Why did Jacob want Esau's birthright?

Hi Friends,

So I was reading Genesis 25-27 and I came across the story of Jacob and Esau. The first question I stumbled upon was why Jacob wanted Esau's birthright. (Genesis 25:29-34) I wanted to search the answer on Google, but I closed the tab and duck back into my Bible. I wanted to figure this out on my own with the help of God. So I read further and then I read about how Jacob stole his brother's blessing by deceiving his father (Genesis 27). So first Jacob takes Esau's birthright and then he steals his blessing. 'What a horrible brother!', I thought, but then I thought, 'How stupid is Esau for giving Jacob his birthright in exchange for stew'.

The first thing you want to know is what a birthright is. According to Oxford dictionary a birthright is:

''a particular right of possession or privilege a person has from birth, especially as an eldest son.''

So this possession or privilege in Esau's and Jacob's case is the blessing of their father Isaac (Genesis 27:27-29) but Esau traded his birthright for stew, a temporary pleasure, and so missed out on his blessing. This shows how little he valued his birthright. It is as if he traded a diamond for a rock.

The Lord revealed the meaning of the chapters I have read through linking the story to our daily lives; lets link Isaac to God as Isaac is the one giving the blessing. We can link Jacob to the devil as his name means he deceives. The bible says in John 10:10 that the devil comes to steal from us. This is exactly what Jacob did to his brother; he stole his blessings, by deceiving his father, but what made it so easy to steal Esau's blessing from him? - Because Esau had little respect for his birthright and in some way we can link Esau to ourselves.

The devil's aim has always been to steal our blessings. In the beginning the devil stole two of our privileges, which were access to the Garden of Eden and everlasting life. Luckily, Jesus has restored this from us. We will have everlasting life if we follow Him. The way the devil tries to steal our blessing now is by tempting us, just like he did to Eve, and to lead us away from God and so miss our chance of having everlasting life.

Our blessing/privilege that we got from our birth is everlasting life if we follow Jesus. We throw this privilege away when we choose earthly pleasures above God. The Bible says in Genesis 25:34 ''So Esau despised his birthright''. Hold on and focus on the word 'so'. 'So' is a concluding word. What the Bible is trying to say here is that Esau gave his birthright away so easily that he must have despised it. What does it mean to despise something? - To feel contempt or a deep repugnance for something. Is that what you want God to think of us? That we despise what plan He has for us? We need to focus on God. We can't lose everlasting life by choosing TEMPORARY pleasures above God. We need to start releasing that these earthly things only last for a short period of time. We need to stop letting the devil deceive us easily and steal our blessings from us. Do you understand what I am trying to say?

If we allow the devil to steal our birthright (everlasting life), we will not be able to have everlasting life. Isaac did not bless Esau again (Genesis 27:36-40). You could link these scriptures to us when we don't obey God's Word. The Bible says in John 3:16 '' For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.''

The lesson I got out of this story was that we should keep on focusing on God and we should not allow the devil to keep us away from our blessings.

I hope this article was helpful. Please do email me if you have another understanding of this topic at bigbeatrice97@gmail.com


God Bless,

Beatrice