Genesis 48:1-10

It happened after these things, that someone said to Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick.” He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Someone told Jacob, and said, “Behold, your son Joseph comes to you,” and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed. Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.’ Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine. Your issue, whom you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance. As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem).”

Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?”

Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.”

He said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.”

Jacob was old and got sick and when Joseph heard about it he came over with his two sons. The Bible doesn’t tell us why these events are together. I assume that Joseph wanted his father to bless his children before he died. It could also be that he wanted to encourage his father while he was sick.

When Joseph came over, Jacob seemed to be encouraged about it and sat up. He started talking about the fact that Joseph’s sons are included in his family and that God had promised to bless his family. He couldn’t tell who it was that was with Joseph and he had to ask. It’s kind of comical because he was talking about how important his grandchildren were to him and there they were. We find out in the next few verses that the reason that Jacob had to ask was that he couldn’t see well anymore.

Since the grandchildren were there, Jacob asked to bless them. Even while he was sick, Jacob was eager to bless Joseph’s foreign-born children and make them a part of his growing family.