stage of Hebrew history; and it is here embodied in the preference which Jacob gave to the younger Ephraim, but which at first was not approved of by Joseph himself (vers. 17-19). Nor was the rivalry within that tribe confined to the families of Manasseh and Ephraim; other branches aspired later to a distinguished position, and even to independence; but they were at length compelled permanently to range themselves under one or the other of the two chief divisions. These interesting facts seem to be referred to in the words of Jacob: "But thy issue which thou hast begotten after them, shall be thine; they shall be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance" (ver. 6). Thus we need not be surprised that, in the Old Testament, other sons of Joseph besides Ephraim and Manasseh are nowhere mentioned; the families represented by them, though at one period ambitiously entering the lists in the contest for superiority, were later so completely absorbed in the larger communities, that they ceased to possess any individual distinction or power, and ultimately vanished from the public rolls.

When the commotion among the people of Joseph had in a great measure subsided, and the internal struggle gave way to a greater consolidation of parties, two groups of families remained to dispute with each other the chief authority. Neither of them, however, possessed for a considerable time sufficient power to force the other into submission. For their relative influence underwent very material fluctuations. While, shortly after the exodus from Egypt, the Ephraimites surpassed the men of Manasseh in numerical strength by upwards of 8,000 soldiers, and

then bore one of the four great banners of the Hebrew hosts, with Manasseh and Benjamin following their standard; the men of Manasseh, immediately before the entrance into Canaan, exceeded the Ephraimites by more than 20,000 men (Num.i. 33,35; x.22-24; xxvi. 34,37; cf. Ps. lxxx. 2): which changes, though very considerable, may be readily accounted for by the supposition that the minor families, in our chapter called the later or younger branches (ver. 6), now joined Ephraim, and now Manasseh. A spirit of jealousy was roused, and imperceptibly wrought mutual estrangement. Thus it was not only natural, but almost inevitable, considering the unsettled condition of the Hebrews in the earliest periods of the conquest, that these two groups of clans should constitute themselves into two separate communities, with independent internal organisations, or that they should form two distinct tribes. The division was confirmed by several collateral circumstances. A large portion of the people of Manasseh felt a predilection for breeding of cattle; when they, therefore, on their way from Egypt to Canaan, found the districts of Gilead abounding in choice pasture grounds, they there took up their abodes, together with the men of Reuben and Gad: while the whole of the Ephraimites, preferring the excitement of war and adventure, passed the Jordan to acquire wealth and territory. A union between the two rival families could now scarcely any longer be contemplated or expected; and the circumstance that the separation originated considerably before the conquest of Canaan, and already in the east of the Jordan, throws light upon the fact, that it is in our section traced back to Jacob

himself, who alludes to the future occupation of the Holy Land (ver. 22). It is true, that one part of the men of Manasseh settled likewise in the west of the Jordan; but, in doing this, they maintained the distinction between the two tribes which had then been long and firmly established. This is certain, from an occurrence preserved in the book of the Judges. When the Midianites oppressed and in every way annoyed the Israelites, Gideon, the son of Abi-ezer, from the town Ophrah in the western part of Manasseh, gathered the soldiers of the northern provinces, and totally defeated the Midianites and their powerful and most numerous allies. But he did not invite the Ephraimites to take part in the battles; although a due regard for the success of his expedition later urged him to ask their assistance in the pursuit of the fleeing enemy. This event shows, likewise, why a part of the people of Manasseh, not sharing the taste of the rest for nomadic pursuits, but more intent upon military fame, had, like the Ephraimites, left the eastern provinces and sought lands in the west. The victories of Gideon were, indeed, among the most glorious feats performed in the time of the Judges, and they were long remembered with praise and enthusiastic admiration. They inspired such confidence and respect, that the greater portion of the Israelites spontaneously offered to the hero the royal dignity, and promised to make it hereditary in his family. But Gideon, modest and unostentatious by nature, felt that prudence recommended him to decline the tempting honour. For the jealous rivalry within the tribe of Joseph, or between the branches of Manasseh and Ephraim, had continued in

