In the patriarchal order, the firstborn son is the heir and inherits the leadership of the family upon the death of the father.
This is often spoken of in the scriptures as birthright (Gen. 43: 33). Under the law of Moses, the firstborn son was regarded as belonging to God, and special ordinances were provided for his redemption (Ex. 13: 12-15; Ex. 22: 29; Num. 3: 45; Luke 2: 22-23).
- The eldest son received a double portion of his father’s possessions (Deut. 21: 17);
- and after his father’s death, he was responsible for the care of the mother and sisters.
- High priest (spiritual leader)
In matters of priesthood, in the Aaronic order, certain prerogatives descend upon the firstborn. For example, the right of presidency, to hold the keys of that priesthood, pertains to the firstborn in the family of Aaron (D&C 68: 16-21).
During Bible History, the firstborn was given special rights, privileges and responsibilities. The birthright of the firstborn included a double allotment of the estate, and leadership over members of the family who were born later. Jesus Christ is a very special firstborn
BIRTHRIGHTUnder the patriarchal order, the right or inheritance of the firstborn is known as birthright.
This generally included:
- a land inheritance as well as
- the authority to preside.
The firstborn of flocks and of human families was considered as belonging to the Lord, and was expected to be dedicated to him. This dedication could be either literal or by the payment of redemption money (Ex. 13: 11-16). From time to time certain prerogatives, opportunities and blessings have attended those who were born of a particular lineage. Thus the office of high priest (of the Aaronic order) and the office of the patriarch to the Church (in the Melchizedek Priesthood) are hereditary in nature.
Lineage alone does not guarantee the blessings or spiritual power of the office, but the opportunities are offered to the firstborn of the selected lineage. There are several instances in the scriptures of the one who was the firstborn losing his birthright because of unrighteousness, and his office being given to another; such is the case with Esau (Gen. 25: 24-34; Gen. 27), and Reuben (1 Chr. 5: 1-2; Jer. 31: 9).
Firstborn = Birthright = Blessing, Privilege and a Responsibility
Blessing- inherit God’s promise ( I will make your descendants as many as…you will inherit the land)
-2/3 of families properties
Privilege- when the father dies he will assume the status being the leader of the tribe
Responsibility- spiritual leader, a priest for the tribe and family
- rule, decide for the tribe with righteousness
The male firstborn of animals also belonged to God. Clean animals were used for sacrifices, while unclean animals might be redeemed or sold or put to death (Ex. 13: 2-13; Ex. 34: 19-20; Lev. 27: 11-13, 26-27).
Jesus is the firstborn of the spirit children of our Heavenly Father, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, and the first to rise from the dead in the resurrection, “that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Col. 1: 13-18).
The faithful saints were made members of the Church of the Firstborn in eternity, since they receive through Jesus Christ the inheritance of the firstborn (D&C 93: 21-22).
Joseph, though not the firstborn of Jacob, received the inheritance as though he were the firstborn (1 Chr. 5: 1-2), as also did Ephraim (Gen. 48; Jer. 31: 9).
Originally, the firstborn son served as the priest, which among the Children of Jacob was transferred from Reuben to the descendants of Levi (see Levites). The role of the high priest in The Tabernacle, beginning with Aaron, was actually just a foreshadow of the mission of Jesus Christ:
"For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is bound to offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people."
"And one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt Himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by Him who said to Him, "Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee"; as He says also in another place, "Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek."
Jacob and Esau19This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac.
Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aramd and sister of Laban the Aramean.
21Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23The LORD said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”
24When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.e 26After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.f Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. 28Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Esau’s Character:
- first born
- skill hunter, man of the open country
- son loved by Isaac
- hairy
Jacob
- heel grabber
- deceiver, trickster
- quite man, man among the tents
- loved by Rebeccah
29Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.g)
31Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
32“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
33But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
34Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright.
Esau gave no value to his birth right:
he sold his birthright for some bread and stew
birthright – his right as the firstborn, his right to be next leader, his inheritance, his blessing
Jacob Gets Isaac’s Blessing1When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”
“Here I am,” he answered.
2Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. 3Now then, get your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”
Isaac was planning to give his blessing to Esau despite of the prophecy that the older one shall serve the young one.
Isaac wants to satisfy himself
5Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.’ 8Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”
- Rebekah tries to fulfill the prophecy by her own means and not allowing God to do it
- Rebekah advices Jacob to deceive Isaac
11Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I’m a man with smooth skin. 12What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”
13His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.”
- Jacob is willing to deceive hi father just as long as he will not get caught
- Rebekah is willing to pay the price just as long as her favorite son gets the blessing
14So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.
18He went to his father and said, “My father.”
“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”
19Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing.”
20Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”
“The LORD your God gave me success,” he replied.
- Jacob even used God as his alibi for his deception
- Jacob knew how God provided a sacrificial lamb on Isaac’s behalf when Abraham was about to offer Isaac
21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”
22Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. 24“Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.
“I am,” he replied.
25Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”
Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”
27So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,
“Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the LORD has blessed.
28May God give you of heaven’s dew
and of earth’s richness—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
29May nations serve you
and peoples bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed
and those who bless you be blessed.”
30After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”
32His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”
“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”
33Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!”
34When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!”
35But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
36Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacoba? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”
37Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”
38Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.
i. Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. (Hebrews 12:15-17)
- the blessing once gone cannot be taken back
- even a person is crying and shouting aloud – if there was no repentance blessing cannot be given back
39His father Isaac answered him,
“Your dwelling will be
away from the earth’s richness,
away from the dew of heaven above.
