Jacob and Esau
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might secure the blessing which his brother held so lightly, but which
was so precious to himself.
When Esau, coming home one day faint and weary from the chase,
asked for the food that Jacob was preparing, the latter, with whom one
thought was ever uppermost, seized upon his advantage, and offered to
satisfy his brother’s hunger at the price of the birthright. “Behold, I am
at the point to die,” cried the reckless, self-indulgent hunter, “and what
profit shall this birthright do to me?” And for a dish of red pottage he
parted with his birthright, and confirmed the transaction by an oath.
A short time at most would have secured him food in his father’s
tents, but to satisfy the desire of the moment he carelessly bartered
the glorious heritage that God Himself had promised to his fathers.
His whole interest was in the present. He was ready to sacrifice the
heavenly to the earthly, to exchange a future good for a momentary
indulgence.
“Thus Esau despised his birthright.” In disposing of it he felt a
sense of relief. Now his way was unobstructed; he could do as he
liked. For this wild pleasure, miscalled freedom, how many are still
selling their birthright to an inheritance pure and undefiled, eternal in
the heavens!
Ever subject to mere outward and earthly attractions, Esau took
two wives of the daughters of Heth. They were worshipers of false
gods, and their idolatry was a bitter grief to Isaac and Rebekah. Esau
had violated one of the conditions of the covenant, which forbade in-
termarriage between the chosen people and the heathen; yet Isaac was
still unshaken in his determination to bestow upon him the birthright.
The reasoning of Rebekah, Jacob’s strong desire for the blessing,
and Esau’s indifference to its obligations had no effect to change the
father’s purpose.
Years passed on, until Isaac, old and blind, and expecting soon to
die, determined no longer to delay the bestowal of the blessing upon
his elder son. But knowing the opposition of Rebekah and Jacob, he
decided to perform the solemn ceremony in secret. In accordance with
the custom of making a feast upon such occasions, the patriarch bade
Esau, “Go out to the field, and take me some venison; and make me
savory meat, ... that my soul may bless thee before I die.”
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Rebekah divined his purpose. She was confident that it was con-
trary to what God had revealed as His will. Isaac was in danger of