Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 48:4

And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee [for] an everlasting possession.

4. Behold, I will make theefruitfulThis is a repetition of the covenant (Gen 28:13-15;Gen 35:12). Whether these wordsare to be viewed in a limited sense, as pointing to the manycenturies during which the Jews were occupiers of the Holy Land, orwhether the words bear a wider meaning and intimate that thescattered tribes of Israel are to be reinstated in the land ofpromise, as their “everlasting possession,” are points thathave not yet been satisfactorily determined.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And said unto me, behold, I will make thee fruitful,…. In a spiritual sense, in grace and good works; in a literal sense, in an increase of worldly substance, and especially of children:

and multiply thee; make his posterity numerous as the sand of the sea:

and I will make of thee a multitude of people; a large nation, consisting of many tribes, even a company of nations, as the twelve tribes of Israel were;

and I will give this land unto thy seed after thee, [for] an everlasting possession; the land of Canaan, they were to possess as long as they were the people of God, and obedient to his law; by which obedience they held the land, even unto the coming of the Messiah, whom they rejected, and then they were cast out, and a “Loammi” (i.e. not my people, Ho 1:9) written upon them, and their civil polity, as well as church state, at an end: and besides, Canaan was a type of the eternal inheritance of the saints in heaven, the spiritual Israel of God, which will be possessed by them to all eternity.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(4) A multitude of people.In Gen. 35:11 the words are a congregation (or church) of nations; here a congregation (same word) of peoples. (See Note there.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

4. An everlasting possession “The great family promise absorbs Jacob’s soul . He is identified with the nation which is to spring from his loins, whose home is to be Canaan, whence blessings are to flow down all ages and to all lands . He sets this sublime mission before Joseph as a far higher dignity for his children than princedoms in Egypt, and so claims for himself Ephraim and Manasseh . ” Newhall .

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments