing related to the future, and in like manner as Heb_11:20, to the pre-eminence of the younger son (Ephraim) over the elder (Manasseh).

ἀποθνήσκων] when he was dying. Reference to Gen_47:31 : ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποθνήσκω.

καὶ προσεκύνησεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ῥάβδου αὐτοῦ] and he worshipped (bowing) upon the top of his staff, i.e. in that from weakness he supported himself with his face resting upon the top of his staff. Addition from LXX. Gen_47:31 (inexactly referred to this place), for the bringing out of the solemn, devotional frame of Jacob in uttering this benediction [the same spirit being breathed in Gen_49:18]. In the Hebrew the words read: וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ יִשׂרָאֵל עַל־רֹאשׁ הַמִּטָּה (i.e. according to Tuch: and Israel leaned back upon the head of the bed; but, more correctly, according to Knobel: and Israel bowed himself upon the head of the couch, inasmuch as he had before, during his conversation with Joseph, been sitting upright upon his couch (comp. Gen_48:2), but now leaned forward to the upper end thereof, and blessed God for the granting of the last wish). The LXX., however, read the vowels הַמַּטֶּה, and their translation was followed by our author in this passage as elsewhere. Strangely does Hofmann perceive in the subordinate particular καὶ προσεκύνησεν κ.τ.λ., a second thing adduced as proving the faith of Jacob. The first is, according to him, Jacobs last testament, the second his departure from life (!).

The supposition that τῷ Ἰωσήφ is to be supplemented to προσεκύνησεν (so Chrysostom: τουτέστι καὶ γέρων ὢν ἤδη προσεκύνει τῷ Ἰωσήφ, τὴν παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ προσκύνησιν δηλῶν τὴν ἐσομένην αὐτῷ; Theodoret, Photius in Oecumenius, Theophylact, and others), is, equally with the view akin thereto, that αὐτοῦ is to be referred to Ἰωσήφ, and ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ῥάβδου αὐτοῦ is to be regarded as the object to προσεκύνησεν (so the Vulgate: et adoravit fastigium virgae ejus; Primasius: virgae ejus i. e. virgae Jos.; Oecumenius: τοσοῦτον … ἐπίστευσε τοῖς ἐσομένοις, ὅτι καὶ προσεκύνησε τῇ ῥάβδῳ, δοκῶν ὁρᾶν τὰ ἐσόμενα; Clarius, Bisping, Reuss: Jacob, after having received the oath of Joseph, bowed (sinclina) towards the head of the latters staff, in token of submission, that is to say, in order solemnly to acknowledge Joseph as head of the family. The staff is the symbol of power; and others), to be rejected as untenable. The first-named has against it the fact, that in that which precedes, the discourse is not of Joseph himself, but of his sons; the latter, that the making of ἐπί τι a note of object to προσκυνεῖν is opposed to all the usage of the language.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jacob.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

both the sons--Greek, "each of the sons" (Gen 47:29; Gen 48:8-20). He knew not Joseph's sons, and could not distinguish them by sight, yet he did distinguish them by faith, transposing his hands intentionally, so as to lay his right hand on the younger, Ephraim, whose posterity was to be greater than that of Manasseh: he also adopted these grandchildren as his own sons, after having transferred the right of primogeniture to Joseph (Gen 48:22).

and worshipped--This did not take place in immediate connection with the foregoing, but before it, when Jacob made Joseph swear that he would bury him with his fathers in Canaan, not in Egypt. The assurance that Joseph would do so filled him with pious gratitude to God, which he expressed by raising himself on his bed to an attitude of worship. His faith, as Joseph's (Heb 11:22), consisted in his so confidentially anticipating the fulfilment of God's promise of Canaan to his descendants, as to desire to be buried there as his proper possession.

leaning upon the top of his staff-- Gen 47:31, Hebrew and English Version, "upon the bed's head." The Septuagint translates as Paul here. JEROME justly reprobates the notion of modern Rome, that Jacob worshipped the top of Joseph's staff, having on it an image of Joseph's power, to which Jacob bowed in recognition of the future sovereignty of his son's tribe, the father bowing to the son! The Hebrew, as translated in English Version, sets it aside: the bed is alluded to afterwards (Gen 48:2; Gen 49:33), and it is likely that Jacob turned himself in his bed so as to have his face toward the pillow, Isa 38:2 (there were no bedsteads in the East). Paul by adopting the Septuagint version, brings out, under the Spirit, an additional fact, namely, that the aged patriarch used his own (not Joseph's) staff to lean on in worshipping on his bed. The staff, too, was the emblem of his pilgrim state here on his way to his heavenly city (Heb 11:13-14), wherein God had so wonderfully supported him. Gen 32:10, "With my staff I passed over Jordan, and now I am become," &c. (compare Exo 12:11; Mar 6:8). In Kg1 1:47, the same thing is said of David's "bowing on his bed," an act of adoring thanksgiving to God for God's favor to his son before death. He omits the more leading blessing of the twelve sons of Jacob; because "he plucks only the flowers which stand by his way, and leaves the whole meadow full to his readers" [DELITZSCH in ALFORD].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 21. Blessed both the sons of Joseph] That is, Ephraim and Manasseh. See the account and the notes. Ge 48:5, c.

Worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff] This subject is particularly considered in the note, See "Ge 47:31".

It appears, that at the time Joseph visited his father he was very weak, and generally confined to his couch, having at hand his staff either that with which he usually supported his feeble body, or that which was the ensign of his office, as patriarch or chief of a very numerous family. The ancient chiefs, in all countries, had this staff or sceptre continually at hand. See Homer throughout. It is said, Ge 48:2, that when Joseph came to see his father Jacob, who was then in his last sickness, Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. Still I conceive he had his staff or sceptre at hand; and while sitting upon the bed, with his feet on the floor, he supported himself with his staff. When Joseph sware to him that he should be carried up from Egypt, he bowed himself on his bed's head, still supporting himself with his staff, which probably with this last act he laid aside, gathered up his feet, and reclined wholly on his couch. It was therefore indifferent to say that he worshipped or bowed himself on his staff or on his bed's head. But as שחה shachah signifies, not only to bow, but also to worship, because acts of adoration were performed by bowing and prostration; and as מטה mittah, a bed, by the change of the vowel points becomes matteh, a staff, hence the Septuagint have translated the passage Και προσεκυνησεν Ισραηλ επι το ακρον της ῥαβδου αυτου· And Israel bowed or worshipped on the head of his staff. This reading the apostle follows here literatim.

Wretched must that cause be which is obliged to have recourse to what, at best, is an equivocal expression, to prove and support a favourite opinion. The Romanists allege this in favour of image worship. This is too contemptible to require confutation. To make it speak this language the Rheims version renders the verse thus: By faith Jacob dying, blessed every one of the sons of Joseph, and adored the top of his rod. A pretty object of adoration, indeed, for a dying patriarch! Here the preposition επι upon, answering to the Hebrew על al, is wholly suppressed, to make it favour the corrupt reading of the Vulgate. This preposition is found in the Hebrew text, in the Greek version of the Seventy, the printed Greek text of the New Testament, and in every MS. yet discovered of this epistle. It is also found in the Syriac, AEthiopic, Arabic, and Coptic: in which languages the connection necessarily shows that it is not an idle particle: and by no mode of construction can the text be brought to support image worship, any more than it can to support transubstantiation.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. By faith Jacob, etc. It was the Apostle’s object to attribute to faith whatever was worthy of remembrance in the history of the people: as, however, it would have been tedious to recount everything, he selected a few things out of many, such at this. For the tribe of Ephraim was so superior to the rest, that they in a manner did lie down under its shade; for the Scripture often includes the ten tribes under this name. And yet Ephraim was the younger of the two sons of Joseph, and when Jacob blessed him and his brother, they were both young. What did Jacob observe in the younger, to prefer him to the first born? Nay, when he did so, his eyes were dim with age, so that he could not see. Nor did he lay his right hand by chance on the head of Ephraim, but he crossed his hands, so that he moved his right hand to the left side. Besides, he assigned to them two portions, as though he was now the Lord of that land, from which famine had driven him away. There was nothing here agreeable to reason; but faith ruled supreme. If, then, the Jews wish to be anything, they should glory in nothing else, but in faith.

And worshipped on the top, etc. This is one of those places from which we may conclude that the points were not formerly used by the Hebrews; for the Greek translators could not have made such a mistake as to put staff here for a bed, if the mode of writing was then the same as now. No doubt Moses spoke of the head of his couch, when he said על ראש המטה but the Greek translators rendered the words, “On the top of his staff” as though the last word was written, mathaeh. The Apostle hesitated not to apply to his purpose what was commonly received: he was indeed writing to the Jews; but they who were dispersed into various countries, had changed their own language for the Greek. And we know that the Apostles were not so scrupulous in this respect, as not to accommodate themselves to the unlearned, who had as yet need of milk; and in this there is no danger, provided readers are ever brought back to the pure and original text of Scripture. But, in reality, the difference is but little; for the main thing was, that Jacob worshipped, which was an evidence of his gratitude. He was therefore led by faith to submit himself to his son.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(21) Both the sons.—Rather, each of the sons. The separate character of the two blessings is thus brought out (Gen_48:14-19). (See the last Note.) In the case of the two events mentioned in this verse the order of time is reversed, probably that the blessing of Jacob may immediately follow the similar record of Heb_11:20.

