Jacob and Esau - Part 2

Genesis 25:29-34

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.
He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)*

Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.”

So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

*Note: After Esau begged for the red stew Jacob was preparing, we are told Esau was also known as Edom. The word “edom” is Hebrew for “red.”

I remember growing up in church and going to Sunday School. We learned all the “Bible Stories” including this one about Jacob and Esau. For the most part, the story as told to me included the description of Esau as a foolish young man who cared more about eating a bowl of stew than he did about the inheritance he was entitled to receive from his father. We were also taught that Jacob was a bit of a con man, a selfish person who didn’t have anyone’s interest at heart but his own and took advantage of others’ weaknesses. But I think there is far more to the story than Esau being a man who’s more focused on food than fortune, and Jacob being a man who’s more focused on falsehoods than fate.

Let’s look at the clues we’re given in the above verses that tell us more about the characteristics of these twin brothers:

1. Esau has just returned from the open country, and we’ve already been told that he is a skillful hunter. How do people become skillful hunters? My brother hunts deer with a bow and arrow, and although some technology has changed since Esau’s day, the basic premise is the same today as it was then. To become skillful, hunters spend quite a bit of time outdoors familiarizing themselves with the area; they search out and frequent the locations where animals can be found; and they patiently wait for the wild game to be in the right place and position in order to make a successful kill. In fact, my brother has been known to stay in a tree stand for hours, almost motionless, waiting for a deer to wander into the area he is staking out and stand close enough for him to target and hit cleanly with an arrow. So, we can make an accurate assumption that Esau isn’t as brash and impulsive with everything as we’re led to believe if we simply thought he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew because his stomach was growling. No, as a hunter he has learned the game of patience and perseverance. He also isn’t likely to cower in fear of many things if he spends all his time outdoors hunting, tracking, and hiking through wilderness.
2. Jacob is preparing a meal. We’ve already been told in Genesis 25:27 that Jacob was a quiet individual who preferred to stay among the tents. If he stays by the tents, where coincidentally his mother Rebekah would also be found spending the majority of her time, then cooking would be a natural hobby for him just as Esau’s natural hobby would be hunting if he spends all of his time in the open country. If Jacob is a quiet individual, he’s probably more likely to be extremely observant of the people and activities surrounding him in the communal society where he lives. Since Esau spends most of his time outdoors, he is probably more likely to be focused on his own exploits and adventures in the wilderness than he is to be worried about the details and goings on at camp.
3. In Genesis 25:28, we are given a few key details about the parents of these twin boys and how their devotions are divided between the two sons. Nowhere are we told that one parent is unloving toward either son, but we are told that each parent has a favorite. Isaac has a taste for wild game, and he loves Esau. Most likely, Isaac took an interest in Esau’s skill as a hunter. I’m sure when Esau returned to their settlement, he and Isaac would talk about the day’s events, and Isaac probably lived vicariously through the kills and adventures his son had in the open country. Esau likely gravitated naturally toward spending time with his father when he was not out in the open country hunting.
4. We’re also told in Genesis 25:28 that Rebekah loves Jacob. She’s already been told by God that Jacob will be the one to rule over Esau, and that means Jacob will somehow usurp the authority and position of leadership that is supposed to be given to Esau as the eldest son. It makes perfect sense that because she knows the destiny of the two boys, Rebekah would raise Jacob in a way where he should (a) expect to receive his father’s blessing and the birthright owed to Esau, and (b) be ready to lead his people, therefore spending time with them learning their daily chores and customs rather than venturing out in the open country in adventurous pursuits like Esau.

If Jacob was not told about the prophecy his mother received from God, why would he ever think Esau would sell his birthright to him over a bowl of stew? It’s obvious Jacob knew he would be the one, despite their birth order, to receive their father’s inheritance, but he failed to wait on God to supply the avenue. He looked for an opportunity to take the birthright from his brother, and for all we know he may have even tried to do just that before the incident mentioned above. But I doubt he was a selfish individual who only cared about himself and was constantly looking for a way to con his brother. I think Jacob, being quiet and observant and close to his people, and most likely focused on trying to grasp what it meant to be such an integral part of God’s plan to create a nation unto Himself, was not so much a con man as he was a man with a heart for God who just didn’t know how to patiently wait.

Genesis 25:34 tells us Esau despised his birthright. I don’t think that means he hated his birthright, or that he loved stew to the point he thought trading in his future inheritance was worth it to enjoy some meat and potatoes in broth at dinner time. It seems Esau was simply away from the camp and his people long enough to not care about the future or what his role might be in that future. The further Esau wandered from focusing on God and His plans to build a nation, a kingdom for Himself, and turned to focusing on fun, adventure, and hobbies that didn’t have anything to do with God, the less invested he was in God’s plan and in God Himself. Esau didn’t hate his birthright, he was just too entangled in so many pursuits that didn’t have God at the center to be able to recognize his birthright for what it was. So the Bible is correct in saying he despised it. If you’re self-centered and care more about the things that temporarily satisfy you than you do about loving others and loving God, then you might as well hate Him and His plans for your life.

We’re all guilty of the characteristics both these men displayed. Do you know what your talents and abilities are, and do you have every confidence that God wants to use you to further His kingdom, yet like Jacob you don’t have the patience to wait on His timing or for His plans to unfold the way He wants them to? And like Esau, how many of us have wandered far from focusing on God and our relationship with Him just so that we can pursue our own interests and enjoy activities that, although not always bad, are not the best use of our time?

It seems that Jacob had a heart for God and wanted to be the leader God had chosen him to be, but he lacked the trust in God necessary to allow God to work out His plan in His time. Esau cared more about satisfying his own needs and desires and focusing on temporary things than he cared about the future of his people and what God’s role might be for him.

So in the end, Jacob’s heart was in the right place but he failed to honor God’s authority; Esau’s heart had wandered from God, and as a consequence he was left unprotected and unsheltered by God and lost his inheritance. We will discuss more about the effects of Rebekah’s probable prophetic revelation to Jacob, and the weak points of each brother’s personality as a result, in Jacob and Esau – Part 3.