In Genesis 25, we see, in close order the account of the birth of the twins, Esau and Jacob, followed immediately by an account of the twins as adults. That’s a lot of material to pass over. But the writer of scripture only sought to preserve for us these two things as the first accounts of their life: The account of the birth, which includes the pre-birth drama of the two children at war in the womb, and then of this unsavory account of the Bible Hero and Villain as young adults.
I write unsavory, because that is what it is. Its about two young men, one of whom is hardly a Bible Hero, though he is often held up as such, and the other a person who is guilty of a terrible crime of short sightedness. There is, in fact, no heroes in this account. The man who would become a hero of faith, Jacob who becomes Israel, is still very early in his formative stages, and is not a man of faith in Yahweh. Esau seems to care little beyond what he can shoot and what he can put into his stomach. He does care about what his father thinks of him, as Genesis 27:41-42 and 28:6-9 indicate. But at the point of the soup story, we know very little about this man, save that he was disfavored by God for his brother, and that he was a hairy hunter.
Esau arrives at the scene of the camp. He has been hard at work in the hunt, and has worked up quite a hunger. Apparently they shot nothing, or if they had, it will be some time in preparation. He’s hungry, and here, his brother, “Grabby,” or Jacob in Hebrew, already had a hot fire and hot stew cooking!
It must be hard to be stuck with an unflattering name. I have a great name: Michael. Its such a great name it seems there are people everywhere with that name. On my dorm floor at MSU, it seemed like there was about 25% of the people were named Michael. Shout “Hey MIke,” down the dorm floor, and maybe 10 heads pop out the doors. Its a good name that is actually a praise: Who is like El/God? A question that exalts the divine one. What a name.
That is not Jacob’s legacy at this point. He was grabbing his brother’s foot when he came out of the womb. So “Grabby” they called him. I remember my Grandmother calling me “Grabby” once. It was not a term of endearment. She called me that because I tried to grab something out of her hand without saying me “pleases” and “May I’s.” It hurt, but I also knew better. And it stopped me from being grabby with her after that.
But in our label conscious day today, we recognize from numerous studies that such names can have detrimental effects on people. They tend to live up or down to the label they have been given. Jacob here, in this account demonstrates that he is grabby for lots of things, including things he has been promised already. God has already stated that Jacob has been favored by him when he was in the womb. But, rather than wait for what God has promised, instead he decides to grab at it himself.
Enter our character Esau. “Hey,” he says, “Let me gulp down some of that Red Stuff.”
My paraphrase uses “gulp down.” The form of the word La’at is a particular form that suggests that Esau was not interested in tasting the stew. He just wanted to fill his gut, NOW, to end his inner emptiness. He had a legit need. He had a legit hunger. It was going to be filled at some point. His father is a wealthy sheik, so there is no need to fear starvation. But he wants to be filled NOW, and to end the discomfort of hunger NOW.
I have heard stories of people who were truly hungry…starving. And sometimes when they come across an abundance of food, they will bolt it so fast that they will actually die because of the flood of food that fills their small, shrunken stomachs. We can’t blame those who are actually in a case of true starvation for wanting to eat quickly.
Esau, however, is no poor malnourished child. He is a healthy adult in a wealthy family. He’s been away from food for a while, and he really is hungry. Legitimately hungry. So asking for some “Red Stuff,” the stew is reasonable. But “Grabby” knows his brother. Here is an opportunity to have some fun, and maybe profit by it. “Sure, but only if you give me your birth right.”
I almost wonder how serious Jacob really is about this. Is he like the cat who is quite full but sets a trap for his mouse anyway, without any real intent to kill? Or does he really want to withhold the food from Esau until he gives in. After all, food is just a fatted calf and a call to a servant away for Esau.
Esau however does not put up any fight whatsoever. “I am about to die, so what good is a birth right to me.”
Again, I point out, Esau is NOT about to die. He is simply really hungry. We laugh and say how ridiculous, but how often, in some fit of pique, do we say “I am about to die, if…” We tend to find ourselves faint over sometimes the silliest things, then we look back and say “What was the big deal?” A legitimate desire, whether for food, money, friendship, sex, influence, or whatever, suddenly becomes all consuming: What will happen if I can’t get my need filled? Surely I’ll die, be in the poor house, faint, fail, or whatever dire ending we can imagine. Yeah…Esau is just like us.
