Genesis Chapter 48 Deep-Dive: Israel blesses Manasseh and Ephraim

Hosted by Joey and Matt 

biblebonesandligaments.com

Deep-dives into the Bible beyond what Sunday teaches you.

 

Gen 48 Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

REMEMBER, GENESIS IS THE PROLOGUE/INTRODUCTION TO TORAH, THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF AT LEAST THE OLD TESTAMENT, WE WILL SEE AMAZING THINGS IN CH 48-50 THAT WILL PLAY OUT MUCH LATER IN ISRAEL’S HISTORY.  Gen 48:1After this, Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2And it was told to Jacob, “Your son Joseph has come to you.” Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. 3And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’

LET’S TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THIS TIME IN JACOB’S LIFE AFTER HE RECONCILED WITH ESAU:

Gen 34, Dinah & the Shechemites – a true low point in Jacob’s life.  His daughter, Dinah, was abducted and raped by Shechem who then wanted to marry her.  Jacob’s sons agree to that as long as all the Shechemites were circumcised.  While the Shechemites were recovering Levi and Simeon (Dinah’s brothers by Jacob’s wife, Leah; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun & Dinah) killed the men of Shechem and looted their city. 

Gen 35:1Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel (LUZ) and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” 2So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.  6Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel (meaning The God of the House Of God), because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.  8Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.  9After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.  11And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. 12The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” 13Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him. 14Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel (meaning House of God).

Gen 35:16-22 Rachel dies, Benjamin is born (Jacob’s last son), Isaac dies and Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son, sleeps with his step-mother, Bilhah, Rachel’s maid and Jacob’s concubine.

Gen 36 Esau’s (Edom’s) descendants.

Gen 37 Joseph’s dreams & sold into slavery…

BACK TO JACOB SPEAKING WITH JOSEPH Gen 48:5And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. SO, JOSEPH IS NOW CONSIDERED THE OLDEST AND THE HEIR TO JACOB … RECEIVING A DOUBLE PORTION, THIS WAS A VERY BIG HONOR FOR JOSEPH – HE TRULY WAS JACOB’S FAVORITE CHILD AND BLESSED BY GOD IN A VERY SPECIAL, BUT SOMEWHAT PAINFUL, WAY. Manasseh (means forgetfulness) and Ephraim (means fruitfulness) are replacing Jacob’s first two sons; Reuben violated his father’s bed, and Simeon led the murder of the Shechemites with Levi when their sister, Dinah, was kidnapped.

BACK TO JACOB SPEAKING WITH JOSEPH Gen 48: 6And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. SO, ANY OTHER CHILDREN JOSEPH WAS TO PRODUCE WOULD BE CONSIDERED PART OF EPHRAIM AND/OR MANASSEH 7As for me, when I came from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).” 

8When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” 9Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” And he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.” 10Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. (JUST LIKE WHEN JACOB DECEIVED HIS FATHER, ISAAC … LOL!) So Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. 11And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face; and behold, God has let me see your offspring also.” 12Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 13And 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 him. 14And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands (for Manasseh was the firstborn). 15And he blessed Joseph and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, 16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”  SO, JACOB MENTIONS GOD THREE TIMES: “The God (ELOHIM) before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God (ELOHIM) who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, 16 the angel (mal'āḵ) who has redeemed me from all evil,  THE ANGEL?  THE ANGEL OF THE LORD … THE PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE, OR MESSENGER, OF GOD WHO APPEARED IN HUMAN FORM AND SPOKE AUTHORITATIVELY … JESUS? 

17When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18And Joseph said to his father, “Not this way, my father; since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.” 19But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.” 20So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.’”  THE BOYS WERE MOST LIKELY 15-18 YEARS OLD AT THAT TIME, THEY WERE BORN BEFORE ISRAEL CAME TO EGYPT.

Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. GOD SHAKING THINGS UP AGAIN … THE YOUNGER GREATER THAN THE OLDER

This blessing began to be fulfilled from the time of the Judges (after Israel had taken possession of the promised land, Canaan), when the tribe of Ephraim increased in size and power.  It took the lead of the northern tribes and became the head of the ten tribes, and its name acquired equal importance with the name Israel, whereas under Moses, Manasseh had numbered 20,000 more than Ephraim (Numbers 26:34 and Numbers 26:37). 

Joshua, the successor of Moses, was of the tribe of Ephraim, as Kaleb his companion was of Judah. Ephraim came to designate the northern kingdom of the ten tribes, as Judah denoted the southern kingdom containing the remaining tribes; and each name was occasionally used to denote all Israel.   

 … BACK TO JACOB SPEAKING … Gen 48:21Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. 22Moreover, I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.”

The Hebrew word used here for “mountain slope or ridge of land” is the same as Shechem.  Where Abraham first settled when he came to Canaan (Gen 12:6), where Jacob first settled “arriving safely” after parting from Esau (Gen 33:18) and where Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, was abducted and Simeon and Levi took vengeance on the Shechemites for their sister. 

From there God moved him to Bethel (Gen 35) to make a fresh start (Gen 34), however, Jacob was speaking as a prophet in this instance since Shechem became the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel. According to Joshua 21:20-21 it was located in the tribal territorial allotment of the tribe of Ephraim.

In the New Testament Shechem is the scene where Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, Jn 4:5 So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6and Jacob’s well was there.

V22: “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers.”  Jacob prophesies that THE NATION – Hebrew is plural, God will be with YOU and will take YOU back to the land of your fathers (plural: Abraham, Isaac & Jacob).   

Josh 24:32 And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.

 

About

 

This is an audio broadcast, designed to encourage you to dive deeper into the most influential and impactful literature of all time: The Bible. This podcasts helps to show the benefits of reading/listening to the Bible, front to back, over and over and over endlessly. And study to fill the gaps for deeper understanding. Join us as we dissect the bones and ligaments of God’s written revelation to mankind through scripture.