Free Will and Younger Sons

Written for Old Testament, Dr. Joshua Madden, May 5, 2021

Introduction

            The culture throughout the Old Testament is that of a patriarchal society. We see this over and over, even into the New Testament. Matthew’s forty-two generation genealogy of Jesus names only five women; the rest of the line is defined solely by the males. Within this patriarchal society, rules for inheritance favored the firstborn son, who received a “double portion” in inheritance of the worldly goods of the patriarch. But the ways of man are not the way of God: there is a continuing motif in the Old Testament of God favoring the younger brother. The younger brother may be the second son, as in Cain and Abel, or he may be the eleventh son, as was Joseph. In this paper, I will look at five particular instances where the younger son is the one favored by God, showing that, time and again, man’s free will leads him to turn against God, and lose the favor of God.

Adam’s sons Cain and Abel

            From the beginning of creation, God has shown that being the firstborn did not automatically bestow higher honor. In Genesis 4, we see Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, and his younger brother, Abel. Cain is a farmer; Abel is a shepherd. Cain and Abel both make sacrifices to the Lord. Cain offers “fruit of the ground”[1] while Abel offers “some of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.”[2]. God finds favor in Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. Scripture does not give us a reason for this, but perhaps God, who sees man’s heart, has seen that Cain gives his offering in a different spirit than Abel does.[3] No matter the reason for God’s favoring Abel’s offering, Cain is angered by this. Cain, who is told by God “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen ? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”[4] Despite this warning from God, Cain’s anger does not abate. Ultimately, Cain seeks revenge for what he perceives as God's slight. He kills his brother. Genesis has already shown us the sins of disobedience to God and mistrust of God as well as lying to God. But here Cain commits the world's first murder, a murder of fratricide.

            Cain goes on to compound his sins when God asks him where Abel is. His response, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”[5] is not simply a lie, but also shows his detachment from his fellow man, as we all responsible for one another, to love one another as God has loved us.

            In the first two generations, God has been disobeyed by the first man, Adam, and by the second man, Cain, who betrays his trust. Man is utilizing the free will bestowed on him by God, but is falling to temptation, rather than being faithful to the Creator.

            This motif of God favoring the younger son continues throughout the Old Testament and happens in several instances of those named in Matthean genealogy. Does God have a true preference for the younger son? Or are these older sons drawn away from God by falling to temptation, by permitting their free will to follow the will of evil rather than the will of good?

Isaac, son of Abraham

            The first generation named in Matthew’s genealogy of Christ is the generation of Abraham. “Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.”[6] The Abrahamic covenant includes a promise by God regarding Abraham’s sons:

I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ish’mael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly; he shall be the father of Princes, and I will make him a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.[7]

In fact, Isaac will be referred to as Abraham’s only son; when an angel stops Abraham from completing the sacrifice of Isaac, saying “Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only begotten son, from me.”[8] Bergsma and Pitre, however, suggest that God chose Isaac over Ish’mael because, in Ish’mael, “Abraham has produced an heir outside of God’s intention.”[9] Here, the failure of free will to align with God’s will is in play, however, in this case, it is not a sin which Ish’mael commits, but that of Abraham. Bergsma and Pitre suggest that “the key reason for the renewal and revision of the covenant relationship”[10] in Genesis 17 may be to exclude Ish’mael from the new covenant “promising kingship and ‘fatherhood of many nations’ [which] is restricted to Isaac and his line.”[11] Ish’mael remains a party to the first covenant, and God promises to make a great nation of him, as well. We may read this as unfair; why is Ish’mael punished for Abraham’s failing? But we must remember that punishment for sin being continued to future generations is not unusual in the Old Testament. Additionally, Abraham was already married to Sarah when the covenant was made. Recall that it is after the first covenant that Abraham tells Pharaoh that Sarah is his sister; and so, Pharaoh takes her to his home. “[T]he Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sar’ai, Abram’s wife.”[12] Rather than remember that God promised that he would make a great nation of Abraham, and thus would keep him safe, Abraham instead, in his free will, lied, putting both Pharaoh and Sarah in sin (for Pharaoh now believes she is a single woman, not a married one), solely because Abraham thought that he would otherwise be killed by the Egyptians. He will later again act in a way inconsistent with God’s promise to him, when he has a son with Hagar, rather than trusting in the Lord. Once again, man has used free will, a gift from God, in order to turn from God, rather than put full faith in him.

