Jacob had twelve sons, the firstborn of whom was Reuben. Yet, the birthright that should have passed on to Reuben did not due to Reuben's sin against his father (1 Chronicles 5:1-2).
Naturally, one would assume that the next in line would be Simeon, the second-oldest. It did not pass to Simeon either. In fact, Jacob passes over all of his sons until he gets to Joseph.
Now, he essentially passes on the birthright and blessing to Ephraim, the younger of Joseph's sons.
I have a few questions regarding this.
First, why does Jacob pass the birthright to Joseph's sons, and not Joseph himself? In fact, before doing so, why does Jacob essentially adopt Joseph's sons as his own and considers them to be his sons? What is the meaning of this? Why then is there not 13 Tribes of Israel but instead only 12?
Second, what is the significance of choosing Ephraim, the younger, over Manasseh, the older?
Finally, even though Ephraim has the birthright, the lineage of Jesus comes through Judah. Why then, does the birthright not pass to Judah? Why is there a disconnect between this birthright and the importance of Judah in Jesus' lineage?
Thank you for your help.
It didn't pass to Simeon nor to Levi because of what happened at Shechem. Gen 34:
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household." Along with Gen 49:
5 "Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their swords are implements of violence.
6 "Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they slew men, And in their self-will they lamed oxen.
7 "Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.
OTOH, Judah was the one who was selected to be the principal because in the next breath, Jacob said:
8 "Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons shall bow down to you.
9 "Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?
10 "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 "He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey's colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 "His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk.
What did Judah win here? He won the right to carry on the line of the Messiah and the Blessing to the nations. He was also the head of Judah, and salvation, Jesus said, is from the Jews. Jesus said that to the Samaritan woman, BTW, who represented Ephraim, more or less.
I can't remember off-hand if it was Reuben, Levi, or Simeon that dropped out of the count, leaving eleven tribes. However, Joseph's two sons made up for that and for the loss of the tribe of Joseph.
>First, why does Jacob pass the birthright to Joseph's sons, and not Joseph himself?
Joseph was happy with it, wasn't he? It was because of a loving relationship Jacob had with Joseph. The birthright was going to be passed on for many generations before it was fulfilled, so it was fine if it passed directly to your kids. The same thing essentially happened with Judah and Tamar. Tamar apparently knew the story of the Blessing of Abraham and, following the law back then, had a child by Judah. So the Blessing skipped Shelah to go directly to the sons of Tamar. Great lady of faith! Same with Ruth and Boaz. The concept of "one flesh" is much more extensive than most people realize.
> Second, what is the significance of choosing Ephraim, the younger, over Manasseh, the older?
Gen 48:
19 But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations." Jacob was a prophet and foresaw the future. He couldn't command the future, just see it.
Lastly,
There is a difference between the Blessing and the Birthright. Didn't Esau sell the Birthright and in Hebrews we are told not to? Why? In Galatians 3 Paul talks about the Blessing. What was it?
