Especially in Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures and civilizations, the oldest child is regarded as the most important—especially the oldest son. Even in Western Europe and the Americas we see this to a certain degree.
To this day, and certainly throughout the centuries, it has been almost exclusively the oldest son who became the heir to the throne among the royalty of Europe. And in America, it is often the oldest son that is blessed with the father’s name and is often encouraged to follow in the footsteps of his father when it comes to the college he should attend and career he should follow.
In Bible times as well it was certainly the norm for the older child to receive the greater blessing. Yet God apparently sees things differently at times. In fact, Peter said, “God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34-35). The Lord calls various people to serve Him in special ways, and He does this through a process not bound by the traditions or the customs of mankind.
We don’t have to look any further than the lineage of Jesus Christ Himself to see that many of His ancestors were not the firstborn sons in their family. And what could have been more of a blessing, especially to a Jew, than to be part of the lineage through whom the Messiah would come? Some prominent examples that come to mind from this lineage, and who are listed in Luke 3, are as follows:
Adam’s son Seth was chosen, ahead of firstborn Cain or second-born Abel. Yet the Bible says “the Lord looked with favor on Abel…” (Genesis 4:4). Isaac’s son Jacob was chosen, ahead of firstborn Esau. In fact, the Lord told Rebekah, who was the mother of the twins, “The older will serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). And although Jacob received the birthright of his older brother through deceptive means, he is the one in the lineage of Jesus. (See Genesis 27.) Jacob’s son Judah was chosen, ahead of his eleven brothers. Three of those eleven were older than he, yet Jesus is called “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5). Jesse’s son David was chosen, ahead of his seven brothers, to be the King of Israel, and, of course, to be an ancestor of Jesus. (See 1 Samuel 16).
One well-known example in the Scriptures of older brothers serving a younger brother is the story of Joseph. He was the eleventh of twelve sons of Jacob, and shared two dreams with his brothers, indicating that they would bow down to him at some point in the future. The story, as recorded in the Bible is this:
“He [Joseph] said to them, ‘Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.’ His brothers said to him, ‘Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?’ And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’ When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, ‘What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?’ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind” (Genesis 37:6-11).
Of course, we see the fulfillment of these dreams in Genesis 42:6, which says, “Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.” So Joseph was not only blessed above his brothers in this instance, but was also used by God to be a blessing to them and to save them from the terrible famine.
Yet Joseph himself seems to have missed the principle that God will sometimes bless the younger son with a greater blessing than the older. Some years later, as Jacob (Joseph’s father) is approaching the end of his life, we see Joseph bringing his own sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to their grandfather for a blessing. The Bible records the story in this way:
“Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn. When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. Joseph said to him, ‘No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.’ But his father refused and said, ‘I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.’ So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh” (Genesis 48:14, 17-19, 20b).
We cannot be dogmatic as to why God chooses to work in this way—oftentimes choosing the younger to be greater than the older. Yet when we look at how God works in other areas, perhaps we can begin to see a consistent pattern. And the Lord Himself tells us in Isaiah 55:9, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
My own perspective is this: God often does things much differently than how we would do them, so that He will receive the glory. If He always did things our way, we would probably be tempted to take the credit. Yet the Lord God says, “I will not yield my glory to another” (Isaiah 48:11).
Yes, God works in ways that are sometimes difficult for us to understand. However, there are lessons to be learned from this, especially in how we deal with others. When Samuel was told by the Lord to anoint the next King of Israel and he saw Eliab, one of David’s older brothers, he thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD” (1 Samuel 16:6). But God, with very direct words, said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
How many problems we must create by only seeing someone’s position in society or outward appearance, instead of attempting to consider the character of the heart! May God give us His eyes, so that we will view others from His perspective.