Genesis 48:17
And 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 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.
This moment belongs to the later history of Joseph in Egypt, after the seven years of dearth had begun in all lands, when ten of Jacob's sons came from Canaan to buy grain and bowed down before Joseph with their faces to the earth without recognizing him. It displays the meaningful, significant Jewish form in which a father blessed his children by reverently placing his hands upon their heads. The laying on of hands was a reverent asking of God to bestow His blessing upon those devoted to Him.
The same meaning was carried when one with priestly authority laid his hand upon the head of an animal devoted to sacrifice. This practice helps explain the significance of the ministers and church leaders at Antioch laying their hands upon Paul and Barnabas, those God had chosen for a specific work, to ask God's blessing upon their appointed work.