NOTES for Gen 48:1-22
The book of Genesis concludes with two astonishing prophecies about the tribes of Israel (chapters 48 and 49). Today we read about how the fate of Joseph's sons is woven into the history of the future people: Jacob prophesies not even about them themselves, but about the tribes that will come from Ephraim and Manasseh. They are destined to become the main peoples of northern Israel, with the tribe of Ephraim becoming dominant, so that their southern neighbors, the descendants of Judah, will call all the northern tribes Ephraimites.
This prophecy, which is as if built into the plot line of the Joseph narrative, already brings into the archaic legends of Genesis the message of the future Israel, reminding the reader that no episode of God's History is isolated from the whole picture, the unfolding history of the world He created, made up of many stories, among which is the story of our own life.