Genesis 25:29
Genesis 25:2929One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished.
A familiar narrative used in Watchtower material to warn against despising sacred things for immediate gratification, as does. Its bearing on the meaning of "firstborn" is not usually drawn out, because the Watchtower's reading of depends on firstborn meaning first in time.
This is where you go when a Witness says "firstborn of all creation" means Jesus was the first thing created. Esau was born first. That is not in question. But a few verses later he sells his position as firstborn to Jacob for a bowl of stew, and the birthright transfers. From then on Jacob holds the firstborn's place while Esau remains the one who came out of the womb first. So in the Bible's own usage, firstborn names a rank that can be transferred, not a fact about chronology that cannot. Esau proves it by losing it. The clearest statement of the principle is , where God says of David: "I will appoint him as my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth." David was Jesse's youngest son. Firstborn there means appointed pre-eminence, and everyone knew it. That is the lens for — and the very next verse defines it, giving the reason he is firstborn over creation: because by him all things were created. Compare , .