Now we need to understand what this thing called “the birthright” really is. Esau has it because he’s the oldest child. For one thing, it means he gets “the double portion.” In a family of four, the inheritance is divided five ways, and the oldest child gets two of those. In a family of two, like Esau’s family, it is divided in three, and Esau get’s two pieces: two thirds of the family fortune. So if Esau waits and gets his inheritance as the heir, that means two thirds of all the money of a very wealthy eastern sheik becomes his.
Now, if any body came to you and said “I will give you 4 dollars today, and you have to sign over to me two thirds of everything your parents own when you die in exhange,” you would say “Dude, you are out of your mind.” Rightfully so. Today, I can get a bowl of soup in a restaurant for about 4 dollars. That’s what “Grabby” offers. He gets, in exchange, 2/3 of the family fortune in the future.
The scripture says, “So Esau despised/showed contemp/scorned his family birthright.” It really meant nothing to him. But wait…money is not all he gave up.
In that family, Isaac was the priest of the most High God. He had a relationship with Yahweh as His priest. He had a relationship with God that involved direct communion with Him. He offered sacrifices directly. He knew God personally, and could pray for others as a priest. We don’t understand how important that was in the church today, because we are all believer/priests (1 Peter 2:9). Back in those days, the only people who had relationships with God were prophets and priests. Abraham was a prophet, and was the friend of God. Isaac was a priest. If you wanted to communicate with God you had to go to a priest or a prophet. Otherwise, you could not come to him.
Esau gave that up too, when he sold his birthright. So not only did he despise the wealth and honor of being the firstborn heir of a powerful sheik, but he had no use for God and no desire to serve Him as His priest.
Wow.
Esau despised his birthright. He sold out a relationship with God for soup.
We would never do that, right? After all, who gives up conversing and relating to the God of the universe for a short sighted moment of satiation?
Wait a minute. We do.
Think about this for a bit. We all have legitimate desires. But we are often offered opportunities to satisfy those desires in sinful ways. When we give in to those solicitations from the Devil or from the flesh, to satiate ourselves for the moment, we are doing what Esau did. There are lots of legit desires. But the world and the flesh and the devil like to find ways to entice us to fill them in illegitimate ways. In the moments we give in to them, we say “yes” to sin and “No” to our relationship with God.
To make matters worse, “Grabby” decides to memorialize the moment by calling him “Edom,” or “Red Stuff” after that. Perhaps a way to remind Esau who is now the heir, but also to remind Esau of how stupid he was. Sometimes when we give in to do something foolish, we find that we are reminded frequently of our fall. When our choices become public, the press or social media will ruthlessly remind you of your mistake. Sometimes your own worst enemy is yourself. And you relentlessly and tirelessly beat yourself up, and label yourself for your error.
I’ve been there. I know what that’s like to lay awake at night and beat yourself to mental putty.
The wonderful thing in that is this: If you are a Christian, then God knew about your error before he opened your eyes and applied the blood of Christ to your life. And yet he still chose you. Even now, he has seen your error, and knows that, in your moment of foolishness, you chose sin over him. Even now He waits for you, his prodigal child, to come back to him. He awaits your return. Stop beating yourself up. Go back to your loving heavenly Father. Tell Him you are sorry, and that you repent. You’ll find that before the words are even out of your mouth, he is already there with His arms around you, telling the servants to get the party ready: His child has come home.
If however, you are wavering on whether or not to give in to the temptation you are being offered, don’t do it. Its never worth it. Wait for God to legitimately meet that need. It will be much more satisfying if you do. And God is always worth more than some temporary moment of satiation by means of sin. Spare yourself the heartache and the grief. Say Yes to God.
For Esau, though, there would be no homecoming. His foolishness and Jacob’s duplicity sowed the seeds for family division that will bear fruit as we shall see in the next vignette from their lives.
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