And worshipped.—The incident referred to will be found in Gen_47:31. After receiving from Joseph a promise, confirmed by oath, that he shall be buried with his fathers, “Israel bowed himself upon” (or, worshipped towards) “the bed’s head.” In the LXX. and in the Targums the words are understood as denoting an act of worship. The Greek translators have taken the last word of the Hebrew verse to denote “staff” (Gen_32:10), not “bed,” the words which bear these different meanings differing very slightly in form. The whole clause is given here as it stands in the LXX., the difference between the renderings being immaterial for the purpose which the writer had in view. The quotation of the familiar words serves to recall the scene, and brings before us Israel’s thankful and devout satisfaction when assured that he should rest with his fathers in the land of Canaan; by this, at the point of death, he expressed his faith in the promise by which Abraham and his seed received Canaan as their inheritance.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. both the sons] Rather, “each of the sons.” He made a marked difference between them (Gen_48:17-19).

worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff] In this verse there is an allusion to two separate events. The first is the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen_48:1-20); the other an earlier occasion (Gen_47:29-31). In our version it is rendered “And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head,” but in the LXX. and Peshito as here, it is “upon the top of his staff.” The reason for the variation is that having no vowel points the LXX. understood the word to be matteh, “staff,” not mittah, “bed,” as in Gen_48:2. If they were right in this view, the passage means that Jacob, rising from his bed to take the oath from Joseph, supported his aged limbs on the staff, which was a type of his pilgrimage (Gen_32:10), and at the end of the oath bowed his head over the staff in sign of thanks and reverence to God. The Vulgate. (here following the Itala) erroneously renders it adoravit fastigium virgae ejus, Jacob “adored the top of his (Joseph’s) staff,” and the verse has been quoted (e.g. by Cornelius a Lapide) in defence of image-worship. Yet in Gen_47:31 the Vulgate has “adoravit Deum, conversus ad lectuli caput.” Probably all that is meant is that, being too feeble to rise and kneel or stand, Jacob “bowed himself upon the head of his couch” in an attitude of prayer, just as the aged David did on his deathbed (1Ki_1:47).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By faith Moses, when he was born,.... Which is to be understood, not of the faith of Moses, but of the faith of his parents, at the time of his birth; which was when Pharaoh had published an edict, ordering every male child to be cast into the river; but instead of obeying this order, Moses was hid three months of his parents; that is, in his father's house, as it is said in Act 7:20 and is here expressed in the Ethiopic version. According to the Targumist (k), his mother went with him but six months, at the end of which he was born, and that she hid him three months, which made up the nine, the time in which a woman usually goes with child; and after that she could conceal him no longer: the hiding of him is here ascribed to both his parents, though in Exo 2:2 it is represented as the act of his mother; which, no doubt, was done, with the knowledge, advice, and consent of his father; and the Septuagint there renders it, "they hid him"; though the order of the history makes it necessary that it should be read in the singular. Parents ought to take care of their children; and persons may lawfully hide themselves, or others, from the cruelty of tyrants, and that as long as they can, for their safety; and this was so far from being wrong in the parents of Moses, that it is commended, as an instance of faith: they believed the promise in general, that God would deliver the people of Israel; they believed this to be about the time of their deliverance, and had some intimation, that this child in particular would be the deliverer, because they saw he was a proper child; not only of a goodly and beautiful countenance, but that he was peculiarly grateful and acceptable to God; they perceived something remarkable in him, which to them was a token that he would be the deliverer of God's people, and therefore they hid him; See Gill on Act 7:20.

And they were not afraid of the king's commandment; nor did they observe it, for it was contrary to nature, and to the laws of God, and to the promise of God's multiplying of that people, and to their hopes of deliverance: there is a great deal of courage and boldness in faith; and though faith may be weakened, it cannot be lost; and a weak faith is taken notice of, as here; for though they feared not at first, they seem to be afraid afterwards; but when God designs to work deliverance, nothing shall prevent.

(k) Jonathan ben Uzziel in Exod. ii. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.

Ver. 21. When he was a dying] The Spirit’s motions are then many times quickest when natural motions are slowest; most sensible when the body begins to be senseless; most lively when the saints lie dying. The sun shines most amiably toward the descent. The rivers, the nearer they run to the sea, the sooner they are met by the tide. So here.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By faith Jacob, when he was a dying - Gen 47:31; 48:1-20. That is, when he was about to die. He saw his death near when he pronounced this blessing on Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph.

And worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff - This is an exact quotation from the Septuagint in Gen 47:31. The English version of that place is, “and Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head,” which is a proper translation, in the main, of the word מטּה miTTah. That word, however, with different vowel points - מטּה maTTeh, means a branch, a bough, a rod, a staff, and the translators of the Septuagint have so rendered it. The Masoretic points are of no authority, and either translation, therefore, would be proper. The word rendered “head” in Gen 47:31 - “bed’s head” - ראשׁ ro'sh, means properly head, but may there mean the top of anything, and there is no impropriety in applying it to the head or top of a staff. The word rendered in Gen 47:31 as “bowed” - וישׁתחו wayishtachuw - implies properly the idea of “worshipping.” It is bowing, or prostration for the purpose of worship or homage.

