You Are Mine: The Firstborn Belongs to Adonai
-- T O R A H P O R T I O N --
Introduction:
How does it feel to be the firstborn, and what is special about it?
According to a recent Swedish study, firstborns have more favorable personality traits, including openness to new experiences, conscientiousness, extroversion, friendliness, and greater emotional stability than their later-born siblings. Firstborns tend to possess psychological characteristics related to leadership, including responsibility, creativity, obedience, and dominance.
Last Shabbat, God released His verdict and the final plague upon Pharaoh and his people. He struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt—from Pharaoh’s firstborn to the captive’s firstborn, even the firstborn of the livestock. A great cry was heard throughout Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. This was the result of Pharaoh’s disobedience to let the Israelites go to worship God in the wilderness. He and his people experienced ten plagues, and the most painful of all was the death of the firstborn.
For the people of Israel, after they obeyed God by putting the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, God gave them additional instructions regarding the Feast of Pesach. And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the LORD brought His people out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.
Last Shabbat, God released His verdict and the final plague to Pharaoh and his people. He struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from Pharaoh’s firstborn to the captive’s and all the firstborn of the livestock. A great cry was heard in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. This is the result of Pharaoh’s disobedience to let the Israelites go to worship God in the wilderness. He and his people experienced ten plagues, and the most painful is the death of all the firstborn.
For the people of Israel after they obeyed God to put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, God gave them additional rules about the feast of Pesach. And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the Lord brought His people out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.
Our Torah portion this Shabbat deals with the consecration of the firstborn and the repetition on how to celebrate the feast of Unleavened Bread. The Hebrew word for consecrate is Qadas which means "sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy and be separate." In verses 1 and 2, God told Moshe to consecrate to Him all the firstborn, but surprisingly Moshe first repeated the celebration of the feast of Unleavened Bread. Why? In verse 3, Moshe told the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out of this place.”
Here, we can see two reasons why this feast was repeated by Moshe: First to remind Israel that they were slaves inside Egypt. God told Abraham in Gen.15:13 that his descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will serve(slaves) them, and they will afflict them for four hundred years. As slaves, they don’t have freedom, a freedom to worship God, and that’s the reason why He wants Pharaoh to let Israel go. This is where we can appreciate the Torah, they contain God’s teachings and instructions which will help and remind us what it feels like to be free.
Second, to remind them of God’s redemptive work. In Gen.50:24, Yosef told his brothers: “God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” God fulfilled this promise. By the mighty strength of His hand, He brought Israel out of Egypt. The first three fall feast is a celebration of what God did for the people of Israel. Imagine the blood of the lamb protected them from judgement which foreshadows the blood of Yeshua, and the command to eat bread without yeast taught them a lesson that when it’s time to go, it’s time to go.
Next is the consecration of the firstborn and what are some reasons why God wants them:
A Reminder of God’s Faithfulness - If at the feast of Unleavened Bread God reminded Israel of their former status in Egypt and His redemptive work, here upon consecrating the firstborn, He wants to remind His chosen people that He is faithful. After God killed Pharaoh’s firstborn and all in the land of Egypt, He followed immediately this instruction, since all the firstborn of Israel including their animals were spared by the tenth plague.
A Reminder of God’s Covenant Relationship with Israel - Going back to Exodus 4:22, God said: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.” From this verse, we can see the covenantal relationship between God and His people. He’s a husband, a father, a protector and savior to them. He brought the nation of Israel into reality. Until now, Israel is the apple of the eye of God. Deuteronomy 32:10 says: “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.”
A Testimony for the Next Generation - In verse 14, God said: “So it shall be, when your son(Maybe a firstborn) asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” We can see here the relationship between a father and his son. It is so nice to see a father testifying God’s faithfulness, injecting to the mind of his son that through the mighty hand of God, their forefathers were freed from slavery, and this story telling of a father to his son cannot be matched by any amount of money.
A Foreshadowing of Messiah Yeshua - In Luke 22:1 says: “Now the feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called Passover, is approaching.” Then In verse 15 Yeshua said to His Talmidim: “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” Finally in verse 19, He said: “And when He had taken some bread( of course it's matzah) and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Yeshua was the Unleavened Bread in Exodus 13, for He was no leaven ( meaning blameless). So everytime the Jewish people and Gentile (circumcised/grafted in) celebrate these two back to back spring feasts, we are not only remembering Him, but also claiming that He was there already in the Tanakh as the firstborn of all creation (Col.1:15). Also in Luke 2:7 it says, “And she ( Miryam) gave birth to her Firstborn( Yeshua) son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” HalleluYAH! What a wonderful revelation from God!
Freedom without consecration leads to rebellion, but freedom offered back to God becomes redemption’s testimony.
When was the last time you thanked Adonai not just for freeing you, but for claiming you as His own? This week, dedicate something in your life, your time, your talent, your first fruits as a sign that you belong to Him.
-- H A F T A R A H P O R T I O N --
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Our Haftarah deals with the contrast between the God of Israel and the gods of Babylon.
Verses 1–2 mention Bel and Nebo. According to commentators, Bel is another spelling of Baal, and Nebo comes from the name Nebuchadnezzar.
The prophet Isaiah reveals the utter helplessness of Babylon’s idols:
“From its place it shall not move.”
Unlike the God of Israel who is Omnipresent, the gods of Babylon are immobile—unable to reach those who call for help.
“Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer.”
These idols are deaf and mute—it is useless to cry out to them.
“It cannot save someone in trouble.”
In contrast, Yeshua, whose very name means “to save”, offered Himself to take away the sin of the world. The gods of Babylon are powerless, but the God of Israel saves.
The God of Israel
“Listen to Me, house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel,
you who have been carried by Me from birth,
and have been borne by Me from the womb.
Even to your old age I am He; even to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear; I will carry, and will deliver you.”
(Isaiah 46:3–4)
Unlike idols that must be carried, Adonai carries His people. From the day of Israel’s birth as a nation, He took care of them, upholding and carrying them in His arms. He made them, sustains them, and will rescue them.
V.3 – A Father
God is like a father to His chosen people. They have been upheld by Him from birth and carried from the womb, meaning they are God’s firstborn (Exodus 4:22).
Isaiah 9:6 affirms, “His name shall be called... Everlasting Father.”
This reveals His tender and faithful care—He never ceases to carry His children.
V.4 – A Deliverer
Notice the use of the personal pronoun “I” five times—proof that God Himself promises His presence and deliverance.
The phrase “Even to your old age” mirrors Yeshua’s words in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
The same everlasting arms that carried Israel through the wilderness will carry us through every stage of life.
VV.8–11 – The Aleph and Tav God
Here Adonai calls Israel to remember “the former things of old”—their history from Egypt and the fulfillment of His promises.
Verse 10 declares: “I make known the end from the beginning.”
He is Omnipresent, sovereign over time itself, the Aleph and the Tav, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:13).
He is not a god bound by space or time but the Eternal One who ordains all things.
Vv.12–13 – A Savior
From the word “salvation” we see Yeshua, because His name means “to save.”
Matthew 1:21 says,
“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins.”
This salvation is near and not delayed. God declares, “I will grant salvation in Zion, My glory for Israel.” (Isaiah 46:13)
That salvation has come, is coming, and will come again in the person of Yeshua HaMashiach.
Adonai YHVH, the God of Israel, is the One True God—sovereign, powerful, and compassionate. He is not carried by human hands; He carries His people from the womb to gray hairs, from bondage to redemption.
As David Guzik noted:
“The false gods must be carried; but God carries His people.”
The idols of this world demand your effort but give no life; the God of Israel asks for your heart and gives you eternity.
Look at what you lean on daily, security, possessions, even relationships. Are any of them competing with Adonai for your trust? This week, let Him carry what your idols never could.
When life feels heavy, do you still trust the everlasting arms of your Father to carry you? Or are you struggling to carry what only He can bear?
-- APOSTOLIC P O R T I O N --
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In Apostolic, Paul wrote to the Ekklesia in Colossae, because there was a problem caused by false teachings and maybe one of the problems is the deity of Yeshua. Verse 9 says, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”
To increase the knowledge, wisdom and understanding of the brethren in Colossae, Paul speaks about the superiority of Yeshua:
He is the image of the invisible God - John 14:9-10 says, “He said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father, so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” Here we can see that Yeshua is the exact portrayal and nature of the Father.
He is the firstborn of all creation - For Paul, Yeshua is preeminent. When he says that Yeshua is the firstborn, it doesn’t mean that He was created first, rather Yeshua carries the covenant promise of God to Abraham (Gal.3:16).
He is before all things - John 1:1-2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”
To belong to Yeshua is to carry the mark of the Firstborn, called out, set apart, and sent forth to reflect the Father’s glory.
In what area of your life are you living for yourself rather than for Adonai? Let the truth of Yeshua’s supremacy remind you: you were not just saved—you were set apart to show that you belong to Him.
The connection of our parasha is about God’s ownership of the firstborn son. In the Torah, God told Moshe to consecrate all the firstborn, both man and beast. In the Haftarah, Israel who has been upheld by God from birth, who has been carried from the womb was reminded by God that He is the only True God, and He cannot be compared with the false gods of Babylon. In the Apostolic, Yeshua is the firstborn of all creation.
Back to my introduction…Being firstborn doesn’t mean the first to be born. It is about a different kind of position or rank. Just like in the case of Esau and Jacob, Ishmael and Isaac, God chose the younger to serve Him. So if He chose us to serve Him too, we now share in the privilege and favor of His firstborn, for the blood of Yeshua the firstborn of all creation redeemed us. We belong to God so let us show Him that we are worthy to be called as His.
The One who redeemed the firstborn of Israel, who carries His people from the womb, and who reigns as the Firstborn of all creation, He calls us His own. We do not belong to Egypt, to Babylon, or to this world. We belong to Adonai, bought by the blood of the Lamb and carried by the arms of the Father.”
When the world demands your allegiance, whose mark do you bear, the mark of bondage or the seal of belonging?
Live daily remembering: you are not defined by what you carry, but by Who carries you.
Walk as one redeemed, consecrated, and sustained by the Firstborn, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Romans 14:7-9
“For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the LORD; and if we die, we die for the LORD. So whether we live or die, we belong to the LORD.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Topher
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Sources:
crivoice.org
theheartofisrael.org
reformjudaism.org
jtsa.edu
timesofisrael.com
rts.edu
bibleoutlines.com
bethmelekh.com
theconversation.com
TheMacArthurStudyBible
bibleblender.com
scenichillsblvd.wordpress.com
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