Deuteronomy 21:15-17 requires a man with two wives to recognize the birthright of his firstborn son, even if his mother is the less favored wife. This law is intertextually linked to Jacob’s giving Reuben’s firstborn rights to Joseph in Genesis, but it can also be read as a response to Abraham’s disinheriting Ishmael in favor of his younger son, Isaac.Inheritance is a very complicated matter in blended families. Still all too true in the twenty-first century.
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