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.

6269. 'And Israel put out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim's head' means that he considered truth to occupy the first place. This is clear from the meaning of 'putting out his right hand' as considering to occupy the first place - 'right hand' meaning in first place, as is self-evident; and from the representation of' Ephraim' as the understanding, and so the truth of faith since it dwells in the understanding part of a person s mind when sight provided by the light of heaven, thus spiritual sight, exists there, see 6222. The fact that Israel put his right hand on Ephraim's head and his left on Manasseh's is referred to in this verse and also in verses 17-19 below; and by that action is meant the fact that he considered the truth of faith to occupy first place and the good of charity second place. The reason he thought that way was that the spiritual man, represented by 'Israel', 4286, 6256, does not consider them, before he has been regenerated, any differently. For the spiritual man is directly conscious of what the truth of faith is; but he is not conscious of what the good of charity is since it comes to him by an interior route, whereas the truth of faith comes by an exterior one, just as factual knowledge does.

[2] But people who are not being regenerated say quite categorically that faith occupies the first place, that is, that it is the essential element of the Church, because they can then lead whatever kind of life they like and still say that they entertain the hope of salvation. This also is the reason why at the present day charity has disappeared so completely that scarcely anyone knows what it is, or even consequently what faith is since the one does not exist without the other. If charity occupied the first place and faith the second the whole appearance of the Church would be different, for in that case no others would be called Christians but those who led a life in keeping with the truth of faith, which is a charitable life. People would also know what charity was, and they would not on the basis of particular ideas about the truths of faith distinguish between and make many Churches out of different groups. Instead they would speak of one Church that included all leading a good life, and not only those within that part of the world where the Church exists but also those outside. If they spoke in this way the Church would have an enlightened view of such things as belong to the Lord's kingdom; for charity is what brings light, and never faith without charity. And the mistaken ideas that faith separated from charity introduces would also be clearly recognizable.

[3] From this one may see how different the whole appearance of the Church would be if the good of charity were to occupy the first place, that is, if it were the essential element, and the truth of faith occupied the second place, that is, if it were the outward form that expressed it. The whole appearance of the Church would then be like that of the Ancient Church, which identified the Church with charity and had no other teachings of the Church than those concerned with charity, as a consequence of which they had wisdom from the Lord. The nature of that Church is described by these words in Moses,

Jehovah encompassed him, instructed him, and kept him as the pupil of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreads out its wings, He took him, He carried him on His wing. Jehovah alone led him, nor was any foreign god with him. He caused him to ride on the heights of the land, and He fed [Him] from the produce of the fields; He caused him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock - butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and of rams, the breed ¹ of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape you drink unmixed wine. Deuteronomy 32:10-14.

Those who belonged to that Church are consequently in heaven, enjoying complete happiness and glory there.

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