Deuteronomy 21:15

THE INALIENABLE RIGHT OF THE FIRST-BORN

"If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated: and if the first-born son be hers that was hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; then it shall be, in the day that he causeth his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved the first-born before the son of the hated who is the first-born: but he shall acknowledge the first-born, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath; for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first-born is his."

The right of primogeniture existed long before the Law of Moses was given and was apparently recognized throughout the whole world of that period. The special legislation here seems that it might have been formulated with the life of Jacob and the Twelve Patriarchs in mind. There can be no doubt whatever that Jacob would have preferred to have Joseph as the first-born, for he was the son of the beloved Rachel. However, even when Jacob disinherited Reuben because of his adultery with one of Jacob's wives, God still decreed that the Messianic line should descend through Judah, despite his being the son of the "hated" wife. Jacob honored God's law in this, and when Leah was buried, she was laid to rest next to Jacob in the cave of Machpelah.

The big thing here is that the authority of the head of the household did NOT include the right of choosing WHICH son would be his first-born. That honor pertained inalienably to the son who ACTUALLY was the first-born. The Biblical use of the term "hated" in this passage should not be misunderstood as reflecting the current usage of the term today. It means "loved less" and not, in any sense, "hated." The preferred wife versus the not-preferred wife is the conflict pictured here. It should be noted that polygamy is always presented in the Bible is such a manner as to expose the sinfulness of those who practiced it. "If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated ..." Was there ever a situation in which a man had two wives and this situation did not exist? Ridiculous! The bitterness and conflict were inherent in polygamy itself.

"Beloved" and "hated" are relative terms, meaning simply that one is preferred to the other."[25] "The wisdom of having two wives is not even discussed by Moses. As in so many other cases in Deuteronomy, the evil is anticipated and the problem faced `as is,' not `as hoped.'"[26] "In the O.T., polygamy is frequently described in a context of family disruption. There is no attempt to make polygamy appear as a good thing."[27]