Genesis 25

Genesis 25

Today we talk about Isaac and Rebekah's twin sons Esau and Jacob.

27 And the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. And Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison. And Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 And Jacob boild pottage. And Esau came in from the field, and he was faint. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage. For I am faint. Therefore was his name called Edom. 31 and Jacob said, Sell me first thy birthright. 32 And Esau said, Behold, I am about to die. And what profit shall the birthright do to me? 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me first. And he sware unto him. And he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils. And he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

So basically one child was especially loved by one parent for his manliness and the other was loved by his other parent for being a bit of a home body.  As any of us know as parents this of course is a "what NOT to do" situation.  Because of this there is of course a great deal disfunction between these two brothers.  As a result  Jacob cons Esau out of his birthright.  He takes advantage of his brother being exhausted and leverages his birthright away from him .... basically for a bowl of pottage.  We can look at Jacob and say he is a bad person, true, but the fact the Esau was so easily deceived into accepting such a terrible offer is just about as revolting.  I would say this a lesson for both brothers for sure.  The disfunction and deceit continues (of course) in the next blog.