February 26, 2024 • 23 mins
Ever wondered why the younger often outshines the elder in biblical narratives? Join me, Randy Duncan, as we uncover the powerful and prophetic moment when Jacob chooses Ephraim over Manasseh, altering the course of Israel's tribes forever. Unpack the layers of this ancient drama in Genesis 48 and grasp the full weight of Jacob's blessings, his strategic choice for burial in Canaan, and the legal dance between rights and destinies.
This journey through the biblical text is more than a history lesson; it's a window into the soul of a family chosen by God. As we explore Joseph's steadfast respect for his father, despite his Egyptian prominence, and the impact of Jacob's preferential blessing, we'll uncover how the echoes of these decisions resonate in our lives today. Feel the emotional gravity of Jacob's final interactions with his progeny, and let's discover together the timeless message of spiritual legacies that far outweigh earthly treasures.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
MUSIC.
Well, thank you once again forjoining me in this study through
the book of Genesis.
I'm Randy Duncan and we are nowonly three chapters away from
completing our study.
In the last episode, we sawJoseph inform Pharaoh that his
family had arrived in Egypt andrequested permission for them to
settle in the land of Goshen.
Pharaoh grants their requestand even appoints some of
(00:31):
Joseph's brothers as officers ofhis livestock, and so Jacob and
his family prosper despite thesevere famine.
And now Jacob, nearing the endof his life, requests to be
buried alongside his fathers inthe land of Canaan, and Joseph
promises to fulfill his request.
Which brings us now to chapter48, which has two main themes
(00:55):
First, the adoption of Joseph'stwo sons by Jacob, and then, the
elevation and status of theyounger, ephraim over the older
Manashe.
And so, with those quick wordsof introduction, we begin with
the first seven verses, whichread After this Joseph was told
Behold, your father is ill.
(01:16):
So he took with him his two sons, manashe and Ephraim.
And it was told to Jacob yourson, joseph, has come to you.
And Israel summoned hisstrength and sat up in bed.
And Jacob said to Joseph GodAlmighty appeared to me at Luz,
in the land of Canaan andblessed me and said to me Behold
, I will make you fruitful andmultiply you, and I will make of
(01:38):
you a company of peoples andwill give this land to your
offspring after you for aneverlasting possession.
And now your two sons, who wereborn to you in the land of
Egypt, before I came to you inEgypt, are mine.
The Ephraim and Manashe shallbe mine, as Reuben and Simeon
are, and the children that youfathered after them shall be
(01:59):
yours.
They shall be called by thename of their brothers and their
inheritance.
As for me, when I came fromPaddan, to my sorrow, rachel
died in the land of Canaan onthe way when there was still
some distance to go to Ephraith,and I buried her there, on the
way to Ephraith, that is,bethlehem.
Now, that was a little longersection than we normally read at
(02:20):
once, but there's really noother good breaking point that
makes sense.
And what we see is that Jacobis near death now and his
impending death requires him tosettle his affairs.
But Joseph is alerted that hisfather, jacob, is ill, which, by
the way, is the first referenceto illness in the Bible.
But Joseph takes his two sons,manashe and Ephraim, to see
(02:45):
Jacob Manashe is the older,ephraim is the younger, and
Joseph is looking for Jacob tobless them.
And to just give you a sort ofa mental picture here, these two
boys are around 20 years old atthis time, but it tells us that
Jacob, or Israel, summoned hisstrength and sat up in his bed.
Again, he's very weak and he'sfrail.
(03:07):
He's on his death bed at thistime.
Jacob, whose spirit had diedwhen he heard of Joseph's death,
revived it once again uponhearing that he was still alive.
And now he rallies his strengthhere one more time.
He renews his strength in orderto impart the blessing on
Joseph's sons, and so he managesto set up in his bed.
(03:28):
And Jacob says to Joseph GodAlmighty appeared to me at Luz
in the land of Canaan and blessme Now.
Luz is the original name forBethel, which, if you remember,
is where Jacob had a divinerevelation from God.
When he returned fromPadamahram, his name was changed
to Israel and the promises madeto Abraham and Isaac were
(03:50):
reiterated.
And Jacob now paraphrases thosedivine promises in order to
establish the legal basis forwhat he is about to do.
Since he is the heir to thoseblessings, he has the right to
decide who will be a part of thepeople, who will be included in
the community of people whowill be known as Israel.
Because only the one whoreceived a divine blessing can
(04:12):
impart it to others.
And since Joseph never receivedthis particular blessing, even
he cannot bless his sons withtribal territory in the Promised
Land.
But Jacob continues byreminding Joseph that God
blessed him and told him I willmake of you a company of peoples
and will give this land to youroffspring after you for an
(04:33):
everlasting possession.
Now, this everlastingpossession is the Promised Land,
the land of Israel, and onlyGod can give an everlasting
possession.
