Exhortation

In Genesis, firstborn sons are a brutish lot. Cain is the firstborn of firstborns, also the first fratricide. Ishmael mocks Isaac and is driven from Abraham’s camp. Esau would have been another Cain but for his brother Jacob’s wiliness. Jacob’s elder sons conspire to send Joseph into slavery and trick their father into believing he is dead.

In the beginning, firstborn sons slaughter and sacrifice their brothers. Then Yahweh makes a new beginning. He delivers His firstborn son Israel by delivering the firstborn of Israel. At Passover, the pattern of Genesis begins to unravel. Instead of sacrificing, the firstborn are redeemed by sacrifice.

Claimed by God at Passover, the firstborn of men and animals are sanctified and pass over to Yahweh. Later, the Levites replace the firstborn and become living sacrifices serving Yahweh in His tent. At first, the firstborn sacrificed brothers; after Passover, they sacrifice themselves for their brothers.

We have all inherited Cainite instincts from the firstborn man, Adam. When we’re offended, we look for someone to kill – someone to lacerate with our words, someone to beat up, someone who will suffer our shame and bear our guilt, someone to vent at.

We are born sacrificers, but in a greater Passover, Jesus the Firstborn has come to deliver us by His blood, to transform sacrificers into sacrifices.