Jacob and the Birthright (Gen. 25:27-34)

This sermon was preached on 24/7/2011

As we can see from the account, nothing is said about the childhood and adolescence of Esau and Jacob. No doubt there were significant events and one that can be worked out from the genealogies is the passing of their grandfather Abraham when they were about fifteen. There would also be regular events, also significant but which carry the possibility of being taken for granted. We saw in a previous study that prayer was a major feature of the lives of Isaac and Rebekah, and no doubt that would have continued. Esau and Jacob would have grown up within a pious community where the name of God was honoured, although they have felt a bit isolated because of the fewness of those connected with them.

It is useful to bear in mind why Moses wrote the Book of Genesis. He is not writing a history of the ancient world, instead he is describing the development of the kingdom of God. Moses only refers to important people and events when they affect God’s people – recall how he mentions rulers, for example. The story of God’s kingdom is usually in stages connected to promises, and once a promise is given we can look then to see how God will fulfil his promise. That is the context of this passage about Jacob and his obtaining of the birthright. God had given divine revelation to Rebekah in the form of prophetic promises and we can see how he works to bring this about.

We all know that a hinge is very useful as it allows us to open or close a door or a window. There are literary hinges as well and we read one of them in Genesis 25:27-28. As a literary hinge, it closes what went before and gives an opening to what comes after. At one level, the hinge describes normal family life, but another level the description contains evidence that God’s predictions were being fulfilled. Therefore we should be on the alert for signs of divine providence at work.

The incident about which our literary hinge closes the door is the answer to her prayer that Rebekah received from God about the twins to whom she would give birth. God has said certain things about them, specifically that one would be stronger than the other and the elder (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob). We are not told how old the two sons are in verses 27-28, but they are adults. If we looked at them, we would think that Esau was the stronger and that there was no sign of God’s prediction concerning the possession of the birthright being fulfilled. But on what is such an understanding based?

In order to understand the situation, we have to appreciate what the birthright was. It was the case in ancient cultures that the firstborn son was highly privileged because he would get twice as much of the inheritance as his brothers. As far as surrounding society was concerned, Esau was the one who would get most of what Isaac had. So what did Isaac have?

It is helpful to see his possessions as twofold – the physical and the spiritual. Physically, he had been promised, as his father Abraham had been, the land of Canaan as an inheritance, although such a possession had not yet been fulfilled. All he had was located around his camp. Spiritually, Isaac possessed the promises of a coming Deliverer, the Saviour who would be his descendant.

Going back to the hinge, what do we find? We are told something about Esau, Jacob, Isaac and Rebekah. Esau was a wild man, interested in trapping animals, but he had no interest in what happened at home. At first glance, this may not seem very important, merely a reference to his personal interests. Yet it is an insight into his priorities.

When Jacob is described as a quiet man, it does not mean that he is passive. Instead it means that he is not boisterous. Nor does the description suggest that he is effeminate in contrast to Esau’s masculinity. Jacob, in contrast to Esau, was a disciplined man who concentrated on the affairs of everything connected to the tents. This does not mean that he liked cooking necessarily, but it does indicate that he was concerned about the affairs of his aged parents (after all, Isaac was now in his eighties at least and Rebekah would not be far behind him). The tents in which he lived were the tents of his parents and Jacob had assumed responsibility for their possessions.

So which of the two brothers was showing any interest in the family inheritance? The hinge tells us that Jacob was at least living like a person who expected to receive the birthright, somehow.

What about Isaac? When we last saw him, aged sixty, he was a man of prayer, anxious that the Lord would fulfil his promises and give a son to Rebekah. So devout was he then that he prayed earnestly for many years about the matter. But here he is at least twenty years after the birth of his sons and he is no longer concerned about the fulfilment of God’s promises. Instead he delights in the contribution of the son God had rejected, even although that son was giving ample evidence that he had no interest in the family inheritance.

Imagine an interview with Isaac. ‘How is your prayer life, Isaac? Are you still basing your prayers on the promises of God?’ Sadly, Isaac would have to admit that his fleshly desires had blinded him in this matter to what God had clearly revealed. Who would have believed that this would have happened to devout Isaac? But it did, and therefore he is a warning to older believers to pray according to the clear revelation of God and not to let the comforts of life affect their spiritual antennas. No doubt Isaac and Rebekah had their times of family prayer, but their petitions were no longer in harmony because he, at least, was ignoring God’s revealed will.

