Wrestling Brothers and the Coveted Birthright

Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Genesis chapter 25, Genesis 25, for our time of study in the word this morning. We're continuing in our study of the book of, Genesis that we came back to last Sunday, and, we come this morning to Genesis chapter 25, verse 19. My goal today is to cover verses 19 through 34. And the title of the message this morning is Wrestling Brothers.

And the coveted birthright. Wrestling Brothers and the coveted birthright. when I was a kid, I had a, a brother who was 10.5 months older than me and a brother who was 18 months younger than me. because we were so close in age and in physical abilities, I'm ashamed to say that we fought a lot.

In our youth as we were growing up, always trying to reestablish the pecking order that my older brother. had established my younger brother and I would sometimes even Use our parents in that struggle. We would do things like call our older brother names until he would eventually get fed up and hit us, and then my younger brother and I would start crying and my parents would come running to our rescue and they would discipline our older brother for being so mean to us. My younger brother and I feel very bad about that now and we have apologized on a handful of occasions to our older brother.

When I was around 12 years old, my parents, left us with a babysitter for a week so that they could go off to a Christian conference and learn how to parent their children. and while they were gone, my little brother and I got into a fight and he made me mad about something and I started running towards him. And he took off running away from me, and I knew that I would not be able to catch him, so I'm ashamed to say. That I, I picked up a wooden baseball bat and I hurled it across the yard.

As he ran and as soon as the bat left my hands, my heart sank. I knew that it was going to hit him and I was mortified. I watched the bat fly through the air like a slow motion propeller. Toward my brother until it landed perfectly.

Between his feet and sent him sprawling to the ground. It was then that I noticed, like rather than running to my brother's rescue and to his aid, I looked around to see if anyone had seen what I had done. And it was then that I noticed our next door neighbor looking out her window at us. She had seen the whole thing and, and from that day forward, she refused to allow her children to play with us.

My parents returned from their conference to discover that, my younger brother and I were interacting about, this, this week, and he, I had forgotten about this. He reminded me of another incident between him and I that involved a, a bat. and I won't give the details of that, but I'll just say that to this day, he bears the marks of a chipped front tooth that I caused from another bat that I threw. In his direction.

I've been living out here in California for about 30 years now, and when my little brother saw where I had chosen to settle, he found himself a job on the East Coast. In South Carolina, which is about as far away from me as he could get Seriously, my brothers and I, we, we love each other, now and we've done plenty of apologizing to each other, but I found myself thinking a lot about my relationship with my own siblings as I studied the passage that we're going to be looking at.

Today, what we have in our passage today is a crazy story that starts off with a childless couple, then moves to boys fighting with each other in their mother's womb. And ends up with a younger brother who succeeds in wrestling something away from his older brother.

This is a true story that is compelling in its own right, but it also serves as a harbinger of things to come as God's plan of redemption continues to unfold through the book of Genesis. To appreciate what happens in our passage today, you should realize that at the beginning of Genesis 25:19, there is no one on the planet more important than Isaac. He is at the center, the focal point of God's redemptive unfolding plan. He is Abraham's son of promise, the one through whom God's plan of redemption will come.

Whoever become his children and whoever gets the birthright. From him will end up with spiritual leadership of Isaac's family in the days to come and we end up getting a double inheritance from Isaac and will be the one by which Abraham's descendants will be called. Typically the birthright went to the first born son, but that's not what ends up happening. With Isaac's two boys, Jacob and Esau, and our passage today essentially is the story of how the second born, Jacob wrestles that birthright away from Esau.

Like that's how we'll break down our study of the passage this morning, we'll observe 7 developments in the story of how second born Jacob gets the birthright from Esau The first development. In this unfolding story, we find in verse 19 and 20, and that is that Abraham's son. Isaac takes Rebecca to be his wife when he is 40 years old. Observe how the narrative begins in verse 19.

Now, these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramaean of Pedaram, the sister of Laban, the Aramaean to be His wife. Verse 20 essentially serves as a Reader's Digest version of Genesis chapter 24 where the story is told about how it was that Isaac came to marry Rebecca. Abraham had sent his servant up to Haran to find a wife for Isaac from among Abraham's relatives who lived there, and God wonderfully we saw, revealed his choice of Rebecca as a wife for Isaac.

