 But Rava concluded that states, "the right of the firstborn is his [the father’s]," and this indicates that the right of the firstborn applies to a man's estate and not to a woman's.A Midrash told that the Ishmaelites came before Alexander the Great to dispute the birthright with Israel, accompanied by the Canaanites and the Egyptians.The Ishmaelites based their claim on "But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated," and Ishmael was the firstborn.