Глава 47

Gen.47:31. “And he said to him: Swear to me. And he swore to him. And Israel bowed down upon the top of his staff." And in this place it is in vain that some try to imagine that Jacob bowed down to the top of Joseph’s staff, that is, that he paid homage to his son and bowed down to his authority, because the Hebrew text has a completely different reading: “And Israel bowed,” it says there, “to the head of the bed.” That is, after the son swore to him, he, no longer worrying about what he asked of his son, bowed to God opposite the head of his bed. Because the holy and devoted man, depressed by old age, ordered his bed to be arranged in such a way that even the one lying there would not be hindered by anything from being ready for prayer.