5/30/2023 0 Comments Birthright of kokonoAnd your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. Is as the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed!Īnd may your mother’s sons bow down to you.Īnd blessed be everyone who blesses you!”Įmphasis added by me. Or is it both or neither one? Well let's see: This is also the first time the Covenant has had two legitimate sons to pass to, but instead of passing to Esau or to both Esau and Jacob, it goes solely to Jacob.ĭid Abraham's Covenant follow the birthright or the blessing? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Esau sells his birthright, and is later cheated out of his blessing and refers to them both as separate things. This is where we first see the birthright and blessing clearly distinguished. Jacob, in fact, does get both the birthright and the blessing. However, God told Rebekah that the younger would serve the older, implying that the younger would receive the birthright and/or blessing. The pattern continues with Isaac's sons, Esau and Jacob, with Esau as the firstborn. Gen 25:11Īfter the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. Whether this was a separate blessing unique from God or this was God honoring the blessing Abraham passed to him, we cannot know for sure. God also then gives Isaac a blessing when Abraham dies. God pledged to establish this same covenant with Isaac specifically in Genesis 17:21, thereby leaving Ishmael out (though Ishmael does receive a lesser blessing of his own). Isaac was recognized as Abraham's firstborn, though Ishmael was technically first, but not God's firstborn. All the families of the world be blessed through him (Spiritual). There is a third aspect here, however, specific to Abraham's family: God's covenant with him.Īlong with the land of Canaan and a promise to be the God of his children, God promised Abraham (Gen 12) They may have physical results, but the giving of the blessing is spiritual in nature. That receiving a good blessing ensured the future it promised. It also often has prophetic meaning, though the people at the time probably thought of it the other way around. But the first blessing always seems to be the greater. The blessing is a bit less specific and often varied. These are very physical, earthly rewards. He also received authority over his father's house and carried the family name. Birthrights and Blessingsįirst we must understand the meaning of the birthright and blessing.īirthright gave the son a double portion of the inheritance (Deut 21:17). There is a TL DR Conclusion at the end, where I will revisit each specific question.īut first there is a lot of groundwork to lay. Just be glad I'm not also giving a treatment to the meaning of firstborn. Honestly, there are a lot of questions there and rather than skip around I'm going to give one really long background on the birthright and blessing. Why then, does the birthright not pass to Judah? Why is there a disconnect between this birthright and the importance of Judah in Jesus' lineage? Second, what is the significance of choosing Ephraim, the younger, over Manasseh, the older?įinally, even though Ephraim has the birthright, the lineage of Jesus comes through Judah. Now, he essentially passes on the birthright and blessing to Ephraim, the younger of Joseph's sons.įirst, why does Jacob pass the birthright to Joseph's sons, and not Joseph himself? In fact, before doing so, why does Jacob essentially say that Joseph's sons are now considered to be his sons? What is the meaning of this? In fact, Jacob passes over all of his sons until he gets to Joseph. Naturally, one would assume that the next in line would be Simeon, the second-oldest. Yet, the birthright that should have passed on to Reuben did not due to Reuben's sin against his father (1 Chronicles 5:1-2). Jacob had twelve sons, the firstborn of whom was Reuben.
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