Genesis 47 · a question people ask
"Israel bowed himself on the bed’s head": bowed to whom, and was it a bed or a staff?
Genesis says, "Israel bowed himself on the bed’s head" (47:31). Hebrews, speaking of Jacob's last days, says, "By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff" (Hebrews 11:21). The Hebrew word for "bed" (mittah) and the word for "staff" (matteh) are written with the same consonants and differ only in their vowels, which were added to the written text later. The Hebrew text as we have it reads "bed"; Hebrews says "staff". Genesis also doesn't say to whom Israel bowed, and readers take it in two main ways.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Worship of God
Those who hold this view read the bow as worship, as Hebrews says, "and worshiped" (Hebrews 11:21), and compare Abraham's servant, who "bowed his head, and worshiped the LORD" when he learned the LORD had led him to his master's relatives (24:26-27). Jacob bows just after Joseph swears to bury him with his fathers (47:30-31).
Hebrews 11:21 · Genesis 24:26-27 · Genesis 47:30-31
A bow to Joseph
Those who hold this view note that the verb, shachah, is the one in Jacob's question about Joseph's dream, "Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to the earth before you?" (37:10), and read Jacob's bow toward his son as that dream coming true.
Genesis 37:10 · Genesis 47:31
The verses
“Israel said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the bed’s head.”
“By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.”