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The Truth About Angels
Abraham dwelt at Beersheba, and Isaac, who had been attending
to the flocks in the adjoining country, had returned to his father’s tent
to await the arrival of the messenger from Haran.... “And Isaac went
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out to meditate in the field at the eventide.... And the servant told Isaac
all the things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother
Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife.”—
Patriarchs
and Prophets, 171-173
.
Jacob and Esau
Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac, present a striking contrast,
both in character and life. This unlikeness was foretold by the angel of
God before their birth. When in answer to Rebekah’s troubled prayer
he declared that two sons would be given her, he opened to her their
future history, that each would become the head of a mighty nation, but
that one would be greater than the other, and that the younger would
have the preeminence....
Isaac ... plainly stated that Esau, as the eldest, was the one entitled
to the birthright. But Esau had no love for devotion, no inclination to
a religious life.... Rebekah remembered the words of the angel, and ...
she was convinced that the heritage of divine promise was intended
for Jacob. She repeated to Isaac the angel’s words; but the father’s
affections were centered upon the elder son, and he was unshaken in
his purpose.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 177, 178
.
Jacob had learned from his mother of the divine intimation that the
birthright should fall to him, and he was filled with an unspeakable de-
sire for the privileges which it would confer. It was not the possession
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of his father’s wealth that he craved; the spiritual birthright was the
object of his longing....
When Esau, coming home one day faint and weary from the chase,
asked for the food that Jacob was preparing, the latter ... 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....
Jacob and Rebekah succeeded in their purpose, but they gained
only trouble and sorrow by their deception. God had declared that
Jacob should receive the birthright, and His word would have been