Rebecca then agrees to go with Abraham's servant back to the land of, of Canaan to marry Isaac. And as she departs for Canaan, Her family is speaking these words over her. May you, our sister, become thousands of 10,000 and may your descendants possess the gate of those who hate them. And with these words ringing in her ears, Rebecca travels to Canaan.

And is upon her arrival in Canaan taken by Isaac to be his wife. Imagine how high Rebecca's hopes must have been. God's providence revealed as it was in the selection of her. And as she hears the words of this benediction from her family as she is departing to go off and marry Isaac.

Imagine Rebecca's joy and hearing of the amazing promises that God had made to Abraham about having descendants that would outnumber the stars. Of heaven Imagine how high Isaac's hopes would have been. Upon marrying Rebecca, the woman that God has clearly chosen to be his wife. Well, now, Isaac and Rebecca are married.

And now that they are married, the line of succession from Abraham can continue and they can get started producing descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. But there's a snag And that snag is the fact that Rebecca, as we will see, is barren and unable to have children, and this brings us to the second development in the story of how the second born Jacob ends up getting the first born rights from Esau. Development number 2 is that Isaac prays for his barren wife, Rebecca to become pregnant.

Observe what happens in verse 21.

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren. God had an amazing destiny for Rebecca. She was God's chosen woman to be the wife of Isaac, but we learned at the end of verse 21 that she was barren, yet she is still God's chosen instrument, as we will see. At some point, we don't know exactly when Isaac makes the discovery that his wife, Rebecca is unable to have children.

He could have been frustrated and despair upon discovering that she was barren, but evidently he does not do that. He could have begun to question whether Rebecca was the right woman for him after all, but he doesn't seem to do that. He could have found a second wife. to sire a child through, but he doesn't do that either.

The text tells us that Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife. Evidently, he learned from his parents' example that it is God who opens wombs. God opened the womb of Isaac's mother when she was 90 years old, so Isaac knows that God can open Rebecca's womb also, so he prays on behalf of his wife. And like I said a minute ago, we don't know exactly when Isaac started praying to God on behalf of his wife, but we learn in verse 26.

That Rebecca didn't have children until the 20th year. of their marriage when Isaac is 60. years old. So you can bet that Isaac didn't wait until year 19 to start praying for his wife, Rebecca, and then suddenly she becomes pregnant.

Almost certainly, Isaac and Rebecca noticed within the first year or two that Rebecca was unable to become pregnant, at which time Isaac would have begun then praying for his wife. So this would mean that Isaac was praying for his wife for probably 18 or 19 years. Because she was barren. And he never stopped praying.

In fact, the Hebrew word that is translated prayed is a strong word. It means to entreat. Or to make an earnest prayer, or to implore. This word is found 20 times in the Old Testament, and 8 of those 20 times, it is used to speak of Moses praying for God to remove a plague from over the land of Egypt.

And that's the vibe here. Isaac is earnestly praying for God to remove the condition of Rebecca's barrenness so that she could become pregnant. And Rebecca, is blessed to have a husband praying over her and on her behalf in this way. Husbands Is your wife blessed to have in you a husband?

Who prays for her. And who prays on her behalf. Do you pray on your wife's behalf? Do you take the matters of her heart to God in prayer such that your wife feels well represented by you?

When you pray to God on her behalf. Well, Rebecca would have raised her hand and said, yes, I have a husband like that. In this passage, we see Isaac praying for his wife in an area of physical weakness. In her life, and Isaac doesn't berate her for her weakness nor reject her.

He prays on her behalf. And wonderfully, we find in verse 21, the words, and the Lord. Answered him. Literally, the Hebrew text reads this way, Isaac entreated the Lord on behalf of his wife, and the Lord was entreated.

The idea is and the Lord was successfully entreated. How do we know that? Well, because of what happens next. This brings us to the 3rd development in the story of how the second born Jacob ends up getting the birthright from his first born brother, Esau.

