If birthrights were so important in the Old Testament times, why wasn’t Reuben’s birthright given to Simeon since Simeon was the second born?

1 Chronicles 5:1

The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was the firstborn, but when he defiled his father’s marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel; so he could not be listed in the genealogical record in accordance with his birthright…

You may be wondering why on earth I would pick a genealogical introduction to write a devotion? Go ahead and check out the link, it’s an entire chapter devoted to genealogy. Two reasons really. One is that there is not a single idle word in the Bible. Each word has a meaning and purpose. No other book is like it and none ever will be. But the main reason is that we see God in action here. So often God rejected what was first and accepted what was second. Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Abel over Cain, and with Joseph’s sons, Ephraim was given the birthright over Mannessah, though he was older. The list goes on.

But if you look at the list of the sons of Israel, Reuben is first and Simeon second and Joseph is number 11 on the birth list. However closer examination shows us that Joseph is the first born of Rachel and Reuben is the firstborn of her sister, Leah. So what happened here is God essentially rejected the first and chose the second. Why is this important? Because God rejects that which came by the first man, our sinful lives and accepts that life which comes by the second man, our rebirth in Jesus Christ. What may make you scratch your head at first is actually God marvelously at work in showing His plan. The second replaces the first.

Knowing that, don’t you just want to thank Him today for accepting your rebirth in Christ? If so, make sure you do indeed put off the old and move onto the new. Too often we still hang on to that which God has rejected. Oh, He still accepts us, but we really should just let it go.