The Bible is full of conquest stories; stories of triumph and defeat. However, an important land—the land of Joseph’s son’s—does not have an official conquest story. Even though there isn’t an official biblical account of the story, there is plenty of evidence to tell it. Population density was discovered based on archaeological evidence. At the beginning of the Judges period, population was compact; not many people were settling in Ephraim. But, at the beginning of the monarchy, population expanded west, south, and north, showing that a new group was moving in to the land. There also are some bible verses that hint to a conquest (without specifically saying there was one). Joshua is full of events taking place in the lands of Ephraim and Manasseh. Interestingly, some of the major people of the land were buried in Ephraim. Joshua, the general, died at Timnah Serah; Joseph, the father of the land, was carried from Egypt to Ephraim to be buried, and Elazar, the high priest, was buried in Gibeah. This shows the importance of the land to the people—all of their leaders found final rest in Samaria. This shows the priority that was given to these lands in the Bible, even without a conquest account.
So why would the Biblical writers leave this out when they were recording scripture? It could have been that Shechem gave up when they saw Joshua’s troops coming, or that Joshua’s treaty with Gibeon carried over to Shechem since they were both Hivite territories. Most likely though, Joshua considered Ephraim already as his people’s land because of their ancestors. Maybe the biblical writers thought, “we have always been here. Why write an extra chapter about it?” Whatever the reasons, the land was clearly important to the story of Israel. God showed favor to the land of Joseph, “Blessed by the LORD be his land, with the choicest gifts of heaven above…they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh” (Deuteronomy 33.13, 17). So what made God move his blessing to Judah? Shiloh and Jerusalem have many similarities, which is probably why it was chosen for the tabernacle (or rather, why Jerusalem was chosen for the permanent temple). But the people of Joseph rebelled against God after He had “led them in safety, so that they were no afraid” and “he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won” (Psalm 78.52-54). So God was angry and “forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind, and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe” (59-61). He chose Judah because Ephraim and Manasseh rejected him.
As humans do, Judah also tested and rebelled against God. But God kept his promise to the people of Judah and sent the ultimate high priest to save his people. Hebrews 9 goes into detail on the importance of Jesus in comparison to the tabernacle.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
Hebrews9.11-13
Once a high priest needed to intercede for our sins, but now Jesus is in the eternal sacrifice for our sins: “for Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (vs. 24).
Our day started in the murky and confusing fog of creation. As we journeyed through the land of Joseph, drank from Jacob’s well, where Jesus announces that he is the Messiah (John 4.26), and ended in the place of the tabernacle, I could clearly see again. We were all surrounded by fog, unknowing of the cliffs and beautiful creation that lie on the other side; but now, because Jesus paid the ultimate price on our behalf, the fog has been lifted so we can clearly see.
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