Bible in a Year, Day 18: Jacob, Esau and the Cost of One Meal

Today's reading

Today we read Genesis 25, where Isaac and Rebekah's twin sons begin to take very different paths.

Jacob said, “First, sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob. Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

(Genesis 25:31-34, WEB)

Reflection

The conflict between these brothers started before they were born. Pastor Jack Graham reminds us that Isaac and Rebekah waited years for a child, and then the two sons wrestled inside her womb. Rebekah cried out to God, and he told her that two nations were in her womb and the older would serve the younger. Esau was born first, red and hairy, and Jacob followed with his hand gripping his brother's heel.

As the boys grew, the differences deepened. Esau became a skilled hunter, a man of the field, and Isaac loved him. Jacob was quieter and more thoughtful, stayed close to home, and was his mother's favorite. Graham points out that this favoritism split the family in two.

Then came the day Esau walked in from hunting, exhausted and hungry, and found Jacob cooking stew. Jacob told him to sell the birthright first. Graham explains what that meant: the blessing of the family and the father, the leadership of the home, a double portion of the inheritance, and the carrying forward of God's covenant. Esau said he was about to die of hunger and asked what good a birthright was to him. In Graham's words, he traded his future for lunch.

It would be easy to cast Esau as the fool and Jacob as the hero, but Graham does not let either brother off. As he put it, "Esau lived for the moment, but Jacob his brother, he lived for the promise." Yet Jacob was wise and also cunning. Graham says plainly, "Esau treated sacred things like they were worthless, and Jacob manipulated his brother at his brother's weakest moment."

This is where the gospel breaks through. Where both brothers failed, Jesus succeeded. He did not grasp at glory, and he did not trade the eternal for the temporary. He laid down his life willingly so that we could receive a blessing we could never earn. Graham sums it up this way: "God's blessings can't be earned and they can't be manipulated or stolen. They can only be received by faith."

Take it with you

• What are you trading for temporary pleasure or comfort right now?
• What sacred things in your life have you started to treat as meaningless?
• Is there a blessing you have been trying to grab or arrange for yourself instead of receiving it by faith?

Prayer

Lord, you see the hunger that pulls me toward what is quick and easy. Forgive me for the times I have treated sacred things as worthless, and for the times I have tried to take by my own cleverness what only you can give. Thank you for Jesus, who laid down his life so that I could receive a blessing I could never earn. Teach me to value what you value and to receive your gifts by faith. Amen.