In the parable of the two sticks Ezekiel commanded to write upon them their respective meanings: “For Judah and for all the house of Israel his companions”, and, “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions”.
Israel was divided into two families when Jeroboam with ten tribes revolted from Rehoboam, who thereafter retained only Judah and Benjamin, strengthened by the Levites and others of the faithful who rejected the idolatry of Jeroboam:
“And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts. For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest’s office unto the Lord: and he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers” (2 Chron. 11. 13-16).
Thus the stick of Judah and his companions was composed of Judah, Benjamin, the Levites and such others as remained faithful to Yahweh.
The other stick presents some difficulties. Ezekiel 37. 16 refers to it as “The stick of Ephraim, for Joseph”; but in verse 19 of the same chapter it is described as, “The stick of Joseph in the hand of Ephraim”. It is firstly Ephraim’s stick, and is for, or on behalf of Joseph; and becomes Joseph’s stick in Ephraim’s hand!
Certainly there is no contradiction here, but, rather, a dual problem. How could Ephraim be “for Joseph”? And how could the same stick representing Ephraim, be “Joseph in the hand of Ephraim”?
To the question, “How could Ephraim be ‘for Joseph’?”, we might add another: “Why are the ten tribes represented by Ephraim in the parable of this second stick?” This last question is answered in Jacob’s blessing of the two sons of Joseph:
“And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance” (Gen. 48. 5, 6).
“Ephraim and Manasseh are mine”: they have ,replaced Jacob’s own truant sons, Reuben and Simeon, as he said, “As Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine”. Jacob’s two firstborn sons forfeited their right to the blessing because of the instability and cruelty which brought dishonour to themselves and their father.
Joseph did not then have a tribe of his own as such: his tribe consisted of the two half-tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. In the adoption by Jacob of the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim, Joseph’s younger, was to replace Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn (Gen. 48. 11, 14, 17-20, 22).
Ephraim is not only represented as Jacob’s firstborn, but as Yahweh’s also, which he is called in Jer. 31. 9. . for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn”. He was therefore representative and head of the ten tribes, while as head of the two half tribes of Joseph, he stood for Joseph. The stick of Ephraim could thus represent the ten tribes and also be “for Joseph”.
In our consideration of this first question we have, in effect, answered the second: The stick of Ephraim was also the stick of Joseph inasmuch as the half-tribe of Ephraim was head of the tribe of Joseph; and it was in the hand of Ephraim in as much as the dominion of the ten tribes was Ephraim’s.
But the dominion is to be taken from Ephraim and returned to the Royal Lion of Judah when the two groups of divided tribes will become one nation in the hand of Yahweh (as symbolized by the union of two sticks in the hand of the prophet) ; and Joseph will receive his promised “double portion”, with a tribe of his own. This is shown in the list of tribes recorded in Rev. 7. 4-8, where Manasseh is counted a full tribe, Simeon and Reuben are included, Joseph is included, Dan and Ephraim are excluded. Presumably, Ephraim becomes Joseph (Ezekiel’s stick of Joseph and stick of Ephraim being one and the same stick). What has happened to Dan? And why are the half-tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim here counted as two distinct tribes? We suggest that this latter could be Joseph’s double portion; but we are still unable to account for Dan, and must leave the problem for some more knowledgeable expositor.
Returning to our more immediate problem in Ezekiel 37, we note (v. 17) that Ezekiel is instructed to join the two sticks of Ephraim and Judah.
Here, God takes pre-eminence; for he will be the doer of it: “Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, ‘Behold I will take the stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim (i.e. Ephraim’s dominion) and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand’.”
We have already seen how that the stick of Joseph in Ephraim’s hand is to be given back to Judah. However, a point in this verse requires further elucidation: When Joseph’s stick is put with the stick of Judah. Judah’s stick is already in God’s hand.
From Gen. 49. 8-10, we learn that from the tribe of Judah would come the Lawgiver, the Scepter, and the gathering of the people unto Shiloh. David, who was of that tribe, ruled over Judah for three-and-a-half years before he became king over all Israel. He was the type of his own Greater Son who will, in the appointed time, save the tents of Judah first, before gathering to himself the dispersed of Israel from all ends of the earth (Zech. 12. 6-8; please read this). The new covenant having been made with the house of Judah, the Kingdom will have been established in its relatively small beginning, as when David reigned over Hebron and Judah only. The Lord Jesus as King of Judah will then bring the ten tribes and the nations generally to acknowledge him as King of Israel and Lord of the whole earth. (See Ezek. 37. 21, 22, 24, 28). When that grand work has been accomplished, all peoples shall have been included in one nation—Israel shall have filled the face of the earth with fruit.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One