Jacob’s son Judah

            Matthew gives Jesus’ genealogy as being of the line of Jacob's fourth born, Judah, again bypassing the oldest son. Bergsma and Pitre remind us that each of the three oldest sons lost the right of progeny by their own actions. In each case, we can trace their loss to acting, in their own free will, in a way against God’s will and commands. Reuben’s dalliance with Jacob’s concubine not only offended Jacob, who withheld his blessing, but may also be seen as breaking the commandment against adultery. Simeon and Levi lose covenant status because of their unjust actions against the Shechemites, acting in ways against the will of God, who calls us to be just. Thus, it is the fourth son, the eldest not cursed by his father, through whom the genealogy continues. [13] Judah is not as well-known today as his younger brother Joseph, but the line of succession continues through him, to his son Perez, to Perez’ son Hezron, thence to Ram,

Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, and Boaz. “Boaz the father of Obed, by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and the father of David the king.”[14]

David, son of Jesse

Matthew’s first set of fourteen generations ends with the great king David. David’s call comes during the reign of Saul. Saul has lost the favor of God through his own acts, his own working of his free will. Saul was told by Samuel of the Lord’s order that Saul was to act for God and punish Am’alek: “Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” [15]. But Saul chose to listen to his own will rather than the word of God: “But Saul and the people spared A’gag [king of the Am’alek], and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of  the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them.”[16]. This displeased God, whose word came to Samuel: I repent that I have made Saul king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.”[17] We see clearly here that it is Saul’s placing his own will above that of God which has caused God to reject him: “And the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.”[18] While Saul has no younger brother for the Lord to favor above him, we may here position David as, in a sense, becoming the younger brother of Saul, as God will call him to serve Saul as king, and to succeed him.

 In the biblical account of David’s selection and anointing, we see the difference between God’s standards and those of man. The account begins with God sending Samuel to Bethlehem: “The Lord said to Samuel: How long will you grieve for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”[19] Samuel sets on his way, being careful to keep the purpose of his journey from Saul. When he arrives in Bethlehem, he invites the elders to celebrate with him. He also invites Jesse and his sons: “And he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.”[20] Jesse’s sons are presented to Samuel, who will anoint God’s chosen one. “When they came, he looked at Eli’ab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.’ But the Lord said to Samuel: ‘Do not look on his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lords looks on the heart.”[21] Jesse presents Abin’adab, who the Lord rejects; then Shammah, who the Lord rejects. “And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen these.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’”[22] Jesse responds that there is one more, the youngest, but he is off taking care of the flock. This youngest son would appear to not have a place of honor within his family, as his brothers have been brought to this feast, while he has been left to work. But, remember, the Lord told Samuel that he has chosen a king from among Jesse’s sons, and has furthermore just told Samuel that he “sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lords looks on the heart.”[23] And so, hearing that one son is not present. “Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he comes here.’”[24] The youngest is sent for, and upon his entrance, “the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him; for this is he.’”[25]

There are several interesting points to this description. First, immediately after telling us that the Lord does not judge as man does, David is described in very human terms, as being “ ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome.”[26] Clearly, his good looks did not cause the Lord to select him, for the Lord has just told us that he looks on the heart. Perhaps the lesson we can take from this is that one’s looks, whether good or bad, have no bearing on our ability to be chosen by God. Second, this is a very clear instance of God selecting the person most suited for the job at hand. Birth order and place in the family hierarchy are not important. We are chosen based on attributes which are seen by God, not man.

