In yesterday’s post, we discussed the Sonship in the history of man up until the story of the Israelites. As most of you probably know, God allowed the Israelites to be enslaved in Egypt for over 400 years – until He raised Moses to deliver them. On Mount Sinai, He gave them the Law through Moses and His angels. In the Law, a particular thing about the first-born and the father-son relationship is very illuminating…
Deut 21:15-23 [NIV]
15If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, 16when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. 17He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.
18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.” 21Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
22If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, 23you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
In the Law, God ordained the right of the first-born, as well as the death penalty of a rebellious son. Then one who is punished with death is to be hung on a tree, but he should not be left to be on the tree overnight, or it will desecrate the land as the inheritance. Every detail here is a message of Christ’s future death on the Cross, including the removal of the curse that was upon Man through Adam and the restoring of the right as the first-born and his inheritance in God the Father
This post is _Part 6_ in a series Restored Back to the Father: Son and Orphan. To continue with this series, click on Part 7. To use this as a growth tool to better understand your own calling, you might start by reading the explanation of this series and then read Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4 and Pt 5.
Photo credit: nthuongtho2710