Remember that over four hundred years earlier, Joseph, the son of Jacob, was sold into slavery and delivered into the royal household of Egypt, rising to become Pharaoh’s right hand man. The Lord purposed Joseph’s rise in order to accomplish His promise to Abraham and his descendants. Knowing that in all likelihood there were no kinsman relatives to whom Joseph might marry, his children were most likely half Egyptian.
After reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers was accomplished, father Jacob was reunited with Joseph and his starving family moved to Egypt. The word of the Lord came to Jacob indicating that the sons of Joseph, half-breed Manasseh and Ephraim, were to be adopted into the house of Israel (Genesis 48:3-6) with all the same Promise Land inheritance of full-blooded members of Abraham’s family. In Genesis 47 we see that when it came time for the patriarchal blessing, Joseph assumed that the older child (Manasseh) would gain his rightful blessing. Matthew Henry observes that Jacob, “in blessing (the sons of Joseph), he crossed hands. Joseph placed them so as that Jacob’s right hand should be put on the head of Manasseh the elder, v. 12, 13. But Jacob would put it on the head of Ephraim the younger, v. 14. This displeased Joseph, who was willing to support the reputation of his first-born, and would therefore have removed his father’s hands, v. 17, 18. But Jacob gave him to understand that he (knew) what he did, and that he did it not by mistake, nor in a humour, nor from a partial affection to one more than the other, but from a spirit of prophecy, and in compliance with the divine counsels. Manasseh should be great, but truly Ephraim should be greater.”
This was Jacob’s decision in spite of Joseph’s direction. Joseph, like so many others, expected God to work in a certain way, but found that Yahweh is often pleased to work differently and sometimes even unconventionally.
The writer of the book of Joshua knows the proper birth order (Joshua 16:4) but in Joshua 16:5-10 and Joshua 17:1-13 we see the order of the blessing retained – Ephraim first and Manasseh second. Chapter 16 records Ephraim’s land allotment first, then the land allotment given to Manasseh.
The Bible is full of these sorts of reversals. Where our expectations and what we think of as right and proper are surprisingly turned by the Lord God into something unexpected. Just when we think that we can predict how God will act, He surprises us! And we would not have it any other way – indeed, without this hope who would hope to be saved? We are the most unlikely persons to earn God’s favor! We are not the best examples of human virtue, nor do we hold much political power. We are not the most influential persons, nor are we the most eloquent (1 Cor. 1:26-29). I like the way that Dale Ralph Davis puts it, “How often the divine way reverses the conventions of men, overthrows the human canon of what ought to be. That’s why the God of the Bible is so stimulating and refreshing. He is never the prisoner of what fallen man regards as normal. Again and again he turns human standards on their heads, causing us to wonder and cheer. Without this God who ignores our proprieties, most of us would have no hope.”
Indeed, though we may be members of a collection of the ‘unlikely to be saved’, faith recognizes that God’s ways are not man’s ways. The grace of God is not a thing to be bought, earned, or inherited; it is not some matter of ethnicity, or national affiliation; but is wonderfully granted according to the riches of our God and the Author of our salvation. Praise be to the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
I have a friend who is fond of saying that not so long ago, his ancestors ran around in the woods naked, painting their faces and worshiping trees and rocks. He remarks that but for the grace of God, through the means of the preaching of the gospel, and the work of the Holy Spirit, he would still be worshipping trees and rocks. This national holiday that we call Thanksgiving ought to be a special time for believers to remember that we were utterly lost and without hope, and as John Newton put it, “…but now am found ...”.
