John Gill Commentary Genesis 48

And it came to pass after these things
Some little time after Jacob had sent for Joseph, and conversed with him about his burial in the land of Canaan, and took an oath to bury him there, for then the time drew nigh that he must die: that [one] told Joseph, behold, your father [is] sick ;
he was very infirm when he was last with him, and his natural strength decaying apace, by which he knew his end was near; but now he was seized with a sickness which threatened him with death speedily, and therefore very probably dispatched a messenger to acquaint Joseph with it. Jarchi fancies that Ephraim, the son of Joseph, lived with Jacob in the land of Goshen, and when he was sick went and told his father of it, but this is not likely from what follows: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim ;
to see their grandfather before he died, to hear his dying words, and receive his blessing.

And [one] told Jacob. The same that came from Jacob to Joseph might be sent back by him to his father, to let him know that he was coming to see him, or some other messenger sent on purpose; for it can hardly be thought that this was an accidental thing on either side. And said, behold, your son Joseph comes to you; to pay him a visit, and which no doubt gave him pleasure, he being his beloved son, as well as he was great and honourable.

And Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon his bed. His spirits revived, his strength renewed, he got fresh vigour on hearing his son Joseph was coming; and he exerted all his strength, and raised himself up by the help of his staff, and sat upon his bed to receive his son's visit.

For now it was when he blessed the sons of Joseph, that he leaned upon the top of his staff and worshipped, as the apostle says, (Hebrews 11:21).

And Jacob said to Joseph
Being come into his bedchamber, and sitting by him, or standing before him: God Almighty appeared to at Luz in the land of Canaan ;
the same with Bethel, where God appeared, both at his going to Padanaram, and at his return from thence, (Genesis 28:11–19) (35:6-12) ; which of those times is here referred to is not certain; very likely he refers to them both, since the same promises were made to him at both times, as after mentioned: and blessed me ;
promised he would bless him, both with temporal and spiritual blessings, as he did as follows.

And said unto me, behold, I will make thee fruitful In a spiritual sense, in grace and good works; in a literal sense, in an increase of worldly substance, and especially of children:

and multiply thee; make his posterity numerous as the sand of the sea:

and I will make of thee a multitude of people; a large nation, consisting of many tribes, even a company of nations, as the twelve tribes of Israel were;

and I will give this land unto thy seed after thee, [for] an everlasting possession; the land of Canaan, they were to possess as long as they were the people of God, and obedient to his law; by which obedience they held the land, even unto the coming of the Messiah, whom they rejected, and then they were cast out, and a "Loammi" (i.e. not my people, (Hosea 1:9) ) written upon them, and their civil polity, as well as church state, at an end: and besides, Canaan was a type of the eternal inheritance of the saints in heaven, the spiritual Israel of God, which will be possessed by them to all eternity.

And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh
Ephraim was the youngest, but is mentioned first, as he afterwards was preferred in the blessing of him: which were born to you in the land of Egypt, before I came to
you in Egypt ;
and therefore must be twenty years of age, or upwards: for Jacob had been in Egypt seventeen years, and he came there when there had been two years of famine, and Joseph's sons were born to him before the years of famine began, (Genesis 41:50) ; of these Jacob says, they [are] mine: as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine ;
that is, by adoption; should be reckoned not as his grandchildren, but as his children, even as his two eldest sons, Reuben and Simeon; and so should be distinct tribes or heads of them, as his sons would be, and have a distinct part and portion in the land of Canaan; and thus the birthright was transferred from Reuben, because of his incest, to Joseph, who in his posterity had a double portion assigned him.