A BAD BARGAIN

    ‘And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a
    man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling
    in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of
    his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob sod
    pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
    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.’
    GENESIS xxv. 27-34.
Isaac’s small household represented a great variety of types of
character. He himself lacked energy, and seems in later life to have
been very much of a tool in the hands of others. Rebekah had the
stronger nature, was persistent, energetic, and managed her husband to
her heart’s content. The twin brothers were strongly opposed in
character; and, naturally enough, each parent loved best the child that
was most unlike him or her: Isaac rejoicing in the very wildness of the
adventurous, dashing Esau; and Rebekah finding an outlet for her
womanly tenderness in an undue partiality for the quiet lad that was
always at hand to help her and be petted by her.
One’s sympathy goes out to Esau. He was ‘a man of the field,’–by which
is meant, not cultivated ground, but open country, which we might call
prairie. He was a ‘backwoodsman,’–liked the wild hunter’s life better
than sticking at home looking after sheep. He had the attractive
characteristics of that kind of men, as well as their faults. He was
frank, impulsive, generous, incapable of persevering work or of looking
ahead, passionate. His descendants prefer cattle-ranching and
gold-prospecting to keeping shops or sitting with their lungs squeezed
against a desk.
Jacob had neither the high spirits nor the animal courage of his
brother. He was ‘a plain man.’ The word is literally ‘perfect,’ but
cannot be used in its deepest sense; for Jacob was very far indeed from
being that, but seems to have a lower sense, which might perhaps be
represented by ‘steady-going,’ or ‘respectable,’ in modern phraseology.
He went quietly about his ordinary work, in contrast with his daring
brother’s escapades and unsettledness.
The two types are intensified by civilisation, and the antagonism
between them increased. City life tends to produce Jacobs, and its
Esaus escape from it as soon as they can. But Jacob had the vices as
well as the virtues of his qualities. He was orderly and domestic, but
he was tricky, and keenly alive to his own interest. He was persevering
and almost dogged in his tenacity of purpose, but he was not above
taking mean advantages and getting at his ends by miry roads. He had
little love for his brother, in whom he saw an obstacle to his
ambition. He had the virtues and vices of the commercial spirit.
But we judge the two men wrongly if we let ourselves be fascinated, as
Isaac was, by Esau, and forget that the superficial attractions of his
character cover a core worthy of disapprobation. They are crude judges
of character who prefer the type of man who spurns the restraints of
patient industry and order; and popular authors, who make their heroes
out of such, err in taste no less than in morals. There is a very
unwholesome kind of literature, which is devoted to glorifying the
Esaus as fine fellows, with spirit, generosity, and noble carelessness,
whereas at bottom they are governed by animal impulses, and incapable
of estimating any good which does not appeal to sense, and that at once.
The great lesson of this story lies on its surface. It is the folly and
sin of buying present gratification of appetite or sense at the price
of giving up far greater future good. The details are picturesquely
told. Esau’s eagerness, stimulated by the smell of the mess of lentils,
is strikingly expressed in the Hebrew: ‘Let me devour, I pray thee, of
that red, that red there.’ It is no sin to be hungry, but to let
appetite speak so clamorously indicates feeble self-control. Jacob’s
coolness is an unpleasant foil to Esau’s impatience, and his cautious
bargaining, before he will sell what a brother would have given, shows
a mean soul, without generous love to his own flesh and blood. Esau
lets one ravenous desire hide everything else from him. He wants the
pottage which smokes there, and that one poor dish is for the moment
more to him than birthright and any future good. Jacob knows the
changeableness of Esau’s character, and is well aware that a hungry man
will promise anything, and, when fed, will break his promise as easily
as he made it. So he makes Esau swear; and Esau will do that, or
anything asked. He gets his meal. The story graphically describes the
greedy relish with which he ate, the short duration of his enjoyment,
and the dark meaning of the seemingly insignificant event, by that
accumulation of verbs, ‘He did eat and drink, and rose up and went his
way: so Esau despised his birthright.’
Now we may learn, first, how profound an influence small temptations,
yielded to, may exert on a life.
Many scoffs have been directed against this story, as if it were
unworthy of credence that eating a dish of lentils should have shaped
the life of a man and of his descendants. But is it not always the case
that trifles turn out to be determining points? Hinges are very small,
compared with the doors which move on them. Most lives are moulded by
insignificant events. No temptation is small, for no sin is small; and
if the occasion of yielding to sense and the present is insignificant,
the yielding is not so.
But the main lesson is, as already noted, the madness of flinging away
greater future good for present gratifications of sense. One cannot
suppose that the spiritual side of ‘the birthright’ was in the thoughts
of either brother. Esau and Jacob alike regarded it only as giving the
headship of the family. It was merely the right of succession, with
certain material accompanying advantages, which Jacob coveted and Esau
parted with. But even in regard to merely worldly objects, the man who
lives for only the present moment is distinctly beneath him who lives
for a future good, however material it may be. Whoever subordinates the
present, and is able steadily to set before himself a remote object,
for which he is strong enough to subdue the desire of immediate
gratifications of any sort, is, in so far, better than the man who,
like a savage or an animal, lives only for the instant.
The highest form of that nobility is when time is clearly seen to be
the ‘lackey to eternity,’ and life’s aims are determined with supreme
reference to the future beyond the grave. But how many of us are every
day doing exactly as Esau did–flinging away a great future for a small
present! A man who lives only for such ends as may be attained on this
side of the grave is as ‘profane’ a person as Esau, and despises his
birthright as truly. He knew that he was hungry, and that lentil
porridge was good, ‘What good shall the birthright do me?’ He failed to
make the effort of mind and imagination needed in order to realise how
much of the kind of ‘good’ that he could appreciate it would do to him.
The smell of the smoking food was more to him than far greater good
which he could only appreciate by an effort. A sixpence held close to
the eye can shut out the sun. Resolute effort is needed to prevent the
small, intrusive present from blotting out the transcendent greatness
of the final future. And for lack of such effort men by the thousand
fling themselves away.
To sell a birthright for a bowl of lentils was plain folly. But is it
wiser to sell the blessedness and peace of communion with God here and
of heaven hereafter for anything that earth can yield to sense or to
soul? How many shrewd ‘men of the highest commercial standing’ are
making as bad a bargain as Esau’s! The ‘pottage’ is hot and comforting,
but it is soon eaten; and when the bowl is empty, and the sense of
hunger comes back in an hour or two, the transaction does not look
quite as advantageous as it did. Esau had many a minute of rueful
meditation on his bad bargain before he in vain besought his father’s
blessing. And suspicions of the folly of their choice are apt to haunt
men who prefer the present to the future, even before the future
becomes the present, and the folly is manifest. ‘What doth it profit a
man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?’
So a character like Esau’s, though it has many fine possibilities about
it, and attracts liking, is really of a low type, and may very easily
slide into depths of degrading sensualism, and be dead to all
nobleness. Enterprise, love of stirring life, impatience of dull
plodding, are natural to young lives. Unregulated, impulsive
characters, who live for the moment, and are very sensitive to all
material delights, have often an air of generosity and joviality which
hides their essential baseness; for it _is_ base to live for flesh,
either in more refined or more frankly coarse forms. It is base to be
incapable of seeing an inch beyond the present. It is base to despise
any good that cannot minister to fleeting lusts or fleshly pleasures,
and to say of high thought, of ideal aims of any sort, and most of all
to say of religion, ‘What good will it do me?’ To estimate such
precious things by the standard of gross utility is like weighing
diamonds in grocers’ scales. They will do very well for sugar, but not
for precious stones. The sacred things of life are not those which do
what the Esaus recognise as ‘good.’ They have another purpose, and are
valuable for other ends. Let us take heed, then, that we estimate
things according to their true relative worth; that we live, not for
to-day, but for eternity; and that we suppress all greedy cravings. If
we do not, we shall be ‘profane’ persons like Esau, ‘who for one morsel
of meat sold his birthright.’