Though the Septuagint and the apostle here have, therefore, given a somewhat different version from that commonly given of the Hebrew, and sustained by the Masoretic pointing, yet it cannot be demonstrated that the version is unauthorized, or that it is not a fair translation of the Hebrew. It has also the probabilities of the case in its favour. Jacob was tenderly affected in view of the goodness of God, and of the assurance that he would be conveyed from Egypt when he died, and buried in the land of his fathers. Deeply impressed with this, nothing was more natural than that the old man should lean reverently forward and incline his head upon the top of his staff, and adore the covenant faithfulness of his God. Such an image is much more natural and probable than that he should “bow upon his bed’s head” - a phrase which at best is not very intelligible. If this be the true account, then the apostle does not refer here to what was done when he “blessed the sons of Joseph,” but to an act expressive of strong faith in God which had occurred just before. The meaning then is, “By faith when about to die he blessed the sons of Joseph; and by faith also he reverently bowed before God in the belief that when he died his remains would be conveyed to the promised land, and expressed his gratitude in an act of worship, leaning reverently on the top of his staff.” The order in which these things are mentioned is of no consequence, and thus the whole difficulty in the case vanishes. Both the acts here referred to were expressive of strong confidence in God.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Jacob....worshipping the top [8] of Joseph’s rod, or staff of command, or of his sceptre. See Genesis xlvii. Jacob, by bowing to Joseph and his sceptre, acknowledged and reverenced the power of Joseph, whom Pharao called the saviour of the world: and it is probable that Jacob, by the spirit of prophecy, knew Joseph to be a figure of Christ, and his power to be a figure of the spiritual power of the Messias. (Witham) --- The apostle here follows the ancient Greek Bible of the seventy interpreters [the Septuagint], (which translates in this manner, Genesis xlvii. 31.) and alleges this fact of Jacob, in paying a relative honour and veneration to the top of the rod or sceptre of Joseph, as to a figure of Christ’s sceptre and kingdom, as an instance and argument of his faith. But some translators, who are no friends to this relative honour, have corrupted the text, by translating it, he worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff; as if this circumstance of leaning upon his staff were any argument of Jacob’s faith, or worthy the being thus particularly taken notice of by the Holy Ghost: (Challoner) Besides, if Jacob’s staff, and not Joseph’s rod or sceptre, had been spoken of, the Greek would have been Greek: autou, suæ, not Greek: autou, ejus: but this relative honour or worship is not pleasing to them.

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Adoravit fastigium virgæ ejus, Greek: prosekunesen epi to akron tes rabdon autou epi does not change the signification. See St. John Chrysostom and Estius.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph: Jacob did not degenerate from his progenitors, but by the same excellent faith (being heir to the birthright and blessing, by God’s appointment, and his father’s confirmation, as Gen 28:1,3,4) doth, as a grandfather and a prophet, near expiring, weak in body, but strong in faith, bless Joseph, and each of his sons, Gen 48:15-20, preferring Ephraim the younger before Manasseh the elder, by laying his right hand on his head, and his left on the other’s; and so adopts them to be his children, gives them the blessing of the covenant, as to their persons, and the inheritance of two tribes amongst his sons, as belonging to Joseph, as his birthright, Gen 49:22-26. These by faith he foretold, and applied particularly to each of them from God himself through prayer.

And worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff: another effect of his faith, is his worshipping God, having bequeathed his body to the burial in a firm expectation of the promised inheritance, as the history clears, Gen 47:29-31; 48:21,22. For having sent for Joseph, he raiseth up himself on the pillow at the bed’s head, and for his support used his staff, leaning on the head of it, when in faith he declares his will to his son Joseph, and binds him by an oath to bury him in Machpelah in Canaan, with Abraham and Isaac, heirs of the same promise, as an earnest and handsel of the twelve tribes’ possessing it; which Joseph having solemnly sworn to him, Jacob bowed himself and worshipped, lifting up his heart to God in thankfulness for his continual providence in the gradual accomplishment of his promise to the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This he did

by faith, adoring his sovereign Lord and Saviour by his humbly bowing before him. There was no need of faith to bow to Joseph, who was inferior to Jacob, and blessed by him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

