A brother in Christ was reminding us last night that God lifts up the humble and the least are made first. The story about James and John asking to be on either side of Christ in His kingdom was brought up. It just reminded me of all the many places in the Bible where God has made this evident. From the very beginning, God has been weaving a story that demonstrates His purposeful intention to raise up those who were considered least. This is particularly true with His constant obsession with honoring the latter-born children when, in the Hebrew culture, the bulk of the blessing and inheritance went to the firstborn.
First, we see it with Cain and Abel. God is pleased with Abel's sacrifice rather than Cain's who was the firstborn. Cain is jealous and kills his brother. God then raises up Seth, the last born son to Adam & Eve, and it is through Seth that the Messiah will be descended.
The lineage of Israel and through which the Messiah is promised seems to trickle down through latter-born children. Isaac receives Abraham's blessing and he is the second born. Isaac's second born son Jacob also receives the blessing rather than his older twin Esau. The most love and blessing is given to Jacob's son Joseph (11th of 12). Jacob also loved his youngest, Benjamin. Later, we see that the leadership of Israel is given to Moses (the last born of 3 children). Gideon, one of the judges, points out that he is not a first born child.
Samuel is asked to anoint a new king from among Jesse's 8 sons. They don't even bother to call number 8 away from his sheep-tending duties, because it is assumed he won't be chosen. But it is David, the last born son, who is chosen to be Israel's greatest king. David's son Solomon followed him to the throne even though he was one of his later children. In the story of the prodigal son, the younger son is honored when he returns while the elder brother is bitter.
All these examples are there for a reason--to show us that what our world considers greatest, God tends to pass by. He prefers to turn it on its head and lift up those whom the world ignores. Of course, I'm thinking that first born children won't appreciate this post as much as my fellow latter-borns. Oh well! You can't deny the truth.
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****Mary: Please print this one instead of the first one I sent you. I didn’t spell check that one because I was in a hurry.
BIRTH ORDER: IT’S NOT WORTH A HILL OF BEANS
Well, Mary, here is a first born coming along to point out the errors in your theology. God choose to use persons of all different birth orders, not just latter-borns. Let me point out your errors and also admit where you are on the money. God did not honor Able’s sacrifice over Cain’s because Able was a second born. He honored it because Able obeyed God. Cain knew what the acceptable sacrifice was, but disobeyed and did it his own way. Cain was cursed so the honor of Christ’s lineage went to Seth. But, again not because he was a latter born, but because of Cain’s sin against God. So, it was not an obsession with honoring latter born, but an obsession with not honoring sin and an unrepentive (I am not sure if that’s a word) heart.
Now… Moses was not chosen because of his birth order. During Aaron’s birth, there was no need to put him in the river in a basket. Yes, God used a latter born, but not because of his position in the birth order. He also, of course, used Aaron as well.
Now to Isaac… Isaac was the first born son of Abraham and Sarah. I really truthfully believe that this is the union of husband and wife that God honored. He was the son of promise. God did not consider Ishmael because he was not the promised miracle to Abraham and Sarah. He was actually pretty much the child of sin. But, God still remembered him regardless. BUT… Isaac was the firstborn and only child of Abraham and Sarah.
Now when it comes to Jacob and Esau… I would say that he did pick the 2nd son over the 1st. This may have been an issue of Esau being ungodly rather than being the 1st born who God just wanted to intentionally skip as you would see it.
Now we come to Joseph. Joseph was a latter born, but he had the position of the 1st born of Rachel. This mattered to Jacob very much. When God choose to use Joseph, he did not choose the one of least honor, but the one of most honor. Jacob loved Joseph most and elevated him above all his brothers which was the reason for all the hate and jealousy. The two sons Jacob loved the most had nothing to do with their birth order, but more to do with the fact that they were Rachel’s children who he loved dearly.
Now there is King David… it is true that he did use the least in the birth order in this case and made a point of it. Solomon was the 1st living child of David and Bathsheba, but you are right he was not the first.
