JULY RADIO MESSAGE/THE TWELVE STONES IN THE BREASTPLATE OF THE HIGH PRIEST by Dr. Lloyd T. Anderson
EPHRA IM : the jacinth
giving the blessing of the firstborn son to the younger son, which was an amazing thing. Seeing this order, Jo seph tried to correct that which his fa ther was doing to his son, but Jacob assured him that his action was delib erate and that the older was going to serve the younger. From that point on, we never read of Manasseh and Ephraim — instead, we always read of Ephraim first and Manasseh in sec ond place. In this act of blessing, Jacob also said “And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee in Egypt, are mine; as Reu ben and Simeon, they shall be mine” (Genesis 48:5). And then in the same chapter and verse 16 — “The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them . . .” Now, in the first reference, it is not only to be seen that Jacob adopted these two grandsons into his own fam ily to become his sons, but he also gave them equality with his own first born son, Reuben and with Simeon. Reuben was the beginning of his strength — he was his firstborn son. This account of Jacob’s blessing of the two sons causes you and me to re call times that are outstanding when the Lord has crossed purposes in our lives and brought the rejected and despised Ephraims to the forefront of the blessing. It might be some talent or gift upon which we have put no value that God raises up to become the one thing that stands out above all else. 14
T o th e child of God it is a choice privilege to go back to the early days of Jewry and observe God’s hand in their affairs — both as a body of people and as individuals. In this liberty of study we would like, at this juncture, to see something of the life of Joseph and its bearing upon the matter of the twelve tribes. While Joseph was in the land of Egypt he was given a Gentile bride, Asenath, the daughter of Poti-pherah, priest of On, and she bore him two sons. The first lad he named Manasseh, which means forgetfulness; “for God”, said Joseph, “hath made me forget all my toil in all my father’s house.” And the second son he called Ephraim, which means doubly fruitful, and Joseph said of his birth: “for God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my afflic tion.” Now, just before the death of Ja cob, Joseph brought his two sons, Ma nasseh and Ephraim, to his own father Jacob that he might bless them. Jacob sat upon his bed and, very wittingly, he crossed his hands over, thus placing his right hand upon the younger and his left hand upon the older boy —
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