DID JACOB HAVE TO HELP GOD KEEP HIS PROMISE?

Genesis 25:19–34

Abraham is dead.

God has blessed Isaac.

The promise has moved into another generation.

But almost immediately there is a problem.

God had promised Abraham descendants through Isaac.

Yet Isaac's wife cannot have children.

We've seen this before.

And what Isaac does next is important.

REBEKAH COULD NOT HAVE CHILDREN

Genesis tells us:

“And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren...”
— Genesis 25:21

Sarah had been barren.

Now Rebekah is barren.

Once again the continuation of God's promise appears humanly impossible.

But notice something different.

Isaac prays.

“And the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.”
— Genesis 25:21

The promised family continues because God provides what is needed for His promise to continue.

That theme should be familiar by now.

BUT SOMETHING IS WRONG

Rebekah becomes pregnant.

Then:

“The children struggled together within her...”
— Genesis 25:22

This is apparently much more than ordinary discomfort.

Rebekah is so troubled that she asks:

“If it be so, why am I thus?”

Then she does exactly the right thing:

“And she went to enquire of the LORD.”

And God gives her an extraordinary answer.

TWO CHILDREN—TWO NATIONS

God tells Rebekah:

“Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels...”
— Genesis 25:23

These aren't merely two brothers.

Two peoples will come from them.

Esau will become associated with Edom.

Jacob will become Israel.

But then God says something that would have been surprising in that culture:

“And the elder shall serve the younger.”
— Genesis 25:23

Normally the firstborn son occupied the privileged position.

Esau would be born first.

Jacob would be born second.

But before either child had been born, God announced:

THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.

Keep that in mind.

It becomes enormously important.

GOD MADE THE CHOICE BEFORE THE BOYS DID ANYTHING

Paul later returns to this event in Romans 9.

He reminds his readers that God's statement was made:

“For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil...”
— Romans 9:11

Whatever questions Romans 9 eventually raises, Paul's point here is unmistakable:

Jacob did not earn God's choice by being better than Esau.

God's purpose came first.

That means something else.

Jacob did not need to manipulate circumstances to make God's promise happen.

God had already spoken.

THEN THE TWINS ARE BORN

The first child arrives:

“And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.”
— Genesis 25:25

Then:

“After that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel...”
— Genesis 25:26

He is named Jacob.

Even at birth the story pictures these brothers in competition.

Esau comes first.

Jacob comes immediately behind him, grasping his heel.

That struggle will characterize much of what follows.

THEY COULD HARDLY HAVE BEEN MORE DIFFERENT

The boys grow up.

“Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.”
— Genesis 25:27

Esau is the outdoorsman.

Jacob stays closer to the tents.

But then Genesis gives us a little sentence that will eventually produce enormous trouble:

“And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.”
— Genesis 25:28

Isaac favored Esau.

Rebekah favored Jacob.

That division inside the family will matter greatly in chapter 27.

Parents choosing favorites among their children rarely ends well.

Genesis isn't presenting an ideal family.

It is showing us a real one.

And this family has problems.

THEN ESAU COMES HOME HUNGRY

One day Jacob is cooking stew.

Esau comes in from the field exhausted.

“Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint.”
— Genesis 25:30

Jacob sees an opportunity.

He answers:

“Sell me this day thy birthright.”
— Genesis 25:31

That's quite a price for dinner.

But Esau responds:

“Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?”
— Genesis 25:32

Whether Esau was literally near death or simply speaking dramatically, his reasoning is clear:

I want what I can have right now more than something valuable in the future.

Jacob makes him swear.

Esau agrees.

Then Jacob gives him bread and stew.

And Genesis describes what happens almost mechanically:

“he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way...”
— Genesis 25:34

Then comes the writer's judgment:

“thus Esau despised his birthright.”

WHAT DID ESAU REALLY SELL?

A birthright was not merely a family keepsake.

The firstborn normally held a privileged place within the family and inheritance.

But this particular family was different.

This was the family of Abraham.

God had promised Abraham:

a family,

a land,

and ultimately blessing extending to all nations.

So Esau isn't simply trading away a larger inheritance.

