A Birthright for Lentil Stew

A BIRTHRIGHT FOR LENTIL STEW

An Exposition of Genesis 25:29-34

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: June 18, 2023

Series: The Book of Genesis

Note: Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says:

²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. ³⁰ And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.)³¹ Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” ³² Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” ³³ Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:29-34)

AN OVERVIEW OF THE PASSAGE

As we come to our study of these six verses, there is a sobering verse in the New Testament that looms on the horizon of our passage: “[See to it] that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.” (Hebrews 12:16) That clear and straightforward moral exhortation was spoken to members of the Christian community in the 1^st century. You’ve heard the gospel. You’ve been instructed in the basics of sound doctrine and Christian discipleship. You’ve confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. You’ve become part of the visible church community. Now don’t throw it away! Don’t get careless. Don’t settle for a superficial faith. Make sure that you get firmly anchored in God’s Word, and that God’s Word gets deeply rooted in you. Do not be “like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.” Guard your heart. Hold on to what is truly important. Never trade priceless treasures for temporary pleasures.

Let’s first attempt to understand the circumstances of verses 29-34. Jacob had something that Esau wanted, and Esau had something that Jacob wanted, and they negotiated an exchange. What did Jacob have? He had food, specifically “bread and lentil stew” (v. 34). What did Esau have? Esau had the birthright.

In the contemporary Western world, we don’t talk much about birthright. But birthright was important in the ancient world, and it is probably still important in parts of the non-Western world today. Birthright means ‘the right of the firstborn’. To be the firstborn son is full of significance throughout the Bible. The firstborn son is the firstfruits of the father’s strength (Deuteronomy 21:17). The firstborn son was entitled to a double portion of the father’s inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:17). If a man had four sons, he would divide his inheritance into five portions: the firstborn would get two portions (a double portion), and the other three sons would get one portion a piece. The firstborn son occupied a place of special blessing, honor and privilege in the family, and along with that privilege came the responsibility to use his advantages for the benefit and care of his extended family, and to perpetuate the family heritage. In the context of God’s covenant with Abraham, the grandfather of Esau and Jacob, perpetuating the family heritage would include “[keeping] the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice” (Genesis 18:19). The right of the firstborn was a special status, and not something to be treated lightly.

The right of the firstborn could be forfeited through the firstborn son’s dishonorable conduct or through God’s sovereign determination to exalt a younger son. Abraham’s firstborn son Ishmael had to forfeit his position because of God’s sovereign choice. To take another example, Jacob’s firstborn son Reuben forfeited his position because of sexual immorality. Thereafter, Jacob bestowed the right of the firstborn upon his beloved son Joseph. As we see in Genesis 25:29-34, the right of the firstborn could also be forfeited by selling it. And this is no ordinary sale: it was a sale accompanied by the swearing of an oath (v. 33), which shows the sale to be a significant legal transaction.

So Jacob has a warm meal, and Esau has the birthright. These two things are very different in terms of their relative value. A warm meal could be measured in dollars and cents. The birthright was an immeasurable privilege within the family. The birthright should not be exchanged for a bowl of soup, but that’s exactly what happened. Why?

The circumstance that gave rise to this unreasonable exchange was Esau’s exhaustion: “Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.” (v. 29) Then Esau made his request: “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (v. 30) After that request there is a parenthetical comment that Esau was called Edom, which in the Hebrew language sounds like the word for red, because he desired the red stew. Esau was called ‘Red’ because he desired the red stuff. Thus Esau’s name Edom stood as a testimony to the tragic reality that what he loved most was food.

