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.

3251. 'These are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived' means the state representative of the Lord as regards the Divine itself that was portrayed by means of Abraham. This is clear from the meaning of 'days' and of 'years' as states, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, and from the meaning here of 'life' also as state, dealt with in 2904, here as the representative states portrayed by means of Abraham. Indeed his whole life as described in the Word was representative, the end of which life is the subject now. The consideration that Abraham represented the Lord as regards the Divine itself has been shown in the explanations that have been given, and so as to represent Him he was named Abraham - the letter H, taken from the name Jehovah, having been inserted, 2010. Abraham represented both the Divine itself, which is called the Father, and the Divine Human, which is referred to as the Son. He accordingly represented the Lord as regards both, though the Divine Human represented by Him was the Divine Human existing from eternity, of which the Lord was the manifestation and to which He subordinated the Human born in time when He glorified it. This is the representation of the Lord portrayed by means of Abraham.