Birthright - Genesis 25:29-34
INTRODUCTION:
Last Sunday we just barely touched on the idea of birthright. What is the birthright? In most cases it is the right of the firstborn son which includes a number of things being bestowed on the firstborn son upon his father’s death. First, you would inherit the leadership position of your father’s house. Second, you would receive a double portion of the inheritance. Third, in the case of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you would inherit the priesthood position because this was before the law and the temple and as leader of the house you were also the priest of the house. Abraham showed this role in his life by setting up an altar wherever he settled, and we will find the same with Isaac. Fourth, also in the case of the patriarchs, you 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, the promise that the Messiah would come through your line, and the promise that God would be your God if you believed and followed Him.
This morning we are going to see the birthright mentioned four times in six verses, but before turning to our passage this morning let’s pray and ask God to open our hearts to his truth this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Genesis 25 and we will finish up this chapter this morning, verses 29-34. In this passage we get a glimpse of the personalities of Esau and Jacob and what kind of men they were. Please stand for the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Genesis 25:29-34,
“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.” (Genesis 25:29–34, NASB95)[1]
THE OPPORTUNITY (Genesis 25:29-31)
We learned last week that Esau was a skilled hunter and loved the outdoors and to be out in the fields, and that he was the favorite of Isaac, because Isaac had a taste for wild game. Jacob on the other hand was a homebody, he liked to stay around the tents, and he was the favorite of Rebekah primarily because the Lord had told her that the older would serve the younger. She had undoubtedly told this to Jacob and he sought for the opportunity to rule over his older brother.
Being a homebody Jacob learned to cook, and our passage this morning tells us that he had made a stew, later on we are told that it was red in color and then further on in the passage we are told it was a lentil stew. Still to this day in the Middle East they make a stew with red lentils.
Esau came from being out in the fields, apparently hunting, but he had not gotten anything and he was tired and very hungry, the passage says that he was famished, a word in English that means intensely hungry, the word in Hebrew that it is translated from this word means you are tired, you are faint from lack of food, and you are thirsty. Esau comes in from the fields and the first thing he smells is Jacob’s stew and he asks Jacob to give him even just a swallow of that red stuff there because he is famished, he is too tired to cook something for himself, and he is hungry and since there was already something cooked he wanted some. Moses gives us a side note then and tells us that this is why Esau had earned the name Edom as well. Maybe this was a nickname that his mother and Jacob gave him after this incident, because Edom means “red” and this incident had to do with red stew. We are not told, but I would think that this was a name that Esau was not overly fond of, however, it is the name of the nation that came from Esau’s family.
When Esau asked for some stew, Jacob saw an opportunity to rule over Esau and get something that mattered to Jacob and would assure Jacob’s rule over his brother. If Jacob could secure the birthright, then his ruling over his brother would be assured. Did Jacob believe God? Certainly at this point Jacob had been taught about God from his father, surely he had learned the history of his family; 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 his family through Isaac a great nation and give to them the land of Canaan. He most certainly heard how God commanded Abraham to take Isaac up on 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 and die in his place. I believe that Jacob believed God, but his faith had not matured to the point where he was willing to wait on God and see how God would bring about what he had said about the older serving the younger. I see in Jacob a little bit of his grandfather Abraham and his grandmother Sarah in how they tried to help God when they were not willing to wait and see how God would faithfully keep His promise. For Abraham and Sarah there was much grief that came from not waiting, and in the end it would mean grief for Jacob as well.
Jacob jumped at this opportunity when his brother was tired, hungry and thirsty and said to him that the price of the stew was his birthright. Sell me your birthright for a bowl of my stew. Was Jacob right in what he did? No, God never commends us for trying to help Him fulfill His promises. Jacob would have had a much greater blessing I believe and possibly a better relationship with his brother if had patiently waited on God. His desire for the birthright shows that he had an interest in spiritual things, but the way that he went about to get it was not right.
