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 Genesis 48:1-22. 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 (Numbers 1:1-54). 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.