Lesson 98- Jacob Affirms the Past for the Present

Future Leadership is Established Around Ephraim

English Standard Version (Chapter 48)

17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 And Joseph said to his father, “Not this way, my father; since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.”

19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.” 20 So he blessed them that day, saying,

“By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying,

‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.’ ”

Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. 22 Moreover, I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.

This a remarkable passage in that so much of Israel’s history is bound up in this section of Scripture. As long as there are human beings, there will always be the question, “who’s in charge?” Joseph tried to direct his Fathers hands in direct opposition to the words of Jacob. Earlier in Genesis, Jacob had taken the birthright with the help of his mother and Isaac blessed him instead of Esau. There are some similarities to what he did to his brother to this, but the reality is Jacob knew what he was doing. In spite of the cloudy vision:

“But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great.”

The move of Jacob’s hand to the younger son was intentional. He has no problem with Manasseh, but there will be a difference between them. Manasseh shall still be great, and his legacy is that he will become “a people.” That is, they will be a whole race of people, and the boys will still be kin. We can only suppose and not speak with authority on the subject of Jacob favoring the younger because that’s what he was, the younger brother. Jacob and Esau were twins, but we don’t have the same situation with Joseph. There is a distinction in time between his sons. They were born during the time of plenty, preceeding the famine. You could actually read it like they were twins, but the fact is it does not say:

English Standard Version (Chapter 41)

50 Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him.

51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” 52 The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

The text tells us what the names mean. If we are looking for meaning, these name were always probably personal names and not from some other source. Ephraim is a geographical area, but again, the meaning is already in the text of chapter 41. Many times, Manasseh is mentioned before Ephraim, because of his position as eldest, in that, he fulfilled his role very well and he is recognized as such. But it does not change the blessing of Ephraim. If you read long enough in the Bible you will find a reverse order of Ephraim and Manasseh and I would say that is a nod to the blessing. The truth is that Jacob’s clan is “one” people made up of many parts.

Warren Wiersbe in his commentary, tells us of even the significance of the crossing of arms by Jacob that was in opposition to what Joseph wanted:

Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Chapters 46–50)

Jacob crossed his arms and gave the blessing of the firstborn to Ephraim. This displeased Joseph, but Jacob was guided by God, for God was going to give the greater blessing to Ephraim. This is another example of the divine principle of setting aside the first to establish the second (Heb. 10:9). We saw this before in Seth and Cain, Isaac and Ishmael, and Jacob and Esau. The fact that Jacob crossed his hands brings the cross into the picture. It is through the cross that God crucified the old nature and now sets aside the natural that He might establish the spiritual. When you are born again, God rearranges your spiritual “birth order.”

Let’s see what Hebrews 10 says:

The Lexham English Bible (Chapter 10)

8 When he says above,

“Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and offerings for sin

you did not want, nor did you delight in,”

which are offered according to the law, 9 then he has said,

“Behold, I have come to do your will.”

He takes away the first in order to establish the second, 10 by which will we are made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The young “20 something boys,” must have cut an impressive picture in time as the blessing is saying in verse 20 that, “may God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” It would have been nice that in later years after the Exodus, that they boys clans would not have ruled the area of liberal unbelieving theology of the northern area of the promised land.

Verse 21 states the return to the land of Joseph’s ancestors will happen( the Exodus), but there is no timeline and no discussion of method. Israel/Jacob is about to die, and he will surely get carried back for that, but the point is, everybody returns to Egypt after thew funeral. It almost seems like for a season at least, that Egypt is like a brother to Jacob’s sons because of the open door and their desire to return.

Verse 22 shows a previously hidden action by Jacob. He took a slope of land from the Amorites, by the sword and with his bow. Who knew? The old guy reveals he could be warlike if he wanted. The Amorites are descendants of Canaan. Amorite has reference to a western area or the west wind, west of Mesopotamia. When the Wise men came from the west, it was probably from this general area. It was close to Babylon, but with a different zip code.

We come to the close of this chapter and the next one, 49 is really the blessing of “bless the boys.” one by one they will hear the needful things so they can follow their destiny. They heard great things but the question will come, “Did it get passed to all of the future generations?” That is a tough job to communicate because not every generation carries on the message. Being faithful with our fathers message from God must be a priority. The generations must know that the Lord has a specific plan for each one of them.