There is no doubt that the Bible gives greater importance to the firstborn child in families. There is great responsibility for them, but in the Old Testament, they received a greater portion of the family inheritance. When God wanted to empress to the nation of Israel how important it was to Him, He did so by affirming that He was their Father, and they were His firstborn (Jer. 31:9).
I am not a firstborn. Those who share my “plight” may have noticed just how many more photos and baby items are in the house of the firstborn. If the family is rather large, there are so few of these for the other children that they may sometimes think they might have been adopted.
One truth we may have overlooked is that while God honors firstborns, He has never forgotten “second-borns,” or “third-borns,” etc. To see this, look at the following examples throughout the Bible.
The firstborn, who truly was the firstborn, was Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve. How did that turn out? Cain’s sacrifice was rejected by God, and it was Abel, whose sacrifice offered by faith, who was honored.
Esau was the firstborn, but it was Jacob his younger brother through whom Jesus came. Just as God chose to not send the Messiah through Cain, he chose to send Him through the younger brother.
Do you remember when Jacob’s children were being blessed by this patriarch? Joseph presented his two sons before Jacob in such a way as to insure that Manasseh, the firstborn, might receive the greater blessing. However, Jacob reversed his hands and blessed the younger son. The tribe of Ephraim became so much greater that it was his name that God used to refer to the northern kingdom of Israel.
The lineage of the kings belonging to the oldest son was not followed when David died. Solomon was one of the youngest sons of David, but he was the one who became king.
The New Testament has a well-known story of a man who had two sons—we refer to it as the parable of the prodigal son. One son, the firstborn, faithfully followed his father, stayed with him and was to be the heir of family treasures. The younger brother had many spiritual problems. He was covetous, a lover of money, a son who wasted his inheritance, and he was immoral. However, when you get to the end of the story, he is one we all understand and honor.
Thank God for firstborns! But thank God because He equally honors the rest of us! There is a sense in which God sees and honors all of us as He honors any of us!
-Dan Jenkins
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