Firstborn Responsibility and Divine Purpose

God struck Egypt with ten plagues, yet of all of them, only one is perpetuated as an ongoing commandment: the final plague, the Plague of the Firstborn. This plague is remembered to this very day, generation after generation, by every Jewish family.

On the day of the Exodus, God says to Moshe: “Consecrate to Me every firstborn, the first issue of every womb among the Children of Israel, of man and of beast; it is Mine” (Shemot 13:2).

The nature of this consecration differs from case to case. A firstborn of a kosher animal is brought to the Temple as an offering, and its meat is eaten by the priest. Human firstborn sons were originally designated for Temple service, but after the sin of the Golden Calf this role was transferred to the tribe of Levi. As a result, ever since that sin, firstborn sons are redeemed through the mitzvah of pidyon haben. A firstborn donkey (peter chamor), which cannot be offered as a sacrifice, is redeemed with a lamb; if it is not redeemed, its neck must be broken.

The Torah later expands on the mitzvah of consecrating the firstborn: “And it shall be, when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you, that you shall set apart for the Lord every first issue of the womb; every firstborn offspring of animals that you have — the males shall be the Lord’s. Every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. And every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. And when your son asks you tomorrow, saying, ‘What is this?’ you shall say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord took us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, that the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord every male that opens the womb, and I redeem every firstborn of my sons’” (Shemot 13:11–15).

The Unique Role of the Firstborn

Why does God ask us to commemorate specifically the Plague of the Firstborn? What does it truly mean to be a firstborn?

The firstborn occupies a unique role within the family. Practically speaking, the firstborn is closest in age to the parents and thus serves as a transitional figure — a bridge between generations. The firstborn is ideally positioned to absorb the parents’ values and transmit them to the next generation.

Even the Hebrew word bechor (firstborn) hints at this role. Its root letters are ב–כ–ר. In gematria, ב equals 2, כ equals 20, and ר equals 200 — progressively expanding multiples of two.

As we noted, the firstborn is expected to carry forward the father’s legacy. In Hebrew, the word av (father) consists of the letters א–ב, numerically one and two. The father begins with one and seeks to expand — to transmit his values, from one to two. The firstborn takes those two and expands them further, from twenty to two hundred. Through the firstborn, the father’s values grow and extend into the next generation.

The Book of Bereishit teaches us that “firstborn” is more about function than chronological birth order. The true firstborn is the one who chooses to carry and embody the parents’ spiritual legacy. This is not always the eldest child biologically. Yitzchak carried Avraham’s legacy, not Yishmael. Yaakov carried Yitzchak’s legacy, not Esav. Yosef is called Yaakov’s “firstborn,” not Reuven. Rashi (on Shemot 4:22) explains that “firstborn” can mean greatness and primacy, not merely birth order.

Why Were Egypt’s Firstborn Killed?

Egypt had its own idolatrous culture and corrupt values, which it sought to impose on the world. The Egyptians brutally oppressed Israel and refused to acknowledge God. In response, God struck down their firstborn. Symbolically, God destroyed Egypt’s intergenerational bridge, cutting off the transmission of its idolatrous values to the next generation.

The Plague of the Firstborn was not a sudden surprise. God warned Egypt about it much earlier. At the very beginning of Moshe’s mission, God instructs him to say to Pharaoh: “So says the Lord: Israel is My firstborn son. I said to you, ‘Send My son that he may serve Me,’ but you refused to send him; behold, I will kill your firstborn son” (Shemot 4:22–23).

God Describes Israel as His Firstborn

Israel was certainly not the first nation in history; many nations preceded them. However, if the role of the firstborn is to transmit the values of the parent, then God’s “firstborn” is the nation tasked with conveying God’s values to the world. “My firstborn Israel” defines Israel’s unique mission: to bring awareness of the Creator into human history.

What are those values? At their core, they are the recognition that everything we have comes from God, not from ourselves. Throughout the Exodus narrative, God repeatedly declares, “And Egypt shall know that I am the Lord.” The purpose of the plagues was not merely punishment, but revelation — so that Egypt, and ultimately the world, would recognize God.

There is perhaps no moment when a person is more susceptible to forgetting God than when his first child is born. At that moment, one feels like a creator. The very child who transforms parents into “creators” carries the responsibility of reminding them, and the world, that God is the true Creator.

God says to Pharaoh: Israel is My firstborn. They represent the idea of revealing the true Creator to the world. When Pharaoh refuses to let Israel go, he is effectively declaring, “I am the creator. I am god.” In response, God strikes Egypt’s firstborn — the product of their sense of self-creation, the very thing that made them feel divine.

You are not the ultimate creators, God tells Egypt. I am.