Sunday, March 22, 2020

In The Beginning. Day 174, Jacob Blesses Joseph's Sons, Part Two

Jacob bestows prophetic blessings upon Joseph's two sons in today's passage of Scripture.

"And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel's right hand, and brought them close to him." (Genesis 48:13) Joseph arranges his sons in front of Jacob so that during the blessing Jacob can place his right hand on the firstborn and his left hand on the second born. Jacob's eyes may be nearly blind but his soul isn't. He's following the leadership of the Holy Spirit while bestowing these blessings and he will place his right hand on the second born and his left hand on the firstborn.

"But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh's head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn." (Genesis 48:14) Before Jacob and his brother Esau were born, the Lord told Isaac and Rebekah that the younger son would serve the elder. The same thing is happening here in the scene taking place in today's passage. It was customary to give the greater blessing to the firstborn son but the Lord, in His wisdom, gives the greater blessing to whom He chooses. He promotes and demotes according to His will, based on what He knows about the character of the people involved. Before Esau was ever born the Lord knew his character and the Lord bestowed the greater blessing upon Jacob, the second born, because He knew Jacob would have a heart for Him in a way Esau never would. Likewise, the Lord knows the past, current, and future character of Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh and He chooses their blessings accordingly.

Moses refers to the blessings in our chapter as Jacob blessing Joseph, and that makes sense because if someone blesses your children don't you feel blessed as well? Don't you burst with parental pride when someone says something good about your kids? When a person shows kindness to your children, aren't you grateful to them? In blessing Joseph's children, Jacob is blessing Joseph as well. "Then he blessed Joseph and said, 'May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life until this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm---may He bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.'" (Genesis 48:15-16)

Joseph sees how his father has crossed his arms to put his right hand on Ephraim's head and his left hand on Manasseh's head and thinks Jacob has made an error due to his poor eyesight. "When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Joseph said to him, 'No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.'" (Genesis 48:17-18)

There are many times in the Old Testament when the whole nation of Israel will be referred to as Ephraim. We will sometimes find these names being used interchangeably. Neither the tribe of Ephraim nor the tribe of Manasseh will be the Messianic line, but the tribe of Ephraim will remain more faithful to the Lord than the tribe of Manasseh. The Lord knows this and He shares this information with Jacob who prophetically bestows the greater blessing upon Ephraim based on what his tribe will be like in the future. "But his father refused and said, 'I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.'" (Genesis 48:19)

"He blessed them that day and said, 'In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.' So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh." (Genesis 48:20) From now on, whenever the tribes of Israel are mentioned, we will find the name of Ephraim mentioned before the name of Manasseh. Though Ephraim has the preeminence over Manasseh, the Lord blesses both their family lines, so much so that to say to someone, "May the Lord bless you as He blessed Ephraim and Manasseh," will be considered a great compliment.

"Then Israel said to Joseph, 'I am about to die, and God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers. And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.'" (Genesis 48:21-22) When Jacob says God will be with "you" and take "you" back to the land of "your" fathers, he's using the plural form of the word. He's not saying Joseph himself will return to Canaan. Joseph will die in Egypt. Jacob is using the plural "you" as a reference to Joseph's descendants and to the descendants of all Joseph's brothers. The nation of Israel will return to Canaan and I think that's why Moses refers to Jacob as "Israel" so many times in our current chapter. The nation is being formed right here and right now, though they are still small in number. The Lord is speaking prophetically through Jacob in today's chapter and in the next chapter to those who are the ancestors of the great number of people who will leave Egypt and inherit the promised land. Jacob's family numbers only seventy or so persons right now, but they may number almost two million when the Lord leads them out of Egypt with His mighty hand over four hundred years later.

Of all Jacob's sons, Joseph has the biggest heart for the Lord. He is one of very few Bible characters about whom nothing negative is ever said. He is not perfect, but he loves the Lord with all his heart, and to Joseph's family line Jacob leaves an extra plot of land. Is Joseph still Jacob's favorite son? Or is Jacob providing this extra land for Joseph's descendants because the Lord tells him to? Or is he bequeathing extra land because of adopting Joseph's two sons? I can't say for certain, but a person has a right to dispose of his property as he sees fit. Jacob is making his last will and testament and he has the right to choose which son gets what. If he wants to bequeath an extra portion to Joseph's descendants, that's his business, and he very well may be doing it because he is adopting two sons in this chapter. He's taking Joseph's sons as his own and naturally he wants to provide a little extra since these two are taking the place of Joseph. Joseph will have no tribe named after him but will have two tribes through his sons and those two tribes will be called Ephraim and Manasseh.

Join us tomorrow as Jacob prophetically blesses each of his sons and lets us know which son's line will be the royal line of Israel---from which our King and Redeemer will come.

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