Number 3, the Lord gives Rebecca children who wrestle in her womb. Observe what happens in the latter part of verse 21. Say, and the Lord answered him, and Rebecca, his wife, conceived. What a wonderful moment.

And it wasn't just coincidence that Rebecca conceived a child in her womb, she conceived because Isaac had prayed and his prayers had prevailed before God. But it turns out that this is no ordinary conception. For Rebecca. There is a double conception that occurs.

Instead of God giving Isaac and Rebecca a child singular, he gives them children. And not just children, but children who are struggling with one another and fighting with one another in the womb of their mother. Look at what is said in verse 22, says, but the children struggled together. Within her The Hebrew word that is translated struggled literally means to crush.

This word is used elsewhere to speak of the smashing of skulls. R. Kent Hughes, the commentator, suggests translating this expression, the children smashed themselves inside her. In various contexts of the Old Testament, this word means to strike, to deliver a blow, to bruise.

or to oppress. It's about as strong of a word as you can find and it's what the two boys in Rebecca's womb were doing to each other so much so that Rebecca is brought to the point of despair. In fact, look at what she does in verse 22, and she said, if it is so, why then Am I this way? Literally, the Hebrew is awkward.

She's saying if thus, why this, I. It's an emotional expression that doesn't seem to finish itself. Some interpreters take Rebecca to be saying, if, if this is so, why do I exist? Or why am I alive?

Or why did I even become pregnant? Why did I want children? If this is what having children nails Maybe a couple of you moms can identify. Every pregnancy comes.

With difficulties and challenges, but above the normal challenges of pregnancy, ladies, imagine having two boys in your womb. Who are using your womb as a WWF wrestling ring. Rebecca's womb is clearly not big enough for the two of these boys, and we will soon see. That no room was ever big enough for the two of them to be in the same room together.

Rebecca does not understand what's going on. But to her credit, she does the right thing with her confusion, and this leads us to the 4th development in this story of how Jacob ends up getting the rights of first born from Esau. Number 4, Rebecca obtains revelation from the Lord regarding the boys wrestling in her womb. At the end of verse 22, the text says, so she went to inquire of the Lord.

Of Jehovah We're not sure where she went. To inquire of the Lord, but it seems that she went to a particular location to a prophet of some sort, although we're given no information about who this prophet might have been or the location that she went to, but we do know that she wanted to hear from Jehovah, the Lord. Nowadays, if a woman is experiencing a difficult pregnancy, she might pose her question on Google. And end up with a million things to Worry about Rebecca though in choirs of Jehovah.

Which is the right thing. To do And her request is granted. Observe how the Lord gives her understanding in verse 23. The text says, and the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from your body.

And one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve. The younger. 4 statements are given to Rebecca, and with each statement, the reality of what is to come unfolds. First of all, Rebecca is told that 2 nations are in your womb.

Then she's told two people will be separated from your body. This would have told her clearly that there are likely two boys in her womb who would have descendants. They would both be the father of a separate people, resulting in two peoples, two nations who would come forth ultimately from her body. What will be the outcome of these two peoples coming into existence?

Rebecca is told in verse 23 that one people shall be stronger than the other. Which one will that be? Well, the last statement answers that, and the older. shall serve.

The younger Clearly, the descendants of the second born will prove stronger. Then the descendants of the first born, and the descendants of the firstborn will end up serving or being subjected. To the descendants. Of the second born.

In Romans chapter 9, the apostle Paul speaks of this very revelation that Rebecca receives, and he says in Romans 9, 11 and 12, for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to his choice would stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, the older will serve the younger. What Rebecca is being told here. is something that God is saying to her, and he's not just saying this prophetically, like this is as I look into the future, this is what I see happening.

No, he's not just describing the way things will be.

He is describing the way he has decreed things. To be This is his will. This is his plan. That the older shall serve the younger.

This word of revelation would immediately attach great significance in Rebecca's mind to the order of the births to come. Whoever comes out first, Rebecca would know that his descendants will serve the descendants of the son who comes out second. Imagine receiving this revelation. Before your twin children are born, Rebecca conceives children in her womb and answer to the prayers of her husband.

