“Genesis 25:28-34”

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

“Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; and Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.’ Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ Esau said, ‘Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?’ And Jacob said, ‘First swear to me’; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” (verse 28) The sibling rivalry that appeared to have originated even from the womb was actually fomented by the foolish inclinations of mom and dad. Verse 27 tells us that Jacob was a “peaceful man, living in tents.” He led a simple, cerebral, domestic type of life that made him more of a momma’s boy. The fact that he stayed home, dabbling in the culinary arts and tending to his sheep appealed more to the tastes of his doting mother.

Isaac loved Esau more than he loved Jacob, not only because he was his firstborn son, but because he fancied the meat that the mighty, manly hunter was more than willing and able to capture and prepare for him. “Isaac, himself so sedate, loves the wild, wandering hunter, because he supplies him with pleasures which his own quiet habits do not reach.” (Barnes’ Notes on the Bible) It seems obvious that this love was not merely altruistic but self-serving to a great degree. Isaac loved Esau for who he was, but also for what he could do for dear ole dad.

There can be no doubt that some people are easier for us to love than other people are, and even within our own households we make emotional connections more effortlessly with some loved ones than with others. But one of the glaring messages that really leaps off the text here is—Don’t play favorites! It only leads to resentment, disappointment and disorder! This tendency was passed on to Jacob and his favoritism toward Joseph produced tons of trouble for his disjointed, discontented, dysfunctional family!

“Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished...” (verse 30) One day Esau came home from the “field” (verse 29), exhausted and hungry after a hard day’s work, and implored his brother to share some stew with him. Now, who among us would have answered anything short of, “Of course! Sit down brother and help yourself!”? But Jacob, unmoved by compassion or concern, saw his brother’s predicament as an opportunity for the extortion of the flesh and blood companion of his own mother’s womb! Friends, by anyone’s standards, and no matter what unsavory a fellow Esau may have been—That’s hardcore!

“Therefore his name was called Edom.” (verse 30) Esau was so hungry and the food smelled so good, he didn’t know what it was or what to call it, and he didn’t care. Whether it was lintels or blood broth or something else, Esau just called it “red stuff” and that was good enough for him. The name “Edom” means “red” just like the ruddy pigment of his newborn body (verse 24). “There is no discrepancy in ascribing his name both to his complexion and the color of the lentil broth. The propriety of a name may surely be marked by different circumstances." (Pulpit Commentary)

“First sell me your birthright.” (verse 31) “Which had many privileges annexed to it, as honour and authority in the family next to parents; a double portion of inheritance; some say the exercise of priesthood, but that is questioned; the parental blessing, and especially in this the promises of the Messiah, and of inheritance of the land of Canaan, and which was typical of the heavenly inheritance: all which Rebekah knew by the divine oracle were designed for Jacob, and which no doubt she had acquainted him with, and advised him to deal with his brother about parting with his birthright as he had opportunity; and very likely they had talked together about it before in a distant manner, and Esau had shown some indifference to his right, and made no great account of it; and now, an opportunity offering to get him in the mind to part with it, he takes it, and moves for a sale of it immediately, at once, without any more delay…” (Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible) “Jacob exploits his brother’s misery in order to gain what he thought an accident of birth denied him.” (Nahum Sarna)

“Esau said, ‘Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?’” (verse 32) Of course we have all felt like we were about to starve to death a time or two in our lives. But there is no doubt that Esau overstated the catastrophic malnourishment he claimed and even felt that he had been overcome by. New Testament inspiration distinctly expresses that this was a foolish bargain on his part. “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.” (Hebrews 12:15-16) The clear implication is that his was not a life-or-death situation, but in a moment of reckless passion, he exchanged a thing of immense value for something trivial.

Verse 34 expresses essentially the same sentiment—“Thus Esau despised his birthright.” “Our sympathy with Esau is somewhat dissipated when the Narrator describes his inner feelings. Having finished the broth, Esau does not quarrel with Jacob but goes indifferently about his business, with no apparent regard for the sacred institution of the first-born. On the other hand, it is highly significant that the text only mentions Esau’s sale of the birthright but does not state that Jacob bought it… The omission in the present story is another way of dissociating Jacob’s eventual ascendancy from the means he adopted.” (Nahum Sarna)

“No one can read this simple account without pitying the foolish and reckless son who bartered the incredible blessings of his birthright for a mess of pottage (a single meal). But let all men feel pity also for themselves when tempted to barter life's treasures for a moment of indulgence or pleasure. How strongly do sensual appetites assert their influence over us! The N.T. tells us that Esau was a ‘profane person and a fornicator,’ which, of course, only fills in the picture of the man controlled and dominated by his appetites. There can be no doubt that the Bible, both O.T. and N.T., places the greater blame for what happened here upon Esau. Nevertheless, there is something also very unlovely in what Jacob did. Knowing his brother's weakness, coldly calculating how he might take advantage of it, and mercilessly insisting that his brother ‘swear away’ his birthright, are traits that make the heart sick to contemplate. However, one should not fault the Divine judgment. God's Chosen People could not have been developed through a man like Esau; it was difficult enough for God to do so through Jacob; but it would have been impossible through Esau. Regarding this sordid sale, Jamieson commented: ‘Never was any meat, except the forbidden fruit, so dearly bought, as this broth of Jacob!’” (James Burton Coffman)

Please read Genesis 26:1-5 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

- Louie Taylor

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