I mean even Pharaoh's gift ofallowing the family to settle in
Goshen.
It was only transitory, it wastemporary.
And so, after this quick summaryby Jacob, he then says to
(04:54):
Joseph and now your two sons,who were born to you in the land
of Egypt before I came to youin Egypt, are mine.
Ephraim and Matashay shall bemine, as Reuben and Simeon are.
In other words, jacob istelling Joseph that he is
officially adopting his two sons, ephraim and Matashay, and in
(05:15):
doing so he is elevating them tofull membership in the tribal
league.
Out of his 52 grandchildren, heis choosing Joseph's two sons
and through this adoption,ephraim and Matashay will be as
Jacob's sons rather than hisgrandsons.
They will share in theinheritance along with Jacob's
(05:35):
other sons and through his twosons, joseph in a way ends up
receiving a double portion ofthe inheritance.
Remember, jacob had 12 sons whobecame the 12 tribes of Israel.
However, neither Joseph norLevi were given their own lands.
Joseph's two sons here, ephraimand Matashay, are adopted by
(05:58):
Jacob and given their own lands,and Levi, who would become the
tribe of priests, needed no land.
I also want to point outsomething that's very subtle
here.
At the beginning of the chapterit says Joseph brought his two
sons, matashay and Ephraim, tosee Jacob.
It lists them in the order oftheir birth, with Matashay being
(06:19):
the older.
However, when Jacob tellsJoseph that he will adopt the
two boys, he says Ephraim andMatashay shall be mine he
reverses their order, namingEphraim first.
Now you might think this is nobig deal, and for a brief moment
you may be correct, but this isno accident by Jacob and is a
(06:40):
hint of what's about to happen.
Jacob also tells Joseph that,although Ephraim and Matashay
will be reckoned as his, anyfuture children of Joseph's will
be counted as Joseph's, jacobthen recounts the death of his
beloved Rachel, who is Joseph'smother.
Now, there are a couple ofdifferent interpretations as to
(07:01):
why Jacob even mentions this.
First, some feel it's ajustification by Jacob for
troubling Joseph to havingburied in the cave of Makpala
when he hadn't even done thesame for Rachel, and so they
view this as Jacob explaininghis reasons to Joseph,
explaining to him that while hewas traveling, rachel suddenly
(07:22):
died while giving birth to hisbrother Benjamin, and because he
was still a long way off, hewas unable to take her body to
the family tomb.
But others feel as though, look, it's only natural for Jacob,
while he's on his deathbed, torecall his beloved wife, who had
died so young and for whom hehad endured so much.
Also, it may be because she haddied so young and she was
(07:46):
deprived of the opportunity tohave more children that her two
grandchildren are adopted byJacob as sort of a substitute
for those children death robbedher of.
But we continue with verses8-13.
When Israel saw Joseph's sons,he said who were these?
And Joseph said to his fatherthese are my sons, whom God has
(08:07):
given me here.
And he said Bring them to me,please, that I may bless them.
Now, the eyes of Israel weredim with age so that he could
not see, and so Joseph broughtthem near him and he kissed them
and embraced them.
And Israel said to Joseph Inever expected to see your face
and behold, god has let me seeyour offspring also.
Then Joseph removed them fromhis knees and bowed himself with
(08:30):
his face to the earth.
And Joseph took them both andframed them in his right hand
toward Israel's left hand andmannishae in his left hand
toward Israel's right hand, andbrought them near him.
So Joseph brings his sons toJacob and Jacob says who sons
are these?
Now some people think that hesaid this because his eyesight
(08:51):
was failing, and they argue thisbecause in verse 10 it says
that Israel's eyes were dim withage and he couldn't see well.
However, jacob has lived inEgypt now for 17 years and it's
highly unlikely that he doesn'tknow or he's never met Joseph's
two sons.
After all, he's the oneproposing to adopt both of them,
(09:11):
and so what more modernscholarship argues is that his
question as to who the two boysare is more likely a part of the
adoption ritual.
It's simply a legal ritualwhereby he is identifying them.
It's similar to the questionasked at a child's baptism, like
what name is given to thischild?
Or at a wedding who gives thiswoman to this man?
(09:33):
Neither of those questions areasked in ignorance by the member
of the clergy.
They're asked in order toofficially establish the true
identity of the candidates aspart of the process.
And likewise, jacob here isgoing through the legal adoptive
process by establishing thenames of the two boys.
But Joseph brings him close toJacob, who kisses and embraces
(09:56):
them, and he says to Joseph Inever expected to see your face
again, but God has allowed me tonot only see you again, but to
see your children as well.
He recognizes that thesechildren are a gift from God.
Both Jacob and Joseph areblessed through these two boys.
Joseph is blessed after all theyears of his affliction and
(10:18):
Jacob after losing all hope ofever even seeing Joseph again.
Joseph then bowels himselfbefore Jacob.
