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Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with some of that red stew, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.
Jacob said, “First, sell me your birthright.”
Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”
Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob.
Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
Genesis 25:30-34 sits inside this longer paragraph.
The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob. Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with some of that red stew, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.
Jacob said, “First, sell me your birthright.”
Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”
Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob.
Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with some of that red stew, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.
Jacob said, “First, sell me your birthright.”
Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”
Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob.
Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
And Esau said to Jacob: 'Let me swallow, I pray thee, some of this red, red pottage; for I am faint.' Therefore was his name called Edom.
And Jacob said: 'Sell me first thy birthright.'
And Esau said: 'Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall the birthright do to me?'
And Jacob said: 'Swear to me first'; and he swore unto him; and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv30, 33, 34 30. Feed me, I pray thee, with that same…
30. Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage Although Esau declares in these words that he by no means desires delicacies, but is content with food of any kind, (seeing that he contemptuously designates the pottage from its color only, without regard to its taste,) we may yet lawfully conjecture that the affair was viewed in a serious light by his parents; for his own name had not been given him on account of any ludicrous matter. In desiring and asking food he commits nothing worthy of reprehension; but when he says, Behold I am at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me? he betrays a profane desire entirely addicted to the earth and to the flesh. It is not, indeed, to be doubted that he spake sincerely, when he declared that he was impelled by a sense of the approach of death. For they are under a misapprehension who understand him to use the words, “Behold I die,” as if he meant merely to say, that his life would not be long, because, by hunting daily among wild beasts, his life was in constant danger. Therefore, in order to escape immediate death, he exchanges his birthright for food; notwithstanding, he grievously sins in so doing, because he regards his birthright as of no value, unless it may be made profitable in the present life. For, hence it happens, that he barters a spiritual for an earthly and fading good. On this account the Apostle calls him a “profane person,” (Hebrews 12:16,) as one who settles in the present life, and will not aspire higher. But it would have been his true wisdom rather to undergo a thousand deaths than to renounce his birthright; which, so far from being confined within the narrow limits of one age alone, was capable of transmitting the perpetuity of a heavenly life to his posterity also. Now, let each of us look well to himself; for since the disposition of us all is earthly, if we follow nature as our leader, we shall easily renounce the celestial inheritance. Therefore, we should frequently recall to mind the Apostle’s exhortation, “Let us not be profane persons as Esau was.”
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv30, 32, 33 Or, feed me quickly.
Or, feed me quickly.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv30–34 Gen 25:30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me,…
Gen 25:30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red [pottage]; for I [am] faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
Ver. 30. Feed me, I pray thee, with that red, red.] He doubleth it, and could not, for haste and hunger, tell what to call it, to show his greediness. {a} And saith, "Feed me," or let me swallow at once; as camels are fed by casting gobbets into their mouth. He thought he should never have enough Our proverb is, As hungry as a hunter: but this hunter hath no he with him, and is therefore branded for a "profane" {Heb 12:16} sensualist, Edom. The word used for a glutton, {Deu 21:20} is used for a vile person, or a worthless person. {Jer 15:19}
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{a} Geminatio indicat vehementiam appetitus - Pareus.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv30–34 Red pottage; red by the infusion of lentiles, or…
Red pottage; red by the infusion of lentiles, or saffron, or some other things of that colour. The word is doubled in the Hebrew text, to show how vehemently he desired it.