King James Bible

Bible Verses About love – Ruth 4:15
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of [thy] life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him.

Bible Verses About love – Luke 7:5
For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.

Bible Scriptures – Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Bible Favorites

Bible Verses About love – John-1 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.

Bible Verses About love – Genesis 27:4
And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring [it] to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.

Bible Verses About roots – Daniel 4:23
And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and [let] his portion [be] with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him;

Bible Verses About hard – Deuteronomy 26:6
And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:

Bible Verses About mercies – Isaiah 55:3
Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, [even] the sure mercies of David.

Bible Verses About pillars – Exodus 38:12
And for the west side [were] hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets [of] silver.

Bible Verses About wise – Timothy-1 1:17
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, [be] honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Bible Verses About appoint – Hebrews 3:2
Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses [was faithful] in all his house.

Bible Verses About prudent – Proverbs 27:12
A prudent [man] foreseeth the evil, [and] hideth himself; [but] the simple pass on, [and] are punished.

Bible Verses About breast – Exodus 28:30
And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually.

Bible Verses About jews – Acts 21:20
And when they heard [it], they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

Bible Verses About acceptable – Deuteronomy 33:24
And of Asher he said, [Let] Asher [be] blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.

Bible Verses About honour – Revelations 21:26
And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

Bible Verses About thigh – Genesis 32:25
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

Bible Verses About companions – Isaiah 1:23
Thy princes [are] rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

Bible Verses About manna – Deuteronomy 8:16
Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

Bible Verses About greatness – Chronicles-2 24:27
Now [concerning] his sons, and the greatness of the burdens [laid] upon him, and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they [are] written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

Bible Verses About prophecy – Revelations 22:7
Behold, I come quickly: blessed [is] he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Bible Verses About hanged – Daniel 5:9
Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.

