Grandpa's Favorite?

Jacob was old. Old and sick and about to die and he knew it. No wonder. He was all of one hundred and forty-seven. I just celebrated my forty-seventh birthday. I know I haven’t yet made it to old age, but in my middle age I sometimes feel old. Jacob was a full century older.

He called for Joseph and begged a promise of him: “When I die, take me home to bury me. Don’t bury me here in Egypt. Bury me in the Cave of Macpeleh with Abraham and Isaac.” Joseph promised.

Probably Joseph was the one called for two reasons: first, he had the firstborn rights, even though he was eleventh-born. Second, he was in a position of authority within Egypt.

But Jacob didn’t die right away, and some time later Joseph got a second message to rush to his father’s bedside. This time, he brought his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. The commentaries told me that the younger of these sons had to have been at least twenty years old, though I didn’t get the reasoning. It was that Jacob had been in Egypt for seventeen years, and when he came there the famine had only been going on for two years. I don’t know what the second fact had to do with anything, but I don’t disagree too far. Ephraim had to have been more than seventeen. Anyway they weren’t little boys, as they seem to be pictured in Sunday School curriculums sometimes. These were young men.

First Jacob reminded Joseph of the promises God had given him concerning the promised land and concerning his descendants becoming not just a people but “a community of peoples.”

Then he adopted Manasseh and Ephraim.

What? I have two sons perhaps a little younger than Manasseh and Ephraim would have been. They are 21 and 16. If my father-in-law wanted to adopt them that might not set too well with me.

But Jacob adopted them. He made them as his own sons, and that is why there was in Israel later a tribe called Manasseh and a tribe called Ephraim. Jacob wasn’t meaning to take Joseph’s sons away from him, but to actually give something to Joseph. This was how he gave Joseph the firstborn inheritance, which was supposed to be twice as much as all the rest. He gave Joseph two portions by giving his sons each a portion.

Jacob told Joseph that if he had any more sons, they would be his, but they would inherit territory in the Promised Land under the names of their brothers. There would be no tribe named Joseph. Joseph would be two tribes, divided under Manasseh and Ephraim.

Next Jacob turned to the young men he could barely see. “Who are these?” he asked.
“My sons,” Joseph replied.

“Bring them here. I want to bless them.”

So Joseph directed his sons to stand near Jacob, Manasseh, the eldest, on Jacob’s right, and Ephraim on his left. Jacob then crossed his arms and put a hand on each head, and began to bless his grandsons.

“Wait!” Joseph stopped him. “I know you can’t see very well, but I did it right. Manasseh is the older one. I put him on your right. He’s supposed to be the one with your right hand blessing, the right of the firstborn passing from me to him.”

“I know, Joseph,” Jacob replied. “I knew you would have them come in that position. That’s why I crossed my arms. Manasseh will have many descendants and will be a great people. But his brother will be greater. In years to come, people will bless one another by saying ‘may God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’ Ephraim will come first.”

And so as I was typing this story, I had trouble putting Manasseh first before revealing what Jacob said. I am used to saying Ephraim and Manasseh.
Jacob was a prophet, and had this information about the future from what God had revealed to him. It happened just the way he said. Ephraim became the second most important tribe in Israel, second only to Judah. Or looked at another way, his tribe came in third behind the tribe of Levi, the tribe of the priests. Either way, Ephraim was way more important than say, Reuben, who was actually Jacob’s firstborn. When the kingdom divided into two, the northern kingdom of Israel was sometimes called Ephraim, the name of Joseph’s younger son actually encompassing ten tribes instead on one.

And earlier than the division of the kingdom, there was this one famous Ephraimite you might have heard of: a fellow by the name of Joshua.

As I tried to think about the implications of this story, I thought of something that may be a stretch to see the relevance, but if you stick with me, I think you’ll get it.

Sometimes I’ve been a little frustrated with the way my children refer to some part of pop culture that they have decided does not violate their conscience to partake of, but would mine. “Mom wouldn’t like it,” they say, as though it was peanut butter pie, which my daughter loves but I don’t think is worth eating. For example, I did not allow my kids to read Harry Potter when the books first came out, but my older two, since becoming adults, have read them. If I allowed myself, I would probably really like them. I have enjoyed similar things that aren’t about teaching children how to do sorcery. (I am a huge Chronicles of Narnia fan, at least of the books.) I know that many Christians don’t see anything wrong with them, and I’m not using this example to stir up that controversy. I’m bringing this up to say that my decision not to read them or watch the movies was based on my commitment to Jesus, and my understanding of how Scripture teaches me to follow Him. When my kids say, “Mom doesn’t like it,” it doesn’t begin to be accurate.

In the same way, when Jacob blessed Ephraim, he was not expressing a preference for his younger grandson. He was saying what God had revealed to him. In years past, he really had been guilty of favoritism, when he favored Joseph over his brothers. He probably couldn’t help it, given his marital history, but still, he was guilty. This time, he was not. It wasn’t his idea that Ephraim’s descendants be greater. He didn’t say it as a wish for God to fulfill because he thought Ephraim a better person than his older brother. He said it because God had said that it was so. It had to do with faith, not preference. Thus the question mark in my title.