bring them, at last, to be with him, for ever, in the kingdom of heaven. In praying that his name and the name of Abra· ham and Isaac might be named on Ephraim ana Manasseh, Jacob intended to pray that they might be, indeed, placed by God in the great family to which he and his father and grandfather belonged, and thus have a share in the blessings that had been promised to Abraham, and Isaac, and himself, and their offspring. Jacob's prayer, that the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh might grow into a multitude, was, at a subsequent period, strikingly answered. For in the time of Moses, less than two hundred and forty years afterward, the number of those, among their descendants, who were twenty years of age and upward, and able to go to war, amounted to eighty-five thousand two hundred, a greater number than were found among the descendants of any other of the sons of Jacob CHAPTER XXXI. Conclusion of Jacob's blessing on the sons of Joseph.-Joseph's portion.-Jacob's prophecy, and blessing his sons. His death.-Does the reader wish to die as Jacob did? 'WHEN Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the first born; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; (that is, the descendants of Manasseh shall become very numerous and powerful.) "But truly his younger brother shall be greater than he; and his seed (or descendants) shall become a multitude of nations." In concluding his blessing on the sons of Joseph, Jacob said, "In thee shall Israel (or my descendants, the Israelites) bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim, and as Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh." By this Jacob meant that Ephraim and his de scendants (all of whom, as one people, or tribe, were called Ephraim) would become very powerful and prosperous, and that this would be true also of Manasseh and his descendants; and that the people of Israel, seeing this, when they wished to pray for blessings on any one, would pray that God would make him as prosperous as those who belonged to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. While pronouncing this blessing on his two grandchildren, and in what he soon after said to his own sons before his death, Jacob was undoubtedly under a peculiar influence of the Spirit of God. By this he was enabled to look forward and predict many things which would happen to his descendants; and his predictions were afterward fulfilled in a very remarkable manner. He spoke now of his approaching dissolution. Behold, I die; but God shall be with you, (addressing Joseph,) and bring you again unto the land of your fathers;" that is, God will bring your descendants, and the descendants of my other sons -the whole nation of the Israelites-out of Egypt, and carry you back, as a people, to Canaan. 66 Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow." It is supposed that the portion of land which Ja |