Honor the Firstborn's Rights

Good morning, good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions this morning. We're at Deuteronomy chapter 21 verses 15 through 17 out the rights of the firstborn So what does it look like for them to have an inheritance? in an ugly situation Let's go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray. I'll get into God's Word Let's pray father. Thank you so much for this day Thank you for the blessing of getting to read your word Father, we pray that we would read it and understand it, that your spirit would illuminate our hearts, that we might see your truth and follow in your ways. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen. All right, here we go. Deuteronomy chapter 21, beginning at verse 15.
If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and they have born him children, both the loved and the unloved, and if the firstborn son is of her who is unloved, then it shall be on the day he bequeaths his possessions to his sons that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son of the loved wife in preference to the son of the unloved, the true firstborn. But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his."
Well, we need to ask ourselves our three questions. A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this and C, what do we call the doom in response to this? So A, what is this about? Well, this is about the law of the firstborn, right? So who's going to get the inheritance and what is an ugly situation, right? Polygamy in and of itself is ugly. The Lord is not okay necessarily with this, right? This is what we find in Genesis chapter 2, right?
God made Adam and Eve and joined them together. And as Jesus says, what God has joined together, let no man tear asunder. That's the original plan from creation. But God's dealing with sinful people in a sinful world in their sinful state. And so this is not a condoning necessarily of polygamy. Rather, this is a maintaining of the civility even in the midst of these ugly situations. By the time we get to the New Testament, This is going to be a very different situation in which the Holy Spirit is going to teach us that no, it's not polygamy, that a man is to be the husband of but one wife. So this is what the Christian community does, how it changes over time.
But you have this situation where you have a man, he's got two wives, and there's preferential treatment between these two wives. One he loves, one he hates, By the way, that's a recipe for disaster. You see it with Jacob and his two wives. You see it almost in all the different polygamy accounts in the scriptures where there's multiple wives.
And guess what? It ain't a happy family. It ain't working well. And here the contention even happens to who is he going to leave as the firstborn? Right now, this is a big deal in their culture. In their culture, you have a clan and a family type system. And when the patriarch dies, somebody's got to take over the estate, take over the farm, take over the land, take over the business, take over all the stuff and responsibilities of the head of the home. And so it's not just a matter of dividing the stuff, but who's going to actually lead the whole family.
And here it says, that it's the firstborn son period. Not to be done with favoritism, not to be done with changing things around for whoever he might want it to be. It's the firstborn son and he is supposed to receive a double portion. He's to have all the things he needs materially to actually lead the family.
And so that's really what this is getting at, is that in this world of God setting up a new society, he's maintaining civility even with this, and he's trying to show that there is this way in which the next leader is going to be chosen by God, or whoever the firstborn is, and he's supposed to get the double portion and lead that family. It's very different than the code of Hammurabi or what they would have seen out in Egypt or would come later with like the Greeks and the Romans where they would choose even adopting a new paterfamilias, a new head of the home, a new patriarch to lead the family.
What's the best first to summarize this? Well, in my Bible, I would underline. This is a tough one, right? It's only a few verses. I would probably underline verse 17, but he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of his firstborn is his. So that's what I would say is the best verse. See calling. What are we called to do?
Well, do we? show favoritism impartiality right that's what this is getting at are we the type of people who are ignoring what god has done ignoring the stations that god's put people in instead we think we want to control things we want to show favoritism and we want to bend the rules to fit what we want what would have been the reason even for this guy to have picked up a second wife because he um he didn't love his first wife And yet, that's not the pattern that God gives us today, is it?
No, instead, God tells husbands, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church. So husbands aren't to become dissatisfied with their wife and let's go off and find another wife. No. No, Jesus loved us so much that he would even lay down his life for us and just drop us to go find another.
And so also husbands are to love their wife. To care for them, to cherish them. And to even cherish the next generation that God would give. So I pray that even the men who might be listening to this today watching this online would love their wife. The Lord would give you a single heartedness toward the woman that he has given you and that you wouldn't show partiality or favoritism even amongst your children. That you would love your wife and you would love your children and that you would follow in the Lord's ways because he has shown us what it means to be a loving husband and father.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your loving kindness and faithfulness. We thank you for your care for us. And we pray, Lord, that as we walk before you, that we would know how much you have loved us. Lord, thank you for your care for us. Thank you that you have given us the firstborn of all creation, Jesus Christ himself, begotten, not made, who is a great What a great Savior and a great Lord. Father, please rejoice in who you are in Jesus' name. Amen. May the Lord bless you, knowing that in you, you have an inheritance kept safe in heaven that no one can steal and that will never fade away. I'll see you next time. Bye.