Once the Lord has made known his choice, “Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.”[27] Immediately following this, Samuel leave, and David returns to his flock. He will soon be sent to Saul, to play the lyre for him and soothe him. There will be many twists and turns before the end of Saul’s reign and the beginning of David’s. David will become a great King, whose “dynasty ruled for about 400 years: the longest-lived dynasty in the ancient Near East.”[28] David is not perfect, as we see particularly in his behavior regarding Bathsheba and Uriah. His free will, ultimately, is his own downfall. “David, who as sacral king should be the model and enforcer of Mosaic law but, in this instance, is slothful, lustful, deceptive, and murderous.”[29]

Matthew states “And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.”[30] Only four women are named in Matthew’s genealogy. Three are listed as the mother of: Tamar, the mother of Perez; Rehab, the mother of Boaz; Ruth, the mother of Obed. Mary is listed a bit differently: “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born.”[31] Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, is not named by Matthew, although clearly identified as having been the wife of Uriah.

Solomon

David had nineteen sons, by at least eight different women, and also other sons by concubines.[32] Solomon appears to be the tenth, making him the middle son. He is the youngest of David’s four sons by Bathsheba, excluding one who died in infancy, taken by the Lord in punishment for David’s sins: “You have struck down Uri’ah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have struck him with the sword of the Am’monites.”[33]

            Solomon’s choosing by God is recorded in 1 Chronicles 28. David calls together all of the leaders and announces that God has told David that he is unworthy to build the temple. He goes on to say

Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my father’s house to be king over Israel forever; for he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah my father’s house, and among my father’s sons he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel. And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. He said to me, ‘It is Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.’[34]

Solomon’s assent to the throne is not without some drama. His rise to the kingship begins in 1 Kings. It is the “glory days”[35] of the Davidic kingdom, and David, still an old man, sees two of his sons jockeying for his kingdom: Solomon and Adoni’jah, his oldest surviving son, who is described as a “very handsome man”[36], once again reminding us that physical beauty is not what recommends us to God. “Now Adoni’jah the son of Haggith [his mother] exalted himself, saying, ‘I will be king!’ and he prepared for himself with chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.”[37] Adoni’jah has gained for himself the support of at least two people, Jo’ab and Abi’athar, a priest, but does not have the support of the priest Zadok, Nathan the prophet, or David’s warriors. [38] Nathan goes to Bathsheba and warns her of the danger to her and Solomon. Bathsheba and Nathan separately go to King David. Bathsheba says, “My lord, you swore to your maidservant by the Lord your God, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after m, and he shall sit upon my throne.’”[39] Likewise, Nathan the prophet came to King David, also telling him of the actions of Adoni’jah. David reiterates the promise to Bathsheba, and has Solomon taken to be anointed by Zadok the priest. The chapter ends with Adoni’jah accepting Solomon as king.

But we must remember the words of the Lord, told to us by David: “He said to me, ‘It is Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.’”[40] God has chosen Solomon not simply as King, but as son. Yet Solomon, blessed by God and adopted by God, falls to the same sin as Adam. “King Solomon gives his heart over to the desire for pleasure (wives), possessions (gold), and power (horses, weaponry), allowing his trust in God to disappear.”[41]

Jesus, the perfect Son

            As we have seen, selecting a younger son, or even selecting another to take the place of a younger son, as with Saul and David, does not in itself mean God’s chosen one will not fall to the same sin. But one lesson we can take from God so consistently choosing the younger son is that our ways are not God's ways. God upends our expectations.

            We see Jesus as the new Adam, but as if Adam had been perfected. Adam’s free will was not aligned to the will of God, and thus, Adam sinned, not just in disobedience by eating the forbidden fruit, but in falling prey to the whisper of the devil, promising him that to eat of the fruit would be to become like God. Jesus, however, has a will perfectly aligned to the father, both in his humanity and his divinity, in his position in the Trinity, and as Saviour. Adam certainly is not divine, is not part of God. While we are all children of God, Adam is not Son of God as Jesus is. Adam was created, not begotten. Adam had a beginning. Even though God specifically stated Solomon would be his son, Solomon was not begotten of God. He not only has a beginning, like Adam, but has an earthly father – as do Cain, Abel, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, David, and Solomon.

            Jesus in his divinity has no beginning. God has always been Triune; the Trinity has always been the Trinity. Saint John tells us that

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life, and the life was the light of men the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.[42]

So, then, the Word is before God created Adam; Adam was created by the Father through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Word is always the Son; when the Word became flesh, the Son, in his humanity, also became the only begotten son of the Father. As the “new Adam,” however, Jesus, in his humanity, is the second male of creation created specifically by the Father through the direct power of the Holy Spirit.

