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Why does Yakov ask the malach (angel) (actually it sounds more like a statement of fact - "he will...") who protected him from evil to bless Ephraim and Menashe? Also, do we find that this actually happened — i.e., did that malach in fact bless them?

הַמַּלְאָךְ הַגֹּאֵל אֹתִי מִכָּל-רָע, יְבָרֵךְ אֶת-הַנְּעָרִים - Genesis 48:16

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@mah-nishtana, the "he will" composition of the sentence is not a statement of fact; it is a prayer. Modern Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew are different, and, even though this is true, even in Modern Hebrew the correct way to say "may he do such and such" is to write it in the future tense (ie., "he will do such and such"). I'm keeping it simple here, but that's basically it in a nutshell. Also, I edited it out of the question, because it's irrelevant. May I suggest asking it as a separate question (although it may be off-topic here)? – Seth J May 17 '12 at 16:07
@msh210 ok that is superlong, can you tell me the related part? – mah-nishtana May 17 '12 at 16:07
@SethJ I disagree, if it was a request why would he not add the word 'na' (please) as he does with his request to Yosef? I think it is relevant to the question because Yakov has a pattern of ordering angels to give blessings ;) – mah-nishtana May 17 '12 at 16:10
@mah-nishtana, Everything you're saying is true, and maybe that will make it on-topic (ie., maybe there's a commentator who picks up on it) if you ask it as a separate question. But on the plain reading it is consistent with standard Hebrew to read it as a prayer. Regardless, I still think it is irrelevant to the current question. Otherwise, I still give it a +1. – Seth J May 17 '12 at 16:16
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