40You will live by the sword
and you will serve your brother.
But when you grow restless,
you will throw his yoke
from off your neck.”
Key points in the storyIsaac – did not ask for God’s blessing. He decided by himself that he will give it to his elder son
Rebekah – knew already about the prophecy but rather take matters in her own hands, with the notion that she is doing what is right despite of achieving it on a deceptive manner..manipulate
Esau – gave no value to his birthright and was just thinking about blessing that can be bestowed upon him….taker
Jacob – deceives his father Isaac, he has an opportunity to make things right by not accepting what his mother instructed him to do.
Instead because of his deceptive character he just went with the flow and was able to get the blessing by deception.
The highly dysfunctional family.What happened to the family
Isaac
– was broken hearted and trembled violently..
- he accepted that he made a mistake and blessed Jacob
Rebekah
– never saw her favorite son Jacob after Jacob went to Rebekah’s brother Laban.
Esau
– did not receive the blessing and never got his birthright.
- he is bitter and wants to kill his brother
Jacob
– because of his brothers anger was forced to flee from his family and faced a lot of challenges in his life..
Pause for a few minutes…in our Christian walk can we identify ourselves with one of the characters in the story?
Did Jacob repent for the deception that he had done?
His father asked him 3x who he was and 3x he deceived his father Isaac?
How can a man of this character receive God’s blessing?
After 20 years Jacob returned to his home to his father Isaac…
His stumbling block …is his issue with his brother Esau..but greater than that is his deception
Jacob Wrestles With God22That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
Wrestled until daybreak –
- length of time of struggle
- long duration
- however there is an end
25When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
He could not overpower him:
- the angel cannot overpower Jacobs pride/deception?
- Cannot overpower his sinful nature
- angel just allowed Jacob to wrestle him and learn from doing so
- cannot overpower because Jacob has a strong will and does not want to give up?
Application in our lives..- are there times that we struggle with God?
- Do you know how God struggles with us when we ourselves are prideful?
- Do you know because of God’s love he has given us a free will that despite of he knows that we make wrong decisions in life (and He definitely struggles with it…) he respects our decisions..
- The issue here is not about Jacob’s struggle to God but God’s struggle to man’s pride despite of the Love that he had given for man.
Hip dislocation:- it only shows how powerful the angel is/God is
- this has to be done because there is a timeframe and he has to breakdown Jacob
Hosea 12: 3-4
3 In the womb he grasped his brother's heel;
as a man he struggled with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel
and talked with him there-
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,e because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
29Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
On Chapter 27
Isaac asked Jacob who he was 3x, and Jacob answered deceitfully
Now it’s the Angel asking Jacob who Jacob is …
Why?
To know where Jacob’s heart is.
a. Is he the same old Jacob….the deceiver, schemer, trickster
b. He is new Jacob – repentant and recognizing who he was
And when Jacob answered truthfully out from his heart Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and he finally received God’s full blessing.
My question to each and everyone of us is….WHO ARE YOU? 3x
Who are you?
Do you really know who you really are?
Who are you? a. Are you concerned on what others think about you? Or….
b. Are you concerned on what God thinks about you?
Who are you?a. Are you like the old Jacob who got his blessing thru deceiving his father…. you were baptized and went into the water of baptism where a lot people witnessed it and yet your heart was not right with God? Or…
b.are you the Jacob who wrestled with God and come to recognize the sovereignty of God , repented and accepted your shortcomings
Who are you?a. are you a true disciple which you claimed to be by giving yourself to the Lord truthfully, giving your commitment to the church as what a true disciple is expected to be? Or…
b. are you disciple by name and not by works… (alibi.. family, work, busy…)
… Let us not wait for God to pull our sockets out to make us realize who really are…
God did this to Jacob because he loves Jacob so much that he is willing to give pain and suffering to Jacob rather than having him suffer all thru out his life (time frame is day break) (remember Esau)
Analogy: while we are alive God has to teach us no matter how painful it is, so that we will not regret it in the end.
We have to know who we really are before we can go to the missions…
We have to know who we really are to claim our birthright and receive God’s blessing
Because someday, time will come when we will face our creator and He will ask us Who we are? (remember Esau)
Do we have the face to truthfully say to our creator who we were in this earth…with joy and pride….that we are His disciples
Look at the life of Jacob ..in the end he was blessed by God
Look at Peter after lying 3x yet he recognized his sin and repented was blessed and became one of the foundations of the Christian church
30So Jacob called the place Peniel,f saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,g and he was limping because of his hip. 32Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
In conclusion:
a. It is only when we come to realize and recognize who we really are, can we receive God’s blessing.
b. It is only when we come to recognize our sins and recognize that God is God, that we will be able to receive his gift
c. We should reflect daily on ourselves as we walk in this journey of life, try to remember if we really are who we said we are...checking our hearts constantly
d. Give value on our birthright as a Christian and never take it for granted. Because, once it is taken away, like Esau no amount of Loud cry can bring it back.
e. We are Christians, we are disciples, we are followers of God. We are the ones who followed Jesus, we took up our own cross and we counted the cost to follow our Lord and Savior. And we are His children, the one who received his blessing s and will receive His promise!!!
Who are You? God knows not I.
My wife went back home to the Philippines last 2008. She had her own caregiver 24/7 to care of her needs. The kids followed after 3 or 4 months. As I stayed, to settle all the remaining responsibilities. After several months I went home to be with my kids and my wife. God took Gloria on the 19th of October year 2009 to be in HIS bossom....
