And now thy two sons, who were born to thee in the land of Egypt before I came to thee into Egypt, shall be mine Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon.
Jacob is near the end of his life in Egypt. Joseph brings in his two half-Egyptian sons, and the old man takes them into his own family as if he had fathered them. One sentence changes the inheritance of Israel. It also raises a question: how do boys with no natural claim end up in the place of the firstborn?
Jacob's words are legal language. The boys' mother was Egyptian, so they stood outside the line of promise until the old man's word brought them in.
He then adopts the sons of Joseph. He had to, if they were to have the rights of children. In a real legal sense they were strangers to Abraham. Their mother was an Egyptian. They were a seed, therefore, whom the law would in its day have put away (Ezra 10:3). But Jacob adopts them. He takes them into the family... They become the seed of Abraham and children of Jacob. Once that is done, Jacob at once sets them in the place of the firstborn.
Everything Jacob has to give rests on a promise God made to his line.
But if blessing rests on a promise made sure to Jacob's seed, then Jacob can claim a blessing for Joseph's sons. Jacob can say, "they shall be mine." He claims them as his seed and therefore as the heirs to the inheritance.
Jacob names the boys alongside Reuben and Simeon. That move hands the rights of the eldest son to Joseph.
Scripture confirms this. 1 Chronicles 5:2 says of Israel that "the birthright was Joseph's." Verse 1 tells us that Reuben was the eldest son, and that his birthright "was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel." We can see why Joseph had two sons and only two: so that he might have the double portion of the firstborn. So in the dividing of the land, each of Israel's sons had a single portion, that is, one tribe each. Levi is left out here, for obvious reasons. Joseph had the double portion: two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh.
Adding two more heads to the family looks like a mistake in the arithmetic. Later history shows why it was not.
Now Jacob claims the two sons of Joseph as his own, calling them Ephraim and Manasseh rather than Manasseh and Ephraim in the order of their birth (v. 5). This was not just a whim of Jacob's old age; history has proved it to be an important matter. Jacob had twelve sons at the time, the exact number that marks complete administration. Why should he give Joseph an extra place among the tribes by naming them after his two sons? The wisdom of God was in this. Later we find that Levi received no distinct inheritance among the tribes (Numbers 1:47-53). God set that tribe apart to serve Him in the tabernacle and among all the tribes.
Nothing here follows natural rights. Jacob accepts what God has decided.
Grace adopts the sons of Joseph, who had no title in the flesh, and takes them into the family of Abraham. Grace gives the place and portion of the firstborn, the double portion, as though they were Reuben and Simeon. Grace sets the younger of them above the elder. And grace gives Joseph, the adopted firstborn, a pledge of his coming inheritance. To all this Jacob bows and is obedient. In faith he accepts the decisions of grace. Nature may resent this; but Jacob is true to the word of grace committed to him.
Notice when Jacob made the choice.
He adopted them before he saw them. He gave them the place of the firstborn in the family while he had not yet looked at them, for his eyes were dim with age.
Joseph received these sons far from home, among strangers. Commentators see a larger pattern in that.
He has now received, from among Gentile strangers, a new unlooked-for family. And Joseph's Egyptian family clearly typify Christ's heavenly family, or the church. For in the joy of His having received the church, the Lord has for a while forgotten Israel. It was the same with Joseph. He called his firstborn "Manasseh," for, he said, "God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house." His second son he called "Ephraim," for, he said, "God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction."
- Forfeited. Reuben, the eldest, lost the birthright. 1 Chronicles 5 records that it passed to the sons of Joseph.
- Adopted. Ephraim and Manasseh had an Egyptian mother and no legal claim on Abraham. Jacob's word alone made them his.
- Doubled. Joseph had exactly two sons, so his line received the two portions belonging to the firstborn.
- Written in. The two boys became tribal heads. Levi received no land of his own, so the tribes holding land still numbered twelve.
- Grace throughout. Jacob chose the boys before his dim eyes ever saw them, and he bowed to that choice in faith.
And thy family which thou hast begotten after them shall be thine they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.
Jacob has just claimed Joseph's two Egyptian-born sons as his own; verse 6 settles what happens to any sons born to Joseph after them. It raises three questions: why Jacob adopted the first two at all, why he stopped at two, and what "in their inheritance" secured.
Joseph's sons had an Egyptian mother. They could not simply assume a place in the family. Jacob had to give it to them.
Jacob begins by reciting to Joseph God's grant of the land of Canaan. This set out the family estate, the property he had to leave among his children. He then adopts the sons of Joseph. This was needed to give them the rights of children, because in a great legal sense they were strangers to Abraham. Their mother was an Egyptian. They were a seed, therefore, whom the law would, in its day, have put away. But Jacob adopts them. He takes them into the family… They are established as the seed of Abraham, and made children of Jacob.
The number is not random. Two sons, and no more, carried the double portion of the firstborn.
Scripture confirms this. 1 Chronicles 5:2 tells us, concerning Israel, that "the birthright belonged to Joseph." Verse 1 tells us that the birthright of Reuben, the eldest son, "was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel." We can see why Joseph had two sons and only two: so that he might have the double portion of the firstborn. So in the dividing of the land, each of Israel's sons (Levi excluded for obvious reasons) had a single portion, that is one tribe each. Joseph had the double portion, two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh.
This is the exact force of the second half of the verse. Any son born to Joseph later would not head a thirteenth or fourteenth line.
The genealogies show that families were all counted under one head, if they were not large enough to make a distinct family (1 Chronicles 23:10-11). Or they might come in as two, when strictly the head should have been only one, as with Ephraim and Manasseh. If Joseph had had a dozen sons afterwards, they would not have formed distinct families (Genesis 48:6). They would have merged into the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.
Joseph had married into Egypt, and that put his sons at risk. Scripture calls Jacob's answer to it faith.
The adoption of Joseph's sons is interesting and instructive. As the offspring of the Gentile wife Asenath they were in danger of becoming absorbed into the nations and so forgetting their father's house. Jacob prevented this by adopting the sons. It was an action of faith. "By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff" (Hebrews 11:21).
Joseph's two sons also kept the tribal count whole. One tribe would later serve God instead of holding land.
This was not just a whim of Jacob's old age, but history has proved it to be an important matter. Jacob had 12 sons at the time, the exact number of administrative completeness. Why should he give Joseph an extra place among the tribes by naming them after his two sons? The wisdom of God was in this. Later we find that Levi received no distinctive inheritance among the tribes (Numbers 1:47-53). That was because the tribe was set apart to do the service of God in the tabernacle and among all the tribes.
Joseph's sons were born outside Israel, yet they ended up sharing Israel's inheritance. One writer sees the same pattern in what followed the rejection of Jesus.
Joseph is unknown to his brothers, or at best only a memory. Meanwhile he is in power in Egypt, and marries Asenath, an Egyptian woman. His sons are cut off from their mother's Gentile connection. They are moved into the position of "heirs of the promise" with faithful Abraham, rightly counted with Israel, and they divide the inheritance with them. So the Lord Jesus, rejected by the Jews, has called out children from among the nations.
- Name — Through an Egyptian mother, Ephraim and Manasseh had no legal claim. Jacob's word gave them one and set them among the seed of Abraham.
- Place — Adoption made the two boys tribal heads. Joseph's later sons would carry their brothers' names, not Egypt's.
- Portion — Two heads, and only two, carried the firstborn's double portion. It was taken from Reuben and given to Joseph.
- Limit — Verse 6 closes the list. Later children merge into Ephraim and Manasseh and form no family of their own.
- Reach — Twelve tribes still hold land while Levi serves without it. Sons born outside end up sharing the inheritance inside.