It is also a reminder to look out for issues that may blind us to what is happening in our own lives. Isaac could have argued that he was merely enjoying what his oldest son provided for him. But why was Esau providing it?

Because Isaac had become such, he left the upbringing of Jacob to Rebekah, and the hinge tells us that she loved Jacob. That is not the sign of a dysfunctional parent, instead it is the evidence that she took seriously the word that God had given her. She knew that Jacob was the one that God had earmarked for prominence and she must have been saddened by her husband’s decline in spiritual perception and his unwillingness to ensure that Jacob received the birthright. As Matthew Henry commented, ‘Rebekah was mindful of the oracle of God, which had given the preference to Jacob, and therefore she preferred him in her love. And, if it be lawful for parents to make a difference between their children upon any account, doubtless Rebekah was in the right, that loved him whom God loved.’

I think the hinge is telling us that Isaac is to blame for not living up to his responsibilities. And when that happens, then others will have to take steps about the matter, and here Moses tells us what Jacob did himself about the issue.

Obtaining the birthright

It is common for writers and speakers to criticise Jacob for his behaviour here. Yet we have to be careful in doing so because Moses does not find fault with Jacob at all but he does find fault with Esau.

The first point to note in this regard is that Jacob’s request indicates he knew he should have the birthright. Clearly he must have received this information from his mother. Indeed his demand that he be given it now suggests exasperation at having been refused it before. So it is very likely that Jacob had often urged Esau to change his ways because a refusal to part with the birthright was tantamount to continued rebellion against God.

The second detail to observe is that, on this occasion, Jacob may have sought a good thing in a bad way. If this suggestion is correct, then he determined to obtain what God had promised, but he chose to get it using human ingenuity. It is possible that the delay in the fulfilling of God’s promise can lead to unfaithful actions, of believers taking steps to bring about a solution. In a sense, what Jacob did here is similar to what Sarah, his grandmother, had done when she tried to ensure the birth of a son to Abraham through Hagar. The lesson here is to remind ourselves that God has his time for answering our longings and that we can never use the principle that the end justifies the means.

I am a bit reluctant to say that Jacob was wrong, and one reason for doing so is that Jacob made the transfer of the birthright into a religious act. He asked Esau to swear on oath, presumably in God’s name, that he had given up all claim to the birthright. Jacob seems to act religiously throughout this process. It was obvious to whom that Esau despised his birthright and that he was dishonouring God as long as had it.

A third lesson from Jacob’s response is that we should be willing to wait on God to answer prayer. Perhaps Jacob had been doing so, and read this occasion as God’s provision for obtaining the promised birthright. If Jacob read providence wrongly, then his mistake is a reminder to us that we should always pray for discernment regarding how we can be involved in answering our own prayers. But if he read it rightly, then he was led to make this arrangement

Lessons from Esau

Up until now, Esau had been holding on to the birthright even although he must have known that God had informed Isaac and Rebekah that it would belong to Jacob. This means that his holding on to it was an expression of rebellion against God. All his activities, even those connected to providing food for his father, were expressions of his fight against God.

A second lesson is that God in his providence can arrange an event in which it will be displayed clearly the value we place on his blessing. We have already observed that the birthright here was connected to the possessions that Isaac had and to the promise of a coming Deliverer. What did Esau think of these aspects of the birthright? We have already seen his contempt for the tents of Isaac. Did Esau value the prospect of a coming Saviour? No, he did not, because if he had done so, then he would have acknowledged the plan of grace in which Jesus would come from the line of Jacob. How much did he think that spiritual promise was worth? The same price as a bowl of soup.

Esau despised everything that the birthright promised, which is the conclusion Moses deduces from what Esau did when he was hungry and exchanged his birthright for some food. Later in Genesis we discover that he was a self-made man who did well for himself, and when he met Jacob on that subsequent occasion we discover that Esau was satisfied with his earthly achievements (Gen. 33:9). It was impossible for him to see beyond life in this world.