This chapter is based on Genesis 25:19-34; 27.
Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac, present a striking contrast in character and in life. This unlikeness was foretold by the angel of God before their birth. In answer to Rebekah’s troubled prayer, he declared that two sons would be given her. He opened to her their future history, that each would become the head of a mighty nation, but that one would be greater than the other, and the younger would have the pre-eminence. {EP 113.1}
Esau grew up loving self-gratification, centering all his interest in the present. Impatient of restraint, he delighted in the chase and the life of a hunter. Yet he was the father’s favorite. This elder son fearlessly ranged over mountain and desert, returning home with game and exciting accounts of his adventurous life. {EP 113.2}
Jacob, thoughtful, diligent, ever thinking more of the future than the present, was content to dwell at home, occupied in the care of the flocks and tillage of the soil. His patient perseverance, thrift, and foresight were valued by the mother. His gentle attentions added more to her happiness than the boisterous, occasional kindnesses of Esau. To Rebekah, Jacob was the dearer son. {EP 113.3}
Esau and Jacob were taught to regard the birthright as a matter of great importance, for it included not only an inheritance of worldly wealth, but spiritual pre-eminence. He who received it was to be the priest of his family, and in the line of his posterity the Redeemer of the world would come. {EP 113.4}
On the other hand, there were obligations resting upon the possessor of the birthright. He who should inherit its blessings must devote his life to the service of God. In marriage, in his family relations, in public life, he must consult the will of God. {EP 114.1}
Isaac made known to his sons these privileges and conditions and plainly stated that Esau as the eldest was the one entitled to the birthright. But Esau had no love for devotion, no inclination to a religious life. The requirements that accompanied the spiritual birthright were an unwelcome and even hateful restraint. The law of God, the condition of the divine covenant with Abraham, was regarded by Esau as a yoke of bondage. Bent on self- indulgence, he desired nothing so much as liberty to do as he pleased. To him power and riches, feasting and reveling, were happiness. He gloried in the unrestrained freedom of his wild, roving life. {EP 114.2}
Rebekah remembered the words of the angel and read with clearer insight than her husband the character of their sons. Convinced that the heritage of divine promise was intended for Jacob, she repeated to Isaac the angel’s words. But the father’s affections were centered upon the elder son, and he was unshaken in his purpose. {EP 114.3}
Jacob had learned from his mother that the birthright should fall to him, and he was filled with desire for the privileges it would confer. It was not his father’s wealth that he craved; the spiritual birthright was the object of his longing. To commune with God as Abraham, to offer the sacrifice of atonement, to be progenitor of the chosen people of the promised Messiah, to inherit the immortal possessions embraced in the covenant—here were the privileges and honor that kindled his ardent desires. {EP 114.4}
He listened to all that his father told concerning the spiritual birthright; he carefully treasured what he had learned from his mother. The subject became the absorbing interest of his life. But Jacob had not an experimental knowledge of the God whom he revered. His heart had not been renewed by divine grace. He constantly studied to devise some way whereby he might secure the blessing which his brother held so lightly, but which was so precious to himself. {EP 114.5}
Esau Sells His Treasure
Esau, coming home one day faint and weary from the chase, asked for the food that Jacob was preparing. The latter seized upon his advantage and offered to satisfy his brother’s hunger at the price of the birthright. “Behold, I am at the point to die,” cried the reckless, self-indulgent hunter, “and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” For a dish of red pottage he parted with his birthright and confirmed the transaction by an oath. To satisfy the desire of the moment he carelessly bartered the glorious heritage God Himself had promised his fathers. His whole interest was in the present. He was ready to sacrifice the heavenly to the earthly, to exchange a future good for a momentary indulgence. {EP 115.1}
“Thus Esau despised his birthright.” In disposing of it he felt a sense of relief. Now he could do as he liked. For this wild pleasure, miscalled freedom, many are still selling their birthright to an inheritance eternal in the heavens! {EP 115.2}