The children are smashing against each other in her womb, and now she receives this revelation from Jehovah about what is going on and what is going to come of it all. Well, eventually the day of birth comes and this leads us to the 5th development in the story of how Jacob gets the birthright from Esau, and that is Rebecca's two sons are born in a manner indicative of their struggle. They're born in a manner indicative of their struggle. Observe what happens in verse 24.

When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. So God's revelation to Rebecca was true after all. Observe how the first son is born, verse 25. Now the first came forth red.

All over like a hairy garment, and they named him. Esau. Two descriptions are given of how Esau came forth from the womb. First of all, we learned that he came forth red.

We're not sure if this means that he came forth with red hair or with red skin. Perhaps it was both. Secondly, we're told that he came forth all over. Like a hairy garment.

Imagine a child being this hairy, such that it looks like he's wearing A garment of some sort. At the end of verse 25, we're told that Isaac and Rebecca named this first child. Esau Once Esau is born, observe what happens next, verse 26. Afterward, his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau's heel.

When Esau is born, they notice. The second born's hand holding on to His heel and evidently, the second born did not let go once Esau came out. The text tells us that the second born came forth with his hand holding on. To Esau's heel.

In other words, the second born came out right after Esau and remained attached to him, it seems, as he was coming forth from the womb. Perhaps Isaac and Rebecca had already talked about names for Their sons, and they had a name ready for the second born, but when he came out grabbing onto Esau's heel, they knew immediately what they needed to name him. We're told in verse 26, so his name was Jacob. Which actually embodies the Hebrew word for heal.

It would be like us today naming him healer, H E E L E R or heel grabber. Because of the fact that he was born grabbing on to Esau's heel. Based on the revelation that the Lord had given to Rebecca earlier, she can now know two things from what has happened after delivering her boys. She would know that Jacob, the second born, will end up proving stronger than Esau on the road ahead, and she would know that Esau's descendants will end up being subjugated by Jacob's descendants.

In other words, she would know that Jacob is In all likelihood, the child of promise, the one through whom God's promise of bringing blessing to all the families of the earth will be fulfilled. At this point, we're given a specific time reference informing us of the following detail, verse 26. At the end, it says, and Isaac was 60 years old when she gave birth to them. Imagine how hard it must have been for Isaac and Rebecca to wait this long, 20 years to have a child, but imagine how thrilled they would be on this day.

That this moment has finally arrived. It turns out that Jacob and Esau's struggle in the womb and at birth was simply a harbinger of things to come. These two boys were as different as could be in every way. One was Harry.

And the other was not. In fact, write down the reference Genesis 27:11. Where Jacob says, and I quote, I am a smooth man, unquote. So Esau was Harry and Jacob was not.

One of them was red skinned and the other was not. I've always marveled at how children born of the same parents can be so different. And we see that happening here with Jacob and with Esau. Well, as they grew older, they evidently competed for their parents' affections, and each of them seemed to prevail in that competition with one of the parents.

This brings us to the 6th development in the story of how the second born, Jacob, ended up getting the first born rights from Esau. Number 6, Esau and Jacob gained the affections of a different parent. Observe what the text says in verse 27. When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field.

Clearly, Esau is a man's man, a total outdoorsman. He knows also how to hunt game and provide good meat for himself and for the family. But look at the description of Jacob. But Jacob was a peaceful man living in tents.

The word translated peaceful. The Hebrew word literally means perfect. Or complete. But we all know that Jacob was anything but perfect, right?

More likely the idea is that Jacob was a man who was civilized and well behaved. He was compliant and knew how to do what was expected of him. At the very least, it tells us that Jacob was well behaved compared to Esau. Realize that even in this description of Jacob as perfect in the Hebrew, doesn't just tell us something about Jacob, it also tells us something about Esau.

For example, theoretically, if I, I have 4 children, but imagine that I have only 2 children and I introduce one of my children to you and I say, Here's my well-behaved child. Here's my attractive child. Like, what am I saying by that? You would know that I'm not just saying something about this child that I'm introducing to you, but I'm implying something about my other child.

