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Isaac and Rebekah were 19 years into their marriage when Rebekah finally conceived in answer to prayer that she would have a child (Gen 25:21). Then Rebekah began to experience trouble with her pregnancy (Gen 25:22). Since her pregnancy was an answer to prayer, she didn’t understand why she was having so much difficulty carrying this baby. So she finally asked God. The oracle she received was more than she had expected; she was carrying twins, and a prophecy was wrapped around that announcement (Gen 25:23),
“And the LORD said to her: ‘Two nations (Israel and Edom) are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body (Esau [hairy] and Jacob [supplanter]); one people (Israel) shall be stronger than the other (Edom), and the older (Esau) shall serve the younger (Jacob).” (Comments added)
Isaac passing on the oral traditions and values that he received to his children were part of their upbringing. So the stories passed down throughout the generations from Noah who received them from his father Lamech before the flood, Shem (before the flood), and after the flood, Arpachshad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, and Abram (Abraham). So Abraham told them to Isaac who in turn passed them on to his two sons, Esau and Jacob.
So both boys were well aware of their lineage, spiritual heritage and blessings given by Yahweh which explained the reasons why they were in Canaan and not Haran. Both boys had to have known about the prophecy given to her mother while she was carrying her boys in the womb (Gen 25:23). So what is so important about the rights of the firstborn? Why did Esau trade his birthright for some stew? What does this have to do with us?
The right of firstborn included a double portion of the inheritance (twice as much, in other words, he would receive two thirds and his brother one third, Deut 21:15-17) and becoming the tribal or family head which included power, authority, and honor (Gen 27:29). For this particular firstborn it would include also the covenant blessing of Yahweh (Gen 28:4). But what made this birthright unique was that it included being an ancestor of the Messiah but to what extent the family knew or understood about this particular truth is unknown (cf. Jn 8:56 and oral tradition).
One day Esau goes out on a hunting expedition and returns famished and exhausted. Jacob had made some stew simmering on the fire. Physically and mentally vulnerable, Esau foolishly traded his birthright for some of Jacob’s stew of lentils to appease his hunger pangs (Gen 25:30-31, 33). So what is the big deal of Esau selling his birthright to Jacob in exchange for some lentils? He could change his mind and claim his birthright when it came time for their father Isaac to confer the blessing, and Jacob couldn’t do anything about it, right?
And that is exactly what He intended to do when the time came (Gen 27:4, 34)! He thought nothing of his oath (Gen 25:33) until it came back to haunt him years later when he went in to his father’s tent for the blessing of the firstborn and discovered to his horror and bitterness of soul that Jacob had taken away his blessing (Gen 27:36). Once the rite of firstborn was given it was apparently unalterable and irrevocable (Gen 27:34-35). An endless supply of venison could not change Isaac’s mind once the blessings were bestowed.
Trading his birthright revealed that Esau placed more value on the physical, those things apprehended by the five senses, than the spiritual. The sensual pleasures of the present were of far greater value than the spiritual blessings of the future. Esau had underestimated and trashed all the potential of his birthright for the gratification of the flesh – “He ate and drank, arose, and went his way” (Gen 25:34a). Moses recorded Esau’s unconscionable actions as one who “despised his birthright” (Gen 25:34b).
The mere thought (Gen 25:32) and act (Gen 25:33-34) revealed that Esau preferred gratifying the impulses of his physical appetites over spiritual blessings (cf. Gen 26:34-35). Esau was unfit for the blessings because he had a disposition for enjoying the things of the flesh rather than the things of the faith.
Esau was also described in the New Testament as a “fornicator” (cf. Gen 26:34) and “profane … who for one morsel of food sold his birthright” (Heb 12:16). Esau became the head of a nation, the father of the Edomites (Gen 36:43; cf. Gen 25:23). It is of interest that Herod the Great who tried to kill a young child by the name of Jesus (Mt 2:13, 16-18) was an Edomite (or Idumean).
What can we gleam from all of this? Spiritual values are of greater value than the things of this world. And there are ramifications to ignoring the spiritual blessings for the gratification of the flesh. There is no telling how many blessings from God we have trashed because of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 Jn 2:16). Jacob was no saint at the time of the bartering but later came to embrace the faith of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, in Yahweh unlike his twin brother Esau
Is it worth choosing sensual enjoyment over present and future spiritual blessings? Esau would say yes before he died. But now, he knows the truth, and it’s too late. His priorities were amiss, and he vastly underestimated the longevity of spiritual blessings over the temporal. Something for us to consider if we are teetering,
"And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 Jn 2:17). <><
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