What Does Genesis 48:8 Mean?

When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, "Who are these?" Jacob's question: "who are these?": has generated interpretive discussion. Is this failing eyesight (verse 10 confirms his eyes were dim), or a formal adoption protocol requiring explicit identification before the blessing, or simple unfamiliarity with the boys? The most likely combination is both: Jacob is nearly blind and cannot clearly see the young men, and the formal identification serves the adoption's proper execution. Before a patriarch blesses and formally adopts grandsons as sons, the formula requires naming them.

The "who are these?" question puts Joseph in the position of presenting his sons to their adoptive grandfather-becoming-father. "Joseph said to his father, 'They are my sons, whom God has given me here.' And he said, 'Bring them to me...' " (v.9): the presentation and the response together form the formal adoption protocol. Jacob asks; Joseph identifies; Jacob requests them near. The formal identification before the blessing is the procedural element that makes the blessing properly directed.

The aged patriarch who "saw" the brothers' return to Egypt (Genesis 45:27, where seeing the wagons revived his spirit) now cannot see clearly the grandsons who have come for his blessing. The verb "saw" in verse 8 ("when Israel saw Joseph's sons") may be the partial sight of a man with dimmed vision: he saw them but could not identify them clearly: leading to the "who are these?" The same dimmed eyes that will cause the hands-crossing confusion (verse 17) are the narrative detail that explains the formal identification request.