Ephraim

[Alive]

Ephraim came up in another thread and aside from that I have been thinking about some verses from Jeremiah and Psalms.

So, I have a question to suggest. I do not have the answers.

We know the history of Ephraim the tribe--half tribe and how Jacob preferred Ephraim although he was the younger. Stuff like that, as well as the strife between the three tribes living in that country and Judah. But my question is around some interesting verses.

First some verses.

Psa. 78:67 (ESVS)    He rejected the tent of Joseph;   he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

⁶⁸  but he chose the tribe of Judah,   Mount Zion, which he loves.

 

This relates to where the Ark would take up residence in Jerusalem on Zion.

But listen to these verses from Jer.

 

Jer. 31:6 (NAS20S)  “For there will be a day when watchmen   On the hills of Ephraim call out,   ‘Arise, and let’s go up to Zion,   To the LORD our God.’”

Jer. 31:9 (NAS20S)  “ They will come with weeping,   And by pleading I will bring them;   I will lead them by streams of waters,   On a straight path on which they will not stumble;   For I am a father to Israel,   And Ephraim is My firstborn.”

Jer. 31:18 (NAS20S)  “I have certainly heard Ephraim grieving,   ‘You have disciplined me, and I was corrected,   Like an untrained calf;    Bring me back that I may be restored,   For You are the LORD my God.

Jer. 31:20 (NAS20S)  “Is Ephraim My dear son?   Is he a delightful child?   Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him,   I certainly still remember him;   Therefore My   heart yearns for him;   I will certainly have mercy on him,” declares the LORD.

I posted some of the mentions of Ephraim in Jer for interest and further study, but I am focusing on verse 31:9

What significance is there to the Lord calling Him His firstborn? Is it just simply a reference of the choice Jacob made and the wayward Israel, is there more to it than that?

Edited December 19, 2022 by Alive
Typo as I meant verse 9

[Waggles]

30 minutes ago, Alive said:

What significance is there to the Lord calling Him His firstborn? Is it just simply a reference of the choice Jacob made and the wayward Israel, is there more to it than that?

The answers you seek lie in knowing history and what happened to the Kingdom of Israel that was removed by the Assyrians.

God does not lose his children and given the promises made to Abraham and that through him and his seed would come blessings for the whole world (and as Jesus said salvation is of the Jews) then there must be a plan and purpose for the "lost" ten tribes of Israel of which Ephraim is the principle tribe - as Judah is the principle tribe of the southern kingdom.

Israel has become the nations of Europe which received the gospel of salvation and the new covenant of God placing his spirit within the heart. Not Judah but Israel (Ephraim).

Jeremiah 31:31  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
32  not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 
33  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 
34  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Thus Ephraim of the process of time becomes the preeminent royal kingdom of Europe - Britain - the throne of Westminster over the stone of destiny (Jacob's pillar brought originally to Ireland by Jeremiah the prophet). The stone of destiny travelled to Scotland and then to England - by 1801 Britain became the United Kingdom of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Jer 33:17  “For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,

and when God returns in power and glory having shortened the days of world War III then He shall restore all of Israel back to being one nation with one King -

Ezekiel 37:16  “Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’
17  And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 
18  And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ 
19  say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand.

Ezekiel 37:24  “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 
25  They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Waggles

[Waggles]

Ephesians 2:11  Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 
12  remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 
13  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 
14  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 
15  by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 
16  and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

[Alive]

This is not where I intended this to go. I have no interest in discussing those speculations, but than you for responding.

[Mr. M]

55 minutes ago, Alive said:

What significance is there to the Lord calling Him His firstborn? Is it just simply a reference of the choice Jacob made and the wayward Israel, is there more to it than that?

I too saw Jeremiah 31:9 as an endorsement of Jacob's blessing, that his hands were led by the Lord to place

Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. There is also a prophetic angle to placing the double blessing (Ephraim), ahead of

Manasseh, (causing to forget).

Hosea 13:1 When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
He exalted himself in Israel;
But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.
2 Now they sin more and more,
And have made for themselves molded images,
Idols of their silver, according to their skill;
All of it is the work of craftsmen.
They say of them,
“Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves!”
3 Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud
And like the early dew that passes away,
Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.

Samaria, in the land of Ephraim, engaged in Baal worship, as their first king, Jeroboam,

set up calves for worship, as in the wilderness.

