This section continues the events begun in verses 1-7.
Jacob's eyes were failing in his old age (v. 10) so he did not recognize Ephraim and Manasseh (cf. 27:1). He may not have seen them for several years previously and may have had difficulty identifying them for this additional reason.
The eyesight of both Isaac and Jacob failed in their old age.
"There is a slight touch of irony here: Jacob had secured Isaac's blessing by guile and deceit, while Joseph is securing the blessing for his sons by honesty and forthrightness."914
Jacob gave God the credit for his seeing Joseph's sons (v. 11). He had come to acknowledge God's providential working and grace in his life as he realized how faithful God had been to him in spite of his unfaithfulness.
Ephraim and Manasseh had been standing close to Jacob, between his knees, so he could see and touch them (v. 12). Now Joseph took them back to where he had been standing in front of his father. He then bowed before Jacob.
"Joseph may be the second most powerful man in Egypt, but he never loses his respect for his father, and he never ceases to be gracious toward him."915
Arranging Manasseh and Ephraim in the normal order for Jacob's blessing, by their age, Joseph then brought them forward again (v. 13).
This is the first of many scriptural instances of the laying on of hands (v. 14). By this symbolic act, a person transferred a spiritual power or gift to another. This rite was part of the ceremony of dedicating a person or group to an office (Num. 27:18, 23; Deut. 34:9; Matt. 19:13; Acts 6:6; 8:17; etc.), offering sacrifices, and the healings Jesus Christ and the apostles performed. In this case Jacob symbolically transferred a blessing from himself to Joseph's sons. Once uttered, blessings were irreversible (cf. Num. 23:20; Rom. 11:29).
Jacob's blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh also carried prophetic significance and force (vv. 19-20). Under the inspiration of God, Jacob deliberately gave Ephraim the privileged first-born blessing and predicted his preeminence.916We can see this blessing in the process of fulfillment during the judges period when Ephraim had grown very large and influential. This tribe took the lead among the ten northern tribes and flourished to the extent that the Jews used the name Ephraim equally with the name Israel. The Ephraimites occasionally demonstrated an attitude of superiority among the tribes that we can trace back to this blessing (e.g., Judg. 12:1; et al.).
The reference to Israel in verse 20 applies to the nation in the future from Jacob's viewpoint.
