Let’s talk a little bit about the firstborn blessing as defined in the Scriptures.
The firstborn blessing was comprised of two parts:
One part was the “Double-portion Blessing” and the other part was the “Ruling Authority” within the family.
The “Double-portion Blessing” consisted of the wealth (in other words, material blessings).
And the “Ruling Authority” was all about who would inherit the top leadership spot and rule over all the other tribes.
Under normal circumstances, these two parts of the firstborn blessing came as one package and were never separated.
In other words, the firstborn son usually received both.
Notice I said “son”.
That’s right.
In the Bible, there is no such thing as a female “firstborn”.
The concept doesn’t exist.
A Hebrew couple could have 10 children with the first 9 all being females and if the tenth child was a male, that child would be considered the firstborn.
Now something downright mysterious occurred in Israelite history when Jacob split the firstborn blessing into half among his two sons Judah and Ephraim.
What happened was the “Ruling Authority” went to Judah (the line of Messiah)…
…and…
…all of the material blessings and the double-portion of wealth went to Ephraim.
Pretty simple to grasp I think.
But not so fast, things start to get a bit more complex from here.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
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