But 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. – Genesis 48:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 8, 2018): Genesis 48

Birth Order. To modern ears, the words indicate the belief that children maintain certain characteristics because of the order in which they were born. And the reality is that there likely is a difference in the personality of a child because of where in the order of their brothers and sisters the child finds themselves. But the difference is unlikely to have a mystical origin. It is likely a difference based on the way in which the child was raised. I recently had a conversation with a couple of friends who were born a year apart. And the conversation focused on the fact that there were albums of pictures taken of them. Their younger brother who, according to the girls, was spoiled in the manner in which their parents treated him, had fewer pictures taken of his childhood. He benefited from his parent’s experience in raising children, although there seemed to be less evidence of his childhood. It is not an uncommon phenomenon. The first born is often lavished both with pictures and mistakes. As parents, we often don’t know what we are doing when a child first enters into our lives. Oh, we try to do research, and looking back some of the research and ideas are laughable, but we don’t really know what it is that we are doing. We are pretenders on the stage. But as time goes on, we gain experience and knowledge of our child, and of our own abilities and deficits as a parent. The oldest child is often the proving ground and the ones who are born after reap the benefit of our experience.

And while this was likely true in ancient times as well, there was an added cultural responsibility on the firstborn son. He had the weight of the family on him. He received twice the allotment of any of his siblings because he would be responsible both for the land and business of his father, as well as being the one responsible for caring for the parents in their old age.

Except, it seems, in the history of the biblical patriarchs. Abraham had two sons born to him during the life of his wife, Sarah. The oldest was Ishmael, born to Sarah’s servant Hagar. The youngest was Isaac, born to Sarah. And while the boys genetically were from different mothers, the reality was that, according to the custom of the day, both boys belonged to Sarah. So, this being true, the double portion and the responsibility should have gone to Ishmael. But instead, all of the inheritance from Abraham went to Isaac.

Isaac and Rebekah had two children; twin boys named Esau and Jacob. Esau was the oldest, and the favorite of his father, while Jacob was the youngest and the favorite of his mother. The blessing and the double portion should have gone to Esau, but, through deception and manipulation, it went to Jacob.

Jacob, who was called Israel, had twelve sons. The oldest of these sons was Reuben, born to him through Leah, who was the mother of six of the sons of Jacob and the only daughter of Jacob that the Bible mentions. The blessing should have gone to Reuben, but in every way, both formally and informally, the blessing went to Joseph, who was the eleventh son born to Jacob, although the first who was given birth to him from his favorite wife, Rachel.

So maybe it is not a surprise that the youngest son of Isaac desired to give a special blessing to Ephraim, the youngest son of Joseph. After all, birth order hadn’t meant much to his father and grandfather, and being the youngest of two boys, Jacob probably had a special place in his heart for the youngest of his grandsons born to his favorite, and eleventh born son, Joseph.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 48