When Jacob heard Esau’s request and realized that Esau was in a vulnerable position, being tired and exhausted and desperate for nourishment, Jacob saw an opportunity. So, Jacob offered a meal to Esau at the price of Esau’s birthright. Esau agreed. He reasoned in this manner: “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” (v. 32) Someone might defend Esau’s decision by saying that Esau wasn’t comparing the value of his birthright with the value of a single meal, but was actually comparing the value of his birthright with the value of his life and survival: “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” But Esau’s decision is indefensible, because the New Testament passage cited above presents it as an example of Esau’s ungodliness. To be honest, I doubt that Esau was “about to die”. It is true that he came in from the field exhausted (v. 29), but “exhausted” and “about to die” are two different things. Further, the sequence of activities at the end of the passage – “he ate and drank and rose and went his way” (v. 34) – doesn’t sound like the activities of a man who was about to die an hour earlier. Maybe he was about to faint or pass out or fall into a deep sleep, but was he really near the point of death? I doubt it. But even if he was on the cusp of death, it is better to maintain one’s integrity and die, than to survive by selling a priceless treasure. Better to die a faithful son, than to disinherit yourself and live. Further, remember that verses 29-34 are just a snapshot of Esau’s life. As we learned last week, the whole trajectory of his life was off the mark. Esau was the type of man who turned away from the family mission and the family heritage. Esau wasn’t a godly man who made a foolish decision under duress. Instead, Esau was an ungodly man whose foolishness was exposed under duress. Esau’s underlying problem is that he lived for the immediate gratification of his bodily appetites. By contrast, Jacob desired to possess and steward the family heritage under the blessing of God.

So Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a single meal. Esau transferred his birthright to Jacob by solemn oath: Jacob walked away with the right of the firstborn, and Esau walked away with a meal in his belly. Finally, we are told that “Esau despised his birthright.” Of course he did. His actions demonstrated that he actually despised his birthright before he sold it, otherwise he wouldn’t have sold it. If Esau had treated his birthright as the valuable thing that it actually was, then he wouldn’t have sold it in the first place. After he sold it, he still despised it but with the added discontentment of knowing that his brother now possessed it and had bought it from him at a bargain price.

With that overview of the passage in mind, I would like to tell you about four people – Jacob, Esau, and two others – and the moral choices that they made.

JACOB

First, let’s talk about Jacob. Jacob, as we learned last week, is a blameless and upright man whose walk with the Lord is unpacked for us in Genesis 25-35. In light of the fact that the Lord has already made it clear that Jacob will possess a position of honor and strength over his brother Esau (Genesis 25:23), and in light of the fact that Jacob has already been commended for his overall good character (Genesis 25:27), Jacob’s desire to possess and steward the birthright should probably be seen as a good and holy desire. However, Jacob still had flaws – and we can see two of Jacob’s flaws in this passage.

First, Jacob does not fulfill the law of love to his brother. The Bible commands us to feed the hungry and show mercy to the weak. “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and truth.” (1 John 3:17-18) This instruction cannot be twisted along the following lines: But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, let him figure out how to leverage his brother’s need to buy his brother’s inheritance rights, and – after he has secured the transaction – then let him furnish his brother with a warm meal. No, I don’t think so. The beauty of the Christlike mind is to serve others for their genuine welfare (e.g., Philippians 2:3-4). Instead of looking out for Esau’s interests, Jacob seeks to use Esau’s vulnerability for his own personal advantage. So, Jacob’s first flaw is failure to seek his brother’s welfare.

Jacob’s second flaw is the failure to seek blessing through honorable means. We must not forget that in the background of this passage is Genesis 25:23, in which the Lord told Rebekah that Jacob the second-born would ultimately hold the position of honor and strength over Esau the firstborn. Now it is entirely possible that Rebekah has communicated this prophecy to Jacob. Jacob might well know that he is predestined to hold a position of rank over his older brother. Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that Jacob knows that the greater blessing is, in fact, going to land on him. So far, so good. But knowing that he is predestined to greatness over his brother doesn’t give him permission to ‘force it into reality through his own fleshly effort’. But this is a perennial temptation. Faithful Abraham and Sarah followed the Lord, but they took matters into their own hands to secure the blessing of a son by having Abraham generate a son through Hagar. Abraham and Sarah believed God and sought the blessing promised to them, but they sought the blessing through improper means. Jacob is doing a similar thing here. He desired the blessing that God had promised, but he sought the blessing through improper means. There is irony in the fact that while Esau despised his own birthright, Jacob actually cherished and strongly desired Esau’s birthright. Jacob placed more value on Esau’s birthright than Esau did. However, Jacob should have been resolved to only receive the firstborn’s blessing honestly, and not through manipulation.

One of the most important lessons for God’s people to learn is to trust God to bring about the fulfillment of His promises to us in His time and in His way. Meanwhile, while we are waiting patiently for the Lord to fulfill His promise, we ought to trust Him, act honorably in all of our dealings, and show genuine love to the people around us. Jacob had profound lessons to learn, and so do we.

