Yosef’s life draws to its end at age one hundred ten. The dreamer, the natural leader, the man who transforms every setback into progress and triumph, has risen from shepherd to viceroy of the most powerful nation in the world. Moreover, he has attributed all his abilities and accomplishments to Hashem.
And Yosef saw (VA’YARH) Ephraim’s children of third generations (BENEI SHILEISHIM); also, the children of Machir son of Menasheh were raised (YULEDU) on Yosef’s knees. (Bereishit 50:23).
What is the significance of this?

On one level of course, the Torah wishes to point out that Yosef lived a long life. On Menasheh’s side, Yosef survives to behold his own great-grandchildren. As for Ephraim, since SHILEISHIM (from SHALOSH, three) refers to the third generation, Yosef lives to see his own great-great-great-grandchildren! (See Ibn Ezra and Haamek Davar, R. Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, 1817-1893.)

The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni II 956) says further that Yosef was granted many years because of his generosity:
“The crown of splendor is advanced age; it will be found in the path of righteousness (Mishlei 16:31). … Since Yosef excelled in showing kindness to his brothers in Egypt, he merited the crown of old age, as it says, And Yosef saw Ephraim’s children of third generations, etc.”

A measure of longevity is having grandchildren:
The crown of elders is grandchildren (Mishlei 17:6).
The Talmud (Yevamot 62b) says that one’s grandchildren are like his children; the Zohar (I 233) says they are even more beloved than children. Recognizing the connection across the generations is uniquely human:
“Man is the only creature on earth that has come to have knowledge of his grandparents and his grandchildren” (Leo Baeck, 1873-1956, Judaism and Ethics, p. 18).
Yosef is blessed with a very long life crowned by many descendants.

But this requires further analysis. For while 110 is a ripe old age by modern standards, it is by no means the greatest age reached in the Tanach. In fact, it is the shortest life-span recorded in the Torah! Moreover, while it is impressive that Yosef’s life overlaps five generations, that certainly does not set any records for the book of Bereishit! Adam, for example, lived to see seven generations after him.

Clearly, more is at issue here than the simple “begetting” children and grandchildren. Yosef saw (VA’YARH) his son Ephraim’s BENEI SHILEISHIM; this connotes direct involvement and approval, as in
And G-d saw(VA’YARH) the light, that it was good (Bereishit 1:4).
Concerning Menasheh’s children Rashi, based on the Targum, translates YULEDU as they were raised , not simply “they were born.” Additionally Sforno (R. Ovadia ben Yaakov Sforno, c. 1470-c.1550), in his comments to 10:21, suggests that YULAD means to father a child of similar moral and spiritual stature.

What emerges from this verse therefore is that Yosef has a relationship with his grandchildren (and great-great-great-grandchildren) and is intimately involved in imparting to them the values of the house of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.

This kind of bond between generations has little precedent before this point, except for Terach who took his grandson Lot with him towards Canaan (11:31), although Terach did not complete the journey. Yaakov, however, took an interest in his grandsons Ephraim and Menasheh and blessed them (chapter 48; in fact, Ephraim’s manifold descendants fulfills Yaakov’s blessing in verse 48:19 that he would be greater than Menasheh). Yosef emulates Yaakov’s example.

What are the effects of Yosef’s investment in his offspring?

First, Yosef guarantees the future of Torah values in his family, as it says:
And the triple cord is not easily severed (Kohelet 4:12).
Rashi’s comment on this verse is:
“One who is a scholar and his son and his grandson, the Torah will never depart from his descendants, as it says, It shall not move from your mouth, nor your seed’s mouth, nor the mouth of your seed’s seed (Yeshayahu 59:21).”

Yosef also transmits to his successors a love for Eretz Yisrael. When we look into the later lineage of Menasheh and Ephraim (Divrei HaYamim I 7:14-27), we find that Yosef had direct contact with some of those who would leave Egypt (see Haamek Davar). Yosef’s descendants had land holdings in the area of Shechem, which they maintained even after the descent to Egypt (based on the commentary of “a student of Saadia” and that of R. Yehuda haChasid, in the name of his father; see the introduction to Daat Mikra Bereishit vol. I 94-95). Some of the children of Ephraim in Egypt “calculated the end and erred” (Sanhedrin 92b, based on Divrei HaYamim I 7:21). However, when they went to Canaan to take their flocks they were killed.

The children of Machir son of Menasheh includes Gilead who would later be
a man of war and he had the Gilead and the Bashan (Yehoshua 17:1).
While Yosef was still ruling, his great-grandchildren conquered Gilead and Bashan and settled them (Daat Mikra). Rabbenu Bachya (ben Asher ben Hlava, 13th Century) points out that the verse refers to Gilead in the plural (even though Bamidbar 26:29 mentions him as the sole son of Machir) because of his connection to the five daughters of Tzelofechad, son of Chefer, son of Gilead; these were the righteous wise women who pled for a portion in the land of Israel (Bamidbar 27:1-11).

When Yosef dies his body is placed in a coffin in Egypt (Bereishit 50:26), waiting to be taken with the Children of Israel at the Exodus (Shemot 13:19). Ultimately, he is buried in the plot in Shechem which had been purchased by Yaakov (Bereishit 33:19; Yehoshua 24:32). Therefore, Yosef is the one person whose presence spans the entire “Hexateuch” (the Torah and the book of Yehoshua) which, had Israel never sinned, would have comprised the entire Scripture (Nedarim 22b). The saintly child of the land of Israel who ends his life in Egypt is returned to his beloved land, because of the deep bond he forges with his children and grandchildren.