As for the prodigal son… the elder son receives plenty of honor, too. The eldest didn’t loose his inheritance or not receive honor. It was an honorable thing that he stayed and remained faithful to his father. The point of the story is not honor given to the second son, but the second son coming back to repent of his sin, his father forgiving him, and taking him back as his child. Yes, the eldest did show jealousy which was a sin, but not the product of being a first born. It is more the lesson of the person (who serves Christ and is faithful all his life to Christ) not being jealous of the sinner who comes to Christ on his death bed and receives the same eternal reward as the faithful Christian. I still would rather be the person serving Christ for a long time versus a day.
Now does God use firstborns, too? Yes, of course! The greatest example would be Christ himself. And, then there is Samuel. He was Hannah’s first born. Sampson and John the Baptist were also first born miracle babies of promise. Tamar’s first born twin, Perez, is the one who the lineage of Christ comes through. Abraham was the first born of Terah. Terah had 3 sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. God choose a first born here to be the father of Israel. I would say that Abraham was honored by God. Shem is the first born of Noah and is the man whom the Jews come through. That is an honor. Noah, Enoch, and Methuselah were all firstborns. So, am I saying that God favors firstborns? No, God favors righteousness and sees into the heart of men.
In conclusion, the argument the disciples had over being first in the kingdom of God had nothing to do with birth order. Jesus’ point was not whether you are first or last in the birth order of your family. It is your heart condition he was talking about. “Do you have a servant’s heart” was the point. You put too much stock and are too obsessed with birth order. It is fun to laugh about and talk about, but you can’t put too much weight on it. God doesn’t care about birth order. He chooses leaders regardless of birth order. He is not trying to let “Latter-Borns Rule”.
This second born is afraid to say anything, because he's married to a first born and is very afraid... :-)
HOWEVER, I will say that the LORD blesses whom He will bless, and curses whom He will curse.
-B
I'm so excited that I touched a nerve with this post. Even mustard on mac-n-cheese didn't generate this much controversy! It is good to finally get a comment. I thought you all were asleep out there. Rebecca, you sound so serious and ANGRY. Maybe you didn't notice my tone which I thought was evident from my cheeky title and the final sentence that makes light of it. I feel like you might be ready to burn me at the stake for the "errors in my theology."
Now to address your specific comments: I am aware that Abel was honored for his obedience rather than birth order. I was looking at the bigger picture rather than the particular reason. As the soveriegn God He is, God could have written this story and created the characters (and by this I don't mean history is a fiction story) in such a way that Cain was the one who was obedient, Aaron was the one whose birth coincided with the need to hide a baby from the Egyptians, and Rachel was the first to give birth. But He didn't and my point is that I think that He did this on purpose. Not because He likes latter-borns more. No--I think He wants to demonstrate that the way He thinks is different from the way we think. In Hebrew culture, inheritance and blessing is so important and it goes to the firstborn. By threading a story through the entire Old Testament that contradicts this tradition, God is showing that not only the firstborn (Israel) will inherit His kingdom, it is open to all (Gentiles) who will follow Him. It has more to do with our hearts and obedience than with traditions.
God does not just do this with birth order. He also does this with the women in Jesus' geneology who are either not Hebrew or have a questionable sexual history. First of all, it is strange to include women in a geneology and secondly, these women are the least likely to be mentioned (by traditional standards) because of their reputations. He does this not because He likes women and harlots more than faithful men, but because He is trying to make people see that He exalts those who people traditionally disregard.
I also realize that the story of James and John arguing over their place in His kingdom has nothing to do with birth order. The topic just got me to thinking on my own tangent. But it does relate to my big picture theme--the intent of my post: that Jesus desires to turn tradition on its head to point out that He doesn't think like us or honor the rich, famous, intelligent, or eldest just because that is who the world recognizes. He honors the ones we would least expect.
Hey, Mary, I wasn't angry at all. If I were angry I wouldn't say that I was going to admit where you were right, as well as, point out errors. I was simply addressing each point and saying whether I thought your idea was Biblically sound. I have more to write, but I don't have the time yet. I did send you two other messages. One to replace the first as I didn't have time to check it for errors before I sent it. And, then another shorter message. Brian had a message too that we do not see on your blog.
