I have seen stupidity in many forms while having preacher types ignore reality, but this is absurd. Jacob blessed Joseph's sons to add their names to the inheritance of Israel because they were half Egyptian. While erroneously positing YOUR version of history as fact, which a lot of people might be inclined to believe since the Old Testament was so thoroughly discarded, you might want to check out the very next chapter of Genesis. 49, it is, where Jacob gave his deathbed blessing to his SONS, the TWELVE TRIBES of Israel. Ephraim and Manasseh are NOT named nor are they TRIBES. They became part of the Tribe of Yosef.
*Objective,*
If you elect to dismiss the Gospel of John as "hearsay," then you dismiss the entire Gospel as "hearsay," and your opinions on the alleged "teachings" of the "devout Rabbi" (and nothing more) Yeshua Ben Joseph are utterly baseless, in that no other written account exists. He wrote no texts.
Oh. I guess THAT explains everything, huh?
"Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed supple, because the Mighty One of Jacob because of the Shepard, the rock of Israel, because of your father's God who helps you, because of the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb. Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince amongst his brothers.
I can not find your reasons given in the bible. Yet I can quote from the bible to support mine. So you are the one in delusion. The son's of Joseph were each given an allotment different in kind in the promised land.
When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin ... to make war against the house of Israel1 Kings 12:21
The house of Judah separated with the tribes of Benjamin and Levi and are now the modern day Jews. The house of Israel are the remaining tribes who chose to follow Ephraim and Manasseh, and were later taken into bondage and became the missing ten tribes of Israel. Three from twelve is nine in my book, so why are they called the missing ten? Why during the division did those who followed the combined tribes of Joseph become called the house of Israel?