Last 5 Days
Grasp or Despise?
19 This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 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.”
24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27 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. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)
31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” 33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.
Chapter 25:19 marks the beginning story of Jacob, the chosen lineage of God, after Abraham and Isaac. Here we know that Rebekah, the wife of Isaac was also barren like Sarah. Learning from the mistakes of his father, Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife and in verse 21, God answered his prayer. Rebekah was pregnant with a pair of twins, Esau and Jacob. Right in the womb, we know that Jacob began his life of struggle for the birth right and blessings. First he jostled with his elder brother in the womb (Gen 25:19-26), then he had to negotiate with his brother in the growing up days (Gen 25:27-34) and later deceived his father in order to attain the blessings. (Gen 27)
Jacob’s name meant to “grasp”. He grasp the heel of Esau at birth (25:26). He plotted in his growing up days to grasp the birth right of Esau (25:29-34). Later he deceived Isaac to grasp the blessings (27). He continued his deceptions by grasping his uncle, Laban’s livestock. Finally he grasped God’s blessings (32:24-32). To grasp is not just a exhibiting a desire in the mind to want, but also to respond to the same desire in actions. To grasp also connotes the idea to snatch and to grab, disregarding how the other person might feel or be affected. He is only concerned with himself. In the case of Jacob, he grasp through any means he could lay his hands on in order to achieve his goals.
The contrasting word in the passage with “grasp” is “despised”. The passage tells us that Esau despised his birth right as the first born. The needs of the temporary was far more important than his own birth right. His famous words resounds in our ears, “Look, I am about to die, what good is the birth right to me?” He valued the needs of his physical body far more than his birth right.
“Grasp” and “despised” connote both a positive and negative meaning, depending on the object of your pursuit. If the object of what we desire to grasp is right, we will receive blessings. Conversely, if we desire something that does not belong to us or not God given, we might live in a downward spiral pursuit. In the Old Testament, the birth right was directly tied to future blessings from God. Jacob saw the important of this blessing from God, while Esau was more concerned with the temporary needs. In the end, we know Esau lost his rights as the eldest son to Jacob.
Though Jacob had to face the negative consequences of his decisions to attain the blessings through deceptive ways, Jacob was still wise because he understood what was the more important matter. He understood that the birth right from God was the key to blessings. Man needed to align themselves to the Almighty God. Paul also understood this when he said “that whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish.” (Phil 3:7-8) Paul’s focus all his life was to grasp on to Jesus, and to see all other matters as rubbish.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what do we “grasp” and “despised”? Are we like Esau who gave up the blessings from above just for a bowl of soup that will only satisfy us temporary? Or are we like Jacob who relentlessly pursue the blessings of eternal value. Does your eyes settle on kingdom values or earthly values? Matthew 6 tells us, where your treasures are, there your heart will be. Dear brothers and sisters, are your treasure pursuits on this earth or do you see what is ahead as far more precious?