26 BROTHERLY CONTENTION

The twin brothers were prophesied of before they were born, and great mysteries were wrapped up in the predictions which preceded them. Verses 22 & 23 say, “The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.’” For a long time, just short of twenty years, Isaac had prayed for a son; and now his wife is with child—no! with children! Two! Perhaps this was to compensate for his long wait. God often outdoes our prayers, and gives more than we are able to ask or think. Now Rebekah being pregnant has a unique problem. They are already fighting!

She was understandably perplexed in her mind about this. “The babies jostled each other within her.”  The commotion she felt was altogether extraordinary. She had never been pregnant before, but suspected this was something unusual beyond that. She was very uneasy. Whether she was apprehensive that the birth would be her death, or whether she was weary of the intense tumult, or whether she suspected it to be a bad sign we do not know. It seems she was ready to wish that either she was not pregnant or that she might die immediately, and not bring forth such struggling children.

Before, the long term strong desire for children was her trouble, now, the struggle of the children inside her is no less so. The comforts we are most desirous of are sometimes found to bring along with them new troubles and uneasiness we never thought of, vanity existing everywhere under the sun. We are apt to be discontented with our comforts, because of the uneasiness that attends them. We do not know when we are pleased, we know neither how to be in need nor how to abound. 

This struggle between Jacob and Esau in the womb represents the struggle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent have been contending ever since enmity was put between them recorded in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” This enmity has cased many divisions and wars among men. We should not let contention be an offense to us. Holy war is better than peace in the devil’s palace. No sooner is Christ formed in the soul than immediately there begins a conflict between the flesh and spirit as recorded in Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” The stream or tide of evil is not turned around without a mighty struggle, which yet ought not to discourage us. It is better to have conflict with sin than tamely to submit to it.

What did she do about this problem? “So she went to inquire of the Lord” (22). The Word and prayer, by which we all can still enquire of the Lord gives great relief to any who for any reason are perplexed. It is a great relief to the mind to spread our case before the Lord, and ask counsel from Him. What she did here is the second indication of her good spiritual condition, the first being ability to discern that God wanted her to leave Paddan Aram and come to Canaan with Abraham’s servant.

The information given to Rebekah explained the mystery, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger” (23). She was pregnant, not only with two children, but two nations, which will not only in their manners and dispositions differ from each other, but in their interests clash and contend with each other. Part of the issue of the contest will be that the elder should serve the younger. This was fulfilled in the subjection of the Edomites, for many ages, to the house of David, till they revolted many years later, “In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king” (2 Chronicles 21:8). God is a free agent in dispensing His grace; it is His prerogative to make a difference between those who have not as yet themselves done either good or evil. The apostle states this difficult truth clearly in Romans 9:12: “. . . not by works but by him who calls—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.” God chooses and so do we when we respond with our own favorable choice. In the struggle between grace and corruption in the soul, grace, the younger, shall certainly get the upper hand at last.

There was a great difference in their bodies. Esau, when he was born, was rough and hairy, and “Esau” means “hairy.” This may have been an indication of a strong constitution, and gave cause to expect that he would be robust, daring, and active. Jacob was smooth and tender as another type of children. But the spiritual differences were the more significant matter. The difference of men’s capacities, and consequently of their condition in the world, arises very much from the difference of their natural constitution; some are plainly designed by nature for activity and honor, others as manifestly marked for obscurity. This instance of the divine sovereignty may perhaps help us understand the doctrines of divine sovereignty and grace. God’s often chooses weak things and passes by the mighty: “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:26 & 27).

Esau, the stronger, came out first; but Jacob’s hand grasped Esau’s heel which hints of Jacob’s pursuit of the birthright and blessing; from the first, he reached to catch hold of it, and, if possible, to prevent his brother from becoming the first-born. The two brothers were very unalike in the temper of their minds, and the ways of living they chose. Genesis 25:27 says, “The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents.” They soon appeared to be of very different dispositions. Esau was a man for this world. He was a man interested in his sports, as a hunter, a man who knew how to live by his wits, assuming he was a cunning hunter. He was a man of the field, like Nimrod and Ishmael, all for the game, and not happy unless pursuing great projects. Jacob was a man for the other world, not cut out for a statesman, nor did he want to look great, but he was happy in the tents. As a shepherd he was attached to that safe and silent work of keeping sheep, to which also he trained his children. This was the son of Isaac on whom the covenant rested.

Isaac, though not an athletic strong man himself (when he went into the fields he went to meditate and pray, not hunt) yet loved to have his son active. Esau knew how to please him, and showed a great respect for him, by treating him often with venison, which gained himself the affections of the good old man, and won himself more than we might have thought. Rebekah, however, was mindful of what God had said about the two sons giving preference to Jacob so she therefore preferred him in her love. It is not advisable for any parent to give a preference to one child against the other(s) yet we might appreciate the possibility that Rebekah was partially right because she loved the one whom God loved.

