What is meant by Exodus 4v22 isn't Jesus the firstborn?

Answer 1

"Israel Is My Son." To Pharaoh, who considered himself a god and a son of the Egyptian god Ra, Jehovah spoke of Israel as "my son, my firstborn," and called on the Egyptian ruler to "send my son away that he may serve me." (Ex 4:22, 23) Thus the entire nation of Israel was viewed by God as his "son" because of being his chosen people, a "special property, out of all the peoples." (De 14:1, 2) Not only because Jehovah is the Source of all life but more specifically because God had, in harmony with the Abrahamic covenant, produced this people, he is called their "Creator," their "Former," and their "Father," the one by whose name they were called. (Compare Ps 95:6, 7; 100:3; Isa 43:1-7, 15; 45:11, 12, 18, 19; 63:16.) He had 'helped them even from the belly,' evidently referring to the very beginning of their development as a people, and he 'formed' them by his dealings with them and by the Law covenant, giving shape to the national characteristics and structure. (Isa 44:1, 2, 21; compare God's expressions to Jerusalem at Eze 16:1-14; also Paul's expressions at Ga 4:19 and 1Th 2:11, 12.) Jehovah protected, carried, corrected, and provided for them as a father would for his son. (De 1:30, 31; 8:5-9; compare Isa 49:14, 15.) As "a son," the nation should have served to the praise of its Father. (Isa 43:21; Mal 1:6) Otherwise Israel would belie its sonship (De 32:4-6, 18-20; Isa 1:2, 3; 30:1, 2, 9), even as some of the Israelites acted in disreputable ways and were called "sons of belial" (literal Hebrew expression rendered "good-for-nothing men" at De 13:13 and other texts; compare 2Co 6:15). They became "renegade sons."-Jer 3:14, 22; compare 4:22.It was in this national sense, and due to their covenant relationship, that God dealt with the Israelites as sons. This is seen by the fact that God simultaneously refers to himself not only as their "Maker" but also as their "Repurchaser" and even as their "husbandly owner," this latter expression placing Israel in the relationship of a wife to him. (Isa 54:5, 6; compare Isa 63:8; Jer 3:14.) It was evidently with their covenant relationship in mind, and recognizing God as responsible for the formation of the nation, that the Israelites addressed themselves to Jehovah as "our Father."-Isa 63:16-19; compare Jer 3:18-20; Ho 1:10, 11. The tribe of Ephraim became the most prominent tribe of the northern kingdom of ten tribes, its name often standing for that entire kingdom. Because Jehovah chose to have Ephraim receive the firstborn son's blessing from his grandfather Jacob instead of Manasseh, the real firstborn son of Joseph, Jehovah rightly spoke of the tribe of Ephraim as "my firstborn."-Jer 31:9, 20; Ho 11:1-8, 12; compare Ge 48:13-20. Jesus is not merely God's unique or incomparable Son but also his "only-begotten Son," hence descended from God in the sense of being produced by God. This is confirmed by apostolic references to this Son as "the firstborn of all creation" and as "the One born [form of gen·na′o] from God" (Col 1:15; 1Jo 5:18), while Jesus himself states that he is "the beginning of the creation by God."-Re 3:14. Jesus is God's "firstborn" (Col 1:15) as God's first creation, called "the Word" in his prehuman existence. (Joh 1:1) The word "beginning" in John 1:1 cannot refer to the "beginning" of God the Creator, for he is eternal, having no beginning. (Ps 90:2) It must therefore refer to the beginning of creation, when the Word was brought forth by God as his firstborn Son. The term "beginning" is used in various other texts similarly to describe the start of some period or career or course, such as the "beginning" of the Christian career of those to whom John wrote his first letter (1Jo 2:7; 3:11), the "beginning" of Satan's rebellious course (1Jo 3:8), or the "beginning" of Judas' deflection from righteousness. (Joh 6:64; ) Jesus is the "only-begotten Son" (Joh 3:16) in that he is the only one of God's sons, spirit or human, created solely by God, for all others were created through, or "by means of," that firstborn Son.-Col 1:16, 17 ---- Insight on the Scriptures- Published by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York,inc.