            Jesus is God, and Adam is not, that is clear. Throughout salvation history, God has passed over the first-born son in choosing his prophets and leaders, and, as I have shown, this has often been due to man’s failure to act in accordance with God’s will. Salvation history, of course, reaches its pinnacle with Christ. Jesus is God's only begotten son. Yet, when we consider him as God’s “second son,” the new and perfect Adam, we see the prophetic nature of God’s selection of the “second son” throughout Old Testament history. God has shown, again and again, that he chooses on values that are internal, not external. Jesus had a will perfectly aligned with the Father, and was thus able to remain sinless, despite the temptations the devil put in front of him.  In Christ, the second sonship comes to fruition: the sin of Adam, the sins of  us all are remediated, once for all.

Works Cited

            Bergsma, John Sietze, and Brant James Pitre. A Catholic Introduction To The Bible. Reprint, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2018.

            The Holy Bible, Translated From The Original Tongues Being The First Version Set Forth A.D. 1611 ; Old And New Testaments Revised A.D. 1881-1885 And A.D. 1901. Reprint, San Francisco, Calif.: Ignatius Press, 2006.

                [1] The Holy Bible, Translated From The Original Tongues Being The First Version Set Forth A.D. 1611 ; Old And New Testaments Revised A.D. 1881-1885 And A.D. 1901 (repr., San Francisco, Calif.: Ignatius Press, 2006). Genesis 4:3

                [2] Genesis 4:4

                [3] According to a footnote at https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/4, “Some suggest the story reflects traditional strife between the farmer (Cain) and the nomad (Abel), with preference for the latter reflecting the alleged nomadic ideal of the Bible. But there is no disparagement of farming here, for Adam was created to till the soil. The story is about two brothers (the word “brother” occurs seven times) and God’s unexplained preference for one, which provokes the first murder”

                [4] Genesis 4:6-7

                [5] Genesis 4:9

                [6] Matthew 1:2

                [7] Genesis 17:19-21

                [8] Genesis 22:12

                [9] John Sietze Bergsma and Brant James Pitre, A Catholic Introduction To The Bible (repr., San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2018), 139

                [10] Ibid, 139

                [11] Ibid, 139

                [12] Genesis 12:17

                [13] Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction To The Bible, 147

                [14] Matthew 1:5-6

                [15] 1 Samuel 15:3

                [16] 1 Samuel 15:9

                [17] 1 Samuel 15:10

                [18] 1 Samuel 15:35

                [19] 1 Samuel 16:1

                [20] 1 Samuel 16:5

                [21] 1 Samuel 16:6-7

                [22] 1 Samuel 16:10-11

                [23] 1 Samuel 16:7

                [24] 1 Kings 16:11

                [25] 1 Kings 16:12

                [26] 1 Kings 16:12

                [27] 1 Kings 16:13

                [28] Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction To The Bible, 361

                [29] Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction To The Bible, 365. Augustine appears to disagree; in On Christian Teaching, he states David was not lustful, though he fell into adultery. (Book III, Chapter 21)

                [30] Mathew 1:6. Luke’s genealogy veers from Matthew’s here, following the line of Nathan (also a son of David and Bathsheba, not to be confused with the Prophet Nathan mentioned in 2 Samuel) rather than the line of Solomon. Both genealogies connect Jesus, through Joseph, to the line of David and thus to Abraham.

                [31] Matthew 1:16

                [32] 1 Chronicles 3:1-9

                [33] 2 Samuel 12:9

                [34] 1 Chronicles 28:4-6

                [35] Bergsma and Pitre, 390

                [36] 1 Kings 1:6

                [37] 1 Kings 1:5

                [38] 1 Kings 1:7

                [39] 1 Kings 1:17. It is unclear whether Bathsheba is recalling the events of 1 Chronicles 28:4-6, or of a promise made directly to her by David.

                [40] 1 Chronicles 28: 6

                [41] Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction To The Bible , 393

                [42] John 1:1-5