Jacob II: Food For Thought

Gen. 25:27-34

As strange as the birth of these two brothers seems, and as odd this particular biblical account appears, it defines the rest of their lives. Whether they knew it or not, they were born into a certain destiny that they couldn't change. In fact, it appears as if Jacob embraces the prophesy from God.

Now I'm not sure if Rebekah had told her sons what God had said to her when they were wrestling in her womb. If she did, then I can imagine that it would have caused a lot of strife in the lives of the brothers, in that they would have been expecting a power struggle for their entire lives. If she did not tell them, then it was just destiny playing itself out. Either way, Jacob finds a moment of weakness in his brother Esau and exploits it.

The Bible says that Jacob and Esau chose different careers.

When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents. Gen. 25:27

What I find interesting about this verse is the use of the word peaceful. In the original writing, the word used here was tam.

it's primary meaning is complete, whole, entire, not lacking, first used in the Bible here. This statement by the Word of God emphasizes that Esau had worldly skills, and Jacob had God's whole, well rounded, righteous character. (Source: cathedraluniversity.com, page 45)

I find it interesting that the Bible describes Jacob as complete, yet he still takes advantage of his brother.

A day comes when Esau returns from hunting and is extremely hungry. Jacob just so happens to have prepared a nice hot stew when he returned. Jacob sees that his brother is desperate for food, and so he makes a deal with Esau: Sell me your birthright and you will get some stew. Now this sounds like a ridiculous situation, but it happened. Esau must have been close to death, because he agreed to this deal. Esau got some red stew, and Jacob became the new owner of the family birthright, which contained God's promise to Abraham.

The Bible says that Esau despised the birthright after that. Now, when Isaac died, Jacob would become the head of the household and Esau would have to serve him. This is a huge step in a very difficult family situation that develops between these two.

But I still wonder why, if Jacob was said to be complete, he needed Esau's birthright. Perhaps he didn't know that he was complete, perhaps he went beyond what he needed and went for what he wanted. I think we all go after things we want, whether we need them or not, and it may or may not be God's plan that we do so. We need to carefully analyze every decision we make and ask God what His will is concerning those decisions. This is important because, as we will see, every decision we make has its consequences in the future.