4 “Yet I am the Lord your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For there is no savior besides Me.
5 I knew you in the wilderness,
In the land of great drought.
6 When they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot Me.

The message: God's blessings can lead to forgetfulness, as the testimony of Israel demonstrated.

[Alive]

3 minutes ago, Mr. M said:

I too saw Jeremiah 31:9 as an endorsement of Jacob's blessing, that his hands were led by the Lord to place

Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. There is also a prophetic angle to placing the double blessing (Ephraim), ahead of

Manasseh, (causing to forget).

Hosea 13:1 When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
He exalted himself in Israel;
But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.
2 Now they sin more and more,
And have made for themselves molded images,
Idols of their silver, according to their skill;
All of it is the work of craftsmen.
They say of them,
“Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves!”
3 Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud
And like the early dew that passes away,
Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.

Samaria, in the land of Ephraim, engaged in Baal worship, as their first king, Jeroboam,

set up calves for worship, as in the wilderness.

4 “Yet I am the Lord your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For there is no savior besides Me.
5 I knew you in the wilderness,
In the land of great drought.
6 When they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot Me.

The message: God's blessings can lead to forgetfulness, as the testimony of Israel demonstrated.

Thanks for these verses, brother.

[Dennis1209]

1 hour ago, Alive said:

Ephraim came up in another thread and aside from that I have been thinking about some verses from Jeremiah and Psalms.

So, I have a question to suggest. I do not have the answers.

We know the history of Ephraim the tribe--half tribe and how Jacob preferred Ephraim although he was the younger. Stuff like that, as well as the strife between the three tribes living in that country and Judah. But my question is around some interesting verses.

First some verses.

Psa. 78:67 (ESVS)    He rejected the tent of Joseph;   he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

⁶⁸  but he chose the tribe of Judah,   Mount Zion, which he loves.

 

This relates to where the Ark would take up residence in Jerusalem on Zion.

But listen to these verses from Jer.

 

Jer. 31:6 (NAS20S)  “For there will be a day when watchmen   On the hills of Ephraim call out,   ‘Arise, and let’s go up to Zion,   To the LORD our God.’”

Jer. 31:9 (NAS20S)  “ They will come with weeping,   And by pleading I will bring them;   I will lead them by streams of waters,   On a straight path on which they will not stumble;   For I am a father to Israel,   And Ephraim is My firstborn.”

Jer. 31:18 (NAS20S)  “I have certainly heard Ephraim grieving,   ‘You have disciplined me, and I was corrected,   Like an untrained calf;    Bring me back that I may be restored,   For You are the LORD my God.

Jer. 31:20 (NAS20S)  “Is Ephraim My dear son?   Is he a delightful child?   Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him,   I certainly still remember him;   Therefore My   heart yearns for him;   I will certainly have mercy on him,” declares the LORD.

I posted some of the mentions of Ephraim in Jer for interest and further study, but I am focusing on verse 31:19

What significance is there to the Lord calling Him His firstborn? Is it just simply a reference of the choice Jacob made and the wayward Israel, is there more to it than that?

I had the same questions and did not understand what that was all about. Reading your post, Jacob crossed his arms for the blessings, and Joseph’s objection immediately came to mind. But anyway, anyone can copy and paste commentaries; it is so impersonal. My commentary notes below helped me understand the big picture. It is a good thing for us that Ephraim was replaced.

31:18 “I have surely heard Ephraim moaning.” God is speaking here. There is never a moan, or a sob, or a cry, or a sigh of a penitent sinner that God does not hear. Do not think a single penitential cry ever rises unheeded from a contrite heart. That cannot be. God has a quick ear for the cries of sinners.

31:19 “After my return, I felt regret; … I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.” When a person has sown his wild oats and God in mercy helps him come back from such a dreadful life as that, he recollects what he has been, and he is ashamed of himself. Sometimes he is more than half ashamed to mingle with God’s people, for he is afraid they will have nothing to do with such a wretch as he has been. But he is, most of all, ashamed to come near to his God because of the sins of his youth. Yet the Lord speaks gracious words concerning him.

31:20 “Isn’t Ephraim a precious son to me?” You might expect the answer to be, “No, he has lost the rights of childhood. He has been displeasing and provoking to God.” Yet God does not give such an answer as that to his own question. The Lord says, “My inner being yearns for him.” The infinitely blessed God represents himself as longing to have mercy on sinners.¹

¹ Spurgeon. The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017. Print.

