Isaac had twin sons by his wife Rebekah, the firstborn being Esau and the second Jacob. Even though the time between their births was short, yet, technically, Esau was the elder of the two. Therefore, according to the custom of the patriarchal system, he was entitled to the birthright. This carried with it important advantages such as the greater part of the family inheritance and the patriarchal blessing. The blessing was given by the laying on of hands and a rather prophetic pronouncement concerning the future of the recipient. This was designed to perpetuate the patriarchal lineage, but it often did not work out that way. It seems that God frequently intervened, and despite the patriarchal blessing, elected someone other than the eldest son to carry on the messianic lineage. In fact, from Shem down to Solomon none of the eldest sons were chosen for this role.
This is what happened in the case of Jacob and Esau. God intervened, and through the conniving of Rebekah, Jacob received the birthright and patriarchal blessing from Isaac. They were able to pull this off by taking advantage of some rather fortuitous events and the profane, arrogant nature of Esau (Heb. 12:16). One day, when Esau returned from a hunting expedition, Jacob had cooked up a savory stew of red beans and lentils called pottage. Esau was hungry and thirsty and that mess of pottage smelled mighty good. He allowed his appetite to get the better of his good judgment, and he proceeded to sell Jacob his birthright for the mess of pottage. Then Rebekah and Jacob proceeded to deceive poor blind old Isaac into giving Jacob the patriarchal blessing. Later, Esau came to his senses and realized his big mistake, but it was too late to reverse the effects of his poor judgment. From then on Esau and his descendants, the Edomites, became the constant enemies of the descendants of Jacob, the Israelites. This animosity continued until the Edomites were conquered and effectively eliminated by David.
How often we despise our birthright as the children of promise, as sons and daughters of God. How often we lose our perspective and allow appetite, greed, lust, and yes, even self-preservation, to cheat us out of the divine blessing. Moses set the example when he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, but rather chose to "suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season" (Heb. 11:24.25). We must be continually on guard that we not succumb to our sinful nature, and that we not, as did Esau, sell our birthright for a mess of pottage.
