Genesis 25:29 Commentary and Bible Study

Here is an incident in their lives, and it is so misinterpreted. ‘And Jacob sod [or seethed, or boiled] pottage.’ It turns out, we are told a few verses later, it was lentils. ‘And Esau came from the field and he was faint’, possibly to the point of exhaustion. ‘And Esau said to Jacob, feed me’, or more literally you could render it, ‘Let me gulp down.’ Give it me urgently; let me gulp down ‘that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.’ What follows is so wildly interpreted: cunning Jacob, deceitful, horrible man, plays a ghastly trick on his ravenous brother and, because he is a nasty piece of work and a deceitful and a cunning person, chooses to extract from him the birthright and to take advantage of him. That is nonsense. You cannot fairly interpret the passage that way; only if you have never read the Book of Genesis, if you have not seen the threads, if you have not seen the alarm, if you have not seen the divine commentary. There is a much better way of looking at the passage.Jacob, incidentally, did not need to buy the birthright from Esau. It belonged to Jacob. You cannot buy what is yours. Esau had no right to sell it. It wasn't his; it was already Jacob’s. So what is going on here? What is going on is a demonstration. Jacob just cannot bear the idea that Esau is to be appointed ultimately, head of the family: Esau, who has no time for spiritual things, who is only interested in his life out there in the field and his adventures, and his hunting and the dangers that he courts. Esau has no time for spiritual things; he is not a religious man; he is not a man of faith. He may behave himself in the presence of his father, but he has no time for the things that matter most. ‘You cannot do that’, says Jacob to himself. ‘You cannot make Esau the head of the family of God's people, the type of the church. It has to be demonstrated just how far from any belief and reverence for the privileges of God Esau is.’ So the day arrives when Esau comes in and says, ‘I am famished; I must have what you are cooking. Just serve it to me instantly.’ ‘Oh,’ thinks Jacob, ‘this is an opportunity to demonstrate Esau's indifference to his exalted station, potentially given to him by his father.’ Therefore Jacob says, ‘Sell me this day thy birthright.’ This is quite a clear demonstration.