Ephraim was the second son of Joseph and grandson of Jacob (Israel). Named by his father in the land of Egypt to signify that God had made him fruitful in the land of his affliction, Ephraim was later formally adopted by Jacob alongside his elder brother Manasseh, with Jacob deliberately blessing Ephraim above Manasseh and securing the tribe's distinctive standing among the tribes of Israel.
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Ephraim was born in the land of Egypt, the second son of Joseph and Asenath. After years of suffering, Joseph had risen to high position in Pharaoh's court and married Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, who bore him first Manasseh and then Ephraim. When naming his younger son, Joseph chose the name Ephraim, meaning "fruitful," declaring that God had made him fruitful in the land of his affliction. The name became both Joseph's testimony of divine grace and Ephraim's spiritual identity from birth — a child marked by God's blessing in the midst of hardship. In Jacob's old age, when he came down to Egypt, he performed a pivotal act of blessing for Joseph's two sons. Jacob formally adopted Manasseh and Ephraim as his own, granting each of them a place among the tribes of Israel just as Reuben and Simeon were his. This act of adoption as firstborn elevated Ephraim far above the status of an ordinary grandchild within the family structure. On the day of blessing, Jacob deliberately crossed his hands, placing his right hand on the younger Ephraim's head and setting him above his elder brother Manasseh. Jacob then established a blessing formula that Israel would use for generations: "God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh." The tribe of Ephraim later played a significant role in Israel's history. It received territory in the heart of the land west of the Jordan and became, for a time, representative of the northern tribes. From this tribe came Gideon the judge. In later periods, the name Ephraim was often used as a designation for the northern kingdom of Israel, whose history was marked by both the fruitfulness promised in Jacob's blessing and the consequences of unfaithfulness. Yet through all of it, Ephraim's origin story continued to point to a central theme: God making his people fruitful even in the land of affliction.