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Joshua 16

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1 And the lot of the sons of Joseph fell from the Jordan over against Jericho and the waters thereof, on the east: the wilderness which goeth up from Jericho to the mountain of Bethel:

2 And goeth out from Bethel to Luza: and passeth the border of Archi, to Ataroth,

3 And goeth down westward, by the border of Jephleti, unto the borders of Beth-horon the nether, and to Gazer :and the countries of it are ended by the great sea:

4 And Manasses and Ephraim the children of Joseph possessed it.

5 And the border of the children of Ephraim was according to their kindreds: and their possession towards the east was Ataroth-addar unto Beth-horon the upper.

6 And the confines go out unto the sea: but Machmethath looketh to the north, and it goeth round the borders eastward into Thanath-selo: and passeth along on the east side to Janoe.

7 And it goeth down from Janoe into Ataroth and Naaratha: and it cometh to Jericho, and goeth out to the Jordan.

8 From Taphua it passeth on towards the sea into the valley of reeds, and the goings out thereof are at the most salt sea. This is the possession of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families.

9 And there were cities with their villages separated for the children of Ephraim in the midst of the possession of the children of Manasses.

10 And the children of Ephraim slew not the Chanaanite, who dwelt in Gazer: and the Chanaanite dwelt in the midst of Ephraim until this day, paying 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.