By faith Jacob, when he was a-dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. Here two distinct incidents are referred to, both at the close of Jacob"s life. That first mentioned, the blessing of the sons of Joseph, (Gen_48:2) closely resembles the dying act of Isaac already spoken of, and has a similar significance. In both cases, too, human intention is overruled, in that the younger son obtains the higher blessing; and each patriarch accepts alike the Divine intimation to this effect, thus further evincing faith in a power and a will above his own. The latter part of the verse, "and worshipped," etc., is quoted from Gen_47:31, and refers to a previous instance of the dying Jacob"s faith, in his charge to Joseph to bury him with his fathers in the land of promise. The reversal in the text of the historical order of the two instances may be because the one referred to first is cognate with the instance of Isaac"s faith which has gone before, the other with that of Joseph"s which follows. For the benedictions of Isaac and Jacob, when a-dying, expressed faith in revelations made to them about the several races of their future seed; the deathbed charges of Jacob and Joseph expressed faith in the chosen seed"s inheritance of the Promised Land. Though in the verse before us Jacob"s charge to Joseph, with a view to this inheritance, is not mentioned, yet the quotation from the account of it in Genesis, "and worshipped," etc., would be sufficient, in this concise summary of instances, to recall it to the mind of readers, and so intimate the writer"s meaning. The variation of the LXX, which is here followed as usual, from the Massoretic text, in reading "staff" instead of "bed," is due to the ambiguity of the Hebrew word, which has one meaning or the other according to its pointing. "Bed" seems more likely to have been intended, inasmuch as the bed on which the patriarch lay is twice again mentioned (Gen_48:2 Gen_49:33) in the account of the closing scene; and we find also a similar expression used of David in his old age. (1Ki_1:47) Bat the variation is unimportant, the essence of the passage being in the word translated "bowed himself," which in the Hebrew as well as the Greek certainly expresses an act of worship. The only difference is that, according to one rendering, this worship was expressed by his bowing over the staff on which he leant as he sat upon the bed; (Gen_48:2) according to the other, by his turning round to prostrate himself with his head upon the pillow. The view of some of the Fathers, who, adopting the LXX rendering and supposing the staff to be Joseph"s, regard the act as expressing reverence to Joseph himself, in fulfillment of Gen_38:5-11, has little probability in its favor, and is controverted by St. Augustine. But so Chrysostom, and apparently Theodoret. And suitably to this idea, the Vulgate has in Hebrews, "et adoravit fastigium virgae ejus," though in Genesis, "adoravit Israel Deum, conversus ad lectuli caput." Quite untenable, and only worthy of mention because of the use that has been made of it in support of image-worship, is the idea that Joseph"s staff was surmounted by some sacred image which Jacob adored.

Faith giving serenity and magnanimity in death.

By faith Jacob, when he was a-dying," etc. Let us notice

I THE IMPORTANT EVENT. "He was a-dying." In any circumstances and in any case death is an important and solemn event. It is so for several reasons.

1. Think of the mysteriousness of death. There is the mystery of the dissolution of the soul from the body. There are the mysteries of Hades. Where is Hades? What is it? What is the mode of human existence there? There is no authoritative response to our inquiries.

2. Think of what death terminates. It ends our visible association with earthly scenes, circumstances, and societies; it writes "finis" upon all the privileges of this life; it concludes our opportunities for the discharge of the duties of this life.

3. Think of what it inaugurates. It introduces us to the retributionary and eternal state. Yes, death is important and solemn. Jacob"s death is worthy of study; it is interesting, instructive, and sublime.

II THE INTERESTING ATTITUDE. "Leaning upon the top of his staff." Some things of little worth in themselves are yet very precious by reason of their associations. Such in all probability was this staff. It was rich in associations, fruitful in suggestions. It was, perhaps, the same one that is mentioned in a former portion of his life: "With my staff I passed over this Jordan." Probably he took it with him when he left his home and his parents with a guilty and sorrowful spirit; with him, perhaps in his hand, at Luz when he slept with the stones for his pillow, and dreamed, etc.; with him that other night, when "there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." It supported his feeble frame when he met his long-lost Joseph at Goshen; and now it is with him in the "last scene of all," as he worships leaning upon the old staff. What associations clustered round it! What emotions it would evoke! what gratitude! trust! etc.

III THE SUBLIME ENGAGEMENT. The venerable patriarch was engaged:

1. In blessing men. "Blessed each of the sons of Joseph." The meaning of this may be ascertained by referring to Gen_48:15-20. The blessing comprised petition, benediction, and prediction of good. A bequest like this is better than proud titles or vast domains. The richest human bequest is the blessing of a holy man. Parents, bestow upon your children this. Children, prize this. "My boast is not that I deduce my birth From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth; But higher far my proud pretensions rise The son of parents passed into the skies." (Cowper.)

Now turn to the staff for a minute. In blessing the lads Jacob thought and spake of God"s goodness to himself. Would not the staff inspire him with confidence in assuring that goodness to others? As it reminded him of that sad departure from home, and of other trials, and of the way in which God had led him and sustained him and prospered him, it would fill him with assurance and hope for these two grandchildren. Observe how self-forgetful and magnanimous the patriarch was in this. He has not a thought or purpose for himself. He does not seek to be ministered unto, but he ministers unto others. Such is his attitude towards men in dying. He passes from this world pronouncing benedictions upon men.

