The special son

Imagine being the son of a rich farmer, and that you will inherit all your father's wealth and status when he dies simply because you were the first born and therefore the inheritor of the birthright. You have a close relationship with him and the prospect of a great future. Despite all this, you sell your birthright to your younger twin brother for a small amount of food. This situation is described in Genesis 25:27-34   

27 So the (twin) boys grew. And Esau (firstborn) was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob (second born) was a mild man, dwelling in tents. 

28 And Isaac (father)loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah(mother)loved Jacob. 

29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. 

30 And Esau said to Jacob, "Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary." Therefore his name was called Edom. 

31 But Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright as of this day." 

32 And Esau said, "Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?" 

33 Then Jacob said, "Swear to me as of this day." So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 

34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Chalk and cheese

The two boys were very different. Esau loved wild open places away from the family flocks and he became a skilled hunter. Jacob, however, was described as a "mild man dwelling in tents" but this didn't mean he was a wimp. The Hebrew word translated as "mild" actually means "complete" and is translated in different ways in various versions of the Bible. For example "settled" in the New English Bible, "even-tempered" in the New English Translation or "quiet disposition" as in the New Berkeley Version. Jacob is best described as the manager of the family enterprise managing the teams of shepherds and goat-herders.

As I've noted in a number of posts the Genesis narrative is sparse and there is often much being said with few words and much between the lines.

Don't make deals when you are tired

The scene quoted above starts with Jacob cooking a "stew" that was actually a pottage made of lentils (v29). The fact that Jacob was cooking suggests he was out in the pastures away from the main family tents as servants would normally do this for him. At this point Esau arrives at Jacob's camp which is surprising as we know that family relationships were quite strained with Isaac favoring Esau and Rebekah favoring Jacob (v28) and normally he would have returned to his father. But Esau was extremely hungry and desperate from days hunting without success and he must have realized that Jacob's camp is the closest source of nourishment. He stumbles in exhausted and says "Please feed me some of that red stuff for I am weary" (v30). The narrative highlights the coolness between the brothers because of the formality of the request. A normal brotherly relationship would have seen Jacob offering food immediately. This view is reinforced when, Jacob knowing the state of Esau's hunger, offers to trade the food for Esau's birthright and Esau carelessly agrees. Jacob's offer must have been something that the brothers had spoken about earlier as Esau is not taken aback by the request but in his state of hunger and tiredness  he thinks little about the consequences of this trade. The fact that Jacob wanted to trade something as important as a birthright for something of such little value indicates how little affection there was between them. 

Esau sells his birthright

From this chapter, and later chapters (Genesis 26:34-35, 28:6-9), it is evident that Esau was breaking free of the constraints of Isaac's "God-based" life and was happy to be doing "his own thing" and he may have considered the responsibilities of the birthright outweighed the benefits. Sure he would get a double-share of his father's wealth but it also required him to lead the family unit, care for his mother, and ultimately take responsibility for everything. His ambivalence is obvious in his comment of "what is this birthright to me?" (v32).

Jacob would have been secretly delighted but he plays it cool and makes Esau swear an oath of agreement implying  that there were other shepherds present to witness the transfer of the birthright. The narrative quickly closes with a perfunctory ... "he ate, drank, arose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright". It is possible that he went back to his fathers tents but my thought is that he went back to his hunting and following his OWN way.

Later, Esau deeply regretted losing his birthright (Genesis 27:32-38) and he began to hate Jacob, blaming him for his loss.

Serious implications

How exactly did Esau despise his birthright? To despise means to treat something as of little worth and that is exactly what Esau did. The birthright was based on his father's wealth that was the by-product of Isaac's hard work and built up over many years of effort. Esau would have been given two-thirds of all this wealth when Isaac died but this was immediately devalued to the price of a bowl of lentil pottage by his  agreement to sell his birthright.

Isaac blesses Jacob by mistake

He despised the closeness of relationship he had with Isaac. As the firstborn he would have had a special blessing pronounced over his life. These were highly treasured and reinforced the status of the firstborn as well as the intent of the father's will and purpose for the family from the time of his death. The father's blessing was treasured by all children but especially the double-blessing given to firstborn. There was also a prophetic element to blessings and destinies were shaped by what was uttered. Later in Genesis 27: 32-38 we see that Isaac's blessing over Jacob was the one that Isaac intended to confer on Esau. Esau desperately wanted that double-blessing and had to settle for a "lesser" blessing that prophesied that he would serve his brother. Although Isaac's love for Esau remained, Esau would never experience the same closeness of relationship with his father for the rest of his life as both would have been very aware of how little value Esau had placed on his birthright and his father's blessing.

Finally, owning the birthright meant there was a responsibility to care for his mother and the whole extended family. Esau tossed aside his duty-of-care to his family with little thought to their needs and the potential status of that role. Although I do suspect his strained relationship with his mother and brother may have given Esau the excuse he needed to not fulfill his family obligations.  

Does this sound familiar?

As followers of Jesus we participate in the richness of relationship with our heavenly Father because of what Jesus "the firstborn" achieved on the cross (Romans 8:29). We have access to our Father's blessings (Ephesians 1:3) and He also asks us to share in the care of his His extended family; the church (Romans 12:10). This bounty is the result of the gift of grace lavished on us by the Father and the challenge is to not despise what God has done for us by living for ourselves. Hebrews 12:15 warns us to diligently look to ensure that we do not "fall short of the grace of God" and be like Esau who despised his birthright. This doesn't mean we lose our salvation but it can mean that, like Esau, we can miss out on the richness of a relationship with our Father and only live a "second-best" life.

Notes:

Bible translation abbreviations: 

• NEB - New English Bible (1969),
• NET - New English Translation (2006), 
• NBV - New Berkeley Version (1970).

Commentaries:

• See Matthew Henry's Commentary of the Whole Bible (1706-1721) for his commentary on the selling of the birthright. 

Paintings:

• "Esau and Jacob" by Giovanni Andrea De Ferrari (1598-1669), Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti -Wikimedia Commons
• "Issac blessing Jacob", by Gustave Dore - Wikimedia Commons