seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Genesis 48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you[d] and take you[e] back to the land of your[f] fathers. 22 And to you I give one more ridge of land[g] than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”
d.Genesis 48:21 The Hebrew is plural.
e.Genesis 48:21 The Hebrew is plural.
f. Genesis 48:21 The Hebrew is plural.
g.Genesis 48:22 The Hebrew for ridge of land is identical with the place name Shechem.
Wait, what? I don't remember anything about a fight with the Amorites and Jacob [Israel]. What is Jacob talking about?
Bible-commentaries.com explains it.
The last verse of this chapter presents a problem. We read in vs. 22 - "And to you, as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow." There is no account in Scripture of any military exploit by which Jacob would have conquered part of the land. The theories vary as to what Jacob may have meant with the phrase "I give the ridge of land I took from the Amorites." The Hebrew word translated with "ridge of land" is "Shechem achad." We know of the purchase of a parcel of ground by Jacob, which is recorded in ch. 33:19. "For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent." There is also the record of the atrocity committed by Jacob's sons, who massacred the inhabitants of Shechem. It seems doubtful, however, that Jacob would have taken credit for this. As we have seen before, Jacob's sons were probably buried at Shechem. At least this is the tradition Stephen quotes in Acts 7:16 (Their bodies [the Patriarchs'] were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.)
There is the story of Jesus' meeting with the woman at the well at Sychar. John says about the place: "So he [Jesus] came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph." And the woman affirms the tradition when she says to Jesus: "Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" (John 4:12.) All this fits together as far as the location is concerned, but the conquest Jacob talks about is not recorded.
When Israel arrives in Canaan the area indicated by Jacob was, in fact, allotted to Ephraim. In Joshua, we read: "The allotment for Joseph began at the Jordan of Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, and went up from there through the desert into the hill country of Bethel. It went on from Bethel (that is, Luz), crossed over to the territory of the Arkites in Ataroth, Descended westward to the territory of the Japhletites as far as the region of Lower Beth Horon and on to Gezer, ending at the sea. So Manasseh and Ephraim, the descendants of Joseph, received their inheritance." The city of Shechem was eventually given to the Levites, according to Joshua, "The rest of the Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted towns from the tribe of Ephraim: In the hill country of Ephraim they were given Shechem (a city of refuge for one accused of murder) and Gezer."
There is the story of Jesus' meeting with the woman at the well at Sychar. John says about the place: "So he [Jesus] came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph." And the woman affirms the tradition when she says to Jesus: "Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" (John 4:12.) All this fits together as far as the location is concerned, but the conquest Jacob talks about is not recorded.
When Israel arrives in Canaan the area indicated by Jacob was, in fact, allotted to Ephraim. In Joshua, we read: "The allotment for Joseph began at the Jordan of Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, and went up from there through the desert into the hill country of Bethel. It went on from Bethel (that is, Luz), crossed over to the territory of the Arkites in Ataroth, Descended westward to the territory of the Japhletites as far as the region of Lower Beth Horon and on to Gezer, ending at the sea. So Manasseh and Ephraim, the descendants of Joseph, received their inheritance." The city of Shechem was eventually given to the Levites, according to Joshua, "The rest of the Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted towns from the tribe of Ephraim: In the hill country of Ephraim they were given Shechem (a city of refuge for one accused of murder) and Gezer."
However, Bible.org has a different explanation.
Jacob firmly believed God’s promise to bring his descendants back into the Promised Land (cf. 46:4). In Jacob’s prophetic promise to Joseph (48:22) is a play-on-words. The word for “portion” means ridge or shoulder (of land) and is the same as “Shechem.”Jacob spoke as though he had taken Shechem from the Amorites by force. Probably Jacob viewed Simeon and Levi’s slaughter of the Shechemites as his own taking of the city (34:27-29). Jacob gave Joseph Shechem, which he regarded as a down payment of all that God would give his descendants as they battled the Canaanites in the future.
I don't know.... stupid dysfunctional family has me scratching my head once again. Why would Jacob [Israel] say such a thing?
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