He is treating his privileged place in the family of promise as something worth less than his immediate appetite.

Hebrews later describes Esau as:

“a profane person... who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.”
— Hebrews 12:16

He exchanged something enormously valuable for something immediately satisfying.

BUT DOES THAT MAKE JACOB THE HERO?

No.

This is where we need to read carefully.

Genesis condemns Esau for despising his birthright.

But that doesn't automatically make Jacob's behavior admirable.

Jacob sees his brother in a vulnerable condition and takes advantage of it.

Instead of simply giving his hungry brother something to eat, he bargains.

“Sell me your birthright.”

And there is an even larger problem.

Jacob already had God's promise.

Before Jacob was born, God had said:

“The elder shall serve the younger.”

So why does Jacob need to bargain for what God has already promised?

He doesn't.

HAVEN'T WE SEEN THIS BEFORE?

God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son.

Years passed.

Nothing happened.

So Abraham and Sarah tried to produce the promised family through Hagar.

God did not need their scheme.

God eventually gave them Isaac exactly as He had promised.

Now another generation faces the same temptation.

God has announced His purpose concerning Jacob.

But instead of simply trusting God, Jacob begins maneuvering circumstances.

And this is only the beginning.

In Genesis 27, Jacob and Rebekah will go much further.

There will be disguises.

Lies.

Deception.

A father who cannot see.

A brother who becomes furious.

And a son who must flee from home.

Why?

At least partly because human beings keep trying to help God accomplish what God has already promised.

GOD'S PROMISE DOESN'T EXCUSE JACOB'S METHODS

This is an important distinction.

God had chosen Jacob for His purpose.

That doesn't mean everything Jacob did to obtain the blessing was right.

The Bible frequently shows God accomplishing His purposes through deeply imperfect people.

That does not turn their sins into virtues.

God's purpose can succeed despite human manipulation.

That is very different from saying God approves the manipulation.

AND ESAU IS STILL RESPONSIBLE

We shouldn't swing so far toward criticizing Jacob that we excuse Esau.

Esau made a choice.

Jacob offered the bargain.

Esau accepted it.

Genesis doesn't say:

“Thus Jacob stole Esau's birthright.”

It says:

“Thus Esau despised his birthright.”

Esau valued immediate satisfaction more highly than what belonged to his future.

That is why Hebrews remembers him as a warning.

A BOWL OF STEW CAN BE MORE DANGEROUS THAN IT LOOKS

Most of us will never be offered a bowl of stew in exchange for a birthright.

But Esau's decision isn't really about stew.

It is about exchanging something of lasting value for something we want right now.

People still do that.

A marriage for an affair.

Integrity for money.

Faithfulness for popularity.

A lifetime reputation for a moment's pleasure.

Something valuable tomorrow for something desirable today.

Esau's meal was gone within minutes.

His decision lasted much longer.

BUT THE BIGGER STORY IS GOD'S

If we focus only on Jacob's cleverness or Esau's foolishness, we may miss the larger story.

Before Jacob bargained—

God had spoken.

Before Esau sold anything—

God had spoken.

Before either boy had done good or evil—

God had spoken.

The future of God's promise did not ultimately depend upon Jacob being clever enough to obtain it.

And it did not depend upon Esau being foolish enough to surrender it.

GOD HAD A PURPOSE.

The question was whether Jacob would learn to trust Him.

That lesson will take a long time.

AND THE FAMILY TROUBLE IS JUST BEGINNING

Isaac loves Esau.

Rebekah loves Jacob.

Esau has despised his birthright.

Jacob has acquired it through a bargain.

But there is still another matter:

the father's blessing.

And Isaac intends to give that blessing to Esau.

What happens next will tear this family apart.

But before Genesis takes us there, it pauses for an entire chapter and turns our attention back to Isaac.

Why?

Because before we follow Jacob any farther, Genesis wants us to see something important:

The God of Abraham has become the God of Isaac.

That is where Genesis 26 takes us next.

TEXT B4 TRADITION

Read First. Conclude Later.

For the title, I like:

DID JACOB HAVE TO HELP GOD KEEP HIS PROMISE?

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