the west, as it had commenced in the east of the Jordan. Ephraim coveted and acquired cities within the boundaries of Manasseh; whereas Manasseh occupied important parts of the territory of Issachar and Asher. But it may be readily imagined, that in the west the Ephraimites maintained an easy ascendancy over the men of Manasseh, who were separated from a large portion of their kinsmen, from whom they could not even expect any moral support: for the two tribes and a half in the east of the river, afraid that living far from the holy Tabernacle of the Lord, they might be regarded as dwelling in an unclean land, found it advisable to erect a conspicuous altar to the God of Israel, lest at some future period they should either be required to emigrate from their property and to settle in the west, or should be deemed not to belong to the worshippers of God and to the chosen people, because they were secluded from the rest by the river Jordan (Josh. xxii. 9—34). The Ephraimites, therefore, indignant that they had not been allowed to take a chief part in the wars against the Midianites, and apprehending that triumphs so signal and essential might secure to Manasseh a decided preponderance; severely and in the authoritative tone of conscious superiority, argued on that account with Gideon, who knew no other mode of appeasing their exasperation and gratifying their vanity, than by humbly acknowledging that their deeds had, in fact, been more important than his own. "What have I done," said he, “in comparison to you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abi-ezer"? (Judg. viii. 1—3). When, therefore, the crown was placed

within his reach, afraid of rousing civil discord, and certain that the formation of a Hebrew monarchy would be premature, he replied: "GOD shall rule over you" (Judg. viii. 22); and thus endeavoured to strengthen the theocratical views of the nation. It appears, that at this time the prosperity and fame of both Manasseh and Ephraim were so considerable and so universally acknowledged, that then the blessing, mentioned in our narrative, became proverbial in Israel: "May the Lord make thee like Ephraim and Manasseh" (ver. 20); but the precedence in this formula assigned to the younger Ephraim points to his greater material power. However, the services which Gideon had rendered to the Hebrew tribes, were so considerable, and the veneration for his name became so deep and strong, that after his death, his sons, though living at Ophrah in Manasseh, exercised over Ephraim a moral influence powerful enough to be regarded as equivalent to royalty (Judg. ix, 2, 5). But it was impossible that this dependence, however lenient, should be long tolerated by the proud Ephraimites, so jealously watchful of their dignity. They, therefore, enabled Abimelech to gather troops, by the aid of which nearly the whole house of Gideon was extirpated (Judg. ix. 1—5). This deed is historically of peculiar importance. It marks the point, from which the power of Manasseh was more and more weakened, while that of Ephraim was more and more confirmed. Nor was any individual better fitted to indicate that transition than Abimelech, belonging to Manasseh by his father Gideon, and connected with Ephraim by his mother from Shechem (Judg. viii, 31). Hence

forth the influence of the Ephraimites was so constantly progressive, that it soon obscured, and almost absorbed, not only the fraternal branch of Manassch, but nearly all the northern and eastern tribes. Great reminiscences helped to give prestige to their name. Joshua, the conqueror of Canaan, was sprung from their tribe; Deborah, the sublime and heroic, judged within their territory; and soon Samuel,the man of undaunted energy, the true founder of an organised Hebrew commonwealth, was to be born in the same boundaries. The immediate consequence of Abimelech's carnage in Manasseh was his elevation to the throne; proclaimed king in Shechem, "he reigned over Israel three years" (Judges ix. 6, 22). But, though he was not possessed of qualities and virtues either for permanently maintaining or for rendering popular the monarchical form of government, he had given an example which, in due time, was revived and followed. The tribe of Ephraim, continuing its internal development, had in the latter part of the period of the Judges, grown so much in power and self-reliance, that it ventured to inveigh against Jephthah, after his brilliant victories over the Ammonites, with almost the same haughty language in which it had before indulged against Gideon, and from the same motives of jealous rivalry; though the ungovernable temper of Jephthah took severe and sanguinary revenge for that presumption. When, by a series of circumstances, the explanation of which would be foreign to our subject, the tribe of Judah, one of the first to conquer and to settle in western Canaan, arrived at royal power; the Ephraimites, after a short resistance in

favour of Ishbosheth, acknowledged indeed the sceptre of David, like all the other tribes: but even then continuing to foster their ambitious plans of sovereignty, and assuming the same attitude of opposition against Judah which they had before successfully occupied against Manasseh, they seized the very first opportunity offered by the neglect and failings of David's immediate successors, to place themselves at the head of the northern part of the people, which even in the time of that great monarch had claimed the larger share of political authority; and they established an independent kingdom, with an efficient army and a strong administration. Jeroboam, the first king, in order to make the separation from Judah more decided by breaking the strongest link of union, organised a distinct religious worship in Ephraim, and forbade his subjects to visit the temple of Jerusalem. From this time Ephraim was acknowledged as the dominant tribe of the north; it was not only designated with the name "house of Joseph," though this term originally, of course, comprised Manassch also; but "Ephraim" became the name of the whole northern empire, which was so important in territory and population, that it assumed for itself alone, or received, the general and honoured appellation of "Israel," and that its re-union with the empire of Judah formed one of the most fervent hopes of the prophets in their descriptions of the strength and glory of the Hebrews. These facts sufficiently prove the vast ascendancy which the younger branch of Joseph's house ultimately obtained over the older lines; and

