Joshua 16: Land of Royal Ephraim, Gracious Reversal in Christ

Rev. Rolf Preus, pastor of Trinity-Sidney and St. John-Fairview, Montana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Joshua 16. This short little chapter about Ephraim says so much about God. Joshua 16 says that after the tribe of Judah, the lot fell to the people of Joseph. By God’s providence, a seemingly random process unfolds according to His will, abundantly blessing Joseph as promised by his father Jacob. Also according to Jacob however is the reversal of Ephraim and Manasseh. God surprises us time and again by favoring the second-born and the second-class, revealing His deep mercy and our great need for humility. Like his grandfather Jacob, Ephraim is mercifully blessed by God for the sake of Christ. Joshua of Ephraim prefigures the salvation of our Lord Jesus, and the royal house of Ephraim in the North points to Christ’s universal reign.