The tribe that is associated with the sign Mozanaim “weighing” or “scales,” is the tribe, Ephraim. The fact that this particular tribe is the month of Tishrei shouts to us how prophetically accurate are the signs that our Lord has given us to discover. Ephraim was the younger son of Joseph’s two sons Manasseh and Ephraim who were born to Joseph in Egypt. Their mother was Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. Asenath’s name means gift of the sun god Ra. The city of On is another name for Heliopolis where a religious center is found for the worship of the sun God Ra. No doubt Ephraim would have been taught on his mother’s knee, growing up, the rituals for worship of the many gods of Egypt.
Although Joseph was surrounded by pagan worship, it is apparent that Joseph remained faithful to the God of his father by the names he chose for his sons. He chose, “God has made me forget all of my hardships,” when he named his firstborn, Manasseh. The name for his second son, Ephraim, means “God increases or doubly fruitful,” for Joseph declared that God had made him fruitful by giving him two sons in the land of his affliction. Now before Jacob died in Egypt, he blessed his twelve sons with a prophetic blessing that would manifest in the last days. In the case of Joseph, Jacob blessed Joseph and his two sons, whom Jacob declared to be his. Please take note, that these two sons, who were born and reared by an Egyptian gentile woman who worshipped false gods, became included in the tribes of Israel. Here is the blessing of Jacob to Manasseh and Ephraim.
Genesis 48:15-16 “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm —may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.”
As we take a deeper look at what Jacob is proclaiming, we see that he is decreeing that his grandsons, although they were born from a gentile/pagan woman, they were now his and therefore, all the blessings promised to Israel would be passed on to them as well as his own sons. They would now in the future be called an Israelite, for they were grafted in. This is a picture of the gentile believer being graphed into Israel.
Joseph saw that Jacob’s right hand was upon Ephraim, the younger son, he thought his father had made a mistake. So, he took hold of his father’s right hand and tried putting it upon Manasseh’s head. Jacob revealed to Joseph that the blessings of the right hand were not accidental but intentional. He said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations’ (19th verse).
Ephraim did indeed become a multitude of nations. They led the 10 northern tribes in the revolt against the south. Eventually, all 10 northern tribes became known as Ephraim. They were overtaken by Assyrian forces and dispersed among the gentile nations which fulfilled the prophecy of Jacob. Ephraim’s prominence is seen in its leadership. Joshua, King Jeroboam, King Ahab, and the prophet Samuel were all from the tribe of an Ephraim. Within its borders were the religious centers of Shiloh and Bethel and Shechem.
Ephraim is not listed among the 12 tribes of Revelation that will total 144,000 evangelists. However, Joseph is, perhaps they are numbered there. Or perhaps Ephraim is missing because the tribe is a picture of the Bride of Messiah whose bloodline is Jewish and gentile just as Ephraim’s bloodline was. It is missing because at this timeline in Revelation the Bride has been caught away to meet Jesus in the clouds. The tribe is mentioned again in Ezekiel 48 where the land will be divided among 12 tribes during the Millennium. Ephraim is granted land alongside Manasseh in the New City.
Following is the Blessing of Joseph from Moses. As you can see, Moses confirms the fruitfulness of Joseph and the increase of Ephraim.
Deuteronomy 13-17 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, 14 And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, 15 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, 16 And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. 17 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
Some Rabbinic commentators have not liked the idea that two Israelite tribes, Manasseh’s and Ephraim’s, were descendants of an Egyptian mother. They have suggested that Asenath converted to Judaism before she married Joseph, or that she was the illegitimate child of Dinah’s, birthed after she was raped by Shechem. Sweet Manna Ministries believes that if this was the case, it would be clearly written in the text. Our study is taken directly from all accounts of Ephraim in the Bible. The Bible is always our standard for truth.
The symbol for the tribe of Ephraim is a cluster of grapes. Grapes are an appropriate symbol for the end-time harvest of Jew and Gentile believers whose bloodlines will be united in the wine of the Holy Spirit.
The Hebrew letter for the tribe of Ephraim is the 12th letter of the Aleph-Bet. It is the ל Lamed. The Lamed is a picture of a shepherd’s staff or cattle goad. It has the meaning of control, authority, and the tongue. It has a value of 30. The prophetic pictograph of the Lamed tells us that at the end of the age, and at the right moment, a Divine Shepherd with staff and tongue of authority will complete the ministry that He began at the age of 30, by putting everything in Divine order.
According to Bullinger, the number 30 which is 3X10 is said to denote a higher degree of perfection of Divine order, as marking the right moment.
Information in this study is from my commentary and knowledge gathered from various sources; The Witness of the Stars and Number in Scripture; Bullinger, God’s Voice in the Stars; Fleming, and The Gospel in the Stars; Seiss being the main resources.