Esau and Jacob
Part I
Isaac was forty years
old when he married Rebekah. (Genesis
25:20) After twenty years of
marriage, they still had no children
because Rebekah was barren.
Distressed and impatient, Isaac
prayed and asked the Lord to open
Rebekah’s womb. The Lord
answered Isaac’s prayer and
Rebekah became pregnant, but her
pregnancy was troublesome. It seemed
as though a great battle was taking
place within her abdomen and the
tumult became so vigorous that she
asked the Lord about it! “The
Lord said to her, ‘Two nations
are in your womb, and two peoples
from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the
other, and the older will serve the
younger,’”
(Genesis 25:23)
“When the time
came for her to give birth, there
were two boys in her womb. The first
to come out was red, and his whole
body was like a hairy garment; so
they named him Esau [meaning: the
red man]. After this, his brother
came out, with his hand grasping
Esau’s heel: so he was named
Jacob [meaning: the sneaky one,
the cheater]. Isaac was sixty
years old when Rebekah gave birth to
them. The boys grew up, and Esau
became a skillful hunter, a man of
the open country, while Jacob was a
quiet man, staying among the tents.
Isaac has a taste for wild game,
loved Esau, but Rebekah loved
Jacob.” (Genesis 25:24-28,
insertions mine)
“Once when
Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau
came in from the open country,
famished. He said to Jacob,
‘Quick let me have some of that
red stew! I’m famished!’
(That is why he was also called Edom [the
red man].) Jacob replied,
‘First sell me your
birthright.’ ‘Look, I am
about to die,’ Esau said.
‘What good is the birthright to
me [if I am dead]?’ But
Jacob said, ‘Swear to me
first.’ So he swore an oath to
him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and
some lentil stew. He ate and drank,
and then got up and left. So Esau
despised [was not interested in
the possessions or the obligation of]
his birthright.” (Genesis
25:29-34, insertions mine)
Esau cared so little
for the birthright that belonged to
him because he loved open country; he
was a born explorer. He wanted to go
where no one else had gone. Esau
possessed the mind of a
hunter/warrior. Esau was much like
those who would come after him in
history like Leif Erikson,
Christopher Columbus, Daniel Boone,
Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark
– gifted men who were determined
to discover the length and breadth of
the world. Esau was not content to be
confined to a homestead and a garden.
He was not interested in tending
sheep. He was not interested in
settling down and becoming a
spiritual leader of a nation. Esau
was a free spirit who truly loved to
roam the earth, and his father Isaac,
who grew up tending sheep and taking
care of the home place, admired the
bold and adventuresome spirit of his
firstborn son, Esau.
Rebekah loved Jacob
because he was a “mother’s
boy.” Jacob lived in the shadow
of his stronger brother. Esau was
physically agile, skilled in the use
of weapons, and clever as a
wilderness survivor/hunter. Jacob was
studious and content to live
“among the tents.” As he
began to understand the covenant that
God had given his grandfather,
Abraham, Jacob coveted the birthright
that he had missed by a few measly
seconds! Jacob had a heart for
God. He was aware of the prophecy God
gave Rebekah, but he could not figure
out how “the older will serve
the younger.” He could only wait
upon the Lord. As far as Rebekah was
concerned, she favored Jacob. She
wanted Isaac’s birthright passed
on to Jacob because she knew that
Jacob was a spiritual man, a man who
loved God.
In spite of what many
people think, the Bible does not
indicate that Esau was an evil man
although he did have some missteps.
When Esau was forty, he went against
his parent’s wishes and married
two Canaanites. (Genesis 26:34) While
Esau was entitles to Isaac’s
birthright (and the responsibilities
that went with the birthright), he
did not care for it. However, he did
want his father’s blessing. Esau
and Isaac were very close and Isaac
intended to bestow the birthright
blessing upon Esau before he died
(Genesis 27:4). I am sure that Isaac
would not have done this if he
thought Esau was not worthy of the
birthright.
Esau and Jacob had
serious character flaws (don’t
we all?). Esau shirked his
responsibilities as Isaac’s
firstborn and he showed no interest
in the covenant God gave to Abraham.
On the other hand, mild-mannered
Jacob was greedy, a liar, and a
sneaky cheat. It is interesting to
see how Jacob’s dishonesty and
Esau’s indifference intersected.