2. In worshipping God. "And worshipped." In this also the staff would stimulate the aged saint, as it revived his recollections of the fidelity and forbearance, the mercy and munificence, of the dealings of God with him. Towards God his dying attitude was religious and reverent. He died devoutly adoring him. How different is the death of the impenitent! and of those who, although penitent, have to seek God on the bed of death! "Let me die the death of the righteous," etc. But how may we do so?

IV THE MEANS BY WHICH JACOB ACCOMPLISHED THIS. "By faith." This is true as regards:

1. The blessing. Unbelievers would pronounce his blessing an absurd superstition, empty sentiment, wasted breath. The patriarch believed in the power of intercessory prayer, and so he prayed for the sons of Joseph. He believed that God often conveys his blessing to men through men, that he blesses man by man. So he utters words of blessing on the lads. Do you think they were vain? I am sure they were not. The memory of them would be a mighty influence for good in their lives. And as their father would tell them in after days of their grandfather and his blessing, high and holy purposes would kindle within them.

2. The worship. Jacob believed in the Being of God. God was a reality to him, or he would not have worshipped. He believed in the holiness and spiritual beauty of God, that he is worshipful, or he could not have worshipped him.

3. The dying. That by faith the aged saint worshipped God and blessed men "when he was a-dying" is a point of importance. Life and immortality were not brought to light then as they are now. The revelation as to the departed was very dim. Yet by faith Israel died calmly, victoriously. It was by faith in God rather than in immortality. He could trust all his interests and all his being to God. He was confident that he would do well and wisely and kindly with him and for him; and so he fell asleep in the everlasting arms. Faith in God is the secret of victory both in life and in death. Let us cultivate it. W. J.

A blessing for each.

The emphatic word here is "both," or, as the Revised Version much better puts it, "each." We see this emphasis at once on reading the narrative in Ge 48. Jacob had a blessing for each of his own sons, but when he comes to Joseph he individually is passed over as it were, because Manasseh and Ephraim cannot be comprehended in a common blessing. All these blessings of Joseph are, of course, to be taken as predictions, having a particular emphasis, solemnity, and memorable character as the words of a dying man concerning sons and grandsons. The distinctions then made could not be afterwards ignored or destroyed. There was a correspondence between the blessings and the after history of the tribes. Jacob did not thus speak because of some peculiar interest of his own in Ephraim and Manasseh. The father and the grandfather assumed the prophet while he spake the blessings. He laid his right hand on the head of the younger, his left on the head of the elder. He did it wittingly," contrary to the wish of his son. If we would have God"s blessing, we must leave God to apportion it according to his own purposes. Jacob knew nothing at the time of the way in which Levi would be merged as it were in the other tribes, and so leave a place for Ephraim to come in. But he knew that somehow or other a place of distinction was reserved for Ephraim. Thus faith transcends all natural anticipations, and contradicts oftentimes natural probabilities. Then it is worthwhile noting how the triumph of faith is blended with the work of retribution. Here is the true exaltation of Joseph. Here is the true fulfillment of those dreams which brought him so much suffering. Something he got of honor in Egypt; but beyond this and more significant is the position of his two sons as being each the founder of a tribe. God can bring to a permanent exaltation those whom jealousy would humble. As to the eminence of Ephraim, notice that it begins even in the wilderness, where the numbers of Ephraim exceed those of Manasseh. (Nu 1) And as to the importance of Ephraim in after history, it may be enough to cite the position of this tribe in the prophecies of Hosea. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jacob when dying - That is, when near death. Bowing down on the top of his staff - As he sat on the side of his bed. Gen. xlviii, 16; Gen. xlvii, 31

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, in dying Jacob, the frame and carriage of holy men in their dying and seasons, to bless their children, and worship their God. Jacob blessed Joseph and his two sons, laying hold on the covenant made with Abraham. It is no small privilege to be born of parents taken into visible covenant with God, and no small comfort, when God comes to take away such parents form us, to have the benefit of their blessings and prayers. Jacob, when dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and as he blessed them, so he worshipped God with religious worship, and in a devout manner, leaning upon the top of his staff.

Learn hence, That our addresses to God ought to be exceedingly reverent, both as to the frame of our souls, and also to the gesture of our bodies; we cannot always be affectionate in prayer, for affection depends upon the vigorous motions of the bodily spirits; but we should always be reverent and serious in prayer, otherwise it is no worship.