Edom, which signifies red; as he was at first so called from the colour of his hair, so now that name was confirmed and given to him afresh upon this occasion: q.d. He was rightly called Edom, or red, not only historically for his colour, but prophetically for this accident.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv30–34 And Esau said to Jacob, feed me, I pray…
And Esau said to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage,.... Or, "with that same red (l), red"; not knowing what it was, or what it was made of, and therefore only calls it by its colour; and the word being doubled, may denote that it was very red; or he, being in haste and greedy of it through hunger, repeats it in a quick and short way: this pottage was made of lentiles, as we learn from Gen 25:34; which sort of food was much in use with the Egyptians, Egypt abounding with lentiles; and particularly Alexandria was famous for them, from whence they were carried into other countries, as Austin (m) relates. The lentiles of Pelusium, a city in Egypt, are made mention of by Virgil (n) and Martial (o), for which that place was famous; where, as Servius says (p), lentiles were first found, or where they grew the best; and, in the Misnah (q), an Egyptian lentil is spoken of, as neither large nor small, but middling. Pliny (r) speaks of two sorts of it in Egypt, and says he found it in some authors, that eating of these makes men even tempered, good humoured, and patient; and observes (s), that they delight in red earth, or where there is much ruddle, or red ochre, from whence they may receive a red tincture; and the pottage made of them is of such a colour. And Dr. Shaw (t) says, that lentiles dissolve easily into a mass, and make a pottage or soup of a chocolate colour, much used in the eastern countries: and, as Scheuchzer observes (u), coffee is of the bean kind, and not unlike a lentil, and makes a red decoction. The colour of it took with Esau, as well as it was sweet and savoury, as Athenaeus (w) reports; and especially, he being faint and hungry, desires his brother to give him some of it, and even to feed him with it:
for I am faint; so faint that he could not feed himself, or however wanted immediate sustenance, and could not wait till other food he had used to live upon was dressed:
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therefore was his name called Edom; not from his red hair, but from this red pottage; for Edom signifies "red", and is the same with the names Pyrrhus and Rufus.
(l) "de rufo, rufo isto", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; so Piscator, Schmidt. (m) Comment. in Psal. xlvi. tom. 8. p. 174. (n) Virgil. Georgic. l. 1. ver. 228. (o) Martial. l. 13. epigr. 9. (p) In Virgil. ut supra. (Georgic. l. 1. ver. 228) (q) Misn. Celim. c. 17. sect. 8. (r) Nat. Hist. l. 18. c. 12. (s) lbid. c. 17. (t) Travels, p. 140. Ed. 2. (u) Physica Sacra, vol. 1. p. 78. (w) Deipno Sophist. l. 4. c. 14, 15.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv30, 31, 34 Edom - That is, red.
Edom - That is, red.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv30, 31, 34 Verse 30. I am faint] It appears from the…
Verse 30. I am faint] It appears from the whole of this transaction, that Esau was so completely exhausted by fatigue that he must have perished had he not obtained some immediate refreshment. He had been either hunting or labouring in the field, and was now returning for the purpose of getting some food, but had been so exhausted that his strength utterly failed before he had time to make the necessary preparations.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v34 Gen 25:34. He did eat and drink, and rose…
Gen 25:34. He did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way — Without any serious reflections upon the ill bargain he had made, or any show of regret. Thus Esau despised his birthright — He used no means to get the bargain revoked, made no appeal to his father about it; but the bargain which his necessity had made, (supposing it were so,) his profaneness confirmed, and by his subsequent neglect and contempt, he put the matter past recall.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv30, 31, 33 Give me, &c. Hebrew, "make me devour this red;"…
Give me, &c. Hebrew, "make me devour this red;" which denotes, the very red quality of the pottage, and the greediness of Esau. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv31–32 Jacob said, Sell me . . . thy birthright--that…
Jacob said, Sell me . . . thy birthright--that is, the rights and privileges of the first-born, which were very important, the chief being that they were the family priests (Exo 4:22) and had a double portion of the inheritance (Deu 21:17).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv31, 34 31. Sell me this day thy birthright — “This…
31. Sell me this day thy birthright — “This birthright not only embraced the authority and honour of the patriarchal headship of the chosen family, but made its possessor heir to the Abrahamic covenant, and thus the channel of God’s great revealed mercies to mankind — a mediator between God and the race — typifying the God-man. Jacob, who was on a much lower spiritual plane than Abraham, by no means comprehended the vastness and dignity of these spiritual blessings, but he appreciated them far more than the worldly and sensual Esau. He knew that he was predestinated to this heir-ship, although he was the younger son. Dreading a collision with his ferocious brother, which seemed inevitable in the event of his father’s death, when the succession would be contested, and lacking faith in God’s unfolding providence, he resolves to avail himself of Esau’s weakness to obtain the birthright by peaceful purchase. The cautious Jacob knows well that Esau will repent as soon as his hunger is sated, and takes care to have the contract ratified by a solemn oath.” — Newhall.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv30–34 30. Feed me … with] i.e. “let me, I…
30. Feed me … with] i.e. “let me, I pray thee, swallow a little of.”
that same red pottage] Heb. the red pottage, this red pottage. Esau’s words repeat the adjective “red”: either this was the name by which the pottage was known, or else Esau in his faintness and weariness is represented as simply pointing and gasping out “that red, red mess1[22].”