Ironically, this is exactlyopposite of the dreams Joseph
had as a young teenager, when hedreamed his father would bow
before him.
And it's also ironic that theone who is virtually equal to
(10:39):
Pharaoh, the number two personin all of Egypt, humbles himself
before Jacob, the patriarch whomediates God's promises.
Joseph may be the second mostpowerful man in Egypt, but he
never loses respect for hisfather.
And we continue with verses 14through 16, which read and
Israel stretched out his righthand and laid it on the head of
(11:02):
Ephraim, who was the younger,and his left hand on the head of
Manichae, crossing his hands,for Manichae was the firstborn.
And he blessed Joseph and saidthe God before whom my fathers,
abraham and Isaac, walked, theGod who has been my shepherd all
my life long to this day, theangel who has redeemed me from
(11:22):
all evil, blessed the boys andin them let my name be carried
on and the name of my fathers,abraham and Isaac, and let them
grow into a multitude in themidst of the earth.
And so we saw that Josephpositions the two boys in front
of Jacob in such a way as toensure Jacob's right hand.
The symbol of power and actionwill naturally rest on Manichae
(11:46):
the firstborn.
Incidentally, in English theword left derives from an
Anglo-Saxon word, lift, whichmeans useless or weak, but when
offering a blessing, the fatherwould place his right hand on
the older child and is left onthe younger child.
The placing of the right handup on the head established
(12:07):
physical contact between theparties of the blessing.
The high importance this hasfor Joseph is conveyed by the
precision of the language here,which sees the repeated use of
the terms right and left seventimes in verses 13 and 17.
And so what we see is that,even though Joseph positioned
the boys such that Manichaewould receive the blessing of
(12:30):
the older, jacob reaches out andcrosses his arms, placing his
right hand upon Ephraim and hisleft hand upon Manichae.
Jacob may be old and losing asight, but he is not losing his
insight and, ironically, theolder, phrel and partially blind
Jacob shows an insight into thefuture that his clear-sighted
(12:52):
and sometimes clairvoyant son,joseph, is denied.
But even though we know he isblessing Joseph's two sons, the
text here reads that he blessedJoseph.
Now some translations actuallyread that he blessed them and
others translated as he blessedthe sons of Joseph.
Other commentaries explain thatthe father is the recipient of
(13:13):
the blessing vicariously,through the blessings bestowed
upon the children.
But regardless, the importantpoint in this scene is that
Jacob chooses the youngerbrother over the older brother,
with the greater blessing.
And in blessing them, jacobblesses them as his father,
isaac, had blessed him.
He mentions God's blessing onhim in Egypt and allowing him to
(13:36):
once again see his belovedJoseph, and then switches to the
blessings that the two boyswill receive when they return to
the promised land.
Ephraim and Manichae become partof the covenant family.
But God's promises to Abrahamand Isaac were certain because
they walked before God.
For their heirs to experiencethe promised blessings, they too
(13:58):
must walk before God, and wesee in the history of Israel
that when they fell to walkbefore God, they were punished.
Jacob also says May they becalled by my name and the names
of my fathers, meaning may theybe reckoned among the tribes of
Israel and as part of the familythat are heirs to the promises
(14:18):
and blessings God granted toAbraham, isaac and Jacob.
Jacob felt it was moreimportant for the two boys to be
counted and named among thetribes of Israel than to be
numbered among the princes ofEgypt.
And finally, jacob says Letthem grow into a multitude in
the midst of the earth.
And we see that is exactly whathappens.
(14:40):
These two tribes growexceedingly in number.
We know this based on the twocensuses taken during the
wilderness wonderings.
But also we see that in Mosesfarewell address that he
mentions the quote Myriads ofEphraim and the quote thousands
of Manichae, and this hugepopulation actually posed a
(15:02):
special problem for Joshua.
In the allotment of tribalterritories that we read about
in the book of Joshua, in fact,we see that Ephraim becomes the
more powerful and moreinfluential of the two tribes,
so much so that the name ofEphraim eventually became
synonymous with the entirekingdom of Israel, and this
(15:23):
phenomenon is traced back tothis blessing from Jacob.
And so how does Joseph respondto all of this?
We are told in verses 17through 20, which tell us when
Joseph saw that his father laidhis right hand on the head of
Ephraim, it displeased him andhe took his father's hand to
move it from Ephraim's hand toManichae's head.
(15:44):
And Joseph said to his fatherNot this way, my father, since
this one is the firstborn, putyour right hand on his head.
But his father refused and saidI know my son, I know he also
shall become a people and healso shall be great.
Nevertheless, his youngerbrother shall be greater than he
(16:04):
and his offspring shall becomea multitude of nations.
So we bless them that day,saying by you, israel will
pronounce blessing, saying God,make you as Ephraim and as
Manichae.
Thus he put Ephraim beforeManichae.
And so the answer to thequestion of how Joseph responded
was not good.
