Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A56630
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A commentary upon the first book of Moses, called Genesis by the Right Reverend Father in God, Symon, Lord Bishop of Ely.
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing P772; ESTC R1251
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382,073
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668
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sent from his Father's House to acquaint Joseph with his weak Condition So the next Verse teaches us to understand it He took with him c. Immediately he went to receive his Blessing and took with him his two Sons that he might bless them also Ver. 2. One told Jacob c. Joseph sent a Messenger before him to let his Father know he was coming to visit him Israel strengthned himself This Message revived him and made him stir up all his Spirits to receive him chearfully And sat upon his bed Leaning it 's likely upon his Staff for the support of his feeble Body See XLVII ult Ver. 3. Appeared to me at Luz He appeared twice to him in this place First when he went to Padan-Aram XXVIII 13. upon which he gave this Place the Name of Bethel verse 19. and when he returned from thence XXXV 6 9 c. and both times made him the Promise which here follows and therefore it is likely he hath respect to both And blessed me Promised to me the Blessing which follows Ver. 4. For an everlasting possession We do not read this in either of the Appearances in so many words But he said it in effect when he told him in the last Appearance there XXXV 12. The Land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac to thee will I give it c. Now he gave it to Abraham and his Seed for ever XIII 15. Ver. 5. And now thy two Sons c. Having assured him God would be as good as his Word in giving the Land of Canaan to his Posterity he tells him what share his Children should have in it Are mine Thy two Sons shall be reckoned as if I had begotten them And accordingly have each of them an Inheritance equal with the rest of my Sons and be distinct Tribes As Reuben and Simeon shall they be mine He instances in them because they were his eldest Sons Who he says should have no more than Ephraim and Manasseh And perhaps the meaning may be these two shall be accounted as the First-born of my Family For he gives Joseph the Primogeniture who was indeed the First-born of his first intended Wife and bestows a double Portion upon him by making his two Sons equal to the rest of his Children Ver. 6. And thy issue which thou begettest after them shall be thine I will make no distinct Provision for them as I have done for these two But they shall be called after the Name of their Brethren in their Inheritance i. e. be reckoned among these two Ephraim and Manasseh and not make distinct Tribes as they shall but be comprehended in them Ver. 7. And as for me when I came from Padan-Aram Rachel died by me c. He mentions her death which doth not seem to belong to the foregoing discourse because it hapned presently after that last Promise in Bethel XXXV 18. and he thought it would be grateful to his Son to hear him remember his dear Mother For it is as if he had said And now my Son this puts me in mind of thy Mother who died immediately after that Promise of multiplying my Seed And yet I see it fulfilled in those Children which God hath given thee Or we may look upon these words as giving the reason why he took Ephraim and Manasseh to be his own Children and the Sence to be as if he had said Thy Mother indeed and my beloved Wife died soon after she began to bear Children when she might have brought me many more And therefore I adopt these her Grand-Children and look upon them as if they had been born of Rachel And I do it in Memory and Honour of her supplying by adoption what was wanting in Generation And I buried her there He could not carry her to the Cave of Machpelah where he desired to be laid himself because she died in Child-bed Which constrain'd him to bury her sooner than otherwise he might have done And it is to be supposed he had not in his Travels all things necessary to preserve her Body long by embalming her as Joseph did him Ver. 8. And Israel beheld Joseph's Sons c. He saw two others stand by Joseph but could not discern distincly who they were by reason of the dimness of his Sight verse 10. Ver. 9. And I will bless them As he had just before promised verse 5. Ver. 10. And he brought them near unto him And made them kneel down before him as the twelfth Verse seems to intimate And he kissed them c. Expressed the greatest Affection to them Ver. 12. Brought them out from between his Knees It appears by Verse 2. that Jacob sat upon his Bed and his Legs hanging down they kneeled between his Knees From whence Joseph took them And then seems to have placed himself in the same posture bowing himself with his Face to the Earth as the following words tell us to give his Father Thanks for his Kindness to his Children Or rather we may conceive that while Jacob embraced them in his Arms and kissed them with more than ordinary Affection Joseph was afraid that they might lie too long or press too hard upon his Father's Breast and create some trouble to a feeble old Man And therefore he withdrew them from thence and disposed them to receive his Blessing Ver. 13. And Joseph took them both c. Made them kneel down by himself before Jacob Placing Ephraim towards Jacob's Left Hand c. Ver. 14. Stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head Laying Hands on the Head of any Person was always used in this Nation in giving Blessings and designing Men to any Office and in the Consecration of Publick and Solemn Sacrifices This is the first time we meet with the mention of it but in after-times we often read of it particularly when Moses constituted Joshua to be his Successor God orders him to do it by laying his Hands on him Numb XXVII 18 23. Deut. XXXIV 9. Thus Children were brought to our blessed Saviour that he might lay his Hands on them and bless them and so he did Matth. XIX 13 15. And the Right Hand being the stronger and that wherewith we commonly perform every thing the laying that on Ephraim's Head was giving him the preheminence Who was the younger It is observed by Theodoret upon 1 Sam. XVI that God was wont from the beginning to preferr the younger before the elder As Abel before Cain Sem before Japhet Isaac before Ishmael Jacob before Esau Judah and Joseph before Reuben and here Ephraim before Manasseh as afterwards Moses before Aaron and David the youngest of all before his elder Brethren Which was to show that the Divine Benefits were not tied to the Order of Nature but dispensed freely according to God's most wise Goodness Guiding his Hands wittingly He did not mistake by reason of his blindness but foreseeing by the Spirit of Prophecy how much Ephraim would excel the other he designedly and on purpose thus