The firstborn and the birthright

“The first shall be the last and the last shall be the first”.

This is a statement that we find several times in the New Testament, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. I have been searching for all the instances of this statement and found the following references:

• -New Testament: Matthew 19:30, 20:16, Mark 10:31, Luke 13:30
• -Book of Mormon: 1 Nephi 13:42, Jacob 5:63, Ether 13:12
• -D&C 29:30

I discuss regularly with Lord Wilmore and he might as well have written a post on this, so much of what I bring up in this post comes from discussion with or input from him. The main observation is that this statement about the last and first conveys a fractal pattern. We can see that from the various contexts of the verses just listed, but also a larger theme in the scriptures where we find an interplay and struggle between the ‘first’ and ‘last’, on an individual, national and cosmic level.

The first and last in the Bible

On the individual level, we see this pattern in all the patriarchs, where the firstborn son becomes the last and vice versa. The firstborn son had both special priveleges and responsbilities in Israel. He received a double portion of his father’s inheritance compared to the other siblings. After his father’s death, he would also assume a leadership role in the family, overseeing family affairs and making decisions on behalf of the household. This was known as the birthright. With this so ingrained in the Israelite society it is interesting to note that their forefathers consistently deviated from this tradition and the first became the last consistently from Abraham to Joseph. Here is a summary:

1. Isaac and Ishmael: Although Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn son, it is Isaac who receives the primary blessing and inheritance from his father. This is evident in God’s covenant with Abraham, where Isaac is designated as the heir of the covenant promises (Genesis 17:19-21). Isaac is the son born of a free woman by promise (Galatians 4:23) as opposed to Ishmael.
2. Jacob and Esau: Isaac has twins, Jacob and Esau. Esau is technically the firstborn, but sells his birthright to Jacob. In the end, Jacob gets the blessing with help from his mother, Rebekah. Jacob later becomes Israel, and all his descendants the covenant people.
3. Joseph and his Brothers: Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, receives special favor from his father, including the gift of a coat of many colors and prophetic dreams indicating his future greatness (Genesis 37). Despite not being the firstborn, Joseph’s leadership and wisdom ultimately lead him to a position of authority in Egypt and his family. Joseph saves the house of Israel foreshadowing events in the latter days.
4. Ephraim and Manasseh: When Joseph presents his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to his father Jacob for a blessing, Jacob intentionally crosses his hands and gives the greater blessing to the younger son, Ephraim, over the elder, Manasseh (Genesis 48). Ephraim was the head of the Northern tribes who were scattered, but will be instrumental in the latter-day gathering.

Just to underscore that this is not arbitrary, we have the younger brother getting the birthright four generations in a row among the patriarchs who received the covenant. There is clearly some kind of message given here. I am not sure that I fully understand what that is, but the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob set this up perhaps as some sort of characteristic of his covenant with them. We will see how this plays out with their descendants on the national level (the covenant people).

Exodus 4:22 offers an interesting twist:

Israel is my son, even my firstborn

Exodus 4:22

God is not referring to the person, Israel (Jacob) here, who was long dead, but the people. But he uses the singular form when calling the people of Israel his firstborn son. Israel gets the blessings of the birthright and the promised land, but remembering their covenant fathers, Israel would also know that being the firstborn is not an unconditional guarantee for these blessings. Sure enough, as Israel broke the covenant, they were scattered and destroyed. In New Testament times, the Gentiles (the younger brother?) start becoming the more favored and in the latter days, the fulness of the Gentiles will bring the gospel from them back to Israel and initiate their gathering. The last have become the first. Jesus explains this in Luke 13 when he speaks to the Jews:

28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
29 And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
30 And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.

Luke 13

There is a certain irony in the fact that Jacob (Israel), who was not the firstborn, shall sit in the kingdom of God, while the descendants of Israel, the people who God called his firstborn son, shall be thrust out. They who come from the four corners of the earth are talked about in Isaiah and refer to the latter-day gathering. We see this back and forth play between the first and last over and over in the scriptures, on different hierarchical levels. What does it all mean? One obvious takeaway is that covenant blessings are conditioned on righteousness rather than the timing of your birth. Our heavenly birthright is not just arbitrary and based on sheer luck.

2 For behold, I say unto you that as many of the Gentiles as will repent are the covenant people of the Lord; and as many of the Jews as will not repent shall be cast off; for the Lord covenanteth with none save it be with them that repent and believe in his Son, who is the Holy One of Israel.”

2 Nephi 30:2

The first and last in the Book of Mormon

We find the same pattern in the Book of Mormon. The birthright reversal happens in Lehi’s family. This is no coincidence. It is always the covenant father. Like Abraham, Lehi was asked to leave the land of his fathers and inherit a promised land, even by covenant (See 2 Nephi 1:5). Like the Old Testament patriarchs, his oldest sons lose the birthright to the younger brother.

Scaling it up reveals another intricate interplay between the older and younger brother. It is the descendants of the younger brother, the Nephites, who initially are a favored people, while the Lamanites are not. But eventually, the Nephites lose that status through wickedness and are ultimately destroyed. In another twist they leave a record that becomes a tool to bring back the Lamanites and gather the House of Israel, of which both Nephites and Lamanites are a branch that is broken off. Lehi talks about this branch in 1 Nephi 10 to his sons. Just like the birthright reversal came into play as the tree of Israel first started growing, the same happens again with the branch that is broken off and grows in new soil. Zenos’ allegory comes to mind and sure enough, he uses this same expression:

63 Graft in the branches; begin at the last that they may be first, and that the first may be last, and dig about the trees, both old and young, the first and the last; and the last and the first, that all may be nourished once again for the last time.

