Rachel’s sons were special to Jacob, but all of God’s children are “His own special people” (1 Pet 2:9).
The next three tribes for Moses’ blessing are actually one son, Benjamin, and two grandsons. Ephraim and Manasseh are treated together under the name of their father, Joseph. They were adopted by Jacob so he could give his favorite son a double blessing. Joseph and Benjamin were the only son’s of Rachel. “Of Benjamin he said: ‘The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him, who shelters him all the day long; and he shall dwell between His shoulders’” (Deut 33:12). Jacob’s beloved Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. The words safety and shelters and shoulders may allude to the fact that Jerusalem, the place of God’s name and the location of the temple, were in the territory given to Benjamin. Some see the Mount of Olives on the east and Mount Zion on the west as the shoulders of a man, with the “head” as Mount Moriah in between, where the temple sat. Whatever the case, believers find themselves in this enviable position, like the names on the stones of the ephod, safe and secure on Christ our Great High Priest’s shoulders and upon His breast. Then Moses addresses Joseph, Jacob’s beloved son, with the most lengthy blessing. The key word here is precious. “Blessed of the Lord…with the precious things of heaven,…with the precious fruits of the sun, with the precious produce of the months,…with the precious things of the everlasting hills, with the precious things of the earth” (vv 13-16). We, on the other hand, have something even more precious: “the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold…redeemed…with the precious blood of Christ…Coming to Him as to a living stone,…chosen by God and precious,…Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious” (1 Pet 1:7, 18-19; 2:4, 7).