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29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. 31 But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” 32 And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me? 33 Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. ~ Genesis 25:29-34
Today, we conclude to our study of Genesis 25 where we learn in biblical days the birthright included for the firstborn son a number of things that were bestowed on him by his father at the time of his father’s death. First, he would inherit the leadership position of his father’s house. Second, he would receive a double portion of the inheritance. Third, in the case of the patriarchs, he received the covenant promises that God had made to Abraham, the promise to become a great nation, the promise of the inheritance of the land of Canaan, and the promise that the Messiah would come through his line.
In v.29-31 of today's passage we read, "29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, 'Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.' Therefore his name was called Edom. 31 But Jacob said, 'Sell me your birthright as of this day.'"
Jacob, who was around 15 years of age, had just finished cooking a red stew just before Esau had come into the house after a long day of work toiling in the field. The intense work that Esau was engaged in that day made him extremely hungry and desirous of his brother's stew. It was at that point that Esau began to be called Edom, which is the identical root for the name Adam. Both, Adam and Esau were known for toiling in the red cursed ground from which Adam came and from which their sustenance came.
Jacob and Esau had been taught about God from their grandfather, Abraham. They had surely been taught how God had called Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldeans and promised to be his God and to bless him and make from him a great nation. Jacob and Esau most certainly heard how God commanded Abraham to take Isaac up Mount Moriah and offer him there as a sacrifice, and how God had stopped Abraham at the last minute and then provided a ram to be a substitute for Isaac. As a side note, the Old Testament birthright pictures for us the status the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ gains at the moment of his rebirth.
Jacob jumped at the opportunity when his brother requested a bowl of the red stew that he had made. Jacob's price for the red stew was the birthright of his brother. Jacob was wrong to do what he did but he did it anyway. And, interestingly, God never condemned or commended Jacob for this action. Jacob would have had a much better relationship with his brother if he had patiently waited for God's blessing. His desire for the birthright reveals that he had an interest in spiritual things, but the way that he went about to get it was not right. When we do not value life, death will define us.
In v.32-33 of today's passage we read, "32 And Esau said, 'Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me? 33 Then Jacob said, 'Swear to me as of this day.' So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob."
Even though from the outside Esau looked like the rugged outdoorsman that we would call a man’s man, he was weak for his only concern was for the present and that made him impetuous. Esau was much like people today who live for the moment. He certainly was not looking to the future when he responded with: "Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?" In other words all he could think about at that moment was his hunger and that red stew. He wasn't really about to die, but at that moment his birthright looked far off and his immediate needs defined him so much more.
So, for nothing more than a meal, all of Esau’s treasures were sworn away. And for the same soup Jacob inherited much. Esau craved the bowl of stew which he later regretted so much for in the moment his value system failed him. For such an insignificant thing as a simple venison meal, Esau squandered his birthright which included two thirds of the family possessions, the leadership of the nation that would come and for all the covenant blessings that God had promised to Abraham and to their dad, Isaac.
In v.34 of today's passage we read, "And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright."
The word translated "despised" means "to show contempt" or "to think lightly of something." Leave it up to a teen-ager for such a poor decision. Esau didn't regard his birthright as something bad, but he did regard it to be of little value at the time. And, of course this little bad decision led to another bad decision, and in time, it led to Esau making some really bad big decisions later.
This is the first time bread is mentioned in this entire chapter. Esau gave up his birthright for bread and a red stew that would keep him alive for a mere hours. When the Lord Jesus Christ came, He offered to all willing enough to believe in Him His birthright only if we would take of His bread and His blood that gives eternal life. The transfer that took place that day between Jacob and Esau was a picture of our transfer from Adam to Christ. As sons of Adam, we had forfeited our birthrights to the enemy of our souls. In Adam we had the title to the Garden of Eden and we gave it up for one single bite of the forbidden. Esau did the same thing for a bowl of soup. Both meals were temporary and devastating.
In Hebrews 12:14-17 we read, "14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears."
As in the case of Esau, when we ignore God, a hardness of heart sets in and when we are being defined by the enemy, it will increasingly be more and more difficult to turn back to God. Repentance means a change of mind. When Esau came back to his father later and requested his birthright, his father said it was too late. Esau had sold it to his brother. Esau wept bitterly and tried to change his father's mind, but his father could not change his mind because it was already promised to Jacob.
In spite of the fact that Esau and Jacob eventually made peace with one another, Esau’s descendants, the Edomites, never got along with Jacob’s descendants, the Israelites. Edom regularly opposed and fought against Israel. A big part of the problem was that the Edomites were not being defined by God and the Israelites were. Esau valued the definitions of this fallen world rather than those of God. He chose the temporal and physical cravings of this world rather than God’s definitions of all things.
As believers in the Lord Jesus, we must walk as sons intent on the pleasure of God’s blessing, not as rebels intent on the pleasures of sin’s false promises. As we have seen, Esau was a fool who later became a sexually immoral man, who lusted after and married pagan Hittite women. We must be careful to not be deceived like Esau. It is interesting that he did not become sexually immoral over night. His problems began when he chose not to be defined by God in a little thing which eventually led him to being enslaved in a big, big way.