Jacob 5:63

After Lehi has spoken about these things in 1 Nephi 10, Nephi has a desire to know for himself. The vision that follows is a great demonstration of how this pattern plays out. Nephi sees in vision his own posterity and the posterity of his brothers. He also sees the church of the Lamb and the great and abominable church (the bride and the harlot) as well as the Jews and the Gentiles. All of these contrasted ‘first’ and ‘last’ intermingle in interesting ways. It is too much to quote here to consider all the details but I will make an attempt to summarize

Lehi’s oldest sons (the ‘first’) become the ‘last’ as Nephi gets the birthright. But Nephi sees in vision how his own posterity will ultimately fall and be destroyed by the Lamanites, who become ‘first’ again. But as they “dwindle in unbelief”, they are scattered by the Gentiles. It is getting rather complex at this point. The Lamanites are now ‘last’ again in the sense that the don’t have the gospel or the scriptures that the Gentiles have, but the Gentiles will bring it to the Lamanites. At the same time, there is a lot of dynamics going on with the Gentiles and the two churches. Nephi sees the founding of a great and abominable church among the Gentiles. It usurps power temporarily by murdering the saints and removing plain and precious parts from the record of the Jews. There are multiple twists and turns.

34 And it came to pass that the angel of the Lord spake unto me, saying: Behold, saith the Lamb of God, after I have visited the remnant of the house of Israel—and this remnant of whom I speak is the seed of thy father—wherefore, after I have visited them in judgment, and smitten them by the hand of the Gentiles, and after the Gentiles do stumble exceedingly, because of the most plain and precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb which have been kept back by that abominable church, which is the mother of harlots, saith the Lamb—I will be merciful unto the Gentiles in that day, insomuch that I will bring forth unto them, in mine own power, much of my gospel, which shall be plain and precious, saith the Lamb.
35 For, behold, saith the Lamb: I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious; and after thy seed shall be destroyed, and dwindle in unbelief, and also the seed of thy brethren, behold, these things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles, by the gift and power of the Lamb.

1 Nephi 13

Somehow it seems that God is using this pattern to bless as many of his children as possible. Whoever is favored can help the rest of the family in different ways, like Joseph saved his brothers from famine or the Lamanites were used as “a scourge unto [the] seed [of Nephi], to stir them up in the ways of remembrance.” (1 Nephi 2:24). Sometimes this scourge is rather drastic and brutal, but God always leaves a remnant – a seed to grow in new soil. It all follows the same pattern of old/last becoming new/first. 1 Nephi 13 ends this way.

42 And the time cometh that he shall manifest himself unto all nations, both unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles; and after he has manifested himself unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles, then he shall manifest himself unto the Gentiles and also unto the Jews, and the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.

1 Nephi 13

In the end, when the first/older has become the last and the last/younger has become the first, there is a beautiful union that perhaps all this complex interplay with its twists and turns have led up to, according to God’s grand plan.

10 And then cometh the New Jerusalem; and blessed are they who dwell therein, for it is they whose garments are white through the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who are numbered among the remnant of the seed of Joseph, who were of the house of Israel.
11 And then also cometh the Jerusalem of old; and the inhabitants thereof, blessed are they, for they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who were scattered and gathered in from the four quarters of the earth, and from the north countries, and are partakers of the fulfilling of the covenant which God made with their father, Abraham.
12 And when these things come, bringeth to pass the scripture which saith, there are they who were first, who shall be last; and there are they who were last, who shall be first.

Ether 13

The cosmic level

With Ether 13 quoted about the Old and New Jerusalem, we can easily transition to the cosmic level of this fractal pattern. Lord Wilmore summed it up beautifully: “The ‘older brother gets usurped by the younger brother’ pattern is meant to remind us of how this earthly inversion will be corrected and healed back to its heavenly state.” In the premortal realm, Jesus Christ, the firstborn of the Father offered to become the Savior. At that time, it was the younger brother who rebelled. He was cast out but gained power over those who followed him and seeks to increase that power in an ongoing cosmic struggle with his older brother to seal to themselves as many as they can. The younger brother temporarily has dominion on the earth until the older brother comes down from heaven to claim all those who are willing to follow him.

The only time “the first shall be the last” is used in D&C is in Section 29 and it’s an interesting one.

26 But, behold, verily I say unto you, before the earth shall pass away, Michael, mine archangel, shall sound his trump, and then shall all the dead awake, for their graves shall be opened, and they shall come forth—yea, even all.
27 And the righteous shall be gathered on my right hand unto eternal life; and the wicked on my left hand will I be ashamed to own before the Father;
28 Wherefore I will say unto them—Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
29 And now, behold, I say unto you, never at any time have I declared from mine own mouth that they should return, for where I am they cannot come, for they have no power.
30 But remember that all my judgments are not given unto men; and as the words have gone forth out of my mouth even so shall they be fulfilled, that the first shall be last, and that the last shall be first in all things whatsoever I have created by the word of my power, which is the power of my Spirit.
31 For by the power of my Spirit created I them; yea, all things both spiritual and temporal—
32 First spiritual, secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, first temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work

D&C 29

“In all things whatsoever I have created” is a big statement. But it confirms that this is a grand cosmic pattern. Here it relates to creation, resurrection and judgement in ways that I don’t fully understand. But it seems that all these dynamics between older/younger brother, Lamanites/Nephites, bride/harlot, Israel/Gentiles are important parts of a grand plan to save and exhalt God’s children.