THE OATH (Genesis 25:32-33)
Even though from the outside Esau looked like the rugged outdoorsman that we would call a man’s man, the true man was a bit of a whiner and his only concern was for the present and what he could get right now. He reminds me of much of our society today, live for the moment and get everything out of the moment, because who knows what the next moment will be like. I truly believe that this is why we have so many people on government programs and people living from paycheck to paycheck because like Esau they live for the now and worry about the future later. This is why we have people living below poverty level in their retirement because they did not prepare for the future. Esau certainly was not looking to the future, his response to Jacob was: “Behold, I am about to die.” In other words all he could think about at that moment was his hunger and that pot of stew. Was he really about to die, I don’t think so it was his way of saying “I’m starving so do we have to talk about this right now.” At that moment his birthright looked far off and his immediate desire was food and drink. What good is my birthright to me, it will not feed me right now, but you can if you will give me some of that stew.
Jacob had Esau right where he wanted him, there was no way he could lose and if Esau caved a bowl of stew was a small price to pay for the birthright, for the leadership and priesthood of the family, for a double portion of the inheritance and for all the covenant blessings that God had promised. Jacob goes for the throat and says, “Swear to me that you will sell me your birthright for a bowl of stew.” Jacob wanted it official, he wanted Esau to swear an oath that he was indeed selling his birthright to Jacob. With no regard for the future and only looking at the present Esau swore an oath to Jacob and sold him his birthright for the measly sum of a bowl of stew.
THE OUTCOME (Genesis 25:34)
Jacob gave Esau a bowl of stew and some bread and we read that Esau ate and drank and he rose and went on his way with no more thought about what he had just done. Moses writes at the end of this verse, “Thus Esau despised his birthright.” This word translated despised is a word that means “to show contempt or to think lightly of something, the reasons for doing this might be because the thing you are thinking lightly about is regarded as bad or you consider it of little value. I do not think that Esau regarded it as something bad, but he did regard his birthright to be of little value, he did not consider being God’s child a thing of value.
Paul and the author of Hebrews both warn against becoming complacent in our Christian walk. The author of Hebrews encourages the believers to whom he was writing to pursue peace and sanctification or holiness, he writes, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 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. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.” (Hebrews 12:14–17, NASB95)[2] The author warns us to make sure that we or no one else comes short of the grace of God. God’s grace does not fail, but we can fail to take advantage of His grace, and when this happens we turn away from God and look at the blessings others are receiving which can cause a root of bitterness to spring up and once that gets into the body it causes trouble and by it many are defiled the author says. Then the author uses Esau as an example and calls him an immoral and godless person. This describes a person who lives for the world and not for God, who lives for the now and not for the future. Esau sold his birthright for a meal and because of it he missed the blessing. Later Esau sought for the blessing and it was too late.
Paul also spoke of the danger of those who get their eyes off of Christ and onto temporal things in our Scripture reading this morning from Philippians 3. He wrote, “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.” (Philippians 3:18–19, NASB95)[3] This is like Esau, he could not see past the earthly things and as such was an enemy of the cross of Christ. Paul says don’t be like them. He writes, “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us…For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.” (Philippians 3:17, 20–21, NASB95)[4] Paul says don’t get your eyes of the goal of Jesus Christ, don’t let them stray and begin to desire the things of the world, remember where your true citizenship is and eagerly wait for the return of the Savior, then the blessing will be yours because as a child of God you are an heir of God.
CONCLUSION:
This morning we have seen a glimpse of the personalities of Esau and Jacob. Jacob shows that he at least has an interest in spiritual things in his desire to have the birthright, unfortunately he was not willing to wait on God to see how God would fulfill that right to him, but instead thought that he had to help God, much like his grandfather and grandmother had tried to help God when they had no child of their own. The Bible in no way condones what Jacob did, it was underhanded and it was sinful, but praise be to God that He works with sinners, He forgives sinners and He transforms sinners and we will see throughout the life of Jacob God working in his life to transform him.
Esau we learned was immoral and godless, he had no place in his life for God and lived only for the present. Warren Wiersbe writes concerning Esau, “Some people have the idea that a “profane person” is blasphemous and filthy; but Esau was a congenial fellow, a good hunter, and a man who loved his father. He would have made a fine neighbor—but he was not interested in the things of God.”[5] From Esau we learn that the blessing of eternal life is much more important than the temporal blessings or pleasures of this life on earth. Esau should be a warning to us to pursue the goal of eternal life with our Savior Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews put it this way, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1–3, NASB95)[6] We have a blessing that far outweighs anything here on earth, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 325). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995