31:18–20 Ephraim, representing the 10 northern tribes, finally saw how he had acted as an untrained (or “undisciplined”) calf (cp. Hos 10:11) and as a rebel against God. But now chastened and repentant, he struck his thigh … ashamed and humiliated. Ephraim will be forgiven and, like the prodigal, will return home. God’s love will triumph over Israel’s rebellion (Hos 11:1–11).¹

¹ Kaiser, Walter C., Jr. “Jeremiah.” Holman Illustrated Bible Commentary. Ed. E. Ray Clendenen and Jeremy Royal Howard. Broadman & Holman, 2015. 807. Print.

Frustrated because it seemed that his blind father had made a mistake, Joseph took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head. Emboldened by prophetic insight, however, Jacob refused to move his hands because by God’s own hand Ephraim’s blessings were ordained to exceed Manasseh’s. Manasseh would become a tribe, but his younger brother Ephraim would become something more—a populous nation. Even so, both would be blessed so richly that in the future Israel would invoke blessings by asking God to make someone like Ephraim and Manasseh. The placement of Ephraim’s name before Manasseh’s foreshadowed his later superiority. Because of Ephraim’s leading position in later Israelite history, prophets often referred to the entire northern kingdom of Israel as Ephraim (Isa 7:5; Jer 31:20; Eze 37:16; Hos 5:13; Zech 10:7).¹

¹ Robert D. Bergen, “Genesis,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Commentary, ed. E. Ray Clendenen and Jeremy Royal Howard (Broadman & Holman, 2015), 59.

  III. Good News: God Has Chosen David (78:65–72)

65–72 While the Philistines prevailed over Israel, it seemed as if the Lord was asleep. The renewal of his acts of mercy to Israel was so overwhelming that the psalmist likens God to a “hero” (GK 1475; NIV, “man”), who feels himself more heroic when intoxicated with wine. In his valor he overcame the enemies of his people and gave the honor of victory and peace to David, from the tribe of Judah, thus rejecting the supremacy of Ephraim. The favored position of Judah was further symbolized by the choice of Jerusalem (Mount Zion) as the place for his temple.

The temple on earth was “like the heights,” which may denote the high mountains or the heavenly temple. God’s presence on earth is connected with the Lord Jesus, who himself said that he is the temple of God (Jn 2:19–21). David was taken from shepherding the flocks to take care of God’s flock, “his inheritance.” He proved himself wise by being upright in the midst of a stubborn people. He guided their national, political, and religious interests with “understanding.” The promises pertaining to God’s kingdom, messianic rule, and presence find their focus in Jesus the Messiah. All who receive him as the Messiah of God find in him the “bread … from heaven” (Jn 6:41), the water of life (Jn 7:37–39), and life everlasting (Jn 11:25–26)!¹

¹ Barker, Kenneth L., and John R. Kohlenberger III. Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition: Old Testament). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994. Print.

 

[farouk]

4 minutes ago, Alive said:

Thanks for these verses, brother.

@Alive So we should indeed keep 'looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith', while redeeming the time.......

[Mr. M]

4 minutes ago, Alive said:

Thanks for these verses, brother.

Here's another POV.

1 Chronicles 5:1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel—he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright; 2 yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph’s—

[Alive]

22 minutes ago, Mr. M said:

I too saw Jeremiah 31:9 as an endorsement of Jacob's blessing, that his hands were led by the Lord to place

Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. There is also a prophetic angle to placing the double blessing (Ephraim), ahead of

Manasseh, (causing to forget).

Hosea 13:1 When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
He exalted himself in Israel;
But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.
2 Now they sin more and more,
And have made for themselves molded images,
Idols of their silver, according to their skill;
All of it is the work of craftsmen.
They say of them,
“Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves!”
3 Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud
And like the early dew that passes away,
Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.

Samaria, in the land of Ephraim, engaged in Baal worship, as their first king, Jeroboam,

set up calves for worship, as in the wilderness.

4 “Yet I am the Lord your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For there is no savior besides Me.
5 I knew you in the wilderness,
In the land of great drought.
6 When they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot Me.

The message: God's blessings can lead to forgetfulness, as the testimony of Israel demonstrated.

Amen! I so enjoy finding Christ throughout all scripture and His Grace and Truth.