(Genesis) Genesis 25:29-32

Verse 29, And Jacob sawed pottage, and Esau came from the field, and he was faint. 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.

And Jacob 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? Now, will you notice this incident reveals, frankly, the nature of both of these men. Esau came from the field, he was outdoors, and he was tired, he was exhausted.

Now, he's not starving to death, as some would imply, and no one that had been brought up in the home of Abraham is going to get hungry. There'd be something for him to eat. The thing was, there was nothing prepared to eat at that moment but this pottage, this stew or soup that Jacob had made.

Jacob's the indoor boy, he's a good chef, but not outdoors. He just does his cooking inside. And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage.

Actually, it's not in the original. For I am faint, therefore was his name called Edom, and that means red, means earthy. And this man, he just asked his brother, Give me some of this stew.

Now, Jacob said, and he's a trickster, he's a traitor, he said, Sell me this day thy birthright. Now, Jacob wanted that birthright. Now, what was the value of the birthright? Let's look at it for a minute.

In that day, it meant several things. It meant that the one who had it was the head of the house. It also meant that the one that had it was the priest of the family.

And in this family, it meant the one that had it would be the one that would be in the line that would lead to Christ. Now, do you think that Esau valued it at all? Jacob knew that he didn't, that he attached no importance to it at all. He didn't care about being the priest of the family.

In fact, that's the last thing that he wanted to do. He just wouldn't do that sort of thing. I feel today, sometimes when I hear Christians, especially some man who's a Christian, they ask him to do something, say, Oh, I'm not a preacher, I can't do that.

Well, sure, you may not be a preacher, but you see that there are too many today that don't want to do that which is spiritual. They don't want to even give the impression that they are spiritual, are interested in spiritual things. Esau, he didn't want to give that impression.

Anyone that would have called him deacon or preacher would have insulted him. He didn't want the birthright. And he didn't care about being in the line that led to Christ.

Fact of the matter is, no one could have cared less than he did about being in the line that leads to Christ. And so Jacob sees that, and he says to him, I'll tell you what I'll do. If you'll give me your birthright, I'll give you a bowl of soup.

And Esau says, I'll be very glad to do it. What profit is the birthright to me? What I care about the birthright, it's not worth a bowl of soup to me, the value that he attached to spiritual things. Now, the thing that's wrong about Jacob, of course, God has promised him the elder shall serve the younger.

The birthright's coming to Jacob in God's own time. Jacob, though, can't wait. And so he reaches out to take that which God has promised him, and he's taking it in, let us say, a clever, tricky fashion.

He should not have done it this way. He should have waited for God to give it to him. But you'll find out this man can't wait.

And after all, this man operated on the principle, what I can do myself, there's no reason for me to look to God to do it. He felt thoroughly capable of taking care of his business. And he did pretty well as far as the world would measure it at the beginning.

But there came a day when God really sent him to college, and Laban was the president of the college, and it was known as the College of Hard Knocks. And he's really going to learn a few things in the College of Hard Knocks. But so far, he's operating on the principle that he's clever enough to get what's coming to him.