“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. – Genesis 48:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 17, 2012): Genesis 48

We want life to be fair. We know that on a very basic level it isn’t but I think that also really bothers us. So by our actions we try to restore that fairness that is naturally absent from life. At least, from Jacob’s point of view, favoritism had been a constant part of his life. Favoritism had marred his childhood – his brother was the favorite child of his father while he held that honor with his mother. He worked for years to get the wife of his dreams, only to find himself married to her older sister instead. When he finally marries the wife that he desired, she accused him of favoritism because it was only her older sister that could have children. And none of it was fair.

And if Jacob was anything like a modern day parent, he probably looked at the way that he had lived his life and hoped that it could be different for his kids. He may have even promised himself that the favoritism that had marked his existence would not be repeated in his family. But when Rachael died - the woman that he loved more than anyone else, the one that he had worked so hard for the privilege of marrying, it seemed that almost against his will he is drawn back into familiar patterns. He wouldn`t have probably admitted that favoritism had once more raised its head, but instead argue that by protecting Joseph (and later Benjamin), he was just trying to keep the memory of Rachel alive.

And when Joseph is returned after Dad had thought that his son was dead for so many years, again it didn`t seem fair. And Dad begins to work to set things right. Under ancient law, the oldest son would receive a double portion of the Father’s estate. It was the inheritance that he had cheated his older brother Esau out of. In Jacob’s case that meant that Reuben would receive the double portion. And there is no indication that Jacob was going to go against that tradition, but there was something he could do. While Reuben would receive the double portion that was his by tradition, by taking Joseph’s son’s Ephraim and Manasseh as his own, effectively he was reserving a double portion of his inheritance for Joseph as well – maybe to make up just a little for all of the injustice that he had suffered through.

However, the reality of Jacob’s decision is that when the Promise Land is divided up among the sons of Jacob, it is only Joseph that receives two allotments of the land that had been promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is no tribe of Joseph, but two of his sons receive an allotment reserved for Israel.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 49