“Switched”
Text: Genesis 48:1-2, 5, 8-20
1Some time later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. 2 When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.
5"Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.
8When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, "Who are these?" 9"They are the sons God has given me here," Joseph said to his father. Then Israel said, "Bring them to me so I may bless them." 10Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. 11Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too." 12Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. 13And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. 14But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.
15Then he blessed Joseph and said,
"May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd
all my life to this day,
16the Angel who has delivered me from all harm
—may he bless these boys.
May they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they increase greatly
upon the earth."
17When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18Joseph said to him, "No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head." 19But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations." 20 He blessed them that day and said, "In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing:
’May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’ "So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
Isaiah 53:4-5
4Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed.
I. The Switch
Israel (Jacob) is now, due to his advanced age, very sick. Joseph, his son, is told about his father’s condition so, he grabs his two sons, the oldest, Manasseh, and the youngest, Ephraim, and goes to see his dying father. Israel tells Joseph that he is taking Manasseh and Ephraim (his grandsons) as his own sons. In fact, he is legally adopting them as his own. He grants them sonship. These two boys now take Joseph’s place and Levi (due to being set apart as the priests) as tribes of Israel. They are now the 11th and 12th tribes. Now that they are the legal sons of Israel and perceiving his coming death he prepares to give them his patriarchal blessing. However, something peculiar takes place.
Joseph brings Manasseh and Ephraim to stand in front of Jacob. Since Manasseh is the firstborn Joseph puts him on his left so that when Israel reaches out he will place his right hand on Manasseh. However, the Word says that Israel “knowingly” in the KJV it says “wittingly” or “purposely” crossed his hands so that his right hand was place on the head of the second or younger son, Ephraim.
A SWITCH has occurred. A change has taken place.
Joseph sees what his father has done and grabs Israel’s hands to change them. However, Israel will not change them and declares that Ephraim will be greater than his brother Manasseh. Ephraim is placed in front of Manasseh. Then Jacob blesses them.
II. The Significance of the Switch
What is the big deal? So the aging grandfather made a mistake. He was in fact sick. Surely there is not significance to what took place. Until you recognize that in the custom of their day the right hand represented the strong blessing or the greater patriarchal blessing of the father.
Ephraim is technically, through this switch, granted the birthright that actually belonged to Manasseh as the firstborn.
Ephraim receives the stronger blessing and is placed in front of or given prominence over his older brother.
Everything that belonged to Manasseh, as firstborn, is now granted Ephraim. Everything Manasseh deserved Ephraim received and everything Ephraim deserved Manasseh received. And this was one on purpose. It was not by chance or accident, but by design and plan.
So, when you trace out the result of this SWITCH it becomes apparent that this switch impacted significantly Ephraim’s life.
In fact, “Ephraim” means “Doubly Fruitful”. The switch causes him to fulfill his name.
In Numbers 1:32-34 we discover that Ephraim’s tribe outnumbered Manasseh’s tribe 40,500 to 32,200.
Joshua 17 reveals that after crossing into the Land of Promise, Canaan, that Ephraim and Manasseh, due to the size of their families, come to Joshua and request more land than they were initially allotted. Joshua grants them additional land on a ridge. However, when you study what takes place you discovered that it was Ephraim who possesses this additional land, not Manasseh. He becomes doubly fruitful.
As you read Scripture you find out that from the day of the switch, Ephraim is almost always mentioned prior to Manasseh which denotes prominence and position. Ephraim becomes so powerful and influential that in many portions of the Old Testament his name is used synonymously with Israel so that when the writers are talking about the nation they just say Ephraim.
When Israel splits and divides, against the will of God, King Jereboham sets up his headquarters in Shechem and Bethel. Guess where those cities are located? Ephraim’s terriorty! In other words, Ephraim’s inheritance becomes the capital of the Northern Nation – the Washington DC of the nation if you will.
Finally, in 722 B.C. the Assyrians take Israel captive. The Babylonians defeated the Assyrians become the ruling nation over Israel. After hundreds of years of oppression and captivity to Babylon I Chronicles 9:3 tells us that Ephraim and Manasseh are the only 2 tribes from the Northern Kingdom that return to their home in Jerusalem.
The switch impacted, effected, and shaped Ephraim’s life. It was done on purpose!
III. The Second Switch
There is another instance in Scripture where a switch takes place. I read to you in Isaiah 53 the account of this second switch. This switch is seen even more vividly in Matthew 27:45-46 when Christ, who is hanging on a cruel cross, cries out “My God, my God why have You forsaken me?” Why have you deserted me? Why have abandoned me? Why have you switched your hands?
Christ is the firstborn. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. Yet, He leaves his place of prominence, lays down His life, comes to earth, hangs on our cross, and becomes smitten by God.
God makes a switch. He places His left hand on Christ and places His right hand, His strong blessing, His patriarchal blessing, the hand of fellowship and blessing on us.
That which Christ rightfully deserved as firstborn we have received. That which we deserved Christ has received.
And it was done wittingly. It was done on purpose. It was not by accident. In fact, the Word says that Christ was slain before foundation of the world. While we were still sinners Christ dies for us!
Acts 2:23 declares that Christ was handed over by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge. Just as Israel purposely switched Ephraim and Manasseh, God intentionally switches and grafts us in a His sons!
And just as the switch impacted Ephraim this second switch has dramatically and eternally affected us!
There are 3 specific implications that this switch has for us!
IV. His Birthright
At the moment that God switched His hands from Christ to us we have been given life and life more abundantly. We have received sonship!
