We’ve been talking about the Cross-handed blessing and how Manasseh was literally disenfranchised from his firstborn blessing.
I dunno about you guys but sometimes I couldn’t help feeling sorry for Manasseh because of what happened to him when Jacob gave his brother Ephraim the authority and status of the firstborn.
But here’s the thing.
The Lord did NOT overlook Manasseh.
Let me prove it to you.
Recall the two and a half tribes who inherited territory on the east side of the Jordan River.
Again, the tribes were Reuben, Gad and one half of Manasseh.
So Manasseh was one of the tribes who received real estate in the Transjordan even though it wasn’t Promised Land territory.
And moving forward in our study of Joshua, we’re going to see that Manasseh is going to receive yet another piece of land, this time INSIDE Promised Land territory.
Hence, Manasseh is going to get 2 portions of land…one outside of the Promised Land on the east side of the Jordan River and…
…one piece inside the Promised Land on the east side of the Jordan River.
And this my friends is the double-portion blessing that God promised to Jacob who by the way was just following God’s instructions when he made Ephraim the firstborn over his older brother Manasseh.
In case you’re wondering which verses substantiate this, well here they are below:
“Yosef said to his father, ‘Don’t do it that way, my father; for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know that, my son, I know it. He too will become a people, and he too will be great; nevertheless his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will grow into many nations.'”-Genesis 48:18
I love this…because in some mysterious way that ONLY the Lord could bring about, Manasseh (or in this case, the Tribe of Manasseh) also received the double-portion.
And I do believe this gives us one good reason why the Lord allowed for the 2 1/2 tribes to settle down in territory OUTSIDE of the land the Lord specifically promised to Israel.
Indeed with Hashem, nothing is coincidental.
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