What Does Genesis 48:1 Mean?

After this, Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph receives word that Jacob is ill: the illness that will end in Jacob's death in chapter 49. His immediate response is to take his two Egypt-born sons: Manasseh and Ephraim: to visit the dying patriarch. The sons who were born to an Egyptian mother in Egypt will receive the patriarchal blessing; their presence is essential to the chapter's central event: Jacob's adoption and blessing of Joseph's sons as his own.

Joseph's bringing his sons to the dying patriarch is a deliberate decision rather than a casual family visit. He is bringing his sons to be formally recognized by Jacob: the dying patriarch who has the authority to confer tribal standing and blessing on the next generation. Jacob's blessing in Genesis will carry the same covenantal weight as Abraham's blessing of Isaac and Isaac's blessing of Jacob; Joseph is ensuring his sons receive it before Jacob dies.

"After this" links the illness to the previous narrative: after the years in Goshen, after the land policy, after the death-oath of chapter 47. The dying of Jacob begins the final section of Genesis: chapters 48 to 50 will cover Jacob's blessings (of Joseph's sons in ch.48, of all twelve sons in ch.49) and Jacob's death and burial. The "after this" is the transition from the Egypt-years narrative to the death-and-burial conclusion of the patriarchal cycle.