In Genesis 48, Joseph brings his two sons—Manasseh and Ephraim—to receive a blessing from his father Jacob, now renamed Israel. As the firstborn, Manasseh is positioned at Israel’s right hand, the seat of favour. Ephraim, the younger, is placed at the left.
But Israel does something strange: he crosses his hands.
Joseph tries to correct him. Surely the blessing belongs to the elder. But Israel insists:
“I know, my son, I know… but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he.” (Genesis 48:19)
This moment echoes a much older pattern. The firstborn is once again passed over, and the younger is preferred. But this is no favouritism. It is a spiritual law revealed in story:
The past is not the source. Fruitfulness does not come after forgetting. Fruitfulness comes first.
Manasseh and Ephraim: Past and Fulfilment
Joseph names his sons with care:
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Manasseh means “causing to forget”. He represents the release of the past, the former self, the sorrow, the effort, the memory.
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Ephraim means “fruitfulness”. He is the manifestation—the visible proof of assumption fulfilled.
To Joseph, the logical order is clear: one must forget (Manasseh) before one can be fruitful (Ephraim). But Israel crosses his hands. He declares that the fruit—the end result—must come first.
This is not a mistake. It is a divine reversal.
The Spiritual Priority of the End
Neville Goddard taught that we must assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled and live from the end. That is, fruitfulness must come before forgetting. You don’t wait until you're healed to feel whole—you feel whole, and then the old self falls away.
Ephraim is placed at the right hand because the new state must be assumed first. Forgetting comes naturally afterward, not through struggle, but through disuse.
Israel’s crossed hands are not confusion. They are instruction.
The Pattern Repeats: Jacob and Esau
This reversal first appeared in the womb of Rebekah. Esau and Jacob wrestled even before birth. Esau came out first—but Jacob grasped his heel, a subtle prophecy.
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Esau represents the outer man—the senses, the past, the seen.
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Jacob represents the inner man—imagination, spiritual initiative, unseen reality.
Though born second, Jacob receives the birthright and the blessing. Not by merit, but by divine design:
The inner must lead. The outer must serve.
Just as Ephraim overtakes Manasseh, Jacob overtakes Esau. And the law of reversal is revealed once again.
Joseph and Benjamin: The Completion of the Inner Man
To see the fullness of this principle, we must return to Joseph—the imaginer, the visionary, the dreamer who transforms slavery into dominion.
When Joseph is restored to power, he longs not for status or revenge, but for Benjamin—his youngest brother, the child of his mother Rachel, the symbol of the inner creative faculty.
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Joseph symbolises imagination—the divine capacity to assume and embody unseen truth.
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Benjamin, whose name means “son of the right hand”, represents spiritual joy, the final seal of fulfilment.
When Benjamin appears before Joseph, he can no longer contain himself. He weeps. Why? Because imagination (Joseph) is never truly satisfied by outer change alone. It longs for joy, for unity, for the son of the right hand—the inner child reborn.
In other words:
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Ephraim is the manifestation.
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Benjamin is the joy of completion.
Just as fruitfulness (Ephraim) must come before forgetting, so too joy (Benjamin) must be restored before the imaginer rests.
The Crossed Hands of Israel: A Spiritual Blueprint
By crossing his hands, Israel imparts more than a blessing. He reveals a spiritual pattern:
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Do not wait to forget the past.
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Assume fruitfulness now.
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Let joy return.
This is the inner path of manifestation:
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First, imagine (Joseph).
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Then, live from fulfilment (Ephraim).
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And finally, be reunited with the inner child of joy (Benjamin).
The reversal—Ephraim before Manasseh, Jacob before Esau, Benjamin beloved above the others—is not an exception to the rule.
It is the rule.
The Last Shall Be First
When Jesus says, “The last shall be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16), he is not merely speaking of social justice or moral humility. He is revealing the same mystery that ran through the lives of the patriarchs:
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The inner over the outer.
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The end over the process.
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Joy over duty.
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Imagination over memory.
The order of blessing may confuse the senses—but it clarifies the spirit. Israel’s crossed hands show us that in the realm of manifestation, what appears last is actually first.
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