Esau took two wives of the daughters of Heth. Worshipers of false gods, their idolatry was a bitter grief to Isaac and Rebekah. Esau had violated one of the conditions of the covenant, which forbade intermarriage between the chosen people and the heathen; yet Isaac was still determined to bestow upon him the birthright. {EP 115.3}
Years passed. Isaac, old and blind, soon to die, determined no longer to delay the bestowal of the blessing upon his elder son. But knowing the opposition of Rebekah and Jacob, he decided to perform the solemn ceremony in secret. The patriarch bade Esau, “Go out to the field, and take me some venison; and make me savory meat, ... that my soul may bless thee before I die.” {EP 115.4}
Rebekah told Jacob what had taken place, urging immediate action to prevent the bestowal of the blessing upon Esau. She assured her son that if he would follow her directions, he might obtain it as God had promised. Jacob did not readily consent. The thought of deceiving his father caused great distress. Such a sin would bring a curse rather than a blessing. {EP 115.5}
But his scruples were overborne, and he proceeded to carry out his mother’s suggestions. It was not his intention to utter a direct falsehood, but once in the presence of his father he seemed to have gone too far to retreat, and he obtained by fraud the coveted blessing. {EP 116.1}
Consequences of Deception
Jacob and Rebekah succeeded in their purpose but gained only trouble and sorrow by deception. God had declared that Jacob receive the birthright, and His word would have been fulfilled had they waited in faith for Him to work. Rebekah bitterly repented the wrong counsel she had given her son. Jacob was weighed down with self-condemnation. He had sinned against his father, his brother, his own soul, and against God. In one short hour he had made work for a lifelong repentance. This scene was vivid before him in afteryears when the wicked course of his own sons oppressed his soul. {EP 116.2}
No sooner had Jacob left his father’s tent than Esau entered. Though he had sold his birthright he was now determined to secure its blessing. With the spiritual was connected the temporal birthright, which would give him the headship of the family and a double portion of his father’s wealth. “Let my father arise,” he said, “and eat of his son’s venison, that thy soul may bless me.” {EP 116.3}
Trembling with astonishment and distress, the blind old father learned the deception that had been practiced upon him. He keenly felt the disappointment that must come upon his elder son. Yet the conviction flashed upon him that it was God’s providence which had brought about the very thing he had determined to prevent. He remembered the words of the angel to Rebekah, and he saw in Jacob the one best fitted to accomplish the purpose of God. While the words of blessing were upon his lips, he had felt the Spirit of Inspiration upon him; and now he ratified the benediction unwittingly pronounced upon Jacob: “I have blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed.” {EP 116.4}
Esau Could Not Repent
Esau had lightly valued the blessing while it seemed within his reach, but now that it was gone from him his grief and rage were terrible. “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” “Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?” But the birthright which he had so carelessly bartered, he could not regain. “For one morsel of meat,” for a momentary gratification of appetite that had never been restrained, Esau sold his inheritance. {EP 117.1}
But when he saw his folly, it was too late to recover the blessing. “He found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” Hebrews 12:17. Esau was not shut out from seeking God’s favor by repentance, but he could find no means of recovering the birthright. His grief did not spring from conviction of sin; he did not desire to be reconciled to God. He sorrowed because of the results of his sin, but not for the sin itself. {EP 117.2} Esau is called in Scripture “a profane person.” Verse 16. He represents those who lightly value the redemption purchased for them by Christ and are ready to sacrifice their heirship to heaven for the perishable things of earth. Multitudes live with no thought or care for the future. Like Esau they cry, “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” 1 Corinthians 15:32. The claims of appetite prevail, and God and heaven are virtually despised. When the duty is presented of cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, they are offended. {EP 117.3}
Multitudes are selling their birthright for sensual indulgence. Health is sacrificed, the mental faculties are enfeebled, and heaven forfeited, all for a temporary pleasure, both weakening and debasing in its character. Esau awoke too late to recover his loss. So it will be in the day of God with those who have bartered their heirship to heaven for selfish gratifications. {EP 117.4}