This same Jacob disposing of the future land as though he were its master, gave a portion to Joseph more than to the others. "I give thee," said he, "a portion more than to thy brethren." And blessing his two children, Ephraim and Manasseh, whom Joseph had presented to him, the elder, Manasseh, on his right, and the young Ephraim on his left, he put his arms cross-wise, and placing his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and the left on Manasseh, he blessed them thus. And when Joseph represented to him that he was preferring the younger he answered him with admirable decision, "I know it well, my son, I know it, but Ephraim shall increase in a way quite other than Manasseh." This has been in fact so true in the result that, being alone almost as abundant as the two entire lines which compose a whole kingdom, they have been usually called by the name of Ephraim alone.
This same Joseph when dying commanded his children to bear his bones with them into that land to which they did not come for two hundred years afterwards.
Moses, who wrote all these things so long before they happened, himself made for each family the partition of the land before they entered it, as though he had been master of it.
He gave them judges to divide it, he prescribed the entire political form of government which they should observe, the cities of refuge which they should build, and....
Daniel ii. "All thy sooth-sayers and wise men cannot show unto thee the secret which thou hast demanded.
"But there is a God in heaven, who can do so, and he has revealed in thy dream the things which shall be in the latter days." This dream must have caused him great uneasiness.
"And it is not by my own wisdom that I have knowledge of this secret, but by the revelation of this same God who has discovered it to me, to make it manifest in thy presence.
"Thy dream was of this kind. Thou sawest a great image, high and terrible, which stood before thee. His head was of gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
"Thus thou sawest till a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay and brake them to pieces.
"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and the wind carried them away, but this stone which smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. This is the dream, and now I will give thee the interpretation.