The Law of First Mention

[BiblicalLiteralist]

I have been watching this playlist by Nazarene Israel on set apart community building and in a video today came across a concept I have not heard before. It is called "the law of first mention" apparently it is a bible hermeneutics term. A couple videos earlier (Matthew 18 Adultery Part 2) he mentions a different take on divorce then I have ever heard as well. While I dont see the biblical evidence for either of these interpretations, what is the origin and basis of this "Law of first mention"? Starts at 27:30

I have also included the study he references below.

Polygyny, Concubines, and Kingship - Nazarene Israel

The three main offices within Israel are

treeofephraim.org

 

[steve]

There is no such law.
It is an assumption that very handily supports the anti-polygyny position and sounds authoritative.

 

[BiblicalLiteralist]

The series itself is certainly thought provoking and worth a listen, he uses scripture through out, it wasnt until he got to divorce and polygyny things got a little unbiblical.

 

[frederick]

The supposed law of first mention is, unfortunately, another of those man made laws with no real foundation in scripture. From my observation those who appeal to it do so to support a presuppositional error. For example, because the first mention of wine is Noah drinking and getting drunk after he comes off the ark, all alcohol consumption leads to drunkeness and is therefore sinful. That's just really bad hermeneutics.

 

[Mark C]

The "law of first mention" is a bit like other so-called 'laws' that aren't, but instead get twisted to be something different that what they were originally about.

The concept is generally sound, but it applies EXPLICITLY to first use of a Hebrew word in Scripture. There is a general "sola scriptura" vibe to it, in that the idea is that the 'first use' gives you clue to what THAT WORD means in context. (Particularly, what is called, in Hebrew, the 'shoresh', or generally 3-letter root word.)

It where the "law" gets applied to concepts, in other contexts, even other entire usages, that it gets twisted into something like described above.

But if you want to understand what a word means, take a hard look at the 'first use' in Scripture.