Re: Verse reading–Genesis 46-50 (day three)
“Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger.” Over Joseph’s protestations, Israel went against the custom of his people. He had not forgotten his own deceptively-obtained blessing of the firstborn. That deception had come with a high price: Life on the lam, a wife he was deceived into marrying, family turmoil, and the terror of encountering his older brother many years later. Yet God shaped Israel into the father of twelve tribes as he wrestled with God through that turmoil. As Israel crossed his hands to break with custom, he did so as one who had come to know something true about life. Israel knew that custom gives order and place to a people, but wisdom, which comes from God, sees a future that custom cannot.
