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Joshua 16

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1 And the lot came forth for the children of Joseph from the Jordan of Jericho as far as the waters of Jericho eastwards, to the wilderness which goes up from Jericho to the hill-country of Bethel.

2 And [the border] went from Bethel to Luz, and passed to the border of the Archites to Ataroth,

3 and went down westward to the border of the Japhletites, as far as the border of the lower Beth-horon, and to Gezer; and ended at the sea.

4 And the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.

5 And the border of the children of Ephraim was according to their families; the border of their inheritance eastwards was Ataroth-Addar as far as the upper Beth-horon;

6 and the border went forth westwards to Micmethath on the north; and the border turned eastwards to Taanath-Shiloh, and passed by it eastwards to Janohah,

7 and went down from Janohah to Ataroth and Naarath, and touched upon Jericho, and went out to the Jordan.

8 From Tappuah the border went westwards to the torrent Kanah, and ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families,

9 with the cities that were set apart for the children of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities and their hamlets.

10 But they did not dispossess the Canaanites that dwelt at Gezer; and the Canaanites dwell in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and serve under tribute.

   

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Ephraim

  
Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph, by Januarius Zick

Ephraim was the second son born to Joseph in Egypt and was, along with his older brother Manasseh, elevated by Jacob to the same status as Joseph’s brothers. Thus when the tribes of Israel are named, Ephraim and Manasseh are named as patriarchs along with their uncles – Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin -- but Joseph is not. According to Swedenborg, Ephraim represents the intellectual aspect of the church, the part that explores and understands what is true – especially the true ideas that can be drawn from the Bible. Manasseh, meanwhile, represents the affectional aspect of the church, the part that feels and loves and cares. This plays into the best-known story of Ephraim’s life. When Jacob was old and nearing death, Joseph brought his two sons to be blessed. He presented Manasseh to Jacob’s right hand as the elder, and Ephraim to Jacob’s left hand. But Jacob crossed his hands and gave Ephraim the primary blessing. According to Swedenborg, Manasseh was the elder son because ultimately, what we love makes us who we are; our loves form our lives. So our loves are the most central, leading aspect of our human existence, with our intellect playing a secondary role. But as we develop, we need to reverse those. We can use our intellect to understand what is good and right and force ourselves to do it, even when our desires are for what’s selfish. If we stick to that out of a determination to follow the Lord and be good people, the Lord will eventually remove the selfishness from our hearts so we can truly love what is good. By having Jacob bless Ephraim above Manasseh, the Lord is telling us that we have to put our intellect first to pursue our spiritual journey.