Verses 17-19
"And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon 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 shall be great: howbeit, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations."
Only the prophetic gift of God could have enabled Jacob to declare what was said here. Indeed it came to pass. Ephraim's house led the rebellion against Rehoboam following the death of Solomon, and also took the leading part upon numerous occasions in the history of Israel. So completely was the Northern Israel identified with Ephraim, that the whole nation came to be called, in time, Ephraim, that name being used for Israel dozens of time in the prophecy of Hosea.
Joseph was paying strict attention to what was going on, and after the blessing was in the very act of bestowal, but before the part which would discriminate between Manasseh and Ephraim had been uttered, Joseph interrupted the procedure, fully in time to have changed what was being done if Jacob had allowed it. However, the old Patriarch fully and consciously knew exactly what he was doing; and without further interruption from Joseph he concluded it.
"His younger brother shall be greater ..." It was not the gift of nature that determined the passing of God's blessing to one person or to another, but the sovereign purpose of Almighty God. Again and again, a similar thing had happened in the lives of the patriarchs. Isaac the younger had been chosen over Ishmael, Jacob the younger had been chosen over Esau, Joseph the younger had been chosen over Reuben; and now once more, Ephraim the younger had been chosen instead of Manasseh. It shall ever be thus in the kingdom of God, for Jesus said, "The first shall be last and the last shall be first" (Matthew 19:30).
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