(16:25):
It says he was displeased, ashe tries to correct Jacob Now
the word translated asdispleased here literally means
it was evil in his eyes.
Joseph thought that it waswrong to ignore the rule of
blessing the firstborn.
He's acting sort of likeAbraham when Abraham was so
reluctant to give another sonthe rights over his firstborn.
(16:48):
Joseph may also be fearful thatJacob is now making the same
mistake that he did in favoringthe younger Joseph, which led to
his brother's jealousy andhatred of him.
And he doesn't want Jacob torepeat that mistake by favoring
another younger brother.
And you also get the sense thathe is blaming Jacob's error on
his poor eyesight because hetries to correct him, as if
(17:11):
Jacob is making a mistakebecause he simply can't see them
well enough.
And it's ironic because, if youremember, many years before
Jacob had exploited his father,isaac's poor eyesight in
stealing Esau's blessing.
And so Joseph wants him tocorrect his error, but Jacob
refuses.
The aged patriarch, empowered byGod, is right now more powerful
(17:34):
than the ruler of Egypt.
And Jacob simply responds toJoseph by saying I know, son, I
know.
In other words, I know who theolder son is and I also know why
you placed him before me in thepositions you did, and I know
what I'm doing.
Jacob's eyesight may be failing, but he still knows exactly
(17:55):
what he's doing.
There's no fooling Jacob.
He wasn't named the deceiverfor nothing.
Ironically, isaac was basicallyblind and blessed Jacob without
knowing it.
But Jacob here, although hiseyesight is failing, he knows
full well and deliberatelyblesses the younger.
You know we're very familiarwith the passage in Isaiah 55
(18:19):
where God declares for mythoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,and God simply overrides human
social convention at times.
I mean there are severalexamples of this, such as Cain
and Abel, isaac and Ishmael,jacob and Esau, and even Joseph
over all of his older brothers.
(18:39):
We also see God choose thefuture King David over his older
brothers.
But before we think aboutcriticizing Joseph too much,
here are we much different.
I mean, how often do we thrustbefore God our own manashe?
We want God to bless what wehave in mind.
We have some favorite idea orplan or scheme that we're
(19:01):
wanting God to bless, but thenhe suddenly brings about
circumstances that change all ofthose plans.
Those plans are shot down andwe begin to wonder and ask if
God even hears our prayers.
Is he listening to what it isthat we want?
Like Joseph, we always have someplan, a manashe, that we want
God to bless, and God isconstantly changing our plan and
(19:24):
putting before us some Ephraimand blessing it.
And also, like Joseph, whenthings don't turn out like we
planned, we don't like it, weare displeased.
And, like Joseph, we cry outnot so my father, not this one,
not like this, not this course,not this way, not this place.
(19:46):
And sometimes it takes manyyears to realize how much God
loves us, how much better hisplan was and that he didn't give
us exactly what we asked for.
And then you look back andthink, god, that he didn't, and
you're glad that his ways arenot your ways.
And sometimes we learn thatwhat we need most in life is
(20:06):
often found in the places wherewe least want to look.
But so, with that, jacob blessedEphraim and Manashe and we
finish the chapter with the lasttwo verses, which read and
Israel said to Joseph Behold, Iam about to die, but God will be
with you and will bring youagain to the land of your
fathers.
(20:27):
Moreover, I have given to you,rather than to your brothers one
mountain slope that I took fromthe hand of the Amorites with
my sword and with my bow.
And so we see that Jacob isabout to die and we'll actually
read about his death in the nextchapter but he reassures Joseph
that God will be with him.
Jacob also tells him that hehas given to him, rather than to
(20:50):
his brothers, a mountain slopethat he took from the Amorites.
Now he says that he took itwith his sword and his bow.
It's possible that there wassome later conflict between
Jacob and the Amorites thatwe're not aware of, but more
likely Jacob is takingresponsibility for what his sons
did in the city no-transcriptdouble portion of land, thus
(21:16):
elevating him to the status ofthe firstborn.
The reason many commentatorsbelieve this is because the
phrase used in the Hebrewcontains the word Shechem, which
is an allusion to the city ofShechem.
And, if you remember, this iswhere two of Jacob's sons,
simeon and Levi, raided andmassacred the men of the city
(21:37):
over the rape of their sister,and we see that eventually
Shechem would become the mostimportant city in the Northern
Kingdom of Israel and also iswhere Joseph would later be
buried.
But in closing out this chapter, I'll leave you with this
thought, just as we see withJacob and the other patriarchs
there is no better blessing youcan leave to your family or your
(21:59):
children than the example ofyour relationship with and your
trust in God.
To teach them of God, encouragethem to seek God early and to
trust Him through their lives.
The best family heirloom is theknowledge of God, because in the
end, that's all that trulymatters.
All the material possessions ormoney that you can leave behind
(22:22):
will come to an end, but God iseternal.
