Genesis 48:17-22 Ephraim Given Preference

While his father Jacob was blessing Joseph's sons, he purposely placed his right hand upon Ephraim's (the younger son's) head instead of upon the head of Manasseh, the eldest son.  Joseph thought it was a mistake, and immediately moved to correct the situation:

"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.'  But his father refused and said, 'I know, my son, I know.  He too will become great.  Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.'  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 48:17-20 NIV)

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A similar thing had occurred in Jacob/Israel's own life.  Although his twin brother Esau was the firstborn, God had indicated to his mother Rebekah that the older son would serve the younger. (Genesis 25:23)  This prophecy was probably the main reason why Rebekah conspired with her son Jacob to confer the blessing of the firstborn upon Jacob.  Although God had indicated that Jacob would eventually have first place in the family, Rebekah and Jacob's actions were sinful and deceptive and ended up causing a lot of heartache.  Instead, they should have waited for God to bring about His plan for Jacob's positioning in His own time.

The current situation is different, though.  There is no deception.  Apparently, God has revealed to Jacob that Ephraim will have a superior place to Manasseh, even though he was born after Manasseh.  So Jacob insists upon continuing in the manner in which he started to bless the boys.

The following quote from the NIV Study Bible note on Genesis 25:23 is concise and instructive:  "The ancient law of primogeniture...provided that, under ordinary circumstances, the younger of two sons would be subservient to the older.  God's election of the younger son highlights the fact that God's people are the product not of natural or worldly development but of his sovereign intervention in human affairs."  The note goes on to remind us that God does not intervene in an arbitrary way, but according to His perfect will.

This is a good place for this discussion to take place, for I was struggling to express the fact that, although the firstborn is usually blessed with the greater position in the family and with a greater portion of his father's worldly goods, the treasure which was being passed down in Abraham's family line was not only the usual inheritance, but a particular spiritual blessing -- the covenant which God had made with Abraham.  So while Jacob is blessing his grandsons, his language hints that through their line this covenant blessing will continue. For example, Ephraim's "descendants will become a group of nations'' (v.19).  This echoes some of God's promises to Abraham.  However, note that Manasseh will also become a people and become great.  So Manasseh is not being left out, or cheated of anything.  He, too, shares in the covenant inheritance.  It is just that God will have greater purposes for Ephraim, according to His will, and in order to accomplish His own goals.

Of course, if Ephraim is going to be preeminent over his brother, we might wonder what will become of Joseph and his eleven other brothers.  In the next verse, Genesis 48:21, Jacob comes right out and tells him plainly:  Joseph will be preeminent over his brothers:

"Then Israel said to Joseph, 'I am about to die,

but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers.

And to you, as one who is over your brothers,

I give the ridge of land I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.' "

Genesis 48:21-22 NIV 

Genesis 48:12-16 Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

""Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground.  And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right towards Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel's right hand, and brought them close to him."  (Genesis 48:12-13 NIV)

Joseph bows respectfully before his father and then brings his sons towards Israel to have him bless them.  He even arranges them so that the eldest son, Manasseh, will be positioned correctly to receive a firstborn's blessing.  [Actually, Joseph or one of his 11 brothers will be receiving this passing on of the firstborn's blessing soon when Israel gathers his sons to give them his final words.  However, it seems that Joseph expected some greater honor or blessing for Manasseh as the firstborn of his sons, so he carefully positions him so that there will be no confusion on the part of his aged and nearly blind father (v.10).  I wonder if somewhere in Joseph's mind he was also thinking back upon events in his own family's history, when his father deceitfully stole his twin brother Esau's blessing from his father Isaac?  There would be no mistakes this time.

However, the purposes of God are always accomplished in the end, despite our careful attempts at controlling our circumstances.  For Jacob has a different goal in mind:

"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 NIV)

Things are starting to get interesting here.  Why is Jacob doing this?  Knowing the years of turmoil which his own manipulations of his father's blessing brought upon himself and his family [for after Jacob fled to his uncle Laban's home from his brother Esau's wrath, he never saw his mother again, and was not reconciled with his brother until years afterwards, and that rather incompletely], why would Jacob 'mess' with the proper order of such blessings?!

Jacob continues:

"Then he blessed Joseph and said, 

'May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,

the God who has been my shepherd all my life to 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 upon the earth.' "

Genesis 48:15-16 NIV

It is worth noting that Jacob calls God his shepherd.(v.15)  This is appropriate, because the family keeps flocks and this presents a very visual image of the care and effort which God has taken in Jacob/Israel's own life.  In the culture of the ancient Near East, the image of the king as a shepherd caring for his people was well known.  Jacob will call upon this metaphor again when he is blessing his twelve sons in the next chapter of Genesis (49:24).

Israel then refers to God as 'the Angel'.  This can be a bit confusing.  Why call God an angel?  I think that I need to do a whole post on that subject, but just for now let's remember that Jacob has seen this angel-man-God before several times and has referred to him as God. [See Genesis 28:10-22, Genesis 32:22-30, Genesis 46:1-4, etc.]  Even in the poetic style of the above blessing, Jacob equates 'the God before whom my fathers Abraham  and Isaac walked' with 'the God who has been my shepherd all my life' with 'the Angel who has delivered me from all harm'.  These are all just different ways of describing the same God who has cared for Jacob/Israel all his life.