Also I will make him my firstborn (בְּכֹר; πρωτότοκος), higher
than the kings of the earth. (Psa 89:27 [v. 28 Heb])
Commenting
on the use of “firstborn” in this text, and whether it allows for a metaphorical
understanding of “firstborn” in Col 1:15, Gregory Stafford wrote:
Here David is said to have been ‘placed’
(Hebrew: נתן, natan; LXX: τιθημι,
tithemi) as firstborn. This obviously does not involve literal temporal
priority, but, rather, the giving of a favored and exalted position. Similar in
its application is the use of firstborn toward the nation of Israel in Exodus
4:22 (Larry R. Helyer, "The Prototokos Title in
the New Testament" (Ph.D. dissertation, Fuller Theological Seminary,
1979), 37, correctly observes: "The texture of OT theology leads us to
view the relationship between Yahweh and Israel in a religious or spiritual
sense by employing the category of election
to sonship" (emphasis added). See also pages 44-45, 56 of his thesis.). There is a parallel to this
verse in Sirach 36:12 (Brenton [36:11 in Rahlfs]), where reference is made to
"Israel, whom thou hast named thy firstborn" (Brenton) (Brenton’s use
of "named" for Israel as God’s firstborn actually translates the
Greek word ωμοιωσας (homoiosas),
which involves making "someone like a person or thing" (BAGD),
clearly revealing the figurative sense for "firstborn" in reference
to Israel.).
These uses of firstborn, however, are not
parallel to those texts in NT where Christ is so designated. The NT does not
use the title firstborn to indicate a ‘placement,’ ‘adoption,’ or ‘election’ of
Christ to a more favored position. Jesus is simply called firstborn and the connotations
of exaltation, strength, and dignity naturally follow from this
designation. (Gregory Stafford, Jehovah’s
Witnesses Defended: An Answer to Scholars and Critics [2d ed.; Murrieta,
Calif.: Elihu Books, 2000], 218)
Elsewhere
Stafford wrote:
There is, however, one sense in which a
figurative meaning could be given to "firstborn" in Colossians 1:15 .
. . In 1 Peter 2:13 ktisis ("creation") is used in reference
to political figures, such as "kings" and "governors." It
is possible, then, that Colossians 1:15 could be a fulfillment of Psalm 89:27,
where "firstborn" is used figuratively. The one called
"firstborn," in the Psalm, is "placed" in this position and
viewed as preeminent among "the kings of the earth."B ut this interpretation
is doubtful in Colossians 1:15 for at least two reasons: 1) Christ is not said
to have been "placed as" or "given" the position of
"firstborn" (see discussion above); and 2) the use of pas ("all")
in Colossians 1:15 appears to remove any suggestion that "creation"
in this verse refers only to political figures (Every other time pas is
used with ktisis or ktisma ("creature") it refers to
the whole of creation or at least to a portion that includes more than just
political figures. (Ro 8:22; Col 1:23; 1Ti 4:4; Rev 5:13) The use of pas in
1Pe 2:13 modifies ανθρωπινη
("human"), which limits the sense of ktisis
in this verse.). (Ibid., 218-19)
With respect to the Davidic King being “placed” in the position of pre-eminence,
Stafford noted the following (Ibid., 219 n. 67):
In this light, I will cite 4Q369, the
"Prayer of Enosh," which has some similarities with Psalm 89:27-28.
Craig A. Evans, "A Note on the ‘First-Born Son’ of 4Q369," DSD 2.2
(1995), 194, translates the key line (6), "And you made him a firstbor[n]
son to you." The term for "firstborn" in this fragment is
missing but for one letter, r
(resh), and it is preceded by /b ("son"),
which it modifies. Evans cites three parallels between Psalm 89:20, 26-27
(Hebrew: 21, 27-28) and 4Q369: 1) David calls God his Father in Psalm 89:26,
which Evans takes as a parallel to line 10 in 4Q369, "as a father to his
son" (partially restored by Evans as כאב לב[נו; 2) Psalm 89:27 states God would
"make" David his "firstborn," paralleling line 6 in 4Q369;
3) Psalm 89:27 says that the one placed in the position of
"firstborn" would be "the most high of the kings of the
earth," and Evans finds a partial parallel to this in line 7, which he translates
as, "like him for a prince and a ruler in all your earthly land"
(ibid., 198). There are other non-biblical texts whose use of
"firstborn" may have influenced Paul’s use of this same term in Col
1:15 and elsewhere. For example, Philo (On the Confusion of Tongues 146
[in LCL 4]) speaks of "God’s firstborn, the Logos, who holds the eldership
among the angels, an archangel as it were." The Prayer of Joseph (dated
to the first century CE by J. Z. Smith [OTP2, 700]) refers to Jacob as though
he were an angel named "Israel." Fragment A of this document reads,
in part: "Abraham and Isaac were created before any work. But I, Jacob,
who men call Jacob but whose name is Israel am he who God called Israel which
means, a man seeing God, because I am the firstborn of every living thing to
whom God gives life" (OTP2, 713; the end of line 7 refers to the
"firstborn" as "the archangel of the power of the Lord, and the
chief captain among the sons of God"). These references clearly imply a
temporal distinction between the "firstborn" and "the
angels" (Philo) and between "every living thing to whom God gives
life" (Prayer of Joseph).