Learn farther, That where faith gives a willing mind, bodily infirmities shall be no let and hinderance from duty.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. By faith Jacob, when he was dying. See Gen. 48:8–22. In his blessing he foresaw that both Ephraim and Manasseh would be tribes of Israel, and that the younger would be the ancestor of the greater tribe. Leaning upon the top of his staff (Gen. 47:31). The Hebrew word as originally written may mean either staff or bed, that on which one rests. In our English version of Genesis “bed” has been preferred. The Septuagint, followed here, says “staff.” It means that the sick old man raised from his couch and leaned his weight on his staff while conferring the blessing.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

21. ἕκαστον τῶν υἱῶν. “Each of the sons.” He made a marked difference between them (Gen 48:17-19).

προσεκύνησεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον κ.τ.λ. In this verse there is an allusion to two separate events. The first is the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen 48:1-20); the other an earlier occasion (Gen 47:29-31). In our version it is rendered “And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head” but in the LXX. and Peshito as here, it is “upon the top of his staff.” The reason for the variation is that having no vowel points the LXX. understood the word to be matteh, “staff,” not mittah, “bed,” as in Gen 48:2. If they were right in this view, the passage means that Jacob, rising from his bed to take the oath from Joseph, supported his aged limbs on the staff, which was a type of his pilgrimage (Gen 32:10), and at the end of the oath bowed his head over the staff in sign of thanks and reverence to God. The Vulgate (here following the Itala) erroneously renders it adoravit fastigium virgae ejus, Jacob “adored the top of his (Joseph’s) staff,” and the verse has been quoted (e.g. by Cornelius a Lapide) in defence of image-worship! Yet in Gen 47:31 the Vulgate has “adoravit Deum, conversus ad lectuli caput.” Probably all that is meant is that, being too feeble to rise and kneel or stand, Jacob “bowed himself upon the head of his couch” in an attitude of prayer, just as the aged David did on his deathbed (1Ki 1:47).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21.] By faith Jacob, when dying (reff.), blessed each of the sons of Joseph (the faith consisted in transposing his hands wittingly, laying the right hand on the head of the younger, Ephraim, who was to become the greater tribe): and he worshipped (this incident is not connected with the other, but took place before it, on another occasion, when Jacob made Joseph swear to him that he would bury him with his fathers, and not in Egypt, Gen 47:31. Perhaps the Writer inverts the order of the two, to bring the two acts of blessing, that of Isaac and that of Jacob, together. This act of worship was one of faith, inasmuch as it was connected with a command, the point of which was, God’s promise respecting the land of Canaan. And the faith was shewn by the turning of his aged and dying body in a posture of thankful adoration) on the top of his staff (an incalculable quantity of idolatrous non-sense has been written on these words by R.-Cath. Commentators, taking as their starting-point the rendering of the Vulg. “et adoravit fastigium virgæ ejus,” and thence deriving an argument for the worship of images, assuming that there was an image or symbol of power upon Joseph’s staff, to which they apply the words. But first, it must be Jacob’s, not Joseph’s staff, which is intended—“virgæ suæ,” not “ejus,” as Faber Stap. remarked, and Aug. notices, qu. 162, in Genesin, vol. iii. pt. i., “Quod habent Latini codices, Et adoravit super caput virgæ ejus, nonnulli codices emendatius habent, Adoravit supra caput virgæ suæ, vel in capite virgæ suæ, sive in cacumine, vel super cacumen (notice, there is nothing here about adoravit fastigium, of which see more below). Fallit eos enim verbum Græcum quod eisdem litteris scribitur sive ejus, sive suæ: sed accentus dispares sunt, et ab eis qui ista noverunt in codicibus non contemnuntur; valent enim ad magnam discretionem. Quamvis et unam plus literam habere posset, si esset suæ, ut non esset αὐτοῦ, sed ἑαυτοῦ.” Then what follows is well worth transcribing: “Ac per hoc merito quæritur, quid sit quod dictum est. Nam facile intelligitur senem qui virgam ferebat eo more quo illa ætas baculum solet, ut se inclinavit ad Deum adorandum, id utique fecisse super cacumen virgœ suæ, quam sic ferebat, ut super eum caput inclinando adoraret Deum. Quid est ergo, Adoravit super cacumen virgæ ejus, id est, filii sui Joseph? An forte tulerat ab eo virgam, quando ei jurabat idem filius, et dum cam tenet, post verba jurantis, nondum illa reddita mox adoravit Deum? Non enim pudebat eum ferre tantisper insigne potestatis filii sui, ubi figura magnæ rei futuræ præsignabatur: quamvis in Hebræo facillima hujus quæstionis absolutio esse dicatur, ubi scriptum perhibent, Et adoravit Israel adcaputlecti, in quo utique senex jacebat, et sic positum habebat, ut in eo sine labore, quando vellet, oraret. Nec ideo tamen quod septuaginta interpretati sunt, nullum vel levem sensum habere putandum est.” The reader will observe that there is nothing here of adoring the staff or the top of the staff. What Jerome thought of such an idea, is plainly seen, Quæst Heb. in Genesin, vol. iii. p. 371: “In hoc loco quidem frustra simulant adorasse Jacob summitatem seeptri Joseph, quod videlicet honorans filium, potestatem ejus adoraverit: cum in Hebræo multo aliter legatur,—et adoravit, inquit, Israel ad caput lectuli: quod scilicet, postquam ei juraverat filius, securus de petitione quam rogaverat adoraverit Deum contra caput lectuli sui. Sanctus quippe et Deo deditus vir, oppressus senectute, sic habebat lectulum positum, ut ipse jacentis habitus absque difficultate ulla ad orationem esset paratus.” The idea itself is found in Chrys., but without the image: τουτέστι, καὶ γέρων ὢν ἤδη προσεκύνει τῷ Ἰωσήφ, τὴν παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ προσκύνησιν δηλῶν τὴν ἐσομένην αὐτῷ. And so Thl., Phot. in Œc., and apparently Thdrt.: so Erasm. (par.), “Longius etiam prospiciebat senis fides, cum exosculans virgam filii Joseph, veneraretur in eo Christum omnibus imperaturum, cujus ille delatus et proditus a fratribus imaginem gesserat.” I will only cite the inference from the above ancient data in Corn. a-Lapide, as most instructive regarding the grounds on which age after age the chief abominations of the church of Rome have been introduced: “Recte ergo ex hac adoratione sceptri Josephi Patres Concilii Niceni II. probant adorationem et cultum imaginum, eumque non in imagine hærere, sed ad prototypum suum referri et transire docent.” The real question with regard to the passage is confined within very narrow limits. The same Hebrew word מטה signifies a staff, or a bed, according as it is pointed מַטֶּה or מִטָּה. And, as there are no points in the ancient Heb. text, it is an open question, which meaning we are to take. The LXX have taken ῥάβδος, though as Jerome notices, in loc., they have rendered the same word κλίνη in Gen 48:2, two verses after. Our E. V. has taken this latter: “And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.” And so almost all the moderns agree in taking it. Stuart, it is true, has argued at some length for the meaning “staff,” on the ground that the eastern beds have no head properly so called, being merely a carpet or rug spread on the ground. But he has in his mind in thus objecting, a bedstead, not a bed. The head of a bed, be it where or what it may, is that part of it where the person’s head lies: and Delitzsch has made it probable from the Heb. verb, וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ, “se prostravit,” that Jacob turned himself in his bed so as to lay his face to the pillow: cf. Isa 38:2.

