The Stew that Set Two Nations at War

Would you sell your soul for a bowl of pottage?

What would you give for a hot savory stew after a hard day's work in the chilly autumn air?

I don't know about you, but I'd probably give up to $12.00 if it were organic, $8.00 if it were not.

A Foolish Trade

However, I would not give up my house, my family, my faith, or my inheritance for a single serving of pottage -- even if I were famished. One bowl of stew would not sustain me for more than a few days, even if I was starving. Such a sacrifice would not be wise, but rather foolish.

And this was the very choice that Esau made.

The First Born Son

Esau was the firstborn son to the patriarch Isaac. To him was the right of firstborn, the double inheritance, and the family blessing. This was a great honor which was closely tied to the covenant made to Abraham that promised in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. It was a spiritual inheritance, a furthering of the promises of God through the patriarchs that would culminate in the birth of the Messiah who would save His people from their sins.

Esau would have known all the details of the birthright because Isaac would have talked about it regularly. It was no secret to Esau what the rights of the first born included.

Controlled by Appetite

One day, after laboring outdoors, Esau came home while his brother Jacob was cooking some red lentil stew. Esau was famished and asked Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.”

Jacob, being shrewd and knowing that the birthright belonged to him through a promise, agreed to serve his brother a meal -- with one condition. Jacob requested that Esau sell his birthright for the red pottage. Esau being tempted by that which was in front of him, namely the stew, agreed saying, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”

But Jacob made Esau swear an oath first, which Esau willingly did. Then Esau ate and enjoyed the meal that Jacob had prepared. He then went about his ordinary business, thus despising his birthright. The promises of God meant nothing to Esau.

Matthew Henry writes of this:

He did eat and drink, pleased his palate, satisfied his cravings, congratulated himself on the good meal’s meat he had had, and then carelessly rose up and went his way, without any serious reflections upon the bad bargain he had made, or any show of regret. Thus Esau despised his birthright; he used no means at all to get the bargain revoked, made no appeal to his father about it.

Trading Eternity for Enmity

A fleeting meal, gone in an instant, was chosen over a lasting inheritance. Esau chose the temporal over the eternal.  And this pot of red stew was the meal that sealed the fate of two brothers, Jacob and Esau, causing enmity, wars, and factions for generations.

[This is part three in the series 10 Ways Food Impacts History, Life, and the World.]

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Next: The Food that Sanctified an Entire Nation

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