Israel's Inheritance: Birthright of the Firstborn Son - Chafer ...

82 CTS Journal 13 (Spring 2008)
study will demonstrate, the greater portion of inheritance assisted the son with
the birthright to perform his responsibility of leadership.
Redemption of the Firstborn Son
Although the concept of the birthright in Scripture is similar in many ways to
legal practices affecting firstborn sons in the surrounding cultures, the Hebrew
Bible develops one aspect of the inheritance that is different from those of
Israel’s neighbors. It originates in the exodus event. The Hebrew text highlights
God’s rescue of the children of Israel, His firstborn son, from death and
destruction that fell upon all the other firstborn in Egypt, both people and
animals. 11
The Hebrew narrative further develops the importance of the firstborn in
three ways. First, the text notes the special status of all firstborn sons by
consecration, which sets apart the firstborn as sacred and holy. Sanctification of
firstborn animals was for the purpose of sacrifice. We will see that sanctification
of the firstborn children of Israel was for service, which is a living sacrifice.
“Consecrate to Me all the first-born, the first offspring of every womb among the
sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me” (Exodus 13:2). “The
first-born of an ox or the first-born of a sheep or the first-born of a goat, you shall
not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall
offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a soothing aroma to the
Lord” (Numbers 18:17).
Second, after God redeemed the children of Israel from death in Egypt, the
Hebrew Scriptures portray an ongoing need for redemption of the firstborn son.
The redemption in Egypt followed the placement of blood from a sacrificed
animal on the doorpost. Continuing redemption also involved animal sacrifice. 12
The text explains this need for continuing redemption.
When in the future your child asks you, “What does this mean?” you
shall answer, “By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt,
from the house of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go,
the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human
firstborn to the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord
every male that first opens the womb, but every firstborn of my sons I
redeem.” (Exodus 13:14–15)
cultures for evidence of the birthright and found that authors treated the inheritance of the
firstborn son in a preferential manner. He concludes that there is insufficient data to
determine a definitive ratio but adds that a double portion is evident in the texts he
examined. Davies concludes that we should retain the traditional understanding of a
double portion.
11 Exod. 6:6; cf. Ps. 103:4; Isa. 44:22–23; 63:9.
12 The most noted example in the Hebrew Scriptures is the substitution of a lamb for
Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac. The New Testament further develops this concept of
substitution. For example, 1 Cor. 5:7 explains that “Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificed.”