The twelve tribes of Israel

The Tribe of Ephraim

Son of Jacob by Rachel (through Joseph) · Name means Fruitful (Joseph said, God hath caused me to be fruitful) · Settled in the central hill country, the heartland of the later northern kingdom

Ephraim was the younger son of Joseph, yet Jacob crossed his hands to give him the greater blessing over his older brother Manasseh. His tribe took the fertile central hill country and became the leading tribe of the north, so powerful that the prophets often call the whole northern kingdom by the single name Ephraim. Joshua, who led Israel into the Promised Land, was an Ephraimite.

And his father refused, and said, 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 a multitude of nations.Genesis 48:19 (KJV)

Ephraim the younger, blessed above the elder

Ephraim was the second son born to Joseph in Egypt, by his wife Asenath. Joseph named him Ephraim, saying, God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. When Jacob was old and near death, Joseph brought his two boys to be blessed, setting Manasseh, the elder, at Jacob's right hand, and Ephraim, the younger, at his left.

But Jacob crossed his arms, laying his right hand on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and his left on Manasseh. When Joseph tried to correct him, Jacob refused, saying, 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. So, as had happened with Isaac over Esau, and with Jacob himself, the younger was set above the elder, and Ephraim received the greater blessing. It is a recurring theme in Genesis: God's choosing does not follow the world's order of rank.

The tribe and its rise to leadership

Ephraim received a rich inheritance in the central highlands of Canaan, the very heartland of the country, and its power grew until it became the strongest of the northern tribes. Shiloh, where the tabernacle of the LORD stood for generations and the ark rested, lay within Ephraim. So did the tomb of Joseph, whose bones were carried up from Egypt and buried in the land at last.

The tribe's greatest son was Joshua, the son of Nun, an Ephraimite, who succeeded Moses and led Israel across the Jordan into the Promised Land. It was Joshua who divided the inheritance among the tribes and who charged Israel at the end of his life, As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. So proud and prominent was Ephraim that it more than once quarreled with other tribes over its honor, complaining to Gideon and to Jephthah that it had not been given the glory it thought its due.

When the kingdom divided after Solomon, it was Jeroboam, an Ephraimite, who led the ten northern tribes away from the house of David, and Ephraim became the chief tribe of the northern kingdom. Its central position, its rich land, and its memory of Joshua all gave it a natural leadership, but that leadership was bent toward rebellion and false worship, and the pride that once quarreled over honor became a pride that broke away from the temple and the anointed king.

Ephraim as the name of the northern kingdom

So dominant was Ephraim in the north that the prophets often use the name Ephraim to mean the entire northern kingdom of Israel. In Hosea especially, Ephraim stands for the whole wayward nation, beloved and wandering. God's tender lament through Hosea, Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee, and How shall I give thee up, Ephraim, is spoken over the tribe as a picture of all Israel.

That prominence carried a warning, for Ephraim also led the north into idolatry, setting up golden calves and forsaking the temple in Jerusalem. The tribe that received the greater blessing squandered much of it, and Ephraim was carried away with the rest of the north when Assyria conquered. Greatness given is not greatness kept; it must be held in faithfulness.

Ephraim in God's plan

Ephraim shows two truths at once. First, that God delights to reverse the world's rankings, blessing the younger over the elder, the small over the great, so that no one may boast in birth or position but only in the mercy that chooses freely. Second, that blessing received must be lived in faithfulness, or it turns to grief, as it did for the tribe the prophets wept over.

Yet even over unfaithful Ephraim, God's last word is not rejection but longing love. Through Hosea he cries, How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? mine heart is turned within me. That yearning love, which will not finally let his wandering people go, is the very love that came to us in Jesus Christ, who sought out the lost sheep of the house of Israel and gathers still all who will return to him.

A note on counting the twelve: Jacob had twelve sons, but the tribes are reckoned in more than one way in Scripture. The tribe of Levi was set apart for the priesthood and received no territory of its own, and Joseph, given the double portion of the firstborn, was counted as two tribes through his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. So when the land was divided the tribes still numbered twelve, with Levi outside the count. Different lists in the Bible reflect this: the blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy leaves out Simeon, and the sealed tribes in Revelation 7 omit Dan and Ephraim while naming Levi, Joseph, and Manasseh. The number twelve is preserved as a sign of the whole people of God.

Related: The Tribe of Manasseh · The Tribe of Joseph · Joshua in the Bible · All twelve tribes