Right Hand References...

Over and over again in the book of Isaiah (and plenty elsewhere in Scripture, really) God speaks of upholding us with His righteous right hand. True to my skeptical nature, I kept wondering why He spoke of His right hand exclusively? Why's it always "right-hand" this and "right arm" that. Well, reading in the book of Genesis tonight, I noticed that Israel/Jacob crossed his arms when he blessed his grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh. The text specifically mentions that he put his right hand on Ephraim's head, even though he was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, even though he was the firstborn. It's like he mixed up the blessings. He goes on to specify - at Joseph's protest - that both children will be blessed, but he does then put Ephraim's name ahead of Manasseh's, which seems to have a significance I won't pretend to fully understand.

It seems like two things are accomplished here:

1. God's Word continues the precedent of giving blessing the way He sees fit - not automatically to the firstborn, as would have been expected traditionally. Furthermore, how much more profound is it that His very own Son was cursed for us and not blessed?
2. It seems to explain the whole "right hand" thing. When God upholds us with His righteous right hand, He's giving us the blessing of the firstborn every single time. Blessings beyond measure. Everything He has belongs to us. Prodigal son who's done nothing to deserve it. That kind of blessing.

The English major in me loves being able to see the Bible this way: New, fresh, consistent in ways I didn't expect, and chock full of parallelism and symbolism and plenty of characters to analyze. It's enough to make me want to write an essay no one will ever grade. Almost...