(20) Manasseh and Ephraim.--In these names all the documents agree.Verse 20. - And unto Joseph in the land of Eygpt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him (vide Genesis 41:50). The LXX., having probably transferred them from 1 Chronicles 7:14, append the words, Ἐγένοντο δε υἱοὶ Μανασσῆ οὕς ἔτεκεν αὐτῶ ἡ παλλακὴ ἡ Συρα τὸν Μαχίρ Μαχὶρ δὲ ἐγὲννησε τὸν Γαλαάδ Υἱοὶ δὲ Ἐφραι'μ ἀδελφοῦ Μανασσῆ Σουταλαἀμ και Ταάμ Υἱοὶ δε Σουταλαὰμ Ἐδώμ. Since they are not to be found in the Samaritan text, Rosenmüller thinks they may have been originally written on the margin, and thence by some subsequent copyist transferred to the text. 46:5-27 We have here a particular account of Jacob's family. Though the fulfilling of promises is always sure, yet it is often slow. It was now 215 years since God had promised Abraham to make of him a great nation, ch. 12:2; yet that branch of his seed, to which the promise was made sure, had only increased to seventy, of whom this particular account is kept, to show the power of God in making these seventy become a vast multitude.And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim,.... And therefore not to be reckoned with those that went down with Jacob thither; for which reason the clause, "in the land of Egypt", is inserted, see Genesis 41:50, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, bare unto him; here again the Targum of Jonathan makes Asenath to be the daughter of Dinah, who it says was educated in the house of Potipherah prince of Tanis; See Gill on Genesis 41:50. |