---
title: Exodus 4:22
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/exodus-4-22/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/exodus-4-22.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Exodus 4:22
testament: OT
section: Law
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Exodus 4:22

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,

## JW Usage

JWs cite Exodus 4:22 — "Israel is my firstborn son" — alongside Colossians 1:15 to argue that "firstborn" denotes creation: just as Israel was called God's firstborn without being literally the first nation, Jesus is called "firstborn of all creation" as God's first and greatest created being. The parallel is used to support the JW position that "firstborn" can mean pre-eminent while still implying a point of origin within creation.

## Protestant Usage

Exodus 4:22 actually undermines the JW argument: Israel was not the first nation in existence, yet God calls Israel his "firstborn." The title designates rank and covenant privilege, not chronological origin. Psalm 89:27 makes the same point explicitly: God says he will make David "firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth" — yet David was not the first king (Saul was). Hebrews 1:6 commands angels to worship the Son, quoting Deuteronomy 32:43 (LXX/Dead Sea Scrolls) — a passage where YHWH himself is the object of worship. A monotheistic Jewish author would never apply a YHWH-worship text to a creature unless he identified the Son with YHWH. The Arian reading — that Jesus is a created being holding the rank of firstborn — was examined and rejected by the entire undivided church at Nicaea in AD 325, including men whose teachers had known the apostles.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Hebrews 1:6 Quotes a Jehovah-Worship Text — And Applies It to Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/deut3243-hebrews16-worship.md) — Deuteronomy 32:43 LXX / Hebrews 1:6 / Dead Sea Scrolls [Deity of Christ]
- [Arianism Is Not New — JW Christology Was Rejected in AD 325](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/arianism-not-new.md) — Council of Nicaea / Arius / Athanasius [Authority]