And that's how we can read this here. Evidently, Esau was not a well-behaved child. Comparing the two together, Jacob was the perfect child. He was the goody two shoes, and I'm sure he heard that from Esau.

Jacob is also here in this passage described as living in tents. And it's tough to know exactly what is meant by this. In Genesis chapter 4 verse 20. The passage speaks of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.

So perhaps what we're learning about Jacob is that he was a keeper of livestock as opposed to being a hunter. However, there are also places in ancient inscriptions where certain people are described as living in tents and that expression clearly indicates that they were honorable and civilized people. And I think there's likely something of that vibe here. On top of that, there's an indoor outdoor comparison that we see in the passage here.

Esau is described as a man of the field, which is Outdoors and Jacob is described as one living in tents teaching us that Jacob was more comfortable perhaps indoors than Esau. It seems that Jacob was more domesticated, more of a homebody than Esau. Given these differences between Jacob and Esau, each of these boys ended up gaining Affection from a different parent. Look at verse 28.

Now, Isaac loved Esau. And this is incredible. Why? Because he, Isaac, had a taste for game.

But Rebecca loved Jacob. I'm intrigued by the reason that Isaac loved Esau. We're told because he had a taste for game or you could translate this, he ate of his game. What he had acquired through hunting.

If one thing becomes clear about Isaac in Genesis 25 and later in chapter 27, it's the fact that Isaac loved good cooking almost to the point of weakness. Verse 28 tells us that he had a taste for game. In Genesis 27:4, Isaac tells his son, To make for him a savory dish such as I love. In Genesis 27:9, Rebecca speaks to Jacob about, quote, a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.

And in verse 14 of Genesis 27, we're told that Rebecca made savory foods such as he, Isaac, loved. Clearly, Isaac was an avid connoisseur of meat, and this caused him to favor Esau. In my opinion, this is a shallow reason to favor. A child But this is what's happening here.

I don't know if Esau ever said, Dad, why do you love me? And what answer would Isaac give to him? Basically, verse 28 is saying this about Isaac, because he loved what Esau gave him to eat, he loved Esau. As the saying goes, the way to a man's heart is through his Stomach.

I think that's in Proverbs somewhere. Chapter 32, if you want to look that up. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and Esau seems to have figured that out with his dad. As for Jacob, we are told that Rebecca loved Jacob.

And we're not told why she loved Jacob, but we can presume that a part of the reason that she favored him was because of the revelation that she had received from Jehovah about him becoming the stronger of the two and subjugating his brother. It might also have had to do with the fact that Jacob was the better behaved child of the two. It's also quite possible that Rebecca loved Jacob all the more in order to compensate for the lack of affirmation. And love that she saw that he was receiving from his father who very clearly loved Esau more than Jacob.

And you parents, how these things can go if we're not careful, right? As I said a few minutes ago, my wife and I have 4 children, and each of our 4 children have a theory that they are our favorite. Child, and they're always trying to get us to confess to the fact that they are our favorite. Most every time we compliment one of them about something and tell them, man, we're so proud of you and we're telling them what it is that we're appreciating, they'll eventually say, So does that mean that That I'm your favorite child.

And we never answer But it seems that Isaac and Rebecca did answer that question in a variety of ways, making it obvious who their favorite child was, and Isaac favored Esau. And Rebecca favored. Jacob This sets the stage for the final development in the story of how Jacob ends up getting The birthright from Esau. Number 7, Jacob gets Esau to sell his birthright to him.

For a bowl of stew. Observe what happens in verse 29. When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished. Given the earlier descriptions of the two of them, we're not surprised to find Jacob indoors and Esau coming in from having been out in the field.

But when Esau comes in, he sees what Jacob is cooking. And look at verse 30. And Esau said to Jacob, please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished. Therefore, his name was called Edom.