ESAU

Second, let’s talk about Esau. Esau is a complete tragedy. Whereas the direction of Jacob’s life is to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, the direction of Esau’s life is to go his own way, far away from the grace of God. Hebrews 12:15-17 says to people like us,

“See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” (Hebrews 12:15-17)

Esau’s bad example presses upon us an urgent lesson: do not trade priceless treasures for temporary pleasures. Do not throw away your birthright for a bowl of soup. Do not throw away your faith in the goodness of God for food and drink. Although the Israelites had seen God’s mighty hand at work on their behalf, they complained about their trials in the wilderness. Although they had been miraculously delivered from slavery in Egypt, they had an Esau-like mindset and they were preoccupied with their physical hunger: “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you [Moses and Aaron] have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Exodus 16:3) They lost their mind over food. Their temporary physical hunger revealed their unbelief: they didn’t trust the Lord to supply their daily bread. Contrast that with Daniel: “Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank.” (Daniel 1:8) Daniel disciplined his appetites. The apostle Paul, who sometimes suffered “in hunger and thirst” (2 Corinthians 11:27), said: “In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:12-13) For Daniel and Paul, their fellowship with the Lord shaped the way that they related to food. For the Israelites in the wilderness and for Esau, their belly governed their hearts and expelled faith. “For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.” (Philippians 3:18-19)

When your god is your belly, when you are enslaved to your physical and emotional appetites, when temporary comforts and pleasures are what you live for, you end up trading priceless treasures for temporary pleasures. Esau traded his birthright for one dinner, and Reuben traded his birthright for sexual immorality. What are other priceless treasures that people trade? People exchange the glory of God for idols. People exchange the truth of God for lies. People exchange justice for a bribe. People exchange the eternal well-being of their soul for wealth in this present world. Jesus said, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36) People exchange their integrity for better favorability ratings with the cool kids. People exchange the possibility of treasure in heaven for earthly treasures that rust and rot. People exchange the welfare of their family for selfish pursuits. Remember Achan: he coveted the silver and gold, and thereby brought ruin on his entire household (see Joshua 7). People exchange the stability of marital faithfulness for an illicit affair. People exchange the beauty and freedom of the image of God in mankind for stupid political theories, social engineering, and artificial intelligence. People exchange the worship that rightly belongs to God for food and gadgets and cable subscriptions. This is why people agree to get branded with the mark of the beast, because the mark is necessary for buying and selling. People would rather sell their soul to the devil so that they can keep all their stuff, than be faithful to God even though it costs them their life. The Esau-like mentality buckles under the threat of persecution: “And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.” (Mark 4:17) They fall away. They fall short of the grace of God. What Esau did in selling his birthright is characteristic of what all sinners do – we devalue priceless treasures and overvalue temporary pleasures, and we foolishly exchange the high calling of holy joy for cheap substitutes.

Friends, wherever you are in your spiritual journey, let Esau’s folly be a reality check to your own soul. Genesis 25:29-34 and Hebrews 12:15-17 are flashing lights that are meant to communicate a serious dose of warning to your soul: do not trade priceless treasures for temporary pleasures. Open up the Bible and get clearheaded about what is truly important, and live accordingly. “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

JESUS

Third, I want to talk about Jesus. Jesus is totally unlike Esau: Jesus never failed to hold onto what is most important. Furthermore, Jesus is far better than Jacob: Jesus pursued the path of blessing without ever compromising his moral integrity and without ever failing to love other people. To highlight these contrasts, let’s think about what Jesus did when he was famished.

When “Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted”, he revealed the spiritual corruption in his heart. When Jesus was fasting in the wilderness for forty days, He revealed His unwavering trust in the Father:

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”” (Matthew 4:1-4)

With respect to His humanity, Jesus is the “firstborn son” of Mary (Luke 2:7). More importantly, with respect to His deity, Jesus is “the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15). In other words, as the eternal, holy, and beloved Son of God, Jesus occupies the supreme position of glory and honor over all creation: “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him.” (Colossians 1:16) When Jesus was baptized, which happened not long before the forty-day temptation in the wilderness, the Father had declared from heaven regarding Jesus: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) In the wilderness, hungry and weak and vulnerable, Jesus did not exchange His birthright for loaves of bread. In the wilderness, hungry and weak and vulnerable, Jesus did not exchange the Father’s word of warmhearted affirmation for the devil’s formula of immediate gratification. Jesus did what Esau failed to do: Jesus trusted the Father and waited patiently for the Father to supply His needs. He wouldn’t gamble His soul for a plate of food.

