Veneration

The umbrella collects veneration for parents — the honour an aged man pays to those who came before him. In the only verse-pair the umbrella anchors, dying Jacob blesses Joseph's sons by invoking his own fathers Abraham and Isaac, asking that their name pass on to the next generation.

Honour for the Fathers

Bedridden and near death, Jacob lays his hands on Ephraim and Manasseh and speaks the patriarchal line back over them: "And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel who has 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" (Gen 48:15-16).

The blessing reaches in two directions at once. It looks back, naming the God of his fathers, the long providence that has fed him, and the angel-redeemer who has carried him through evil. And it looks forward, asking that his name and the names of his fathers be set on Joseph's sons. The honour due to parents is here paid by an act of inheritance: their name is preserved by being placed on grandchildren who will multiply in the earth.