Genesis 25:34

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles,.... This shows what the pottage was made of, of which see Genesis 25:30; and that Jacob gave to Esau more than he asked and bargained for, bread as

Secure and impenitent, without any remorse for his ingratitude to God, or the injury which he had done to himself and to all his posterity, he went his way, despising his birthright, preferring the present and momentary satisfaction of his lust and appetite before God’ s and his father’ s blessing, and all the glorious privileges of the birthright.

Genesis 25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised [his] birthright.Ver. 34. He did eat and drink, and rose up, &c.] Hac verborum congeri, impoenitentia Esaui deseribitur. Away he went, without showing the least remorse or regret for what he had done. Lysimachus soon repented him for parting with his crown for a draught of cold water, in his extreme thirst. Wine is a prohibited ware among Turks; which makes some drink with scruple, others with danger. The baser sort, when taken drunk, are often caned on the soles of their bare feet. And I have seen some, saith mine author, after a fit of drunkenness, lie a whole night, crying and praying to Mohammed for intercession, that I could not sleep near them; so strong is conscience, even where the foundation is but imaginary, to the shame of many profligate professors - cauterised Christians. Piscator. O dii, quam brevis voluptatis gratia ex rege me feci servum! Blount’ s Voyage, p. 105.

(34) He did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way.—These words graphically describe Esau’s complete indifference to the spiritual privileges of which he had denuded himself. There is no regret, no sad feeling that he had prolonged his life at too high a cost. And if Jacob is cunning, and mean in the advantage he took of his brother, still he valued these privileges, and in the sequel he had his reward and his punishment. He was confirmed in the possession of the birthright, and became the progenitor of the chosen race, and of the Messiah; but henceforward his life was full of danger and difficulty. He had to flee from his brother’s enmity, and was perpetually the victim of fraud and the most cruel deceit. But gradually his character ripened for good. He ceased to be a scheming, worldly-minded Jacob, and became an Israel, and in his pious old age we see a man full of trust and faith in God, unworldly and unselfish, and animated by tender and loving feeling. Purified from his early infirmities, and with all his better nature strengthened and sanctified by sorrow, he shows himself worthy of his second name, and becomes “a prince with God.”

Verse 34. Pottage of lentiles] See Clarke on Genesis 25:29. Thus Esau despised his birthright.] On this account the apostle, Hebrews 12:16, calls Esau a profane person, because he had, by this act, alienated from himself and family those spiritual offices connected with the rights of primogeniture. While we condemn Esau for this bad action, (for he should rather have perished than have alienated this right,) and while we consider it as a proof that his mind was little affected with Divine or spiritual things, what shall we say of his most unnatural brother Jacob, who refused to let him have a morsel of food to preserve him from death, unless he gave him up his birthright? Surely he who bought it, in such circumstances, was as bad as he who sold it. Thus Jacob verified his right to the name of supplanter, a name which in its first imposition appears to have had no other object in view than the circumstance of his catching his brother by the heel; but all his subsequent conduct proved that it was truly descriptive of the qualities of his mind, as his whole life, till the time his name was changed, (and then he had a change of nature,) was a tissue of cunning and deception, the principles of which had been very early instilled into him by a mother whose regard for truth and righteousness appears to have been very superficial. See on Genesis 27:6-27 THE death of Abraham, recorded in this chapter, naturally calls to mind the virtues and excellences of this extraordinary man. His obedience to the call of God, and faith in his promises, stand supereminent. No wonders, signs, or miraculous displays of the great and terrible God, as Israel required in Egypt, were used or were necessary to cause Abraham to believe and obey. He left his own land, not knowing where he was going, or for what purpose God had called him to remove. Exposed to various hardships, in danger of losing his life, and of witnessing the violation of his wife, he still obeyed and went on; courageous, humane, and disinterested, he cheerfully risked his life for the welfare of others; and, contented with having rescued the captives and avenged the oppressed, he refused to accept even the spoils he had taken from the enemy whom his skill and valour had vanquished. At the same time he considers the excellency of the power to be of God, and acknowledges this by giving to him the tenth of those spoils of which he would reserve nothing for his private use. His obedience to God, in offering up his son Isaac, we have already seen and admired; together with the generosity of his temper, and that respectful decency of conduct towards superiors and inferiors for which he was so peculiarly remarkable; see on Genesis 23:3-7, See Clarke on Genesis 23:17. Without disputing with his Maker, or doubting in his heart, he credited every thing that God had spoken; hence he always walked in a plain way.

34. lentils] The pottage here described is made of a small reddish kind of bean much in use for food in Palestine, Arab. ‘adas. Cf. 2 Samuel 17:28; 2 Samuel 23:11; Ezekiel 4:9. It makes the reddish pottage now called in Palestine mujedderah, a very popular dish. so Esau despised his birthright] These words summarize the narrative. Esau’s character is portrayed as that of a careless, shallow man, living from hand to mouth, and paying no regard to things of higher or spiritual significance. It is this trait which is referred to in Hebrews 12:16, “or profane person as Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright.” The advantage of the birthright may have been indefinite. But, as we may judge not only from the story in ch. 27, but also from that of Gen 38:28-30 and Genesis 48:13-19 (cf. Deuteronomy 21:15-17), the privilege of the birthright was accounted sacred in the social life of the early Israelite. The Lat. paraphrases the sense of the last clause, parvi pendens quod primogenita vendidisset. The birthright was Esau’s by God’s gift, not by his own merit. Hence it symbolized eternal blessing. Esau’s repudiation of the unseen and intangible, for the sake of immediate self-gratification, is the symbol of a large proportion of human sin and thoughtlessness.

34. Esau despised his birthright — “In these graphic touches the sacred writer paints the ‘profane’ Esau’s unfitness for the spiritual headship of the chosen people, yet with equal faithfulness