Firstborn

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As the first-born was historically the one male child ( son ) of a family or concrete: the male head of (→  Patrilinearität called) that this or this first thing in marriage ( " legitimate ") was born was. In individual cases, there could be legal ways and illegitimate ( "illegitimate") was born first sons to be legitimated (z. B. by papal decree ), of which in particular ( high ) nobility was exercised if within a marriage not a descendant and heritage fathered could be. The order of the firstborn successes is technically called primogeniture . It is still common today to refer to a person's firstborn son as their firstborn .

In modern medicine , the term firstborn denotes the first birth of the mother, regardless of the sex of the firstborn child. The mother is called the first-time child .

Meaning in history

In the general knowledge of the special, the “first time”, the firstborn, man showed her the greatest appreciation and admiration, especially in earlier times. In ancient cultures, the first-born of humans and animals was the ideal representation of their species; one saw oneself, along with cattle and fruits, embodied in the purest and most distinct manner through their blood.

The firstborn belonged in a special way to the revered deity and was therefore her own. This awareness found its most obvious expression in the ritual of human sacrifice , from which the animal sacrifice developed as a substitute in cultural history . The Old Testament story of the non-sacrifice of Isaac in Gen 22  EU illustrates this.

Firstborn in the Bible

The angel prevents the sacrifice of Isaac

In ancient cultures - as the Bible shows by way of example - the firstborn enjoyed special privileges . In addition to enjoying the greater share of paternal affection, he always took first place after the father ( Gen 43.33  EU ) and a special privilege over his brothers ( Gen 37.21-22.30  EU etc.); A special blessing was awarded to him only by the dying father, he followed him as head of the family and received double the share of the inheritance from his brother ( Deut. 21.17  EU ). Furthermore, the birthright granted the right to the priesthood . The firstborn remained head of the family as long as the brothers stayed together in the house; as soon as they separated and formed a family of their own, each headed the house as head and priest.

According to the biblical tradition - as one of the ten biblical plagues - the firstborn sons of the Egyptians perished ( Ex 13.29  EU ), while the firstborn sons of the Hebrews were spared. As a token of appreciation, God declared that all firstfruits belonged to him ( Ex 13.2  EU ; Num 3.3  EU ), they were to be sacrificed accordingly. The sacrifice then took the form of the release sacrifice ( Ex 34.20  EU ). The priestly law gave precise information about the sacrifice of the redemption of the firstborn. The first-born child, when it was at least one month old, ie had proven its viability, was depicted in the temple ( Lk 2.22  EU ) and, according to the legal estimate, “redeemed for five shekels of holy weight” ( Num 18.16  EU ; 3.47 EU ). In the book Numbers the regulation is specified again ( Num 3.40  EU ; 8.17 EU ). The Levites, taken by Yahweh as the redemption of the firstborn in Israel, only refer to the establishment of the Levitic state; in later times all Jewish first-born sons, not just those over the Levite number, had to be redeemed by money.

The first fruits of the deity ( Ex 34.26  EU , Ex 23.19  EU , Ex 22.28  EU ) also belonged to the fruits of the field, the vineyard and the trees and were not allowed to be touched by humans ( Jer 2,3  EU ). For the same reason, the yield of newly planted trees was left unused for three years, that of the fourth year was given to the godhead and only claimed for itself from the fifth year on ( Lev 19.23  EU ). Sheaves of first fruits were offered on the Massot festival, first fruits on Pentecost, and the fruit of the trees in the hut festival. The firstfruits could be brought to the temple ( 2 Kings 4.42  EU ); According to legal regulations, the first fruits and the removal of the wool from sheep shearing belonged to the temple and were included in the income of the priests.

In Dtn 18.4  EU ; 26.1 EU , Ez 44.30  EU , Neh 10.36  EU , Num 15.20  EU ; 18.1 EU tells how the tree fruits were carried in baskets to the sanctuary and set down at the altar and how those offering them said a liturgical prayer in which they thanked God for the goodness in which they were blessed with the goods of God.

See also

literature

  • Fritz Stolz : "Erstlinge" in: Religion in the past and present. Concise dictionary for theology and religious studies, Volume 4, Tübingen 1999.
  • Paul Volz : The biblical antiquities. Komet Verlag, Cologne 1914, ISBN 3-89836-316-3 .

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