MOM said
I would agree with Mary partially that God many times chooses those who we would feel least likely qualified for the job. But it is not because of birth order, it is because He looks at the heart of the individual. And He delights in using people that His power and glory can be seen in, not theirs.
I would agree with Rebecca on her reply. She is right on and I did not detect any anger in her reply.
Love you both!!
Well, I have had a jolly good laugh. Brian that was too funny.
On a serious note. I do think Mary was being silly some what. However I do not agree with your overall point that you are still holding to. That God does not care about tridition, and wants to turn it on it's head.
2Th 2:15 - Show Context
Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.
1Co 11:2 - Show Context
Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.
2Th 3:6 - Show Context
But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.
To follow the traditions in of the earily church is good, I believe that we are going too far from that. We should follow the traditions of God.
On the flip side.
Col 2:8 - Show Context
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
And there are many others on this side.
Some times I say to my kids if it is about some thing serious,
when they say,
"well, I hurt him on accident"
I reply,
"well, you better SEE TO IT that you do NOT every do that again even on accident!"
I would say that here, let us SEE TO IT that we do keep that traditions in the new Test. and that we not be too big on the fluf.
Next: As a mother I can see why 1st borns got the clams naturally.
We are HARDER on them! We do not mean to, but we are. And to be honest alot of the time thay are very good because of it. They help and have helped from the get go with the next kids in line.
This is NOT always true. I have with my husband talked about what goes wrong accidentally. We are tring very hard to be just as hard on our others and to give them hard work too.
It is easy to just let the one who can already do something do it. It is easy to let the older do everything first. We seek to MAKE the 2ed do some things first. It has been working, by the way.
The older in our family needs to learn to follow and the 2ed needs to have more confidence.
It is NOT easy though.
I think some, NOT all, 2ed borns of the same gender have issues, and I think that the parents are part to blame.
I have seen it in my own parenting as well.
I saw it as the 3ed born of the same gender and my husband saw it in his big family too. So we try to catch it.
Here are some of those issues for 2ed (only some)(btw if you are a 2ed born of the same gender and are getting offended, this is proving my point the more).
Not confident around others, shy, sly, pouty, always the victuum, whinny, always the first to get hurt feelings. This is what is off the top of my head.
What I think causes it is sin. the Secound finds out fast that if they cry they will get big sibbling into trouble. Parents often ( myself too, sadly) for get to get THE WHOLE STORY, and boom, they oldest is almost always the bad guy!
This would apeal to anyones sin nature, IT IS WHAT NATURALLY HAPPENS. It is the parent that must stop it.
Often if the partent did not have of sibblings of both genders they are totally unaware that this even happens.
Parents also start out with BIg dreams for their kids and are faster at making the older obey.
It is hard to not get softer the more that you have! I do it and it bothers me too. You are just too busy to get on to EVERY little thing any more, so you decide ok that rule is not, well hey why did I even have that rule? So you start to just keep to the important ones. IT HAPPENS.
Lets take gum for ex. 1st you say ok age 7 you can have gum. It goes well, and hey the first one is already doing it, and the 2ed really feels bad that he can not yet, so hey ok you let him at 6, and so on and so forth.
So why all the comments on this? Well, because if we do not take a good look at history it will, repeat itself, IT IS NATUREAL, it is our nature.
We have to STOP and think. Plan and then DO.
I really think it can be a problem. We as parents MUST judge after we know the whole story.
I got to tell you that at the crack of dawn I DO NOT want to hear about how so and so did bla. bla, bla and then so and so did such and such, trust me. I have to tell myself EACH time STOP. Lission and then judge, after all will not The Judge judge with all knowledge of every thing. I should try to get as close to that as I can.
