THE K I N G ’ S B US I NE S S of the mother, undoubtedly nurtured certain tendencies in the children which should have been checked had the father and mother been wise. II. The Birthright Despised and Lost; Coveted and Captured. 1. What the Birthright Was. Before the Mosaic legislation reduced it to writing, three things seem to have been included in the birthright: (a) The right of succession to the inheri- tance of the land of Canaan; (b) the right to the paternal blessing, in which was included the Messianic promise; (c) the right to exercise the office of priest in the family, in- which was involved special fellowship with God. The blessing thus included things tem poral and spiritual, things present and future. 2. What the Birthright Was Not. (a) It -was not worldly prosperity in general. Esau lost the birthright, and yet he was a wealthy man, with large territory, large family, and large poss essions of flocks and herds, (b) The birthright did not insure its possessor against trouble and sorrow. Jacob had the birthright, but his life involved greater suffering and sorrow and heart break than did Esau’s )cf. Heb. 12:5, « ). 3. How Esau Lost the Birthright. Esau apparently had no appreciation of things spiritual. His vision never pierced beyond the present and the world. He was very really a man after the flesh. His motto seems to have been, “ A bird in the hand is worth' two in the bush.” A square meal meant more to him when he was hungry than anything that God had to offer him for the future. His perfectly natural and proper appetite had the upper hand of him. He knew nothing of such an exper ience as Paul had in mind when he wrote, “ I buffet my body and bring it into bondage” (1 Cor. 9:27). Because he valued material things more than spiritual things Esau is called a “ pro fane” man (see Heb. 12:16). What a
969 sweeping condemnation that would bring against a great host of profess ing Christians today. Contrast with Esau’s conduct when he was hungry that of our Lord Jesus (Matt. 4 :4). The lentils that Jacob was cooking are described by Eastern travellers as being somewhat like our pea vine when young, though the leaves are a trifle smaller and more delicate. It was a fav orite dish in Syria and Egypt, indeed its fame is commemorated on the monu ments. 4. How Jacob Gained the Birthright. While there is much in Jacob’s con duct that God certainly did not approve, yet we must not lose sight of the fact that Jacob did appreciate spiritual things. Had the grace of God not been working in his heart, what a bad man he would have been? Is it stretching things too far to think that Abraham, the old grandfather, talked oftentimes with his grandsons and told them about how he had been called by God to leave Ur, of the Chaldees and go into the Land of Promise, and of the cov enant that God had made with him? If Abraham did not do this he was a strange grandfather. Would not Isaac tell his sons of that same covenant, and of that day when at God’s command he was offered on the altar of sacrifice? Jacob’s shrewdness in driving the bar gain with his hungry brother is hardly an example to be held up for Christian men to copy, but let us not forget that Esau was perfectly free in the matter and that his conduct was the outcome of his own willful haste. We are sure there was plenty of good food and wholesome within Esau’s reach that he might have had if he had gone after it, but he gave way to his appetite by a decision of his own will. Jacob cer tainly must have known of God’s promise concerning him, for we can hardly conceive of Rebekah not telling her favorite son the good fortune that was in store for him. Had Jacob really believed God’s promise as he ought to
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