JACOB AND ESAU.
Genesis 25:19-34.
1. The two nations in Rebekah’s womb.
GENESIS 25:19-20. As the genealogy passes from Abraham to Isaac we are told that Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah.
GENESIS 25:21. Once again there is a record of prolonged barrenness within the family. However, the couple were prayerful about the matter. “Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife” – probably holding her up in prayer constantly over the long years of her barrenness. Then at last, “Rebekah his wife conceived.”
GENESIS 25:22. But this was not the end of their troubles. Ere long Rebekah became aware of a struggle within her womb. She, in her turn, “went to inquire of the LORD.”
GENESIS 25:23. The LORD answered with a poetic oracle. “Two nations are in thy womb…; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the elder shall serve the younger.” This is totally prophetic of what would happen with Esau and Jacob; and later also with the two nations of Edom and Israel.
GENESIS 25:24-26. When the twins were born, Esau came out first, “red all over like a hairy garment.” As his brother came out, “his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob.” The name Jacob means ‘supplanter,’ and the struggle that had been going on in the womb now continued in the daylight.
The time markers in this passage indicate that Rebekah’s barrenness lasted nearly twenty years. In Genesis 25:20 we were told that Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah; and in Genesis 25:26 we now read that Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
2. Esau sells his birthright.
GENESIS 25:27. God has given His oracle, so the passage now concentrates on “the boys.” Of course, they both grew: but they could not be more different. “Esau was a cunning hunter,” but “Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents.” Esau was no doubt skilful at what he did but, as would transpire, Jacob was a quiet planner, who would wait his opportunity to manipulate events in his favour.
GENESIS 25:28. Typical of that culture in those days, and of many cultures since, the father tended to favour the firstborn. Isaac also favoured Esau for what he brought to the table: “because he did eat of his venison.” But Rebekah “loved” the home-loving Jacob.
GENESIS 25:29. Jacob saw his opportunity on one of Esau’s less successful hunting days. Jacob prepared red lentils for a meal, and “Esau came from the field, and he was faint.”
GENESIS 25:30. “Feed me, I pray thee, with some of that red stuff,” begged Esau, “for I am faint.” Therefore, tells the narrative, his name was called “Edom” (which incidentally translates as ‘Red’).
GENESIS 25:31. This was the moment that the scheming Jacob had been waiting for. “Sell me this day thy birthright,” demanded the younger twin. The holder of the birthright would normally receive a double portion of their father’s estate upon his death.
GENESIS 25:32. But Esau had no thought for anything other than his short-term hunger. “I am at the point to die,” the heir exaggerated. “And what profit shall this birthright do to me?”
GENESIS 25:33. Not satisfied with mere words, Jacob made Esau swear on oath. This sealed the deal, and even Isaac would be powerless to reverse the damage done by Jacob to Esau in this interaction. Oaths were made before God, and were therefore binding!
GENESIS 25:34. As the scene draws to a close, Jacob gave Esau bread and lentils, and Esau “ate, drank, rose up, and went his way.” The verdict of Scripture is, “thus Esau despised his birthright.”
This is a fact that would play into the hands of Jacob, who later compounded his deceit by going on to steal Esau’s blessing (cf. Genesis 27:36). In the New Testament these two incidents are held together as a warning against our own forsaking of our spiritual heritage (cf. Hebrews 12:16-17).
The Bible does not necessarily condone Jacob’s scheming, but we do see that he was a man with a destiny that undermined the right of primogeniture, and which allowed ‘the last to be first, and the first last’ (cf. Matthew 20:16).