Ruth,
Perhaps I should clarify what I mean by "traditions." All the scriptures you quoted are from the New Testament and according to context they are referring to the truths of the gospel and the practices of the early church that were handed down by Jesus and the apostles. I'm fine with that. In fact, by going back to these early church traditions, I'm following them more closely now than ever. What I'm not following is the traditions of Judaism that involve temple worship, sacrifices, priests, only walking x number of feet on the Sabbath, wearing scriptures on the forehead, and the thousands of other extra-biblical laws the pharisees dreamed up on their free time. I'm also not following the traditions of pagans that corrupted the church after 300 A.D.--church buildings, orders of worship, the creation of clergy (i.e. mediators who take the rightful place of Christ alone) as distinct from the laity, clergy salaries, tithing, and Sunday morning costumes.
Sorry I had not clarified which traditions.
Ruth,
Regarding your discussion about experiences with your own children's birth order: I have seen what you are doing and I think you are doing a great job of being aware and making changes. It is good to give David a little more responsibility and lower some of the expectations placed on Daniel so he can have fun too. You are a good example of taking what we know about birth order to lessen the differences they experience.
At long last.
I do agree with Becca's post. And most of Mary's 2ed serious post. I agree with mom's and Brian's post.
God loves the rightious, bith order means NOTHING in terms of rightiousness.
Jesus' place as first born was most definatly a place of honor.
And to us parents with kids still to raise, let us be caueful, to raise confident, loving, forgiving munchcens.
Dwight shares the following comment regarding Brian's comment:
Way to show backbone :-)
People keep misundestanding what I'm saying. I agree that at times God honors the righteous, and it's not about birth order. (The Bible also says that God gives blessings to the unjust as well). My point is, isn't it interesting that these people God used happen to be the ones people would least expect to be used? People keep making this about righteousness and birth order when I meant for it to be about God's character: He is glorified more when He works through the rejects of society because then people notice Him and don't chalk it up to that person. (I think Mom's the only one who caught on to this).
Another point I would like to throw out there is this: the people God chose were not always righteous. Every one had a laundry list of sins that God made no point of hiding: Moses was a murderer, David was a murderer and adulterer, Jacob was deceptive and a polygamist, Gideon was a doubter, Joseph was arrogant and seemed to relish rubbing his brothers' noses in the fact that he was the favorite. No person is righteous. I agree most with what Brian said. God chooses to bless whom He will bless and curses those He wants to curse. God chose to favor Jacob over Esau and didn't feel it was important to give a reason. If God has chosen to use you it is not because of anything you have done to deserve it. He loved you while you were still a sinner. God used Samson in a mighty way, but at no point in Samson's life did he ever deserve any of it. I don't recall him making any righteous decisions.
I think I threw everyone off with my title. I guess I used it because I thought it was funny (and still do).
Addressing Ruth's latest points:
You have narrowed this to 2nd borns but I never intended to narrow it to that. Notice I said latter-borns because the majority of the Biblical examples I gave were much farther along in the birth order than 2nd.
But since you have brought up 2nd borns, here's what I have to say:
First, I agree with you 100% about the sins of 2nd borns. I would have to say that every one of those are sins I struggle with. I'm an honest person, given to a great deal of self-analysis, and I am the first to agree that those are a few of my problems. But it would be fair to list a 2nd born's strengths:
1) That same sensitivity that causes self-consciousness or hurt feelings makes us empathetic and thoughtful about others' feelings
2) We are master manipulators (sly), but when channeled positively we can be influencers for good changes [Causing parents to question why they have rules like no gum until 7 or no showering (only bathing) until the age of 10 (btw bathing leads to UTI because you have to sit in your own filth so it isn't healthy for young kids)]. I do recall that my 1st born & 3rd born sisters were only too happy to see me use my manipulative gifts when it would mean they could stay out later or get out of doing something.
3) We tend to be creative and highly capable workers who get more quality work done during our productive periods (meaning when we aren't depressed/pouty) than most others who are plugging away at it consistently. How do we do it? Efficiency. We can afford rest/depression because when we do it, we do it right and don't have to do it over or think about it 6 years before trying because we have this keen perception about the right process for how to do things.
4) We think outside of the box. We have to if we are going to get any attention. This can be good and bad. It makes us creative thinkers. We question, re-evaluate, and are curious. We don't take everything at face value. If you don't question, you don't learn, understand, or grow. We are never satisfied or complacent about life.
