Birthrights, Blessings and Inheritance by S. K. Neumiller The issue of birthright, the father's blessing and inheritance is an important one in the Old Testament. But, due to a number of occurances in Old Testament history, the rules governing ownership of birthright and blessing are somewhat unclear. The following text with conclusions drawn is an attempt to use the Scriptures to establish the rules surrounding birthrights and father's blessings and their impact on the offspring. Conclusions Genesis 25:31-33 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 1. The posessor of the birthright may deed the birthright over to another by legally binding oath. Genesis 27:36-40 And he said, Is he not rightly called Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his bretheren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son? And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. 2. The birthright and the father's blessing are independant. 3. The father can give one and only one son of his choosing a preeminent blessing. 4. The father can give blessings in addition to the one preeminent blessing at his discression. 5. Father's blessings are prophetic in nature. Genesis 21:9-13 (Gal. 4:30) And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very greivous in Abraham's sight because of his son. And God said to Abraham, Let it not be greivous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman: in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. 6. If the firstborn male is the son of a legally married bondwoman (concubine) he is eligable to be heir even if the bondwoman is not Hebrew. 7. If a married free woman produces male offspring, then her firstborn male will be considered the firstborn, regardless of birth order, over any bondwoman's male offspring. 8. A legally married bond woman's male offspring are considered legal offspring regardless of the presence of other male offspring. Numbers 27:8-11 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his bretheren. And if he have no bretheren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father's bretheren. And if his father have no bretheren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall posses it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgement, as the Lord commanded Moses. 9. In the absence of any male heir, the inheritance is to be divided among all legal female offspring. 10. In the absence of legal female offspring, the inheritance is to be divided among the nearest male family relations. Numbers 36:6-9 This is the thing which the Lord doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall thay marry. So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. And every daughter, that posesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers. Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance. 11. Female posession of inheritance is transferred to husband upon marriage. 12. Only unmarried female offspring are eligeable to receive a portion of their father's inheritance in the absence of a legal male heir. Dueteronomy 21:15-17 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated; then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which indeed is the firstborn: but he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his. 13. In the event of polygamy of free wives, birth order is maintained in determining which male is firstborn. 14. The birthright is the right of the possessor, the father cannot displace the birthright. 15. The birthright entitles the posessor to a double portion of the father's physical posessions. 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the geneology is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his bretheren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's:). 16. The posessor of the birthright may forfeit the birthright by committing adultery. 17. In the event of a forfeited birthright, the birthright goes to the next birth order firstborn son of a legally married free woman. Joshua 17:1-2a (Genesis 48:14-19) There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh; for he was the firstborn of Joseph, to wit, for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead: because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan. There was also a lot for the rest of the children of manasseh by their families. 18. The father's blessing of preeminance has no impact on the transfer of birthright. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- post to scripture-l Last week or so Clark asked me what the difference was between the birthright and the blessing was and this morning I was reading in Deut and realized I hadnt answered his question. (The whole thing was instigated by PDCP-3, "In Defense of Jacob" or Jacob v. Esau) Anyway, I ran accross Deut 21:17 which states that the inheritor of the birthright gets a double portion of father's stuff upon his demise. So, if there are two sons, the firstborn should get 2/3 and the second one gets 1/3. Thats about all I have ever seen as far as what the birthright legally gets teh firstborn. As for the inplications of this, I find it quite interesting. Consider that Jesus in the Firstborn, and He will not only inherit worlds to come but this creation as well, so He gets a double portion while we may get a single portion. kurtn@ocean.rutgers.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- OK, here you go, all of these passages comment on inheritence issues. All of them point to patrilineal inheritence that is not contingent upon the status of the mother. Gen. 41:45, 50 Joseph marries an Egyptian wife, their inheritence is Israelite Gen. 48 Jacob claims Joseph's first two sons as his own, despite their being from an Egyptian mother, he says Jacob's sons beyond this remain with Jacob Lev. 24:10-23 The son of an Egyptian man and Israelite woman is called a "stranger", which is not an Israelite Num. 27:1-11 Daughters of Zelophehad inherit their father's land in the absence of sons but must marry within the tribe so as to not fragment the tribes land holding, indicating the married Israelite women takes the husband's tribe, and so would their children Deut. 7:1-6 Israelite males prohibited from taking wives from among the Canaanites Deut. 21:10-14 Israelite males permitted to take wives from conquered countries, obviously non-Canaanite ones Judges 11:1-11 The son of an Israelite and a Gentile prostitute is first cast out by his legitimate brothers but then later selected by the Lord to be their deliverer Judges 14:1-4 Samson desires a Philistine wife, and it is according to the Lord's plan Ezra 10:2-3 The Israelite males who have taken prohibited Canaanite wives are told to "put them away".