What is the ‘Law of First Mention?”
This is the answer I read from the Got Questions website.
‘The law (or principle or rule) of first mention is a guideline that some people use for studying Scripture. The Law of First Mention says that, to understand a particular word or doctrine, we must find the first place in Scripture that word or doctrine is revealed and study that passage. The reasoning is that the Bible’s first mention of a concept is the simplest and clearest presentation; doctrines are then more fully developed on that foundation. So, to fully understand an important and complex theological concept, Bible students are advised to start with its “first mention.”’
To give some examples of this particular principle of Biblical interpretation and understanding here are a couple of examples.
Joseph had a dream that eleven stars and the sun and moon bowed down to him, and his father Jacob understood that the symbols in the dream were identifying himself as the sun, his wife as the moon and the eleven stars as his other sons. (Gen 37:9-10) This tells us then that the stars, sun and moon symbolically identify the Jewish people: the patriarch, the matriarch and the twelve sons (twelve tribal patriarchs) are the offspring. However, can that be confirmed elsewhere?
Revelation 12:1, ‘A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.’
This chapter goes on to describe the woman giving birth, and red dragon attempting to devour her child, a child who would one day rule over all the nations. As the chapter continues it reveals a war between the angels and the dragon and his angels and the protection of the child and the woman.
Who brought forth the child who will one day rule the nations? Israel brought forth Jesus the Messiah. So the mention of the woman with the sun, moon and twelve stars is Israel from whom came the Messiah. The first mention of the sun, moon and stars identifying Israel is accurate in identifying them the second time around as well.
Then there’s the parable of the sower. After Jesus shared that parable, His disciples came to Him when they were alone to ask Him to explain the meaning, which makes you realise that Jesus didn’t tell parables to make it easy for people to understand, it actually made it harder for them to understand. That’s a topic for another day, but let’s get back to the Law of First Mention.
Mark 4:13, ‘And He (Jesus) said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?”’
In other words, the first parable set the groundwork for interpreting and understanding all the parables that followed after it, emphasising the Law of First Mention.
If we want to understand the Biblical significance of something, learning about it in the context of its first mention is a really good place to start.
Genesis 3:17-18, ‘Then to Adam He said, “Because you’ve listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you’ll eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you’ll eat the plants of the field.”’
From this we see that thorns are associated with the curse and the consequence of the first sins committed among the human race.
In Judges 9, a man named Jotham used a parable about trees to warn his people Israel about Abimelech, whom they had just made king over them. Abimelech wasn’t even Jewish, he wasn’t even a part of their nation!
The parable basically listed each of the worthy and valuable trees rejecting the opportunity to rule over all the trees, until eventually the bramble became their ruler. This decision was both foolish and dangerous because the bramble tree would eventually destroy them because it was completely unworthy and without honour. (Jud 9:6-15) It would grow up to choke out and strangle all the other trees and desolation would be the result.
The Hebrew name for the bramble is ‘atad’ which means ‘thorns’.
The parable by Jotham was to make clear to his people that they were appointing an unworthy and untrustworthy man to rule over them and that it would result in disaster for them. Again, thorns (brambles) are seen here as a curse.
Okay, so we know that the Law of First Mention sets the tone or reveals the primary context or meaning of words or things and that in turn help us to understand what those words or things mean when they’re mentioned later on. In this case, thorns are associated with sin, curses, worthlessness and ungodliness.
In the next program we’ll look as a very peculiar prophecy that looks at thorns differently.
Shalom
Mandy
Based in part on an article from oneforisrael.org
