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And I read verse 14 now, "...and Israel

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stretched out his right hand, and laid it

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upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and

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his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his

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hands wittingly, for Manasseh was his firstborn."

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Now, Ephraim, you remember, becomes the leader above

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Manasseh.

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Joshua came out of the tribe of Ephraim,

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by the way.

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And you will find that out of that

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tribe there were many great men.

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We'll have occasion to call attention to that.

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It became the tribe with priority, no question

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about it.

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Now, what happened was, when these two boys

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were moved up to old Jacob, although he

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couldn't see too well, he could see what

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his son Joseph was doing.

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He was pushing the older one, where he

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could put his right hand on him, and

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the next one, where he put his left

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hand on him.

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And what did old Jacob do here?

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Well, he just switched hands.

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He just crossed his hands, and that meant

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the right hand went on the younger.

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Now, why do you suppose he did that?

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Well, I have several suggestions to make to

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you of why he would do that sort

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of thing.

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Well, I think the reason is, he was

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the younger, was he not?

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And the blessing was his.

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And so he passes the blessing on to

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the younger here.

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You find this running all the way through

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in the choice, for instance, of a king

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for Israel.

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God never did choose old Saul.

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That was the people's choice.

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They voted for him, and people get what

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they vote for, of course, and they got

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Saul.

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But God's choice was David, and David was

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not the oldest son of Jesse at all.

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He was the youngest one.

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Now, why does God do that?

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God is illustrating for you and me a

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great spiritual truth.

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God does not accept primogeniture, that is, natural

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birth.

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Never will he accept it.

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There must be the new birth.

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Therefore, God does not pay attention to what

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we would pay attention to.

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We'd say, well, he's the oldest boy.

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He has the responsibility.

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We can depend on the oldest boy.

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Well, the oldest boy is not the one

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God always chooses.

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That is, he doesn't choose the natural man.

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And he chooses no man because of his

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natural ability.

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Oh, that's a truth that we need to

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learn today.

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We feel like, now, don't misunderstand.

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God can use talent, but you better be

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dead sure it's dedicated to him.

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Because if it took talent to bring revival,

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we'd have had revival in Southern California years

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ago.

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We have got Christian talent that's running out

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our ears out here, but we don't have

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revival.

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And you know why?

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It's not dedicated to him.

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I tell you, my friend, it has to

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be yielded to him, to be used of

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him.