Your soul is eternal and Goddoes not look at your net worth.
God doesn't judge you as theworld does.
God looks upon your heart and,as Christ taught us, do not lay
up for yourselves treasures onearth where moth and rust
destroy and where thieves breakin and steal, but lay up for
(22:45):
yourselves treasures in heavenwhere neither moth nor rust
destroys and where thieves donot break in and steal.
Where your treasure is there,your heart will be also.
MUSIC.
Well, thank you once again forjoining me in this study through
the book of Genesis.
I'm Randy Duncan and we are nowonly three chapters away from
completing our study.
In the last episode, we sawJoseph inform Pharaoh that his
family had arrived in Egypt andrequested permission for them to
settle in the land of Goshen.
Pharaoh grants their requestand even appoints some of
(00:31):
Joseph's brothers as officers ofhis livestock, and so Jacob and
his family prosper despite thesevere famine.
And now Jacob, nearing the endof his life, requests to be
buried alongside his fathers inthe land of Canaan, and Joseph
promises to fulfill his request.
Which brings us now to chapter48, which has two main themes
(00:55):
First, the adoption of Joseph'stwo sons by Jacob, and then, the
elevation and status of theyounger, ephraim over the older
Manashe.
And so, with those quick wordsof introduction, we begin with
the first seven verses, whichread After this Joseph was told
Behold, your father is ill.
(01:16):
So he took with him his two sons, manashe and Ephraim.
And it was told to Jacob yourson, joseph, has come to you.
And Israel summoned hisstrength and sat up in bed.
And Jacob said to Joseph GodAlmighty appeared to me at Luz,
in the land of Canaan andblessed me and said to me Behold
, I will make you fruitful andmultiply you, and I will make of
(01:38):
you a company of peoples andwill give this land to your
offspring after you for aneverlasting possession.
And now your two sons, who wereborn to you in the land of
Egypt, before I came to you inEgypt, are mine.
The Ephraim and Manashe shallbe mine, as Reuben and Simeon
are, and the children that youfathered after them shall be
(01:59):
yours.
They shall be called by thename of their brothers and their
inheritance.
As for me, when I came fromPaddan, to my sorrow, rachel
died in the land of Canaan onthe way when there was still
some distance to go to Ephraith,and I buried her there, on the
way to Ephraith, that is,bethlehem.
Now, that was a little longersection than we normally read at
(02:20):
once, but there's really noother good breaking point that
makes sense.
And what we see is that Jacobis near death now and his
impending death requires him tosettle his affairs.
But Joseph is alerted that hisfather, jacob, is ill, which, by
the way, is the first referenceto illness in the Bible.
But Joseph takes his two sons,manashe and Ephraim, to see
(02:45):
Jacob Manashe is the older,ephraim is the younger, and
Joseph is looking for Jacob tobless them.
And to just give you a sort ofa mental picture here, these two
boys are around 20 years old atthis time, but it tells us that
Jacob, or Israel, summoned hisstrength and sat up in his bed.
Again, he's very weak and he'sfrail.
(03:07):
He's on his death bed at thistime.
Jacob, whose spirit had diedwhen he heard of Joseph's death,
revived it once again uponhearing that he was still alive.
And now he rallies his strengthhere one more time.
He renews his strength in orderto impart the blessing on
Joseph's sons, and so he managesto set up in his bed.
(03:28):
And Jacob says to Joseph GodAlmighty appeared to me at Luz
in the land of Canaan and blessme Now.
Luz is the original name forBethel, which, if you remember,
is where Jacob had a divinerevelation from God.
When he returned fromPadamahram, his name was changed
to Israel and the promises madeto Abraham and Isaac were
(03:50):
reiterated.
And Jacob now paraphrases thosedivine promises in order to
establish the legal basis forwhat he is about to do.
Since he is the heir to thoseblessings, he has the right to
decide who will be a part of thepeople, who will be included in
the community of people whowill be known as Israel.
Because only the one whoreceived a divine blessing can
(04:12):
impart it to others.
And since Joseph never receivedthis particular blessing, even
he cannot bless his sons withtribal territory in the Promised
Land.
But Jacob continues byreminding Joseph that God
blessed him and told him I willmake of you a company of peoples
and will give this land to youroffspring after you for an
(04:33):
everlasting possession.
Now, this everlastingpossession is the Promised Land,
the land of Israel, and onlyGod can give an everlasting
possession.
I mean even Pharaoh's gift ofallowing the family to settle in
Goshen.
It was only transitory, it wastemporary.
And so, after this quick summaryby Jacob, he then says to
(04:54):
Joseph and now your two sons,who were born to you in the land
of Egypt before I came to youin Egypt, are mine.
Ephraim and Matashay shall bemine, as Reuben and Simeon are.
In other words, jacob istelling Joseph that he is
officially adopting his two sons, ephraim and Matashay, and in
(05:15):
doing so he is elevating them tofull membership in the tribal
league.
