The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. (Genesis 48:16)
Here placed on an equality with God, “the Angel” could not possibly be a created being, but must be the “Angel of God,” meaning God manifested in the form of an angel (see Ex. 32:34; Isa. 63:9; 1 Cor. 10:4). To the more fully developed revelation of the writers of the NT, He is the “Word,” the “Shepherd,” and the “Redeemer,” Jesus Christ. Both Jacob and Job (Job 19:21) reveal acquaintance with this Divine One, who delivered them from ill, both temporal and spiritual, and who would complete His work of liberation by freeing them from the power of the grave. The Redeemer to whom Jacob and Job looked forward, and of whom both Moses and the prophets testified, was Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 10:4; Gal. 3:13; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:18).
Let my name.
By this Jacob meant that Ephraim and Manasseh were to be counted as Jacob’s sons. Thus they would become in a special sense recipients of the blessings promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.