Our Birthright

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

OUR BIRTHRIGHT

Gen 25:27-34

27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.) 31 Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright." 32 "Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?" 33 But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

NIV

Why does a father enjoy seeing his son become a man’s man, spending his time in the open country, being strong and stealthy to secure the game in the hunt? While a quiet son, who perhaps has some inner talent, like Jacob, who possibly took up the skill of cooking is not thought of much by the father, however, he might be considered more of a mother’s boy. This is how this is recorded as to which parent prefers which son. Esau does have the birthright, yet is it Jacob who is the one who would be in the line of Jesus. It is Jacob who would become Israel and have the twelve sons, the twelve tribes of Israel, just as Jesus would choose twelve to become his disciples. Interestingly, God’s plan for Jacob would come to pass through some deception, which of course is the meaning of the name Jacob is the heal-holder or supplanter. We do wonder why Esau would despise his birthright, just for a bowl of stew. Did he not care that all his father’s estate would be his? Was he so invested in being a man of the open country, that he had no interest in being the family patriarch, overseeing all the male servants, and maidservants, keeping track of all the family wealth, in essence being in charge of everything. Then again, we also wonder why God chose Jacob to be the one to gain the birthright and do it through such a means as we are told here. Of course, that does show that Jacob can get things done that he desires, the birthright, to gain all that belongs to his father, to be the man in charge, the leader, the governor of the family, a real man’s man, so to speak. What is our lesson from this narrative? How do we see this in our lives today? Surely we should neither try to have personal gain through deception nor through despising what is rightfully ours. It would seem our best lesson comes from Esau because we currently have a birthright as a son of God. Our birthright indeed comes through Jesus; however, it came into effect the moment we were born-again, or born from above, and became a child, or a son of God. We merely have to read what ours is for being an overcomer, or victorious. Our birthright is eternal life, to live even though we die. Our birthright is to have our name in the Book of Life, to wear a white robe, to have a new name written on a white stone, to eat from the Tree of Life in the paradise of God, to live in the new city of Jerusalem, to sit on the throne with Jesus and have Jesus acknowledge our name before the Father. Why would we ever despise all that? The Hebrew would translated as despise, which carries the meaning of disdain, to hold in contempt, of no value. We wonder how much value we put on this birthright when we consider what our daily lives look like. How much do we value our relationship with our Lord? What percentage of our day is spent doing other things, not related to our faith, compared to the amount of time our faith is the central theme of our daily activities. If we know the result of our birthright, should we not want to be that overcomer, the one who overcomes the world, and all it has to offer? How do we live in the world but not be of it? We need the daily things, we need an income, a residence, and all that includes, yet it is but stuff that will fade away. We should not get too comfortable with all the stuff but be fully invested in our birthright.