Next we will consider the bargain made between Jacob and Esau about the birthright, which was Esau’s by birth sequence but Jacob’s by promise. It included the blessing of God and a special promise attached which Jacob valued, sought and bought. It was not out of pride or ambition that he coveted the birthright so much as with an eye to spiritual blessings, with which he became well acquainted in his tents, while Esau had lost the scent of them in the fields. For this Jacob is to be commended, that he coveted earnestly the best gifts. This in spite of the fact that he took advantage of Esau’s necessity to make a hard bargain to obtain it. “First sell me your birthright” (31). Evidently there had earlier been some conversation between them about this and it was not so great a surprise to Esau as here it seems to be to the reader. Possibly Esau had spoken slightly of the birthright and its attachments, which encouraged Jacob to make this proposal. If so, Jacob is somewhat excusable in what he did to gain his point. People are wise indeed that are wise for another world. Jacob’s wisdom appeared in two things: He chose the fittest time, took the opportunity when it offered itself, and did not let it slip. And, having made the bargain, he made it sure, and got it confirmed by Esau’s oath: “‘Swear to me first.’ So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob” (33). He took Esau when he was in the mind, and would not leave him any opportunity to change his mind. In cases of major importance it is good to be sure.

Esau’s profane contempt of the birthright and the foolish sale he made of it is referred to in Hebrews 12:16. “See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.” The bowl of lentil stew was as dear a morsel as ever was eaten since the forbidden fruit; and Esau lived to regret it when it was too late. Never was there such a foolish bargain as this which Esau now made; and yet he thought his policies were correct, possibly had the reputation of a cunning man, and perhaps had bantered his brother Jacob as a weak and simple man. There are those that are penny-wise and pound-foolish, cunning hunters that can out-wit others and draw them into their snares, and yet are themselves imposed upon by Satan’s wiles and led captive by him at his will. They win small battles, but lose the whole war. Again, God often chooses the foolish things of the world and by them confounds the wise. Plain Jacob makes a fool of cunning Esau.

Esau’s appetite for food was too strong. Tent dweller Jacob had prepared some bread and pottage for his dinner, and was sitting down to it contentedly enough, without venison, when Esau came from hunting, hungry and weary, and evidently had caught nothing. And now Jacob’s pottage pleased his eye better than ever his game had. Give me, says he, some of that red, that red, as it is in the original as he himself was red when born. And after that he and his descendants were called Edom—red. Foolish Esau was so weak that he could not get himself something to eat, nor had he a servant at hand to help him, but entreats his brother to feed him. Those that work with quietness are more constantly and comfortably provided for than those that hunt with noise: bread is not always to the wise, but those that trust in the Lord and do good shall be fed, fed with daily bread; not as Esau, sometimes feasting and sometimes fainting. The gratifying of the sensual appetite is that which ruins thousands of precious souls. Surely, if Esau was hungry and faint, he might have obtained a meal’s meat cheaper than at the expense of his birthright which he did not properly value.

His reasoning was too weak. “‘Look, I am about to die,’ Esau said. ‘What good is the birthright to me?’” (32) Even if the famine in the land referred to in verse one of the next chapter were already present, still it is hard to believe that Isaac was so poor, or Rebekah so bad a house-keeper, but that he might have been supplied some other way with adequate food and might have saved his birthright. But his appetite has the mastery of him and  he is in a longing condition. Nothing will please him but this red this red pottage, and, to satisfy his supposed hunger, he pretends he is at the point to die. Even if he were really near death with starvation would it not be better for him to die in honor than to live in disgrace; to die under a blessing than to live under a curse? The birthright was symbolic of our spiritual privileges today, those of the church of the first-born. Esau was now tried. How would he value his spiritual birthright? He shows himself wanting only present convenience; he does not care for his birthright. Better principled Naboth, would lose his life rather than sell his vineyard, because his part in the earthly Canaan demonstrated his part in the heavenly, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” (1 Kings 21:3). The birthright being of a spiritual nature, Esau’s undervaluing it was the greatest foolishness imaginable. It is folly to part with our interest in God, Christ, and heaven, for the riches, honors, and pleasures, of this world, are as bad a bargain as his who sold a birthright for a dish of broth.

Esau 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 or regret about the bad bargain he had made. Esau despised his birthright; he used no means at all to get the bargain revoked, made no appeal to his father about it, and by his subsequent neglect and contempt he acknowledged his own distorted satisfaction. By justifying himself in what he had done he made it impossible to change it. It could not be changed. People are ruined, not so much by doing what is amiss, as by doing it and not quickly repenting of it, doing it and standing by it. Repentance is a gift. We can change. Even a wise Christian leader will make unintentional mistakes or errors too, but unlike Esau, upon recognizing it, they will change.