Out of his 52 grandchildren, heis choosing Joseph's two sons
and through this adoption,ephraim and Matashay will be as
Jacob's sons rather than hisgrandsons.
They will share in theinheritance along with Jacob's
(05:35):
other sons and through his twosons, joseph in a way ends up
receiving a double portion ofthe inheritance.
Remember, jacob had 12 sons whobecame the 12 tribes of Israel.
However, neither Joseph norLevi were given their own lands.
Joseph's two sons here, ephraimand Matashay, are adopted by
(05:58):
Jacob and given their own lands,and Levi, who would become the
tribe of priests, needed no land.
I also want to point outsomething that's very subtle
here.
At the beginning of the chapterit says Joseph brought his two
sons, matashay and Ephraim, tosee Jacob.
It lists them in the order oftheir birth, with Matashay being
(06:19):
the older.
However, when Jacob tellsJoseph that he will adopt the
two boys, he says Ephraim andMatashay shall be mine he
reverses their order, namingEphraim first.
Now you might think this is nobig deal, and for a brief moment
you may be correct, but this isno accident by Jacob and is a
(06:40):
hint of what's about to happen.
Jacob also tells Joseph that,although Ephraim and Matashay
will be reckoned as his, anyfuture children of Joseph's will
be counted as Joseph's, jacobthen recounts the death of his
beloved Rachel, who is Joseph'smother.
Now, there are a couple ofdifferent interpretations as to
(07:01):
why Jacob even mentions this.
First, some feel it's ajustification by Jacob for
troubling Joseph to havingburied in the cave of Makpala
when he hadn't even done thesame for Rachel, and so they
view this as Jacob explaininghis reasons to Joseph,
explaining to him that while hewas traveling, rachel suddenly
(07:22):
died while giving birth to hisbrother Benjamin, and because he
was still a long way off, hewas unable to take her body to
the family tomb.
But others feel as though, look, it's only natural for Jacob,
while he's on his deathbed, torecall his beloved wife, who had
died so young and for whom hehad endured so much.
Also, it may be because she haddied so young and she was
(07:46):
deprived of the opportunity tohave more children that her two
grandchildren are adopted byJacob as sort of a substitute
for those children death robbedher of.
But we continue with verses8-13.
When Israel saw Joseph's sons,he said who were these?
And Joseph said to his fatherthese are my sons, whom God has
(08:07):
given me here.
And he said Bring them to me,please, that I may bless them.
Now, the eyes of Israel weredim with age so that he could
not see, and so Joseph broughtthem near him and he kissed them
and embraced them.
And Israel said to Joseph Inever expected to see your face
and behold, god has let me seeyour offspring also.
Then Joseph removed them fromhis knees and bowed himself with
(08:30):
his face to the earth.
And Joseph took them both andframed them in his right hand
toward Israel's left hand andmannishae in his left hand
toward Israel's right hand, andbrought them near him.
So Joseph brings his sons toJacob and Jacob says who sons
are these?
Now some people think that hesaid this because his eyesight
(08:51):
was failing, and they argue thisbecause in verse 10 it says
that Israel's eyes were dim withage and he couldn't see well.
However, jacob has lived inEgypt now for 17 years and it's
highly unlikely that he doesn'tknow or he's never met Joseph's
two sons.
After all, he's the oneproposing to adopt both of them,
(09:11):
and so what more modernscholarship argues is that his
question as to who the two boysare is more likely a part of the
adoption ritual.
It's simply a legal ritualwhereby he is identifying them.
It's similar to the questionasked at a child's baptism, like
what name is given to thischild?
Or at a wedding who gives thiswoman to this man?
(09:33):
Neither of those questions areasked in ignorance by the member
of the clergy.
They're asked in order toofficially establish the true
identity of the candidates aspart of the process.
And likewise, jacob here isgoing through the legal adoptive
process by establishing thenames of the two boys.
But Joseph brings him close toJacob, who kisses and embraces
(09:56):
them, and he says to Joseph Inever expected to see your face
again, but God has allowed me tonot only see you again, but to
see your children as well.
He recognizes that thesechildren are a gift from God.
Both Jacob and Joseph areblessed through these two boys.
Joseph is blessed after all theyears of his affliction and
(10:18):
Jacob after losing all hope ofever even seeing Joseph again.
Joseph then bowels himselfbefore Jacob.
Ironically, this is exactlyopposite of the dreams Joseph
had as a young teenager, when hedreamed his father would bow
before him.
And it's also ironic that theone who is virtually equal to
(10:39):
Pharaoh, the number two personin all of Egypt, humbles himself
before Jacob, the patriarch whomediates God's promises.
Joseph may be the second mostpowerful man in Egypt, but he
never loses respect for hisfather.
And we continue with verses 14through 16, which read and
Israel stretched out his righthand and laid it on the head of
(11:02):
Ephraim, who was the younger,and his left hand on the head of
Manichae, crossing his hands,for Manichae was the firstborn.