Just pause for a second. To, to any outside observer, and even to Jacob and Esau, this is just a normal day. Yet the fate of millions will turn on what happens and the choices that get made in this seemingly normal mundane moment. I plead with you, younger people and even older people, be careful about the decisions that you make during what seems like an ordinary moment on an ordinary day, because you never know how significant that choice may end up proving.

To be As the poet Joseph Alexander says, there is a time we know not when, a point we know not where, that marks the destiny of men to glory. Or despair And though he doesn't realize it, this is Esau's moment. We're told that Jacob is cooking some stew in the house and Esau comes in from the field and he's hungry, he's famished. And in a state of being famished, Esau speaks to Jacob and, and literally, he says, please let me swallow the red stuff, this red stuff, for I am famished.

It's hard to capture this in English, but the Hebrew word that is translated swallow, along with the verb stem that it's in, was in ancient times used to speak of the way an animal guzzles and gulps down food, causing many commentators to suggest that Esau is being uncouth and brash in the way he's talking. Literally we can translate him as saying, let me guzzle or slurp or gulp down the red stuff, this red stuff, for I am famished. The Hebrew word that is translated. Red stuff Is a dome.

And now we know why the text then says, therefore, his name was called. I Or as we say, Edom. In other words, his name was called Red. In later days, and trust me, this was not a complimentary name that Esau would have ever wanted.

Imagine being named after the color of a pot of soup. That you sold your birthright over. Imagine just theoretically that somebody suckers you into selling all that you have in this world for a bronze penny. And then for the rest of your life, people call you bronze.

Or LeBron's. That's, that's what happens to Esau. He and his descendants will forever be named. After the color of the pot of stew that he's about to trade his valuable birthright for.

Look at how Jacob responds in verse 31. But Jacob said, First, sell me your birthright. This word birthright speaks of the right of first born. In the culture of the day, the birthright was typically given to the firstborn and it entailed both responsibility as well as privilege.

The firstborn son received a double portion of his father's inheritance, but there was also responsibility that came with that birthright. It was up to the firstborn to be the spiritual leader. Of the family on behalf of the father and to look after. To be in charge of looking after the family's interests while the father was alive and especially after the father died.

Jacob obviously wants Esau's birthright. With all the responsibilities and privileges and blessings that are entailed in that, and he's exploiting Esau's moment of weakness to get it from him. A good brother would freely give his brother something to eat or drink in a situation like this, but Jacob decides to use his brother's famished state to his own advantage and to get Esau's birthright from him. First, sell me your birthright, Jacob says to Esau.

And then after that I will give you. Some stew Listen to how Esau reasons out loud in response to Jacob's request. Esau said, behold, I am about to die, so of what use then is the birthright to me? Clearly, Esau is exaggerating.

But this is his character to exaggerate. He's lost in the present. He thinks no further than the hunger that he's feeling in the present moment. And in his exaggerated perspective, he's saying, I will die if I don't get something to eat right now, so of what use?

is my birthright to me anyway. If I die right now. So in Esau's mind, just the way he's thinking, as wrong as it is, he's only got two choices. A refuse to sell his birthright to Jacob and die of hunger right there that day.

And lose his birthright to death. Or B, sell his birthright to Jacob and at least get something to eat and thereby live. And Esau's rash thinking he's going to lose his birthright either way, because he actually thinks he's going to die if he can't eat something right now. He's talking and thinking the way that young people today talk when they say to their parents, I'm starving to death, or I'm dying of thirst.

And he's willing to trade away his birthright in order to get something to eat right now. But Jacob is not ready to give it to him. Esau is impulsive, but Jacob is calculating. To a fault.

Look at verse 33. And Jacob said, first, swear to me. And so he swore to him. And sold his birthright.

To Jacob This is the grandson of Abraham. The birthright that anyone would have had would have been important, whatever family, but this is the grandson of Abraham, the son of Isaac, what all was entailed in that birthright in terms of responsibility and blessing, and he sold his birthright to Jacob. And he swore when he did it. In this day when you swore, you uttered an oath of imprecation against yourself.

