Genesis 28: 8-20: “And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these? And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him. And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.”
The Lord chooses whom He will, He doesn’t rely on any rights of privileges that men or women demand for themselves. In this case, Manasseh was the older son and deserved all the privileges but Jacob chose to bless Ephraim, the younger son. Perhaps he remembered how he had taken both the birthright and blessing from his older brother Esau and how much that had cost both him and his mother. He had also just taken the privileges that belonged to Leah’s sons as firstborn and given them to Joseph, even taking Joseph’s sons as his own. This was honoured later in Israel’s national history with two tribes named after Joseph’s sons. This happened later in history when the Lord told Samuel to choose David, the youngest of Jesse’s sons. The Lord looked into David’s heart and knew that he was a man after His own heart (Acts 13: 22 “And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.”) All these things point forward to a day when everyone will be examined and rewarded by the way they have looked on another Man Who was despised and rejected by men, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said that all we have to do is believe in Him and the we can forget any privilege or right that may be offered by other people and have part of his everlasting blessing.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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