In short
Genesis 25:27-34. Esau was hungry, so he gives his inheritance rights to his younger brother.
Why it is important
Hebrews 12:15-17, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”
Main characters
Esau and Jacob, twin brothers
What is in this story
- Esau was a hunter (v. 27)
- Esau came back one day, exhausted – from hunting, I’d assume (v. 29)
- Jacob, a homebody (v. 27) had made some stew (v. 29)
- Esau asks to have some (v. 30)
- Jacob says, Sure, in exchange for your birthright (v. 31)
- Esau says, Makes enough sense; okay! (v. 32)
- And so, they follow through (vs. 33-34)
Things that are not so well-known
Esau has another name, Edom, and this is the origin of that name (v. 30). Edom means “red,” and it’s in reference to the stew. Esau was red at birth (Gen 25:25), but that’s not where he got named Edom (as I had thought).
Jacob’s descendants become the nation of Israel, while the nation of Edom is a perpetual enemy to Israel.
Theology and doctrine
At least to us readers, it’s not a secret that Esau was doomed. At his birth, The LORD told Rebekah, the mother of the twin boys, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger” (Gen 25:23).
Even though Esau was the oldest and therefore had the birthright, it was prophesied that Jacob would be mightier anyway.
But it was still a bad choice for Esau to sell his birthright. Surely, he would not have died, as Hebrews 12 implies.
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