What Does Genesis 48:11 Mean?

And Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face; and behold, God has let me see your offspring also." Jacob's exclamation of gratitude before the blessing: the overflow of the reunion beyond what he expected. "I never expected to see your face": after Genesis 37, after the bloody robe, after twenty-two years of believing Joseph dead, Jacob did not expect to see Joseph's face again in this lifetime. And not only has he seen Joseph's face (the reunion of Genesis 46:29 to 30 fulfilled Genesis 45:28's "I will go and see him before I die"), but he has also been shown Joseph's sons. The gift exceeded the expectation.

"God has let me see your offspring also": the gratitude is directed to God, specifically expressed as personal pleasure. Jacob recognizes that seeing Joseph and then seeing Joseph's sons is divine gift, not mere fortune. The man who said "now let me die" (Genesis 46:30) after seeing Joseph's face is now also seeing the grandsons: the covenant continuity in the flesh. The offspring whom Jacob is about to adopt and bless are the evidence of God's covenant faithfulness: not only is Joseph alive, but Joseph has sons, and those sons are now in Goshen, before the dying patriarch.

"I never expected" (Hebrew: lo' phillalti: I did not reckon, I did not dare to hope) is the honest admission of despair overcome by unexpected grace. The patriarch who tore his garments when he believed Joseph was dead, who refused to be comforted, who spoke of descending to Sheol in mourning: this patriarch is now saying: I did not dare hope I would see your face. And God gave me not just your face but your children. The grammar of grace in Jacob's blessing scene begins with this exclamation of unexpected abundance.