If the ‘staff’ is to be taken, then it must be his own, not Joseph’s staff, which is indicated, and the gesture might have had a meaning correspondent to the thought in Gen 32:10, ἐν τῇ ῥάβδῳ μου διέβην τὸν Ἰορδάνην τοῦτον: viz. the recognition of that God who had supported him through life, and declaration of his having done with all human supports. On the whole, see Suicer, vol. ii. p. 858. It is due to the better R.-C. Commentators, such as Estius and Justiniani, to say, that no such inference as that cited above is to be found in them.

Some have expressed surprise that no mention is made of the far more important blessings of the twelve sons of Jacob in Gen_49: and conjectures have even been made to amend the text: e. g. that of Böhme, ἕκαστον τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰωσήφ: but both without reason. Delitzsch says well, “He plucks, so to speak, only the flowers which stand by his way, and leaves the whole meadow-full to his readers”).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When he died [αποθνησκων] . Rend. "when dying." It is quite superfluous to explain this as emphasizing the strength in contrast with the weakness of approaching death; or that, in the birth of Joseph 's two sons before Jacob 's death, Jacob discerned a monition to adopt them into the direct line of his own sons. The meaning is simply that these events took place in Jacob 's last hours.

Blessed each [εκαστον ευλογησεν] . See Gen 48:17 - 20. Each son received a separate and distinct blessing, although Joseph had expected only one common blessing for both. Jacob 's discernment of faith appeared in this, as in the precedence assigned to the younger son.

And worshipped leaning on the top of his staff [και προσεκυνησεν επι το ακρον της ραβδου αυτου] . From the LXX of Gen 47:31. It seems to have been loosely included by our writer among the incidents of Jacob 's last hours [αποθνησκων] , although it belongs to a different part of the narrative. The promise given by Joseph to remove his father 's remains to the family sepulchre may have been regarded as preparatory to the blessing, or introduced in order to emphasize the devotional character of the entire proceeding. The words upon the head of his staff are from the LXX; the Hebrew being "Jacob bowed himself upon the head of the bed." Comp. 1Ki 1:47. According to its vowel - points the same Hebrew word signifies either staff or bed. The LXX has chosen the former, and renders by rJabdov staff. According to the Hebrew, the meaning is that Jacob, having been sitting during the conversation, lay down when it was finished, probably overcome by weakness, and breathing a prayer as he fell back on his pillow. 233

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.