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[22] “The phrase ‘mess of pottage’ does not occur in the A.V. of 1611, but is used proverbially of the means whereby Esau sold his birthright (Genesis 25.). The actual phrase was used in the heading to this chapter of Genesis in the Bibles of 1537 and 1539, and in the Geneva Bible of 1560. Coverdale, in his Bible of 1535, used the phrase in other passages, viz. in 1Ch_16:3 and Pro_20:7, but not in Genesis 25. See A New English Dictionary (Oxford University Press),” Spectator, Nov. 29, 1913.
therefore was his name called] A separate tradition accounting for the origin of the name “Edom”: see note on Gen_25:25.
Edom] That is, Red.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v34 (34) He did eat and drink, and rose up,…
(34) He did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way.—These words graphically describe Esau’s complete indifference to the spiritual privileges of which he had denuded himself. There is no regret, no sad feeling that he had prolonged his life at too high a cost. And if Jacob is cunning, and mean in the advantage he took of his brother, still he valued these privileges, and in the sequel he had his reward and his punishment. He was confirmed in the possession of the birthright, and became the progenitor of the chosen race, and of the Messiah; but henceforward his life was full of danger and difficulty. He had to flee from his brother’s enmity, and was perpetually the victim of fraud and the most cruel deceit. But gradually his character ripened for good. He ceased to be a scheming, worldly-minded Jacob, and became an Israel, and in his pious old age we see a man full of trust and faith in God, unworldly and unselfish, and animated by tender and loving feeling. Purified from his early infirmities, and with all his better nature strengthened and sanctified by sorrow, he shows himself worthy of his second name, and becomes “a prince with God.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv30–34 And Esau said unto Jacob, Feed me (literally, let…
And Esau said unto Jacob, Feed me (literally, let me swallow, an expression for eating greedily), I pray thee, with that same red pottage; literally, of that red, red (sc. pottage), or thing, in his excitement forgetting the name of the dish (Knobel), or indicative of the haste produced by his voracious appetite (Wordsworth, Luther), though the duplication of the term red has been explained as a witty play upon the resemblance of the lentil broth to his own red skin, as thus: "Feed with that red me the red one" (Lange)for I am faint (vide supra, ver. 29): therefore was his name called Edomi.e. red. "There is no discrepancy in ascribing his name both to his complexion and the color of the lentil broth. The propriety of a name may surely be marked by different circumstances" (A. G. in Lunge). The Arabians are fond of giving surnames of that kind to famous persons. Cf. Akil-al Murat, which was given to Hodjr, king of the Kendites, owing to his wife saying in a passion, "He is like a camel that devours bushes" (vide Havernick, "Introduction,"
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v34
Genesis
A BAD BARGAIN
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POTTAGE VERSUS BIRTHRIGHT
Gen 25:34.
Broad lessons unmistakable, but points strange and difficult to throw oneself back to so different a set of ideas. So
I. Deal with the narrative.
Not to tell it over again, but bring out the following points:-
{a} Birthright.-What?
None of them any notion of sacred, spiritual aspect of it.
To all, merely material advantages: headship of the clan. All the loftier aspects gone from Isaac, who thought he could give it for venison, from Esau, and from the scheming Rebekah and the crafty Jacob.
{b} The Bargain.
It is not clear whether the transaction was seriously meant, or whether it only shows Jacob’s wish to possess the birthright and Esau’s indifference to it.
At any rate, the barter was not supposed to complete Jacob’s title, as is shown by a subsequent piece of trickery.
Isaac’s blessing was conceived to confer it; that blessing, if once given, could not be revoked, even if procured by fraud and given in error.
The belief would fulfil itself, as far as the chieftainship was concerned.
It is significant of the purely ‘secular’ tone of all the parties concerned that only temporal blessings are included in Isaac’s words.
{c} The Scripture judgment on all parties concerned.
Great mistakes are made by forgetting that the Bible is a passionless narrator of its heroes’ acts, and seldom pauses to censure or praise-so people have thought that Scripture gave its vote for Jacob as against Esau.
The character of the two men.
Esau-frank, impulsive, generous, chivalrous, careless, and sensuous.
Jacob-meditative, reflective, pastoral, timid, crafty, selfish. Each has the defects of his qualities.
But the subsequent history of Jacob shows what heaven thought of him.
