Mary, the mother of God,had only one child.
We can use ‘heos hou' of Genesis 26:13 (LXX) where he "grew until he became
very wealthy" which does not have to mean that he ceased to have his wealth increase
after he had become wealthy?
It does not demand that he DID continue to grow in wealth, but it seems
reasonable to argue that the usage here was definitely NOT intending or enforcing
the notion that his wealth ceased to further grow after he became wealthy.
You can use that as a good example. Let me add some information to the ongoing
‘heos hou' debate: ‘Heos' is a relative adverb. ‘Hou' is a relative pronoun.
When used together,‘heos' changes to a preposition which governs the relative pronoun.
Essentially, this means that hou really has no effect on the meaning of the couplet,
the operative word in the couplet being ‘heos'.
Whether the word "firstborn" suggests that Mary had other children besides Jesus
cannot be proven. "Firstborn" translates the Greek word prototokos.
Although it refers primarily to a child not preceded by another child in birth
(LXX: cf., Gn 25:25; 48:18); it is also applied to a child of honor, a child who is
not the first born into the family (cf., 1 Ch 26:10; Gn 41:52/Jr 31:9 (LXX 38:9).
1Sm 16:11/Ps 89:20, 27-28 (LXX 88:20, 27-28)). Prototokos appears nine times in the
New Testament (Mt 1:25; Lk 2:7; Rm 8:29; Cl 1:15, 18; Hb 1:6; 11:28; 12:23; Rv 1:5).
Of these, seven refer to Christ. The remaining two are Hb 11:28, which refers to the
firstborn killed in Egypt; and Hb 12:23, containing the plural noun protokon,
which refers to the saints in heaven.
None of the NT references to "firstborn" use it in association with or in opposition
to blood-siblings. In each case regarding Jesus, the NT uses "firstborn" to indicate
a preeminent status, not to the first child born from Mary.
Regarding an only child, according to the Encyclopedia Judaica (v. 6, cl. 1309),
The word "firstborn" referred to the first male child irrespective of subsequent siblings.
"Firstborn" was a Mosaic legal term which determined the son's specific duties and
privileges within the family and the community. The ceremony which so situated the
firstborn was to take place on the 31st day after his birth.
He was at that point legally and ritually the "firstborn," even if he turned out to be
the only child. Among non-Catholic scholars, Michaelis and Herrick indicate that
"firstborn" does not occur before the Septuagint (circa 3rd century B.C.).
But in the instances where it does occur after this time, the idea of birth or origin
is less prominent, such that privilege, rather than birthright, is the intended meaning.
(Wilhelm Michaelis, TDNT, s.v. prototokos", 6: 871).
The reference to Israel as God's "firstborn" does not refer to being born first (Ex 4:22-23).
It refers, rather, to the special relationship between God and his chosen people.
This unique filial relationship is also mentioned in the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha works
(cf. Jubilees 2:20; 18:2; 19:28) as well as in rabbinic Judaism (Ex 4:22, Rabba).
This is just some of what is written about Mary and her ONLY born.
Kvn.
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