You would say something like, may God strike me dead, if I break my promise. And that's what Esau does here. An oath that somebody would swear in a moment like this was viewed as profoundly sacred and Esau is here saying to Jacob, I give you my birthright and may God strike me dead if I ever go back on my promise. Now that Jacob obtains this oath from Esau, observe what he does in verse 34.

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. And he ate and drank and rose and went on his way. Before we got to verse 34, we only knew the color. Of the stew, but now we know that it is lentil stew, like a bean stew.

Guys, there's 5 verbs in this short verse, and it all seems to, the action here in verse 34 seems to happen with an eerie silence. Jacob gave. Esau 8. And drank and rose.

And went on his way. Not a word is said. Esau eats, drinks, rises up, and leaves. And the fate of nations hangs on what just happened in this silent, careless moment of Esau's life.

At this point, the writer of Genesis could have Made a summary statement about the selfishness. Of Jacob's act. He could have said, and thus Jacob sinfully manipulated Esau. Out of his birthright, but he doesn't say that.

Instead, observe how verse 34 ends. Thus, Esau. despised his birthright. And with that, the chapter ends.

Clearly, the writer of Hebrews wants us to observe the morality of the choice that Esau is making here and he tells us that he despised his birthright. In other words, he considered his birthright. As being of no account worth no more than a pot of stew. He regarded it with contempt and treated it carelessly as some worthless thing to be traded for a simple bowl of soup.

What Esau should have valued and prized, he despises. Later in scripture, Esau is called by the writer of Hebrews a profane person. And here we learned that profane people are willing to give away things that are of lasting value, lasting spiritual value, because they live in the moment and they live to satisfy their basic appetites in the present. That's what makes A profane person like Esau profane.

And guys, people have been engaging in the sin of Esau down through the ages up until today. I've known people. I've known men who have traded away their ministry for a single night of adultery. People who've traded away Christ.

For the toxic pleasures of this world, people who have traded away heaven. For some sin that did nothing but wreck their lives anyway. People who have traded away God, who is the fountain of living waters for broken cisterns that can't even hold water anyway. The pop star Katy Perry grew up in a Christian home and started off with a gospel singing career, but she wasn't as successful at that as she wanted to be.

So what did she do? Oh Quote from what she has said on more than one occasion. I sold my soul. To the devil.

She sold away Christ for A pot of stew That is never going to satisfy her. We all have the same choice before us and perhaps some of you have this choice before you today. You can be a child of God with all the privileges and the blessings and blessed responsibilities of being a child of God, or you can reject Christ and you can choose something else instead over Jesus. And at the judgment, the verdict will read, thus you despised Christ.

In Hebrews 12, the writer of Hebrews speaks to all of us. A word of warning and he says, see to it in Hebrews 12:15 and following, see to it that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For that even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it. The blessing With tears, and we'll see those tears.

In Genesis chapter 27 when we get there. There is a time we know not when, a point we know not where that marks the destiny of men to glory or despair. There is a line by us unseen that crosses every path, the hidden boundary between God's patience. In his wrath And Esau crossed.

That line In an ordinary moment. On what seemed like an ordinary day. Be warned by Esau's example and choose wisely. Some choices will mark you for the rest of your life and may mark the lives of your descendants.

There's some choices that you make, guys, that you can never get back. Having said that, let's ponder Jacob for a moment. Clearly, Jacob should have trusted God. Alan Ross, the commentator, rightly speaks about the story and he says there are no winners in this encounter.

Even though Jacob comes away with the birthright, neither man. is exemplary. You may look at Jacob's actions here and say, man, he doesn't deserve to be the chosen one of God. You're right, and neither do you.

Or I This reminds us that God's sovereign choosing of us in his plan of redemption to save us is all of grace. God did not choose Jacob because he foresaw good in him, and he did not choose to save us who know the Lord because he foresaw good in us. It is all of grace. Jacob is not really all that more righteous of a character than Esau as the story continues to unfold, but God in His grace chose him.

But in our passage today, we see Jacob wanting a good thing, but he went about getting that good thing in a sinful and manipulative way, rather than trusting God to give him what God had promised. To give him in that earlier revelation that had been spoken to Rebecca. And we're going to see this pattern with Jacob continuing as the narrative continues to unfold in Genesis. In the end, we're going to see that Jacob often gets what he wants.

