The state or right of the firstborn (bekhor). The root carries the profound theological weight of the firstborn's preeminent status in Israel — governing property inheritance, religious consecration, and covenantal identity.
The bekhorat — firstborn status — sits at the center of Israel's covenantal self-understanding. Israel itself is called God's 'firstborn son' (Exodus 4:22). The law of the firstborn governed both property (double inheritance, Deuteronomy 21:17) and religious consecration (every firstborn male belonged to the LORD, Exodus 13:2). The great reversals — Jacob over Esau, Ephraim over Manasseh, David over his brothers — subvert the natural bekhorat to declare that God's choice is not determined by birth order. Paul interprets Christ as the 'firstborn over all creation' (Colossians 1:15) — the true and final bekhor who inherits everything.