Today we are looking at another section in Deuteronomy 21 and trying to understand the various “case” laws that God is laying down for Israel just before they enter the Promised Land.
In this huge moment of the history of Israel; everything had to be planned out and set up in perfect order. The only One who knew that perfect order was God. He was proclaiming what they should do, and how they should go about it.
COMMANDMENTS ARE FOREVER; CASE LAW IS NOT
Once again, let’s clarify that a case law is used in “IF” situations. They often are stated as; “IF this is the case; then you should do that.”
Case laws and Commandments are two totally different animals.
A Commandment is forever; but a case law is more limited in nature and only applies to the culture and times of the law being stated.
QUICK REVIEW
Last week we talked about a case law that gave the rules for a soldier of Israel wanting to marry a foreign woman who was taken in the spoils of war.
Typically this woman would become a slave, but under the correct protocol; an Israelite man could marry her and guarantee that she would never go into slavery in Israel.
RULES FOR FIRST-BORN SONS
This week we will explore the case laws that were to apply to Israel’s first-born sons during the period of time after they entered the Promised Land and obtained their family inheritance.
The laws of the first born concern their rights of inheritance.
God gives these instructions to them just before they arrive to their destination; so there will be no questions or misunderstanding when they do become native citizens of the land according to God’s promised Covenant with Abraham.
The scripture passage is found in Deuteronomy 21:15-17
15 “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, 16 then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, 17 but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.
BIRTHRIGHTS AND DOUBLE BLESSINGS BELONG TO THE FIRST-BORN SON
Even before the people arrived in Israel, it was customary for the first-born to inherit the birthright and the blessings of his father.
These rights had not been exercised in many, many years because of the bondage of slavery. The Israelites might have been a bit fuzzy as to why the laws operated as they did and what truly applied now in this new place and time.
God was making this plain to them.
Typically; the first-born son’s portion and share of all of the father’s wealth would be greater than all of the other sons.
LOOKING BACK AT HISTORY
Before the nation of Israel was formed officially, and before they had grown into the multitudes that walked across the desert and made their way into the Promised Land by taking all of Canaan on God’s command; it appeared on first glance that their ancestors had not always kept this law for the first-born sons to the letter.
We know of three very well-documented cases where the hands of the blessings were crossed or not given in this particular order. Looking back we can think of the times of Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau and Joseph whose sons were adopted by Israel as if they were his own sons (Ephraim and Manasseh.)
Now though; a few facts have changed. The people are coming to the place that will be noted as their inheritance of God forever. They will settle here and form community here. Now they finally have been given some substantial blessing that can be passed on from generation to generation.
NO LONGER NOMADS OF THE LAND
It was more important that the blessings from each generation to the next be done in a proper and godly order. This is because for the first time in history; each man will own land for his own household; and the keeping of that land must never go away from each designated family’s inheritance.
The land was a special gift of God given to them as an inheritance because of His love and covenant with Abraham.
How on earth could such a thing really come together?
THE CASE LAWS THAT GOD ESTABLISHED FOR THE TIMES THEY WERE LIVING THROUGH
Without God’s order and guidance it would certainly be very difficult to enter, live upon and maintain the land from generation to generation as the inheritance that it was meant to be.
So; God addresses this with some new case laws.
First they had to move the Canaanites out of the land by completely destroying them in battle; then the Israelites needed to take possession of their family’s inheritance and move onto the land. Once on the land; there were rules for how the families were to operate in the land and the first-born son carried lots of responsibility in that regard. Because of this fact; he was also given more.
LOOKING AT THE DETAILS
Upon closer examination of the subject, we begin to see that the proper order of the inheritance of the first-born son restrains men from disinheriting their eldest sons without just cause.
Those three little words matter.
This explanation let’s Abraham off the hook and allows him to claim Isaac as the son with the double portion (mostly because God had already demanded that this be so;) but also because Ishmael displeased Abraham at an early age by his vile actions toward Isaac and caused Abraham to give him legal documents similar to a divorce that would totally disinherit Ishmael from Abraham’s blessings.
Abraham had “just cause” in disinheriting Ishmael.
In the case of Ishmael and Isaac though; nothing Ishmael did would have been the REAL determining factor. Even if he had been of perfect behavior; he still would not have been considered the son of the Birthright; because God had ordained Isaac from the very start; and he had stated that to Abraham many times. It was to be Sarah’s son who was called to be the son of the blessing.
When Abraham and Sarah made their rash decision to allow Hagar to bare a son for them; they were wrong. In this case God simply over-ruled and He had every right (as God) to do so.
IN THE CASE OF JACOB AND ESAU
In the case of Jacob and Esau though; Isaac was deceived.
He gave the wrong blessing by mistake; thinking that he WAS blessing the first-born.
God allowed this to happen (he forewarned Rebekah in Genesis 25:23 that the older would serve the younger even before they were out of the womb.) Rebekah always knew that Jacob was the rightful owner of the birthright and the blessings; even before anyone else did.
Once a blessing is given; it cannot be reversed.
A father’s dying words of blessing are forever.
They can never be changed or rearranged; no mater what, even if he is being deceived when they are given.
REGARDING JOSEPH, EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH
In the case of Joseph’s sons (Ephraim and Manasseh) being blessed with the hands crossed that the youngest being blessed more than the oldest; Israel was following God’s instructions for the time that they were living out.
As we mentioned above; this law for the inheritance rights of the first-born sons was a “case-law.” There could be a difference in the cultures and times and the laws that they were asked to observe.
WHY WAS THIS CASE LAW GIVEN NOW?
Now that we have those technicalities out of the way and explained properly; let’s consider why the double portion of the inheritance was to go to the first officially born son; no matter how favored or unfavored his mother might be by the father giving the blessing.
Why did God pronounce this particular law for this particular time and place to Israel?
It is helpful to note that just above this passage we were discussing how a man could bring a woman home from war and make her his wife. In some cases; the man might have already been married. God does not desire that a man live in polygamy; but in those days because humans were human; many did.
To have more than one wife was not illegal in many areas of the country.
This would mean that one wife might be more loved than another.
This new wife; a foreign woman might have been more beautiful and she might have insisted that her sons be given privileges above the first, native-born wife.
Or, on the other hand, the native wife might have been the most loved and preferred over the woman that was brought home from the war. The native wife might have been jealous of the woman who so suddenly appeared and became part of her family. She might have insisted on maintaining her rights as the first wife and the wife that wasn’t from a foreign nation.
This would have caused all kind of problems when it came to inheritance of the children.
THE STRANGE YET PROPER ORDER OF THESE SCRIPTURES
I bring this up to say it is possible that things are not as off subject as they sound in this passage. It is entirely possible that the subject did not change so abruptly as suspected but that God is still considering and discussing the rights of that foreign wife that came home with the Israelite man and chose to stay and bear his children in the land of Israel.
The law now clarifies that any son born to any father will be given favor according to his birth; no matter the wife. No favoritism was to be shown to the children of the favored wife. The oldest first-born son was to receive the double portion from this point forward. It makes sense when you realize that all of the Israeli children born (to either wife) were part of the inheritance of the land as a gift from God.
THE DOUBLE PORTION
To clarify what a double portion was; let us consider a family of five sons. Instead of the land being divided five ways among them, the land would be divided six ways and the oldest son would be given two portions where every other son would inherit only one portion each.
It seems in this passage that God was simply looking after the promise that He had given to Abraham so very long ago; that his ancestors would be as many as the sands of the sea and the stars of the heavens; and they would inherit the land of Canaan as a gift from God.