"Ephraim And Manasseh, They Are Mine - they will be to me like Reuben and Simeon."

"And it happened after these things that it was told to Joseph: Behold, your father is ill. And he took his two sons with him - Manasseh and Ephraim." (Gen 48:1)

On his deathbed and nearly blind, Jacob saw a hidden future and a forgotten past.

The scene where he exchanged his hands - placing the right hand upon the head of Ephraim, Joseph's younger son, and the left upon the head of Manasseh, the elder - illustrated the contrast between his weakened physical state and his lucid prophetic consciousness. Unable to see Joseph's sons he nevertheless knew with certainty where he wanted to place his right hand. The dialogue between him and his son is an illustration of the fact that the sight of the elderly, blind father was better than that of his younger, clear-sighted son.

"And Israel gathered his strength and sat up upon the bed. And Jacob said to Joseph: El Shadai appeared to me in Luz, in the land of Canaan, and He blessed me. And He said to me: Behold, I shall make you fruitful, and I shall multiply you,
and make you into a community of nations, and I shall give this land to your seed after you as an eternal inheritance." (Gen 48:2-4)

After this flashback, Jacob returned to the present:

"And now, your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt, before I came to you in Egypt, they are mine, Ephraim and Manasseh - like Reuben and Simeon shall they be to me. And your descendants who will be born after them shall be yours; they (Ephraim and Manasseh) shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance." (Gen 48:5-6)

Jacob concluded with another flashback:

"And as for me, as I came from Padan, Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, just a short distance from the way of Ephratah, and I buried her there on the way of Ephrat, which is Bethlehem." (Gen 48:7)

What is the connection between these three successive utterances? What reminded Jacob of these two events from the past and what did he mean to express by mentioning them now, in his words to Joseph?

Jacob's purpose for mentioning YHVH's revelation to him in Luz was the two promises that were made to him: the blessing of Seed - "Behold, I shall make you fruitful and multiply you", and the promise of the Land - "I shall give this land to your seed after you as an eternal inheritance".

How was this related to what Jacob said about Ephraim and Manasseh?

Jacob specifically included them in the promise of Seed and Land, as his own first two sons, Reuben and Simeon.

Why did Jacob mention Rachel's death and burial?

First, he wanted to ask Joseph to forgive him for not burying Rachel in the 'family cave', and second, he wanted to ask Joseph to bring him to burial in Hebron even though he did not do this in honor of his mother.

The Death Of Rachel

Jacob's reaction to Rachel's death was postponed for many years, and it was only in his last days, that he finally offered a verbal reaction and revealed what was hidden in his heart. His silence covered over a great perplexity of emotions due to the fact that Rachel's death was also the birth of Benjamin.

YHVH's revelation to him in Beth El with the promise "Be fruitful and multiply" - a promise that he would have additional children from Rachel, and her sudden death thereafter gave rise to a burning question in Jacob's mind concerning YHVH's providence: What did YHVH mean when He told him "Be fruitful and multiply" if immediately thereafter Rachel was taken from him.

Faced with such great questions, the proper response, he thought, was silence. "You shall not eulogize, nor weep, nor give way to tears. Sigh in silence for the dead... and you shall put your shoes upon your feet." Ezk 24:16-17 And thus Jacob continued his journey towards Chevron.

He bore his sorrow in silence for many years, but the question only grew stronger with time. A few years after Rachel's death, her son Joseph, so beloved to Jacob, was also gone from him, and he mourned him in silence, too. He guarded Rachel's other son, Benjamin in every way that he could, but difficult circumstances had now severed him from Benjamin, and the disaster that he so feared seemed imminent.

When Benjamin was parted from him, again the promise of 'seed' that YHVH made to him in Luz came to mind. Not only had he not continued to "be fruitful and multiply" but also his family was falling apart before his eyes. Rachel had died, Joseph was no more, and Benjamin was being led into the unknown.
What did YHVH mean by His words?

The question that accompanied Jacob since Rachel's death became stronger over the years, But Jacob was a great man of faith, and he waited patiently for the answer, without expressing doubt.

And indeed, the hour finally arrived for his great test to come to an end: His son Joseph was still alive, and the whole family was finally reunited. Each of Jacob's sons now had children of his own. The miracle of Joseph's return to the family alive and with children was the fulfillment of YHVH's promise to "be fruitful and multiply". Jacob finally had his answer; YHVH's promise in Luz referred not to the immediate future, as he had thought at first, but rather to the distant future, and would finally be realized in Joseph and his two sons.

Only then could Jacob give full expression to his emotions: both to his profound sorrow over the death of Rachel, who had died prematurely on the way 'back home', and to the contradiction that this event engendered in his consciousness. The answer to the problem, to which he reacted with silence for so long, was suddenly revealed to him in a wondrous new reality.