Jacob and Esau

Isaac prayed for his wife Rebekah because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. But the babies jostled within her so violently that she cried out, 'Why is this happening to me?' She went to inquire of the Lord.

'Two nations are in your womb,' God told her, 'and two peoples from within you will be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.'

When the time came, the first baby emerged red and hairy all over, like a garment. They named him Esau. His twin came out grasping Esau's heel, so they named him Jacob, meaning 'he grasps the heel' or 'he deceives.'

The boys grew up very different. Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, and Isaac's favorite because Isaac had a taste for wild game. Jacob was content to stay among the tents, and Rebekah loved him more.

One day Jacob was cooking stew when Esau came in from the countryside, famished. 'Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!' he said.

Jacob saw an opportunity. 'First sell me your birthright.' The birthright was the eldest son's double inheritance and family leadership.

'Look, I am about to die,' Esau exaggerated. 'What good is the birthright to me?'

'Swear to me first,' Jacob insisted.

So Esau swore an oath and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave him bread and lentil stew. Esau ate and drank, got up and left. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

For a bowl of stew, Esau traded away his spiritual inheritance. He valued the immediate over the eternal, the physical over the spiritual. It was a choice that would echo through generations.