To which son of Joseph did Jacob give the preeminent blessing?
The promises given to Abraham was two-fold most people miss.
The spiritual promises—the promises of the “one seed,” Christ,
and of salvation through Him—the Bible calls the scepter promise.
If we are Christ’s we are Abraham’s children (Galatians 3:29)
Jesus Christ was born of the house of David and the tribe of Judah.
Grace the scepter—the promise of Christ and of grace—was passed on
to the Jews! “Salvation,” Jesus said, “is of the Jews”! (John 4:22).
“The gospel of Christ,” wrote Paul, “is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
But the material and national promises relating to many nations, national wealth,
prosperity and power, and possession of the Holy Land, the Bible calls the birthright.
Both the birthright and the scepter were repromised by the Eternal
to Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah …” (Genesis 49:10).
But the birthright was Joseph’s” (1 Chronicles 5:2).
For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler;
but the birthright was Joseph’s.”
So at this point the two divisions of the Abrahamic promises the birthright,
involving material and national promises,and the scepter, including the kingly
and spiritual promises were separated.
The next legal inheritor of the birthright was Reuben, firstbornson of Israel,
by his first wife, Leah. But Reuben, like Esau, lost it. And Joseph, 11th-born
of Jacob, but firstborn of Rachel, his second and truly loved wife, received it.
The birthright belonged, legally, to Reuben, not Joseph. It is related in
1 Chronicles 5:1-2 how it fell to Joseph.
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At the time of Jacob’s death, he and his sons were living in Egypt.
51And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God,
said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.
52And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath
caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction
And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me
at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, And said unto me,
Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will
make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy
seed after thee for an everlasting possession” (Genesis 48:2-4).
These promises are those of the birthright. These promises are of multiple
seed—a multitude of people—and possession of the Promised Land.
“And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee
in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben
and Simeon, they shall be mine”(verse 5).
Manasseh’s name is mentioned first, because Manasseh was the elder.
But old Jacob now mentioned the name of Ephraim first.
Here we see supernatural guidance!
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” (verses 14-16).
Israel did not confer this blessing on just one, but on both—
“Bless the lads,” he said. This blessing went upon them jointly.
“Let my name be named on them” was part of this blessing. His name was Israel.
Hence, it was the descendants of these lads, not the descendants of Judah,
or the Jews, who were named Israel. the name Israel was to be indelibly
stamped on Ephraim and Manasseh!
Ephraim and Manasseh together received the right to the name Israel.
It was to become the national name of their descendants.
Manasseh becoming a great nation, and Ephraim a still greater company of nations.
And their descendants were never Jews!
Isaiah 45:11 (KJV)
Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things
to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.