JOSEPH

14. Explain how Joseph’s blessing proved true. (Genesis 49:22, 26) (See also box.)

¹⁴ Read Genesis 49:22, 26. Jacob must have been very proud of Joseph​—he was “singled out from his brothers.” Jacob called him “the offshoot of a fruitful tree.” Jacob himself was the tree, and Joseph was an offshoot of his. Joseph was the firstborn son of Jacob’s beloved wife, Rachel. Jacob indicated that Joseph would receive the double portion that Reuben​—Jacob’s firstborn from his wife Leah—​had forfeited. (Gen. 48:5, 6; 1 Chron. 5:1, 2) In the fulfillment of that prophecy, the descendants of Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, received an allotment of land as two separate tribes.​—Gen. 49:25; Josh. 14:4.