The Firstborn of Egypt and Israel

Exodus 11:5
And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die… 

Although the Torah is explicit that the firstborn males of God's people belong to him, it is implicit that the firstborn males of all other nations also belong to him. No matter one’s cultural inheritance, God’s intent for the firstborn is to act as his family's kinsman redeemer. In taking the firstborn, as opposed to the youngest or the strongest, God denied the Egyptians their kinsmen redeemers. In effect, he told the Egyptians that there was no recourse other than repentance and accepting him as their ultimate redeemer.

Exodus 13:15
...all that openeth the matrix... There appear to be two ways to interpret this phrase. I do not know which is correct, but I suspect the first:

1. "Firstborn" refers to the firstborn child of his father. "Openeth the matrix" is a figure of speech extending from the fact that most households, even in a polygamous culture, will have only one man and one woman, and should not be taken literally. Every house with male children must have a firstborn and only one firstborn. If the first child born in a house is a female, she was the one to "open the matrix," but she is not called the firstborn. If there are two or three wives in a house, there will be a first child born of each wife, but only one firstborn in the house.


2. "Firstborn" refers to the firstborn child of his mother. If a man has ten wives, each of whom bears sons, then ten sons must be redeemed. "Firstborn of man" in verse 13 should be understood to mean "firstborn humans."

Santa Claus, Reefer Madness, and Other Fairytales

Rabi Simeon b. Elazar said: Adam can be likened to an Israelite who married a proselyte woman, and he constantly sought to impress upon her mind the following regulations: "My daughter, eat not bread when thy hands are unclean, eat not of fruits which were not tithed, do not violate the Sabbath, do not get into the habit of making vows, and walk not with another man. If thou shouldst violate any of the commands, thou wilt die." Another one, who wished to mislead her, did those very things before her that she had been told were sinful: he ate bread when his hands were unclean, partook of fruits which were not tithed, violated the Sabbath, etc., and thereby caused this proselyte to think that everything that her husband told her was entirely false, so she violated all his commandments.

Babylonian Talmud, Trans. Rodkinson. pp 8-9

I am reminded of parents telling their children that Santa Claus brings presents, teachers telling their students that Marijuana brings madness, and politicians telling us all that single-payer health care brings health and happiness to all. After so many obvious lies, why in the world should anyone believe another word?

Patrilinealism and Naturalization

Exodus 6:14
These be the heads of their fathers' houses... By God's design, all nations are counted according to their fathers. Contrary to modern Jewish practice, nationality is never determined by one's birth mother. Most people who call themselves Jewish today are descended from Jewish men, but many are almost certainly not. Fortunately for them, naturalization is also a biblical concept. The mixed multitude that left Egypt with the Hebrews were considered by God to be Israelites. Many others are unknowingly descended from long forgotten Israelite rhizomes, and God might someday call them out again to rejoin their Jewish brothers in the land of Israel.

In fact, I believe he is already doing just that.

Girls on the Left; Boys in the River

Exodus 1:16
...if it be a son... When a woman marries, ideally she leaves her father's people and joins her husband's. Hebrew women were as accustomed to this institution as were their contemporaries. Pharaoh knew that their daughters would be much easier than their sons to assimilate into Egyptian society. If his goal was only population control, one might think Pharaoh would have been wiser to kill the girls, thereby reducing the number of Hebrews for two generations instead of only one.  However, there were three good reasons to target boys.

1. If he had been successful, then the next generation of Israelites would have been Egyptians. He would have eliminated the Hebrews forever, while dramatically increasing the number of Egyptians in the next.
2. Battles are fought by men. By God’s design, they are more likely to forcefully resist oppression.
3. As a shadow of Yeshua, Moses’ arrival was almost certainly prophesied. Pharaoh, like Herod centuries later, thought to circumvent God’s design through force.

Update January 20, 2009: This could almost make one become a conspiracist: Declining Male Fertility Linked to Water Pollution.

Why Wasn't Rachel Buried with Jacob?

Genesis 49:31
…there I buried Leah. Jacob's concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah, were not buried in this cave because they probably died sometime later in Egypt. The real question is why Rachel was not buried here. It was certainly not because Leah held a higher place in Jacob's affections. I do not believe that it had anything to do with whom Jacob married first or who was a real wife and who was not. I suspect that the separate burial of Rachel was prophetic of the separation of the two houses of Israel and Judah. The latter has remained physically identifiable with the patriarchs while the former has been scattered and has forgotten their origins. The blessing of Joseph in verse 26 reinforces this idea in my mind: "The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren."