Several weeks ago Mikelle noticed a line in the hymn, “The Spirit of God,” which says, “And Ephraim be crowned with his blessing in Zion.”  She asked her dad, “What does that mean?”  He replied, “Ask Grandpa.”

This is an astute question.  My reply was that I'd have to think about it.  Having done so, I'll give my long answer, and conclude with a short answer.

Ephraim possessed the birthright.  Anciently, under the patriarchal order, the birthright was a valuable and widely-recognized possession.  The birthright belonged to the firstborn son.  The firstborn was considered as belonging to the Lord, and was expected to be dedicated to Him.  He became his father's heir.  At his father's death he received a double portion of his father's possessions.  He also received the authority to preside in the family.  With that leadership role he inherited the responsibility to care for his mother and sisters.  (Bible Dictionary).

Abraham was a prophet and a very wealthy man.  His firstborn son was Ishmael, born to Abraham's second wife.  But 14 years later Abraham's first wife, Sarah, bore a son, Isaac.  Though Ishmael was Abraham's firstborn, the birthright was to go to the firstborn son of the first wife.  In announcing Isaac's upcoming birth, the Lord plainly stated to Abraham that “I will establish my covenant with (Isaac) for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.”  (Gen. 17:19).

Abraham eventually had at least eight sons, but at his death, he “gave all that he had unto Isaac.”  (Gen. 25:5).  Because of the covenant that the Lord had made with Abraham before Isaac's birth, Isaac also inherited the prophetic mantle.

Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob.  They were twins.  Esau was first out of his mother's womb, and thus had the birthright.  Later, however, in a moment when he thought he was starving, he sold his birthright to his brother for a mess of pottage.  Esau was ravenously hungry, came in from the field feeling faint with hunger, saw Jacob's lentil stew, and sold his birthright for that mess of pottage.

There is a sidelight story here which I have to tell.  I have a rather perverse hobby.  I collect people's word stumbles.  We all make them.  Some of them are really funny.  My very favorite was uttered by the stake young women's president as she exhorted the girls to not sell their birthrights for “a pot of forage.”

Esau despised his birthright (Gen. 25:34), and Jacob, whose name was changed by the Lord to Israel, got it.

Jacob, or Israel, had four wives.  The first wife bore Reuben, who had the birthright.  Jacob's first, third, and fourth wives bore 10 sons while wife number two, Rachel, went childless.  This was a huge affliction to her.

Isaac's wife, Rebecca, suffered under that same affliction for 20 years.  Abraham's wife, Sarah, was likewise barren until the age of 90.  All three of these noble, female ancestors of ours suffered terribly because of their being barren.  They couldn't foresee God's plan for them.  They also didn't have the comforting words of Lehi in the Book of Mormon where we are assured that the Lord “shall consecrate thine affliction for thy gain.”  (2 Nephi 2:2).

I maintain that if handled properly, our greatest afflictions are intended to become our greatest blessings.  This was certainly the case with Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel.  Lehi said, “he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain,” to which I like to add, “if we resist the urge to complain.”

In hindsight we can plainly see God's plan where Rachel was concerned, but all she could see was the affliction.  She eventually conceived, and bore Joseph.  Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, committed a very grievous sin, and lost his birthright.  Though Joseph had 10 older brothers, the birthright passed to him inasmuch as he was the firstborn son of the second wife.  (1 Chr. 5:1-2).

Joseph's firstborn was Manasseh.  Ephraim was the younger brother.  Yet when Joseph took the two boys to see their dying grandfather, Jacob (Israel) announced that the two boys were his, blessed them, and set Ephraim before Manasseh.  Thus the birthright became Ephraim's, though he was the youngest of the 14 men and boys, and was the grandson, rather than the son, of Jacob.

We know nothing about Ephraim himself, but by divine decree, his descendants became the leading tribe in Israel.  The tribe of Ephraim became the leading tribe in the Northern Kingdom, and that kingdom was most often referred to as “Ephraim.”

The Joseph Smith translation of Genesis 48:5-11 best describes Ephraim's role in the latter days.  Jacob said to Joseph:

“Wherefore thy brethren shall bow down unto thee, from generation to generation, unto the fruit of thy loins forever;

“For thou shalt be a light unto my people, to deliver them in the days of their captivity, from bondage, and to bring salvation unto them, when they are altogether bowed down under sin.”  (See also JST Genesis 50:24-38 for other interesting insights).

That latter-day prophecy is about Ephraim.  Ephraim is the tribe chosen by the Lord through which the restoration of the gospel would take place.  Joseph Smith was said to be “a pure Ephraimite.”  (Brigham Young, as quoted in Journal of Discourses 2:268-69).  The vast majority of the early converts to the Church were of the tribe of Ephraim, and that continues to be the case today.

It is Ephraim, therefore, that is establishing the Church, and that is building and staffing hundreds of temples.  It is to Ephraim that the other tribes will have to come to receive their blessings.

That is the long answer to Mikelle's question when she asks what the hymn means when it says, “And Ephraim be crowned with his blessing in Zion.”

The short answer is that the line has little to do with Ephraim himself, but refers instead to us, his latter-day posterity.  We are being crowned with the responsibility of saving the latter-day family of Israel, just as Joseph saved Israel's family in his day.  The descendants of Ephraim hold the presiding keys.  We're providing the saving ordinances to the House of Israel.

We have been crowned with the blessing of being first to receive the saving ordinances so that we can be in a position to provide them to the other tribes who will shortly be coming “from the north country,” and “from the coasts of the earth.”  (Jeremiah 31:8-9).

We're being crowned with temples, not a few; and with prophetic direction, and with peace, and with protections, the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and the promise of a glorious resurrection and eternal life.  We're crowned with knowledge about what comes after death.  We're crowned with a promise that death will be “sweet unto them”  (D&C 42:46).  We're crowned with eternal families and relationships.  We will literally be crowned kings and queens to rule over what will eventually be our vast posterity.

It's a privilege to be of the tribe of Ephraim.  That privilege is accompanied with great responsibility, which if properly carried out, will place us in position to inherit all that the Father has.  (D&C 84:38).