And he blessed Joseph and saidthe God before whom my fathers,
abraham and Isaac, walked, theGod who has been my shepherd all
my life long to this day, theangel who has redeemed me from
(11:22):
all evil, blessed the boys andin them let my name be carried
on and the name of my fathers,abraham and Isaac, and let them
grow into a multitude in themidst of the earth.
And so we saw that Josephpositions the two boys in front
of Jacob in such a way as toensure Jacob's right hand.
The symbol of power and actionwill naturally rest on Manichae
(11:46):
the firstborn.
Incidentally, in English theword left derives from an
Anglo-Saxon word, lift, whichmeans useless or weak, but when
offering a blessing, the fatherwould place his right hand on
the older child and is left onthe younger child.
The placing of the right handup on the head established
(12:07):
physical contact between theparties of the blessing.
The high importance this hasfor Joseph is conveyed by the
precision of the language here,which sees the repeated use of
the terms right and left seventimes in verses 13 and 17.
And so what we see is that,even though Joseph positioned
the boys such that Manichaewould receive the blessing of
(12:30):
the older, jacob reaches out andcrosses his arms, placing his
right hand upon Ephraim and hisleft hand upon Manichae.
Jacob may be old and losing asight, but he is not losing his
insight and, ironically, theolder, phrel and partially blind
Jacob shows an insight into thefuture that his clear-sighted
(12:52):
and sometimes clairvoyant son,joseph, is denied.
But even though we know he isblessing Joseph's two sons, the
text here reads that he blessedJoseph.
Now some translations actuallyread that he blessed them and
others translated as he blessedthe sons of Joseph.
Other commentaries explain thatthe father is the recipient of
(13:13):
the blessing vicariously,through the blessings bestowed
upon the children.
But regardless, the importantpoint in this scene is that
Jacob chooses the youngerbrother over the older brother,
with the greater blessing.
And in blessing them, jacobblesses them as his father,
isaac, had blessed him.
He mentions God's blessing onhim in Egypt and allowing him to
(13:36):
once again see his belovedJoseph, and then switches to the
blessings that the two boyswill receive when they return to
the promised land.
Ephraim and Manichae become partof the covenant family.
But God's promises to Abrahamand Isaac were certain because
they walked before God.
For their heirs to experiencethe promised blessings, they too
(13:58):
must walk before God, and wesee in the history of Israel
that when they fell to walkbefore God, they were punished.
Jacob also says May they becalled by my name and the names
of my fathers, meaning may theybe reckoned among the tribes of
Israel and as part of the familythat are heirs to the promises
(14:18):
and blessings God granted toAbraham, isaac and Jacob.
Jacob felt it was moreimportant for the two boys to be
counted and named among thetribes of Israel than to be
numbered among the princes ofEgypt.
And finally, jacob says Letthem grow into a multitude in
the midst of the earth.
And we see that is exactly whathappens.
(14:40):
These two tribes growexceedingly in number.
We know this based on the twocensuses taken during the
wilderness wonderings.
But also we see that in Mosesfarewell address that he
mentions the quote Myriads ofEphraim and the quote thousands
of Manichae, and this hugepopulation actually posed a
(15:02):
special problem for Joshua.
In the allotment of tribalterritories that we read about
in the book of Joshua, in fact,we see that Ephraim becomes the
more powerful and moreinfluential of the two tribes,
so much so that the name ofEphraim eventually became
synonymous with the entirekingdom of Israel, and this
(15:23):
phenomenon is traced back tothis blessing from Jacob.
And so how does Joseph respondto all of this?
We are told in verses 17through 20, which tell us when
Joseph saw that his father laidhis right hand on the head of
Ephraim, it displeased him andhe took his father's hand to
move it from Ephraim's hand toManichae's head.
(15:44):
And Joseph said to his fatherNot this way, my father, since
this one is the firstborn, putyour right hand on his head.
But his father refused and saidI know my son, I know he also
shall become a people and healso shall be great.
Nevertheless, his youngerbrother shall be greater than he
(16:04):
and his offspring shall becomea multitude of nations.
So we bless them that day,saying by you, israel will
pronounce blessing, saying God,make you as Ephraim and as
Manichae.
Thus he put Ephraim beforeManichae.
And so the answer to thequestion of how Joseph responded
was not good.
(16:25):
It says he was displeased, ashe tries to correct Jacob Now
the word translated asdispleased here literally means
it was evil in his eyes.
Joseph thought that it waswrong to ignore the rule of
blessing the firstborn.
He's acting sort of likeAbraham when Abraham was so
reluctant to give another sonthe rights over his firstborn.
(16:48):
Joseph may also be fearful thatJacob is now making the same
mistake that he did in favoringthe younger Joseph, which led to
his brother's jealousy andhatred of him.