Furthermore, Jesus wouldn’t take shortcuts to the glory that was promised to Him. Jesus is the beloved Son appointed by the Father to inherit the entire universe. Jesus was determined to walk into His inheritance on the path of humility, obedience, and suffering, not by fleshly maneuvers or shortcuts:

“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”” (Matthew 4:8-10)

It is far better to be a faithful Son who suffers many hardships on the pathway to blessing, than to pursue a get-rich-quick scheme of immediate blessing.

Jesus is the faithful Son, far better than the opportunistic Jacob. Jesus is the Holy One, unlike the reckless Esau. It is because Jesus is the faithful and obedient Son that He is able to save disobedient sons and daughters like us. “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19) Jesus didn’t pursue His own advantage at our expense. Instead, Jesus pursued our advantage at His expense. Jesus didn’t look for an opportunity to benefit Himself when we were most vulnerable. Instead, Jesus made Himself vulnerable in order to bring the fullness of salvation to us. Jesus wouldn’t turn stones into loaves of bread to satisfy His own hunger, but He would gladly multiply the loaves and fishes to feed the multitudes, in order to reveal God’s glory in the wilderness. Jesus didn’t come to be served by human hands. Instead, He came to serve and to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin, so that any sinner who turns away from sin and treasures Jesus would be made a covenant member of God’s forever family. Then for the remainder of this life, we get to follow Him on the path of humility, obedience, and suffering, which leads us into the riches of our eternal inheritance.

THE PRODIGAL

Finally, I want to talk to you about the prodigal son. I hope that this sermon encourages your heart to love and depend on Jesus, our only King and Savior. I also hope that this sermon strengthens your moral fiber to hold onto the important things and to resist trading the important things for the momentary pleasures of sin. But I also don’t want to finish this sermon without giving hope to someone out there who is in the very position of having thrown away your priceless treasures and traded them for temporary pleasures. And now you’re broke. Is there any hope for you?

There is hope for you, because Jesus came to save real sinners who really blow it. So, let me tell you about the prodigal son in one of Jesus’ well-known parables.

The parable tells us that a man had two sons. The youngest son traded his status as the son of a good and loving father, for a ride on the wild side. The son requested his inheritance while his father was still living, which basically communicated that he wanted to have his father’s stuff but he didn’t want to have fellowship with his father. The father gave his younger son his share of the inheritance, which he proceeded to use to finance his foolish ambitions:

“… the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.” (Luke 15:13-16)

He traded home for a far country. He traded faithfulness to his father for reckless living. He traded his father’s durable possessions for evaporating pleasures. He traded a father who loved him for people who didn’t care about him. He traded the security and bounty of his father’s house for a field of swine. He traded priceless treasures for temporary pleasures – and he lost everything. And maybe that describes you this morning.

How can someone who has traded everything that is good and holy for a miry pigsty get reinstated to right relationship with the Father? Answer: By the grace of the Father.

As it happened, the son finally came home. The son figured that life back at home with Dad, even as a hired servant in the servants’ quarters on his Dad’s vast estate, was far better than life far from home. So, he came home and cast himself on the mercy of his father. The father was overjoyed at his son’s return. And the father used his possessions to communicate grace to his son: “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.” (Luke 15:22-23) The son who was bankrupt because he threw everything away, was restored to the place of blessing because the father’s grace is greater than his son’s sin. In a single moment, divine grace can restore all that sin has ruined. 

Therefore, come home! Come home to the Father because of the grace revealed through Jesus Christ. And if you have already come home, stay there! Abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, and let no one be “immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.” (Hebrews 12:16) Never trade priceless treasures for temporary pleasures.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Assohoto, Barnabe and Samuel Ngewa, “Genesis.” In Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars. Tokunboh Adeyemo, General Editor. Zondervan Edition (first edition published in 2006).

Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. The Book of Genesis (Ariel’s Bible Commentary). Fourth Edition. San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2020.

Johnson, Dennis E. “Hebrews.” In ESV Expository Commentary, Volume 12: Hebrews–Revelation. Wheaton: Crossway, 2018.

Morris, Henry M. The Genesis Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976.

O’Brien, Peter T. The Letter to the Hebrews (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.

Steinmann, Andrew E. Genesis (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2019.