But he brings on himself a whole lot of trouble, which is what always happens when We do things the wrong way. In fact, in Genesis 47:9, Jacob will say, Few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, and I think he's like 130-something when he says that. And much of the cause of that unpleasantness will be because of him doing things like what he does in our passage today. We learn here that sometimes it is possible to want a good thing.

But then to go about obtaining that good thing in a sinful, selfish manner. Let's never forget the truth that it is never right to do wrong in order to gain a right outcome. Finally, guys, as we close this morning, I cannot, I can't read this passage. Without thinking of Jesus.

Yes, we see God's plan of redemption taking another step forward in our passage today through deeply flawed people. Yet what happens here points us to ultimately the perfect one from whom our salvation ends up coming. Jesus is described in the New Testament. As the Son of God, as the firstborn of all creation.

Meaning he is the preeminent one with the birthright, guys, that is literally out of this world. The Father has given all things into Jesus' hands, giving him all authority in heaven and on earth and all the blessings of glory together with him, the Father for all of eternity. Guys, if you covet anything in this world, You should covet Jesus and what he has. And you don't even have to scheme to get it from him.

He's already provided a way for you to come into the blessings of the birthright that is his. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a pot of red stuff because he was afraid that he was going to die. Jesus actually did die willingly, in order to share his birthright and the blessings of it with you and with me. He drank from the red stuff and the cup of God's wrath.

And he died on a cross in order that he might save you and me from God's wrath and bring us into the blessings that are his as the firstborn of all creation and as the first born from the dead. Esau was so caught up in the present that he made a choice, a careless choice that ended up redounding to the massive loss of his people, his descendants. Jesus took the long view and for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross and despised the shame. In other words, counting the shame and the suffering as nothing in view of the joy of bringing All who believe in Him and the blessings of all that belongs.

To him as the Son of God. Jesus has the birthright that you long for. He's got everything your soul desires and he literally died. To give it to you and to me.

And the question this morning is, will you receive What he's offering to you for free. You've never believed. And Jesus, I just plead with you this morning to look to him, to call upon Him as your Lord and Savior. To look at what he did on the cross for you, shedding His blood, that you might have atonement.

And call upon him. Jesus says, anyone who comes to me, I will never cast them out. If you do believe in Jesus and call upon his name, God will save you, forgive you of your sins, and he'll be pleasured to do so, and he will make you his child and bring you into his family forever. And not only that, but Jesus will be your older brother for all of eternity.

And you never have to worry about a sibling rivalry. With Jesus. He will give you all that he has. And he will take good care of you.

Let's pray together Lord, I pray For all of us in this room, I pray in particular for anyone. Over whose soul war is raging right now. As they are being offered. The red stuff of this world.

And are about to reach out and take it. Maybe they have been. Lord, help us to take the long view. To think of eternity.

And to choose you, Jesus, over anything that Satan or the world would have to offer to us. Help us to not trade away what could be ours. For the garbage, the sin of this world that's gonna wreck our lives anyway. Give us eyes to see as we ought to see.

And make choices even this week in the ordinary moments on ordinary days. Help us to choose wisely with eternity in view. I pray that for our young people and. For all Of us as well.

We thank you, Lord, for your sovereign grace which comes to those who are not deserving. Jacob is a deeply flawed man, and yet you chose him totally of grace. And we're thankful, Lord, that you have chosen to save so many of us in this room, not by works of righteousness that we've done, but simply by your mercy. And I'm asking you, Lord, that if in your good gracious sovereignty, that if there's anyone in this room who right now is outside of Christ, that you would touch their hearts and Bring life to their hearts.

And draw them to yourself that they would believe in you and call upon your name. That they would not despise Christ. But that they would count anything competing with Christ to be of no account. In view of the surpassing value of knowing you and having you for all of eternity.

We thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to give our offerings to you, and we ask that you would receive the funds that we give and do much with Everything that is given in this offering for the glory. Of Jesus Christ. In whose name we pray, and all God's people said,