Passover is direct recompense for God's identification of Israel as his own firstborn. The Second Temple and Dead Sea scrolls The understanding of Israel as the national firstborn of God is found in the Dead Sea scrolls 1Q/4Q "Instruction," and probably 4Q369 the "Prayer of Enosh", as well as in Ben Sira. Hellenistic and Diaspora Judaism The concept of the firstborn was heavily present in Hellenistic Judaism among the Second Temple Jewish diaspora. In the Septuagint, Israel, then Ephraim, are God's prototokos (πρωτότοκος) "firstborn." The use of "firstborn" is taken further along figurative lines. In the pseudepigraphical Testament of Abraham disease is personified as the prototokos "firstborn" of Thanatos, the personification of death. In Joseph and Asenath the converted Egyptian princess Asenath prepares to marry Joseph, the prototokos "firstborn" of the god of Israel. Philo of Alexandria comments on the inheritance rites of the firstborn in Deuteronomy, greatly emphasizing and embellishing the superiority of Mosaic Law over Egyptian models. Rabbinical interpretation According to the pidyon haben (redemption of the firstborn), if the father and mother are both Israelites, the firstborn is required to be redeemed from a Kohen. The firstborn of a mother is referred to in the Bible (Exodus 13:2) as one who "opens the womb" of his mother. Therefore, the firstborn of the father exclusively, although considered as a firstborn regarding his father's inheritance, is not considered as a firstborn regarding the requirement to be redeemed, as the mother's womb has already been opened by his half-sibling, the firstborn of his mother. Thus, the Shulchan Aruch rules that only a first born of the mother is required to be redeemed. There is a matter of dispute among the poskim (early rabbinic authorities) regarding whether a first-born son who is a Jewish convert (whose biological mother is not considered to be his mother) or from a caesarean section has the laws of a bechor. The firstborn's service to the Jewish people Originally, the firstborn of every Jewish family was intended to serve as a priest in the temple in Jerusalem as priests to the Jewish people but they lost this role after the sin of the golden calf when this privilege was transferred to the male descendants of Aaron. However, according to some, this role will be given back to the firstborn in a Third Temple when Messiah comes. Until this time, they say, a firstborn son still has