SCRIPTURE
When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoors man, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, exhausted. He said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I'm exhausted." That is why he was also named Edom. Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright." "Look," said Esau, "I'm about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?" Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him. Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:27-34)
OBSERVATION
Jacob and Esau were born to Isaac and Rebekah. During the pregnancy the children struggled inside of her. God told her it was because she had two nations in her womb. The older, Esau, would serve the younger, Jacob. When Jacob was delivered, he came out he was grasping Esau's heel (his name means, "He Grasps the Heel.") This passage mentions the first time they struggled.
Esau was a hunter and Jacob liked to stay home. Esau came in famished from a hunt and sold his birthright, that which rightly belonged to him as the oldest, to his younger brother. He didn't sell it for money, or power, but for lentil stew. It was a pretty ridiculous thing to do for soup. Esau was exhausted and all he wanted was to have his need (hunger) met. He gave into the moment without thinking about the long term consequences. Later, when he had time to reflect, he despised his birthright. I think he realized it was a ridiculous decision but now he had to live with the consequences.
APPLICATION
Before I come down too hard on Esau I have to remember the times I've traded my birthright for even less than a bowl of stew. I have a birthright as God's adopted son. The bible says I have an inheritance waiting in heaven. Not that I've given up my entire birthright, but with every sin, every shortcut, every failed temptation test, it has been compromised. In those times I do not experience the fullness of God's life in me. That's why the writer of Hebrews warns about falling short of the grace of God and in the next verse uses Esau as an illustration (Heb. 12:15-16).
How many times, after the fact, do I look back and realize that the decision was a pretty stupid thing to do? Most every time. I can learn a valuable lesson from Esau. Don't give up the future by giving into the moment. Every decision, every choice, changes the direction of my life...for good or bad. It's easy to become near-sighted and totally focused on whatever is happening right now (I'm hungry and want soup so I'll do something foolish to get it.). However, after the fact, upon retrospection, I will despise the decision. I need to learn to despise the decision before I decide.
PRAYER
Lord, thank you for the lesson of Esau. Help me to see beyond the need of the moment to the path of the future. Give me the strength to maintain my birthright even in the face of temporary, in the moment, temptations.
