And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
This belongs to the history of Joseph as ruler in Egypt during the famine. Ten sons of Jacob came from Canaan to buy grain and bowed down before Joseph with their faces to the earth without knowing him. In answer to his questioning they told him of twelve brethren, with the youngest at home with their father and one not.
The scene depicts a father laying his hand on a child's head while blessing him, which was a familiar Jewish custom and form of blessing children. The mention of the right hand reflects that the hand itself had significance in the blessing of children. The laying on of hands was a meaningful act of both blessing and designation. Fathers laid their hands reverently on their children's heads when blessing them, as the significant form for asking blessing from God upon the person, with the same meaning as when priestly authority laid a hand on the head of an animal devoted to sacrifice.
This belongs to the history of Joseph as ruler in Egypt during the famine. Ten sons of Jacob came from Canaan to buy grain and bowed down before Joseph with their faces to the earth without knowing him. In answer to his questioning they told him of twelve brethren, with the youngest at home with their father and one not.
The scene depicts a father laying his hand on a child's head while blessing him, which was a familiar Jewish custom and form of blessing children. The mention of the right hand reflects that the hand itself had significance in the blessing of children. The laying on of hands was a meaningful act of both blessing and designation. Fathers laid their hands reverently on their children's heads when blessing them, as the significant form for asking blessing from God upon the person, with the same meaning as when priestly authority laid a hand on the head of an animal devoted to sacrifice.