if we add to this, that the province of Ephraim, partly conquered from a mighty enemy, and partly reclaimed from a primeval wilderness, was distinguished by exceeding fertility; that woody mountain-chains alternated with grassy highlands and luxurious plains and valleys; that numerous brooks rendered the labours of agriculture both easy and productive; and that, therefore, it was, in ancient times, as it is still, one of the most cultivated parts of Palestine; that it contained the sacred mountains, Ebal and Gerizim, and many towns of the greatest political and religious importance, as Shiloh, for a very considerable time the station of the Tabernacle; further, Bethel, Ramah, and Shechem, each of which could boast of a long and varied history; and that it occupied a central position, peculiarly favourable to the extension and maintenance of dominion: we shall understand the force of Jacob's words, when Joseph reminded him of the birthright of Manasseh: "I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become an abundance of people" (ver. 19). It will, further, be understood, on the one hand, that the division of the tribe of Joseph was more than "a political, priestly, or mythical, idea"; and on the other hand, that it does not involve a formal transfer of the primogeniture from Reuben, believed to have forfeited it by immorality (xlix. 4), upon Joseph, accordingly receiving two portions, or made the father of two tribes (ver. 22); for the words" Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine like Reuben and Simeon"

(ver. 5) signify, that the former two grand-sons of Jacob shall be regarded as founders of separate tribes exactly like all his sons; it seems, indeed, that a later time adopted the view just referred to; but the first Book of Chronicles (v. 1, 2), which makes that statement, by adding, that "the genealogies were not reckoned after the birthright of Joseph," sufficiently indicates that his primogeniture was never practically acknowledged, but that it was supposed as a historical theory, in order to account for, or to justify, by a familiar and plausible notion, the historical fact of the double tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh: and in the chapter under consideration, we find no reference whatever to such conception. It must, however, be observed, in conclusion, that this section does not introduce events later than the second part of the Judges, when Ephraim had triumphed over the competition of Manasseh, and had secured a proud position among northern tribes: it does not allude to the rupture with Judah; nor to the idolatrous worship in the empire of Israel, nor to the kings who would spring from Ephraim: and though the two former points may have been designedly suppressed in the blessing of Joseph; yet, if considered in connection with the third omission, they are of decided importance for the chronology of this chapter.

the

We have now but briefly to examine our narrative in its connection with the lives of the patriarchs.

When illness supervened to the increasing weakness of Jacob, and threatened to accelerate his dissolution, Joseph hastened to him from the royal residence, stimulated partly by filial

love, and partly by the desire of conferring with him on a subject of the very highest moment for the future of his house. He had married an Egyptian wife, and had by her, during his separation from his relatives, and in a foreign land, become the father of his two firstborn sons. Therefore, not groundlessly apprehending that his children might be excluded from the hopes and the promised inheritance of the Hebrews; he brought Ephraim and Manasseh, then about twenty years old (comp. xli. 50), before Jacob, in order to obtain his pledge of their unqualified admission as members of his family (ver. 1). But these thoughts had occupied Jacob not less seriously than Joseph. When he, therefore, was informed of his son's visit, he was determined finally to arrange the matter (ver. 2). In order to prove that he was invested with the lawful authority for unrestricted decision, he mentioned the manifestation of God which, after the period of his internal repentance and atonement, had been granted to him at Bethel, in confirmation of a Divine vision before accorded to him at the same place, when on his flight from Canaan to Mesopotamia (xxxv. 11, 12; comp. xxviii. 13-15). In virtue of the blessings which he then received, as the spiritual heir of Abraham and Isaac, he was enabled to bestow blessings on his own descendants; and in virtue of the promise which was then made to him regarding the possession of Canaan, he was entitled to divide the land among his progeny according to his own option (vers. 3, 4). He, therefore, adopted the two eldest sons of Joseph, securing to them in every respect equal rights with