When Esau came in from a hunt that
produced nothing, Jacob leveraged the
birthright out of Esau. Jacob’s
greed enabled him to take advantage
of his brother. His act was
despicable and evil in God’s
sight. (Leviticus 25:17; Deuteronomy
24:14,15)) Esau, who regarded the
obligations of his birthright as an
unnecessary burden, let them go for a
bowl of lentils. Esau was not worried
because (a) he was much closer to his
father than Jacob, and (b) both men
knew that to make the birthright
transfer legitimate, there was
another hurdle – their
father’s approval and blessing.
One day, Rebekah
overheard Isaac (who was blind) tell
Esau to go on a hunt. Isaac wanted a
tasty meal of wild game so that he
could pronounce the birthright
blessing upon Esau before he died.
Rebekah raced to Jacob’s tent
with a plan and Jacob’s greed
caused him to conspire with his
mother to steal Esau’s blessing
so that the birthright transfer could
be consummated. This fact may
surprise you, but Esau and Jacob were
seventy years old. (Note: As I
calculate it, Jacob was 70 years old
when he deceived his father, Isaac.
Here is the evidence: (a) Jacob was
130 years old when he moved into
Egypt. (b) Joseph was 39 or 40 when
his father moved into Egypt. (Genesis
41:46,48; 45:4-6) (c) Joseph was born
during Jacob’s twentieth year
with Labin (Genesis 30:25; 31:38).
So, 130 minus 40 minus 20 equals 70.)
“Then Rebekah
took the best clothes of Esau her
older son, which she had in the
house, and put them on her younger
son Jacob. She also covered his hands
and the smooth part of his neck with
the goatskins. The she handed to her
son Jacob the tasty food and the
bread she had made. He went to his
father and said, ‘My
father.’ ‘Yes my son, he
answered. ‘Who is it?’
Jacob said to his father, ‘I am
Esau your firstborn. I have done as
you told me. Please sit down and eat
some of my game so that you may give
me your blessing.’ He replied.
Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come
near so I can touch you, my son, to
know whether you really are my son
Esau or not.’ Jacob went close
to his father Isaac, who touched him
and said, ‘The voice is the
voice of Jacob, but the hands are the
hands of Esau.’ … Then his
father Isaac said to him, ‘Come
my son, and kiss me.’ So he went
to him and kissed him. When Isaac
caught the smell of his clothes, he
blessed him and said, ‘Ah, the
smell of my son is like the smell of
a field that the Lord has blessed.
May God give you of heaven’s dew
and of earth’s richness –
an abundance of grain and new wine.
May nations serve you and peoples bow
down to you. Be lord over your
brothers, and may the sons of your
mother bow down to you. May those who
curse you be cursed and those who
bless you be blessed.’”
(Genesis 27:15-29)
Soon after Jacob left
Isaac’s tent, Esau showed up
with fresh game. Of course,
Jacob’s deception became known
immediately. Esau was furious, but he
controlled himself out of respect for
his father. He would wait and kill
Jacob after Isaac died and in so
doing, spare his father’s agony.
Meanwhile, Rachel overheard
Esau’s plans and she told Jacob
that he must flee to her brother in
Haran. Shortly after, Rebekah
went to Isaac under the pretense of
sending Jacob to her brother’s
house so that Jacob would not marry a
“Canaanite” as Esau had
done. Isaac agreed and he sent Jacob
away with his blessing, Rebekah and
Jacob did not see each other again
and Esau probably scorned his mother
for betraying him. Sin always
extracts a greater price than the
benefit anticipated.
So, Jacob fled to the
house of his mother’s brother,
Laban. There, Jacob met a man who was
a lying cheater but he was even more
greedy than himself! For twenty
years, Jacob was a victim of
Laban’s dishonesty. Jacob was
cheated out of a wife and he was
cheated out of his wages ten times.
(Genesis 31:41) I am sure you
remember how Jacob worked for seven
years to marry Rachel only to
discover, when morning light finally
illuminated the wedding tent, there
was Leah! Now that we have examined
something of Jacob’s conduct and
character, we will examine
Jacob’s conversion in Part II.
Larry Wilson
