And 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.
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?
An act of adoption
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.
J. G. BellettHe 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.
Standing on the promise, not on Egypt
Everything Jacob has to give rests on a promise God made to his line.
Hamilton SmithBut 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.
The firstborn's double portion
Jacob names the boys alongside Reuben and Simeon. That move hands the rights of the eldest son to Joseph.
A. J. PollockScripture 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.
Why the count still comes to twelve
Adding two more heads to the family looks like a mistake in the arithmetic. Later history shows why it was not.
L. M. GrantNow 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.
Grace decides, faith agrees
Nothing here follows natural rights. Jacob accepts what God has decided.
J. G. BellettGrace 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.
J. G. BellettHe 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.
A picture of the church
Joseph received these sons far from home, among strangers. Commentators see a larger pattern in that.
J. G. BellettHe 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."
Summary
- 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.