Romans 8:15-17 – 15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Galatians 4:7 - 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
Full rights as sons. Joint heirs. What was His is now ours. His home becomes my home. His position in the family becomes mine. His relationship with the Father is now my relationship. I can now boldly approach the throne. His authority has become my authority(authority to bind and authority to loose). His provision becomes my provision.
Psalms 16:11 describes our station in life now that He has switched His hands. “At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore!”
The hands were switched and we have become doubly fruitful.
V. His Body
As if the birthright wasn’t enough, due to the switch of the hands, Jesus reveals another implication of the switch. Luke 22:19 “This is My body which is given for you!”
At the moment of the switch the afflictions, diseases, illnesses, sicknesses and suffering that we should carry have been laid on Christ’s body. Our stripes were given to and taken by Him and so by His stripes we are healed. The switch causes Him to take what we can’t take and to handle what we can’t handle. We have inherited health because the Father switched His hands.
A Russian fable tells about a master and his servant who went on a journey to a city. But before the men could reach their destination they were caught in a blinding blizzard. They lost their bearings and direction and are unable to reach the city by nightfall. The next morning concerned friend went searching for the two men. They finally find the master frozen to death face down in the snow. When they lifted him off of the ground they found the servant – cold but alive. He survived and told how the master had voluntarily placed his body on top of the servant so that the servant could live.
God switched his hands and Christ voluntarily, on purpose, allowed His body to be strapped to a whipping post so that His body would cover ours so that we could live. He takes our beating, our scourging, our whipping so that we could survive the cold winds of sickness, suffering, and sorrow!
VI. Blood
However, the ultimate result of the switch is revealed in Matthew 26:28, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
When God switched His hands the punishment we deserved was transferred to Christ. Our sins have been placed on Him. The death we should have died was taken by Him. Blood was required and so He gave His blood for ours.
2 Corinthians 5:21 - 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The sinless for the sinful. The righteous for the unrighteous. Eternal life for eternal death. He died that we might live. The switch sent the firstborn to our cross. To die our death. Why? Because He would rather go to hell for you than to live in heaven without you!
Our punishment, our death sentence, our wrong revoked due to the switch.
“Mommy, I’m so thirsty. I want a drink.”
Susanna Petroysan heard her daughter’s pleas, but there was nothing she could do. She and her daughter were trapped beneath tons of collapsed concrete and steel. Beside them in the darkness lay the body of Susanna’s sister-in-law, Karine, one of the fifty-five thousand victims of the worst earthquake in the history of Soviet Armenia.
Calamity never knocks before it enters, and this time, it had torn down the door.
Susanna had gone to Karine’s house to try on a dress. It was December 7, 1988,at 11:30 a.m. The quake hit at 11:41. She had just removed the dress and was clad in stockings and a slip when the fifth-floor apartment began to shake. Susanna grabbed her daughter but had taken only a few steps before the floor opened up and they tumbled in.
Susanna, her daughter, and Karine fell into the basement with the nine-story apartment house crumbling around them.
“Mommy, I need a drink. Please give me something.”
There was nothing for Susanna to give.
She was trapped. A concrete panel eighteen inches above her head and a crumpled water pipe above her shoulders kept her from standing. Feeling around in the darkness, she found a twenty-four ounce jar of blackberry jam that had fallen into the basement. She gave the entire jar to her daughter to eat. It was gone by the second day.
“Mommy, I’m so thirsty.”
Susanna knew she would die, but she wanted her daughter to live. She found a dress, perhaps the one she had come to try on, and made a bed for the little girl. Though it was bitter cold, she took off her stockings and wrapped them around the child to keep her warm.
The two were trapped for eight days.
Because of the darkness, Susanna lost track of time. Because of the cold, she lost the feeling in her fingers and toes. Because of her inability to move, she lost hope. “I was just waiting for death.”
She began to hallucinate. Her thoughts wandered. A merciful sleep occasionally freed her from the horror of her entombment, but the sleep would be brief. Something always awakened her: the cold, the hunger, or most often, the voice of her daughter.
“Mommy, I’m thirsty.”
At some point in that eternal night, Susanna had an idea. She remembered a television program about an explorer in the Arctic who was dying of thirst. His comrade slashed open his hand and gave his friend his blood.
“I had no water, no fruit juice, no liquids. It was then I remembered I had my own blood.”
Her groping finger, numb from the cold, found a piece of shattered glass. She sliced open her left index finger and gave it to her daughter to suck.
The drops of blood weren’t enough. “Please, Mommy, some more. Cut another finger.” Susanna has no idea how many times she cut herself. She only knows that if she hadn’t, her daughter would have died. Her blood was her daughter’s only hope.
Beneath the rubble of a fallen world, he pierced his hands.
In the wreckage of a collapsed humanity, he ripped open his side.
His children were trapped, so he gave his blood
It was all he had. His friends were gone. His body was broken. His
possessions had been gambled away at his feet.
His Father had switched His hands.
His blood was all he had. But his blood was all it took.
Jesus said that if anyone “is thirsty let him come to me and drink.”
“Mommy, I’m so thirsty, the little girl begged.” It was then that I remembered that I had my own blood, Susanna explained.
And the hand was cut, the blood was poured, and the child was saved.
“God, I’m so thirsty,” we pray. Jesus says, “This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant shed to set many free from sins.”
The hands were switched, his hands were pierced, the blood was poured, and the children are saved.
There is fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins and sinners plunged beneath the flood lose all their guilty stains. What can wash away my sins? What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know nothing but the blood of Jesus.
VII. Close
