Exo. 12:12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn–both men and animals–and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.”
For those in Egypt who did not apply the blood over their households, God would smite the firstborn of both humans and animals. Why the emphasis on the firstborn, you might wonder? In the Bible, the firstborn often symbolizes our natural, earthly birth in contrast to our subsequent ‘spiritual’ birth. The underlying message is the imperative need for rebirth—we must undergo a spiritual transformation and not linger in the realm of the flesh.
This theme is evident in the narratives of several prominent sibling pairs in the Bible, where the firstborn exhibits characteristics associated with the ‘flesh’—meaning they are unspiritual and self-centered. Instances of this pattern include Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, and Esau and Jacob. The sequence unfolds with the primacy of the fleshly, followed by the spiritual.
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