This dirty transaction marred his life, sent him a terrified exile from Isaac’s tent, and shook his soul long years after with guilty apprehensions when he had to meet Esau.
All subsequent career to beat his crafty selfishness out of him and to lift him to higher level.
II. Broad General Lessons.
1. The Choice.-Birthright versus Pottage.
{a} The Present versus The Future.
Suppose it true that to both brothers the birthright seemed to secure merely material advantage, yet even so the better part would have been to sacrifice material present for material future. Even on plane of worldly things, to live for to-morrow ennobles a man, and he is the higher style of man who ‘spurns delights and lives laborious days’ for some issue to be realised in the far future.
The very same principle extended leads to the conviction that the highest wisdom is his who lives for the furthest, which is also the most certain, Future.
{b} The Seen versus The Unseen.
However material the advantages of the birthright were supposed to be, they then appealed to imagination, not sense. There was the pottage in the pan: ‘I can see that and smell it. This birthright, can I eat it? Let me get the solid realities, and let who will have the imaginary.’
So the unseen good things, such as intellectual culture, fair reputation, and the like, are better than the gross satisfactions that can be handled, or tasted, or seen.
And, on the very same principle, high above the seeker after these-as high as he is above the drunkard-is the Christian, whose life is shaped by the loftiest Unseen, even ‘Him who is invisible.’
2. The grim absurdity of the choice.
The story seems to have a certain undertone of sarcasm, and a keen perception of the immense stupidity of the man.
Pottage and a full belly to-day-that was all he got for such a sacrifice.
‘This their way is their folly.’
3. How well the bargain worked at first, and what came of it at last.
No doubt Esau had his meal, and, no doubt, when a man sells his soul to the devil {the mediaeval form of the story}, he generally gets the price for which he bargained, more or less, and oftentimes with a dash of vinegar in the porridge, which makes it less palatable.
What comes of it at last. Put side by side the pictures of Esau’s animal contentment at the moment when he had eaten up his mess, and of his despair when he wailed, ‘Hast thou not one blessing?’
He finds out his mistake. A sense of the preciousness of the despised thing wakes in him.
And it is too late. There are irrevocable consequences of every false choice. Youth is gone: cannot alter that. Opportunities gone: cannot alter that. Strength gone: cannot alter that. Habits formed, associations, reputation, position, character, are all determined.
But there is a blessed contrast between Esau’s experience and what may be ours. The desire to have the birthright is sure to bring it to us. No matter how late the desire is of springing, nor how long and insultingly we have suppressed it, we never go to our Father in vain with the cry, ‘Bless me, even me also.’
‘What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v31 The "birthright" had three elements:
birthright
The "birthright" had three elements:
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(1) Until the establishment of the Aaronic priesthood the head of the family exercised priestly rights.
(2) The Abrahamic family held the Edenic promise of the Satan-Bruiser Gen 3:15. --Abel, Seth, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Esau.
(3) Esau, as the firstborn, was in the direct line of the Abrahamic promise of the Earth-Blesser Gen 12:3.
For all that was revealed, in Esau might have fulfilled those two great Messianic promises. This birthright Esau sold for a momentary fleshly gratification. Jacob’s conception of the birthright at that time was, doubtless, carnal and inadequate, but his desire for it evidenced true faith.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v31 right as firstborn to inherit most of the father's…
birthright
right as firstborn to inherit most of the father's wealth
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I am about to die
Esau was exaggerating to emphasize how hungry he was. AT: "I am so hungry I feel like I could die" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
What good is the birthright to me?
Esau used a question to emphasize that eating was more important than a birthright. This can be translated as a statement. AT: "My inheritance is no good to me if I die of hunger!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
First swear to me
What Jacob wanted Esau to swear can be stated explicitly. AT: "First swear to me that you will sell me your birthright" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
lentils
These are like beans, but their seeds are very small, round, and somewhat flat. (See: Translate Unknowns)
Esau despised his birthright
"Esau showed that he did not value his birthright"
translationWords
birthright
oath
bread
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv30, 31, 33 25:30 Esau was preoccupied with his appetite. Being driven…
25:30 Esau was preoccupied with his appetite. Being driven by one’s appetites leaves no place for spiritual values. The text emphasizes this by using a Hebrew word (translated give) that was normally used for feeding animals. • Edom, which means “red”: See study note on 25:25.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.