Also, one can't just pick on the 2nd borns. Every child in the birth order has his/her own set of weaknesses and strengths.
1st borns strengths:
1) Highly motivated, intelligent, successful in life. They tend to be the CEO's, presidents, astronauts, doctors. They are pushed by their parents to be the best. So they continue to push themselves to be successful.
2) Responsible, law-abiding. They have been given many responsibilities so they fulfull them. They are not rebellious and seem accepting of traditions and rules.
3) Motivate and challenge others. They are used to inspiring younger siblings to be successful.
1st born weaknesses:
1) Tend to step on others on their way to the top of the ladder. They take the best toys even if a sibling owns them and use their birth position as the reason. Later in the workplace they do what it takes to get to the top and this usually means a sacrifice on someone else's part. They are given more authority and they tend to abuse it.
2) Expect too much of others and not always enough of themselves. Parents look to them as enforcers and they are given too much authority at too young an age. They learn how to take shortcuts themselves.
3) Stubborn as oxen. It is really hard to get them to see a different viewpoint. They are used to getting their way because they are given more power.
3rd or Last born strengths:
1) They are charming, popular, and often people-persons. They can influence others and make everyone around them feel better about themselves. They are friendly, compassionate, and kind.
2) They are entertainers. They are fun-loving, playful, and great to be around. They will make fun of themselves if that is what it takes to make others laugh.
3) They are happy and agreeable. They always see the positive side of life. They encourage others.
3rd or last born weaknesses:
1) They give in too easily to peer pressure. They can be too flirty with the opposite sex when they are married without even realizing it. If they are into the wrong things they can drag others in the group into those negative activities all in the name of fun.
2)They can be so busy having fun that they forget to work. They can be thoughtless about what their fun is costing someone else ($, time, extra work). They like the limelight and do what it takes to get noticed.
3) They don't think enough about what could go wrong so they don't plan ahead. They aren't always realistic.
Yes I know that this post was not just about 2ed borns. I did turn it into that, I just felt that it would benift to show some ways that these things happen and encourage myself and others to SEE TO IT that we think of ways not do this.
And all can get out of this btw, we can all through trust in Jesus and believing Him and His Word, we then do His Word, and can become the opposite of our weekness.
I think the more biblical viewpoint is that being born male is the favored position. Let us consider.
Adam was the first created and he was male.
Abel was righteous and he was male.
For all we know, Cain listened to Eve who was a woman.
Seth was the next hope and he was male.
Israel was God's people and only had male kings.
All the prophets were male.
The apostles were all male.
Fathers are all male.
Firstborn sons are all male.
___
On the other hand...
Eve listened to a talking snake (oh come on).
Ishmael was Sarah's idea and she was female.
Rebekkah tried to tear apart Jacob and Esau and she was female.
I think that is enough to go by. There are no other examples worth mentioning or bringing up. My list is sufficient to prove the correct view.
INHERITANCE VERSUS LEADERSHIP
Wow! There is a lot to respond to. First let me say that I love the Old Testament especially Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, and I & II Chronicles. I loved listening to these books on Bible CD while I was driving. I am currently reading Matthew, but my heart longs to be reading one of those books mentioned above.
Mary, I am sorry that we didn’t understand your point clearly. But… I think it was more than the title which led us astray. In the first paragraph your conclusion is “This is particularly true with His constant obsession with honoring the latter-born children when, in the Hebrew culture, the bulk of the blessing and inheritance went to the firstborn.” (I have no idea how to change this back to black, and I have no time to waste figuring it out.) Your next three paragraphs give examples that you believe support the above sentence. All paragraphs deal with latter-born birth order according to you. You do not mention the fact that Moses was a murderer, that King David was a murderer and adultery, or that Jacob was a deceiver. This fact to me makes it less likely in a human’s eyes to choose them for leadership (but, of course, God choose them). But, you focused only on their birth order in your paragraphs. Your conclusion all seems to have pointed only to the birth order topic rather than the heart of man. You refer to birth order being the reason these men would have not been chosen by the world. Anyway… I thought I would clear up your confusion of why we so easily misunderstood you. In later posts you did allude to other topics, but not in your first post.
