| “Israel [Jacob] stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn” (Genesis 48:14). |
| Here we find Israel (God had given Jacob another name, Israel, which means “a prince with God”), as an old man, again conferring a blessing, but this time on his two grandsons, the sons of Joseph. Their names were Manasseh and Ephraim, and Manasseh was the oldest. Normally the older one would have gotten the bigger blessing, and ought to have had Israel’s right hand on his head. But Jacob crossed his arms, and put his right hand on Ephraim’s head. At first Joseph was not happy about this, and we read that he tried to take his father’s right hand off Ephraim’s head and place it on Manasseh’s head (see verse 17). But his father refused, and kept his right hand on Ephraim’s head. We might wonder why Jacob would do this. |
| When Jacob and Esau were born, they were twins, but Esau was born first. Normally he should have gotten the larger blessing, but before they were born, God had clearly said that the younger one, Jacob, would be the more prominent of the two, and that “the elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). If we go back another generation, we find that Ishmael was the eldest son of Abraham, yet Isaac got the larger blessing. Going back even further, we find that Japheth was Noah’s eldest son, yet God’s blessing was more pronounced in the family of Shem, who was the second son. |
| There is a special reason for all this. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:47 that “the first man is of the earth, earthy: the second Man is the Lord from heaven.” The first man (Adam) was a failure, for he and his wife Eve broke the one commandment that God gave them, and thus brought sin into the world. We are all naturally connected with the first man, Adam, and we all have sinful natures. But the second Man is the Lord Jesus, who succeeded where the first man failed. He perfectly did the will of God, and then at Calvary’s cross made a way for all who come to Him to be reconciled to God. That is why God often allowed the second son to be more important and more spiritual than the elder one. |
| If you look carefully, you can find other examples in the book of Genesis where the eldest son was not the most spiritual, but rather a younger son. It is not always the second son, and sometimes there is more than one younger brother in the same family who is more godly than the oldest brother. See if you can find some more! |
