An 'Implied and Intended Assertion' of the Birthright Genealogy

Between the direction given Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37 of preparing a stick or record of Judah and perhaps as late as the time of Ezra the prophet, the Old Testament scripts were compiled, edited and set forth. Prior to the Babylonian captivity it is of scholarly consensus that no such formal accumulation was held or at least had been disrupted by the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and therefore needed to be reformed into an 'authorized' or 'authentic' set of records. It is quite obvious that the books of the chronicles have been so developed from vaious earlier records, including those of Samuel and Kings. It is of some importance to understand that the chronicle record dates post Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and assuredly well after the scattering of the 'lost' tribes of Israel. Thus it is not very surprising that those of Judah would be very prone to conceive that 'Judah had so prevailed above his brethern', Judah being the only complete tribe of the twelve tribes of Jacob remaining.

It is from this post Babylon perspective that the first two verses of 1 Chronicles chapter 5 may be considered and so shown to hold an 'Implied Assertion' betwix the 'birthright which it truthfully attributes to Joseph and his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, Eprhaim being particularly dominante and the eventual birthright tribe. When the logic read within the parentheses, is followed, it would seem that the versification is somewhat artificial as will as the supplied punctutation. The logic seem to be that the genealogy did not follow the birthright 'for' or because only the tribe of Judah had prevailed. And therein is the implied assertion that if Judah had not so 'prevailed' or been the only remaining complete tribe, then the true order of the genealogy of the 'birthright' ought to have followed Joseph, that is to say Israel of Ephraim.

This brings us to the need to so stipulate just 'whose' or 'what' genealogy is so being spoken of. Now as to the birthright, the important genealogy is that of the 'promised seed' or that genealogy of the promised Messiah. This genealogy of that 'seed' had been tracked ever since the time of Adam and was according to the blessings of the 'Birthright'. Here now arises some extended implications beyond the mere obvious one of 'whose' genealogy is here being spoken of. And rather than to unfold the whole of it here, as space does not allow, one ought to follow the link to Messiah ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph. Simply stated, Joseph by way of Ephraim held a claim in that genealogy and that claim included the legal and rightful heirship of Obed, Jesse, David and soforth, to the right to be the ancestor to the promised Messiah. Obed was the seed of Mahlon and Elimelech, Ephraimites through the surrogate parentage of Boaz and Ruth according to the Law of Moses found in Deuteronomy 25:5-10, see also Ruth 4:5 & 10, etc. Now in that respect, Israel or the House of Ephraim and his companions held a 'greater right' in David though David after being 'condemned of the Lord' as to his sin against Uriah, David had so 'chosen Judah over Israel'. He had selected his bloodline ancestry over his 'birthright heirship ancestry' from the birthright of the covenant which he held from Joseph, he also so being an 'Ephraimite' as so was his father Jesse so also distinguished according to the words of scripture.

Now here is the extented 'rub' of the matter. The small book of 'Ruth' was once a part of the record of the Judges as prepared by Samuel the prophet. In that day when all of Israel polictially abandoned the Lord's system of Judges, and the people looking to Jehovah as their ultimate king, they then sought after an earthly king as the surrounding nations had; the prophet Samuel here so placed in position as a part of the record of Judges and Jehovah being King the detailed record of the ancestry of the Messiah to come, who would later again be the King of Israel. Even the name of the father of that ancestral family was 'Elimelech', meaning 'God is King'. Later those few 'chapters' were separated from the record of Judges and placed into the 'Book of Ruth' and added commentary of Jewish clarification was added, likely during the post Babylon destruction of Jerusalem period. And significantly there in the ending verses of chapter four of the Book of Ruth, the genealogy of Judah is inserted and emphasized, 'For Judah had prevailed above his brethern' as the chronicle record so stipulated.