Etymology and usage[edit]
The semitic root B-K-R means "early" or "first" in Ancient Near East Semitic languages. Biblical Hebrew contains various verbs from the B-K-R stem with this association. The plural noun bikkurim (vegetable first fruits) also derives from this root.[1] The masculine noun bekhor (firstborn) is used of sons, as "Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn",[2] while the feminine equivalent is bekhirah (בְּכִירָה), firstborn daughter.[3] Derived from bechor is the qualitative noun bekhorah (בְּכוֹרָה) ("birthright"), related to primogeniture.
The Second Temple and Dead Sea scrolls[edit]
The understanding of Israel as the national firstborn of God is found in the Dead Sea scrolls 1Q/4Q "Instruction," and probably 4Q369 the "Prayer of Enosh",[11] as well as in Ben Sira.[12]
Hellenistic and Diaspora Judaism[edit]
The concept of the firstborn was heavily present in Hellenistic Judaism among the Second Temple Jewish diaspora. In the Septuagint, Israel, then Ephraim, are God's prototokos (πρωτότοκος) "firstborn." The use of "firstborn" is taken further along figurative lines. In the pseudepigraphical Testament of Abraham disease is personified as the prototokos "firstborn" of Thanatos, the personification of death.[13] In Joseph and Asenath the converted Egyptian princess Asenath prepares to marry Joseph, the prototokos "firstborn" of the god of Israel.[14] Philo of Alexandria comments on the inheritance rites of the firstborn in Deuteronomy, greatly emphasizing and embellishing the superiority of Mosaic Law over Egyptian models.[15]
The importance of the literal firstborn son is not as greatly developed in Christianity and Islam as it is in Judaism.