Funny! Funny, James!
I see you didn't lay claim to the great male Nebuchadnezzar. Now eating grass like a cow... great idea!
Mary,
I know your days have gotten busy with school work so don't feel compelled to reply.
Yesterday when I was writing my post, I got distracted by the kids and just sent part of it. By the time, I went back to writing the internet was down at our house. So... the title of my last post didn't make sense at all because I never was able to send the part that applied to the title or the first paragraph. My next post will be the completion to the post entitled "Inheritance versus Leadership".
INHERITANCE VERSUS LEADERSHIP
Okay… back to my topic mentioned in the title. I love the Old Testament as I was saying. So, here are some interesting tidbits I have learned and they agree with Mary’s first post when it comes to inheritance and blessings. In Ancient times, the first born did have a claim to a birth right. This meant he got a double portion of the inheritance and a blessing. Now latter-borns also got an inheritance and a blessing. It was just smaller.
In Esau and Jacob’s case, we see Esau sell his birth right claim for a bowl of soup. It seems he did not care too much about his inheritance until it was time for his father to give it. We also see the favorites thing in play as Rebecca’s favorite was Jacob and Isaac’s favorite was Esau. In their defense, I can see how this would be easy to do especially with twins. But, it certainly is not an advisable thing for a parent to do. God also loved Jacob more. It does seem that he favored the things of God more, and that Esau could have cared less about God. Now, I would like to bring out a point. The inheritance went to Jacob a latter born. God’s hand was in this, but choosing him for God’s work is not dependent on the fact that he got the inheritance. I believe them to be separate in most cases. In other words, God could have still chosen Jacob even if he didn’t have the birth right claim. There is nothing in scripture that indicates that leadership had to go to the first born. The first born had a claim on inheritance, not leadership or God’s service. In other words, you could be a prophet or leader in the army or a wealthy man and be a latter born. There was a rule written about the first born’s birth right in the law of Moses, but no law about who could be a leader or used of God.
Now, when it came to kingship it was usually thought to be the first born son who would inherit the throne. (Mary is right on the money with this situation.) Of course, David was an example of God not choosing to follow that tradition. He was not only the 8th son of Jesse, but only a son-in-law to Saul. Not a very likely choice! God definitely used the least in the eyes of the people and it applied to birth order. David’s family is interesting. The throne did not go to his first born Amnon because Absalom killed him for raping his sister. King David and God chose Solomon the 8th born son. The 7th born son was the baby that died from Bathsheba and David. Absalom was the 3rd born and he tried to get the throne from his father. The 4th born son, Adonijah, also tried to take the throne from his father after Absalom was killed. But, what I found funny is that the second born son (born to David and Abigail) whose name was Chileab never tried to claim the throne. It would have been his right before Absalom according to the customs of the world. It is very interesting. I suppose David’s 5th and 6th sons decided not to rock the boat and try to claim the throne as it basically meant death in the end. In these instances, I would say that God definitely chose David and Solomon (latter-borns) and ignored the customs of man.
But, when it came to Moses’ and Joshua’s leadership positions, I do not think that birth order was an issue with God or the people. There was no law saying that leaders or prophets had to be first borns. Who knows where Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, Isaiah, or Nehemiah were in the birth order, but I do not think it mattered to God or the people. It was not a tradition or a law.
Now the example of the double portion of the inheritance going to Joseph is also an example of God and Jacob skipping the first born. Very valid example Mary! Furthermore, God and Jacob did it again when it came to Joseph’s sons. Joseph blessed the second born over the first born here. But, both received an excellent blessing and inheritance. Genesis 48: 17-19. “Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father, “Not so my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head” But, his father refused and said, “I know my son, I know. He also shall become a people and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.” Therefore, we always say their names in this order Ephraim and Manasseh. (the second and then the first). Neat, huh?
Mary, although I disagreed with some of your first post, I will say that you wrote it beautifully. Your title was cute and catchy. You used words extremely well as you always do. It was a delight to read even if I disagreed with some of it.
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