A Lesson from the Life of Esau
By Uriah Smith
THE New Testament speaks of Esau in this manner: “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; . . . lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected.” The Old Testament account of the matter runs after this tenor: Jacob had prepared a savory vegetarian stew of bread and lentils. Esau just at that time came in from a hunting trip, faint and hungry, and asked Jacob to give him some of that same red pottage which he had prepared. Therefore was his name called Edom. Jacob, ever ready to take advantage of the situation, and drive a sharp bargain, said, “Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he swore unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.” The whole record of this transaction and the circumstances attending the birth of the children is found in Gen. 25:21-34. Esau stands forth as the type of those who, in all the ages, are ready to exchange for some sensuous and supposed benefit, some apparent advantage and gratification, all the blessings and spiritual privileges held up to the eye of faith, and thus within the reach of all who will believe. “What profit,” exclaimed Esau, “shall this birthright do to me? Behold I am at the point to die.” So he barters away for a little good which is at hand and in sight, great future good, and possibilities which his faith could not grasp. Paul speaks of “the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13); and all these examples are written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the world are come. Who would pay such a price for a little mess of pottage? Who would be so foolish as to make such a bargain? But men have always done so, and are doing the same thing to-day. “Wherefore do ye spend money,” says the Lord, “for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not?” Isa. 55:2. But this is always the way of sin. Esau sold for a morsel of food his birthright. Eve forfeited the world's dominion for a taste of the forbidden fruit. Balaam sold himself for a promise which was never fulfilled, but instead came death on the battlefield among the foes of God. Achan sold his birthright for a dress that he never put on, and a few pieces of coin hid beneath the sod of his tent. Judas sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, which he never spent, but shortly threw down in horror, at the feet of the high priests, on the temple floor. The prodigal bartered his inheritance for a banquet, which began with revelry, and ended with feeding on husks with the swine. Ahab sold his birthright for a vineyard, on the threshold of which the prophet of the Lord met him, and denounced against him the judgment that the dogs should lick his blood in the same place where they had licked up the blood of Naboth, whom Ahab destroyed by perjury and murder. 1 Kings 21:1-19. Of Esau the record says: “Thus Esau despised his birthright.” Gen. 25:34. The Lord uses language with strict accuracy. But there is venom in that word “despised.” Aristotle says that human actions, though done under compulsion or ignorance, are to be considered voluntary when the person is free to realize what he has done, and can repudiate it if he chooses. The climax of Esau’s guilt was not in the moment of his necessity. When he recovered his strength, he ought to have realized what he had done, and repudiated the disgraceful bargain; but he showed no godly sorrow for what he had done. Had he done this, we might have pitied him for his folly; but he despised his birthright at other times when he was not at the point of death. He was utterly careless and indifferent. He thought he might recover the birthright by further solicitation from his father, or if not in that way, by violence against his brother, which he was contemplating. But what did Esau intend to sell, and Jacob to buy? The answer is that, in patriarchal times, the birthright involved a controlling influence in the family, and especially succession to those spiritual blessings, which, through Abraham, were to flow out to all the world, by which all nations were to be blessed. These we may readily believe Esau discredited and despised. And for the appeasing of the lowest kind of an appetite, temporarily supplied, he was ready to barter away such unspeakable blessings. This is why he is denominated a “profane person,” in Heb. 12:16. Esau, after his birthright was sold, did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way, confirming his indifference. After he had recovered, he might have realized and repudiated the nature of his presumptuous sale, extracted from him in his dire extremity. For more than forty years, Esau had space for repentance, but he despised his opportunity, and let the time go by unimproved. Paul says that “when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected.” And the record in Genesis shows that it was the blessing, selfishly considered as a personal loss, that he regretted, and for which he lifted up his voice in strong crying and tears. But there was no godly sorrow to show that he did not despise his birthright. The great lesson that the case of Esau impresses upon us, is the danger of sacrificing a future and higher blessing, which is to be secured by faith, for a present and lower gratification, under the plea of expediency or necessity. In the light of the eternal world, when the real condition of things flashes upon us, how small and insignificant will the little messes of pottage for which we have bartered away eternal riches, appear to us. For in that day the wealth of the whole world will disappear as vanity, in comparison with the worth of the soul. “Look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.” 2 Cor. 4:18. U. S.