Genesis and Matthew 35: The Blown Inheritance

So Esau despised his birthright.

Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. 

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We don't know the entire story, when it comes to the incident where Jacob got Esau to trade his birthright with him. It had been customary for the oldest son to receive all of an inheritance. It's easy to think the whole thing took place during a single afternoon. 

But more likely, the Jacob and Esau Birthright Saga developed over months . . . maybe years. 

We've got Jacob, an excellent cook that was content to stay in the home all day, keeping house, managing affairs at the family HQ. This got him in good with the mom. Jacob was, from the start, rather a conniving, scheming guy. He would learn to be patient, and trust God. But for the first period of his life, he was impatient and insecure. 

Esau would work hard, all day. He spent the days out in the field. We can imagine that the result of Esau's industry was very good for the family. Perhaps he managed the business exceedingly well, multiplying the worth of his parents' estate. The two brothers were archetypical of two nearly perfect, opposing, personality styles. 

Esau was probably not as careless and dense as he appears in the biblical, summary version of his life. The two brothers did what all siblings do: they talked about family business, divided up responsibilities, had different roles to fulfill as the family grew, the business prospered, and their parents aged. 

Esau may have built up his own holdings, and assets. It's not like he gave up everything, in order to have a good bowl of soup. He only traded his inheritance from his father, in exchange for Jacob taking care of the home base. Not every man wants the job of caring for aging parents (in fact . . . very few do). 

But, this amounted to Esau "despising" his inheritance. He may have gotten tired of "Jacob this, Jacob that," while Esau did all the work. Truth be told, Esau wanted no part of it. Let Jacob have it. He'll spoil it, and after a few years he'll come back, begging for Esau to take it all back. 

It all amounted to short-term gain, in favor of satisfying a temporal desire. Esau did not see the big picture. But indeed, he did look a gift horse in the mouth, and liked his chances better, by separating from the family. 

We have a generation today, that is all too willing to burn down its inheritance. It has elevated carnal desires above eternal needs - putting pleasure and temporary comfort ahead of long-term virtues like freedom and overall prosperity (well-being) for everybody. The Esau-Jacob story plays out again, in American life, as two factions that couldn't be more different, split the national fabric down the middle in a scenario that cannot result in win-win. 

The modern Esaus also share a trait with the Pharisees of the time of Christ. They are trying to criminalize good works driven by faith. But that's another narrative, for another time.