And he doesn't want Jacob torepeat that mistake by favoring
another younger brother.
And you also get the sense thathe is blaming Jacob's error on
his poor eyesight because hetries to correct him, as if
(17:11):
Jacob is making a mistakebecause he simply can't see them
well enough.
And it's ironic because, if youremember, many years before
Jacob had exploited his father,isaac's poor eyesight in
stealing Esau's blessing.
And so Joseph wants him tocorrect his error, but Jacob
refuses.
The aged patriarch, empowered byGod, is right now more powerful
(17:34):
than the ruler of Egypt.
And Jacob simply responds toJoseph by saying I know, son, I
know.
In other words, I know who theolder son is and I also know why
you placed him before me in thepositions you did, and I know
what I'm doing.
Jacob's eyesight may be failing, but he still knows exactly
(17:55):
what he's doing.
There's no fooling Jacob.
He wasn't named the deceiverfor nothing.
Ironically, isaac was basicallyblind and blessed Jacob without
knowing it.
But Jacob here, although hiseyesight is failing, he knows
full well and deliberatelyblesses the younger.
You know we're very familiarwith the passage in Isaiah 55
(18:19):
where God declares for mythoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,and God simply overrides human
social convention at times.
I mean there are severalexamples of this, such as Cain
and Abel, isaac and Ishmael,jacob and Esau, and even Joseph
over all of his older brothers.
(18:39):
We also see God choose thefuture King David over his older
brothers.
But before we think aboutcriticizing Joseph too much,
here are we much different.
I mean, how often do we thrustbefore God our own manashe?
We want God to bless what wehave in mind.
We have some favorite idea orplan or scheme that we're
(19:01):
wanting God to bless, but thenhe suddenly brings about
circumstances that change all ofthose plans.
Those plans are shot down andwe begin to wonder and ask if
God even hears our prayers.
Is he listening to what it isthat we want?
Like Joseph, we always have someplan, a manashe, that we want
God to bless, and God isconstantly changing our plan and
(19:24):
putting before us some Ephraimand blessing it.
And also, like Joseph, whenthings don't turn out like we
planned, we don't like it, weare displeased.
And, like Joseph, we cry outnot so my father, not this one,
not like this, not this course,not this way, not this place.
(19:46):
And sometimes it takes manyyears to realize how much God
loves us, how much better hisplan was and that he didn't give
us exactly what we asked for.
And then you look back andthink, god, that he didn't, and
you're glad that his ways arenot your ways.
And sometimes we learn thatwhat we need most in life is
(20:06):
often found in the places wherewe least want to look.
But so, with that, jacob blessedEphraim and Manashe and we
finish the chapter with the lasttwo verses, which read and
Israel said to Joseph Behold, Iam about to die, but God will be
with you and will bring youagain to the land of your
fathers.
(20:27):
Moreover, I have given to you,rather than to your brothers one
mountain slope that I took fromthe hand of the Amorites with
my sword and with my bow.
And so we see that Jacob isabout to die and we'll actually
read about his death in the nextchapter but he reassures Joseph
that God will be with him.
Jacob also tells him that hehas given to him, rather than to
(20:50):
his brothers, a mountain slopethat he took from the Amorites.
Now he says that he took itwith his sword and his bow.
It's possible that there wassome later conflict between
Jacob and the Amorites thatwe're not aware of, but more
likely Jacob is takingresponsibility for what his sons
did in the city no-transcriptdouble portion of land, thus
(21:16):
elevating him to the status ofthe firstborn.
The reason many commentatorsbelieve this is because the
phrase used in the Hebrewcontains the word Shechem, which
is an allusion to the city ofShechem.
And, if you remember, this iswhere two of Jacob's sons,
simeon and Levi, raided andmassacred the men of the city
(21:37):
over the rape of their sister,and we see that eventually
Shechem would become the mostimportant city in the Northern
Kingdom of Israel and also iswhere Joseph would later be
buried.
But in closing out this chapter, I'll leave you with this
thought, just as we see withJacob and the other patriarchs
there is no better blessing youcan leave to your family or your
(21:59):
children than the example ofyour relationship with and your
trust in God.
To teach them of God, encouragethem to seek God early and to
trust Him through their lives.
The best family heirloom is theknowledge of God, because in the
end, that's all that trulymatters.
All the material possessions ormoney that you can leave behind
(22:22):
will come to an end, but God iseternal.
Your soul is eternal and Goddoes not look at your net worth.
God doesn't judge you as theworld does.
God looks upon your heart and,as Christ taught us, do not lay
up for yourselves treasures onearth where moth and rust
destroy and where thieves breakin and steal, but lay up for
(22:45):
yourselves treasures in heavenwhere neither moth nor rust
destroys and where thieves donot break in and steal.
Where your treasure is there,your heart will be also.
Popular Podcasts
1. Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
2. Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
3. Crime Junkie
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.