Genesis 48:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Though we are called children of God and of the Father, we will ultimately be subject to Him who brings us into unity with Himself, namely Christ. Consider how the blessed James, after acknowledging Ephraim and Manasseh as his children, states: ‘But thy children which shall be born of thee after them shall be thine.’ Do you grasp, then, that while we are referred to as sons of God and the Father, we ultimately belong to Christ? This aligns with what He expressed to the Father: ‘They were thine, and thou gavest them unto me:..... and I was glorified in them’ (John 17:6, 10).

The children you will have thereafter will be known as the descendants of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

For those who may question whether the seventy individuals from the Israelite lineage truly entered Egypt and whether Joseph had only two sons instead of nine when Jacob arrived, this scripture serves to clarify the matter. Here, Jacob explicitly states that Joseph had two sons, not nine. The declaration, “Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon," implies that just as Reuben and Simeon will form two tribes bearing their names, so will Ephraim and Manasseh establish two tribes, generate two nations, and inherit the promised land like my sons.

They will be recognized as part of their kinsmen's inheritance. This means they will not be established as a separate tribe nor will they be allotted a distinct portion of the promised land in the name of Joseph, which would have granted three shares for his lineage. Instead, they will receive their inheritance from one of the two portions allotted to Ephraim and Manasseh, bearing their names.