Bible Verses About voices – Revelations 16:18
And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, [and] so great.

Bible Verses About remaineth – Exodus 12:10
And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

Bible Verses About hamath – Chronicles-2 8:3
And Solomon went to Hamathzobah, and prevailed against it.

Bible Verses About healing – Corinthians-1 12:28
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

Bible Verses About youth – Psalms 127:4
As arrows [are] in the hand of a mighty man; so [are] children of the youth.

Bible Verses About purpose – Jeremiah 51:29
And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.

Bible Verses About forgive – Leviticus 5:10
And he shall offer the second [for] a burnt offering, according to the manner: and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.

Bible Verses About trust – Psalms 22:5
They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

Bible Verses About dreams – Ecclesiastes 5:7
For in the multitude of dreams and many words [there are] also [divers] vanities: but fear thou God.

Bible Verses About fasting – Matthew 15:32
Then Jesus called his disciples [unto him], and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.

Bible Verses About bless – Proverbs 11:11
By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

Bible Verses About health – Samuel-2 20:9
And Joab said to Amasa, [Art] thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.

Bible Verses About birth – Luke 1:14
And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

Bible Verses About heaven – Daniel 12:7
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which [was] upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that [it shall be] for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these [things] shall be finished.

Bible Verses About tithes – Nehemiah 12:44
And at that time were some appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited.

Bible Verses About fear – Luke 8:37
Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.

Bible Verses About wisdom – Isaiah 29:14
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, [even] a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise [men] shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent [men] shall be hid.

Bible Verses About goodness – Romans 11:22
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in [his] goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Bible Verses About lying – John 13:25
He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?

Bible Verses About hope – Hosea 2:15
And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

Bible Verses About life – John 10:28
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand.

Bible Verses About prayer – Psalms 42:8
[Yet] the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song [shall be] with me, [and] my prayer unto the God of my life.

Bible Verses About grace – Genesis 34:11
And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.

Bible Scriptures About rain – Jeremiah 14:10
Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.

Bible Scriptures About heavens – Psalms 50:6
And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God [is] judge himself. Selah.

Bible Scriptures About possession – Genesis 50:13
For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

Bible Scriptures About offering – Samuel-1 6:14
And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, where [there was] a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD.

Bible Scriptures About wind – Job 8:2
How long wilt thou speak these [things]? and [how long shall] the words of thy mouth [be like] a strong wind?

Bible Scriptures About captivity – Jeremiah 29:31
Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:

Bible Scriptures About begat – Genesis 5:30
And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:

Bible Scriptures About camp – Kings-2 7:8
And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid [it]; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence [also], and went and hid [it].

Bible Scriptures About possess – Numbers 33:53
And ye shall dispossess [the inhabitants] of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.

Bible Scriptures About smite – Mark 14:27
And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.

Bible in Basic English

Bible Verses About giving – Luke 5:28
And giving up his business, he got up and went after him.

Bible Verses About salvation – Isaiah 63:1
Who is this who comes from Edom, with blood-red robes from Bozrah? he whose clothing is fair, stepping with pride in his great strength? I whose glory is in the right, strong for salvation.

Bible Verses About prayer – Job 21:15
What is the Ruler of all, that we may give him worship? and what profit is it to us to make prayer to him?

Bible Verses About faith – 1-Thessalonians 2:10
You are witnesses, with God, how holy and upright and free from all evil was our way of life among you who have faith;

Bible Verses About poor – Zechariah 7:10
Do not be hard on the widow, or the child without a father, on the man from a strange country, or on the poor; let there be no evil thought in your heart against your brother.

Bible Verses About wife – Genesis 4:17
And Cain had connection with his wife and she became with child and gave birth to Enoch: and he made a town, and gave the town the name of Enoch after his son.

Bible Verses About caring – Deuteronomy 12:19
See that you do not give up caring for the Levite as long as you are living in your land.

Bible Verses About money – Proverbs 20:14
A poor thing, a poor thing, says he who is giving money for goods: but when he has gone on his way, then he makes clear his pride in what he has got.

Bible Verses About purpose – Philippians 1:17
But those are preaching Christ in a spirit of competition, not from their hearts, but with the purpose of giving me pain in my prison.

Bible Verses About women – Isaiah 3:12
As for my people, their ruler is acting like a child, and those who have authority over them are women. O my people, your guides are the cause of your wandering, turning your footsteps out of the right way.

Bible Verses About mothers – Mark 13:12
And brother will give up brother to death, and the father his child; and children will go against their fathers and mothers, and put them to death.

Bible Verses About strength – 1-Samuel 2:4
The bows of the men of war are broken, and the feeble are clothed with strength.

Bible Verses About hope – Hebrews 12:5
And you have not kept in mind the word which says to you as to sons, My son, do not make little of the Lord's punishment, and do not give up hope when you are judged by him;

Bible Verses About visions – 1-Chronicles 26:1
For the divisions of the door-keepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah, the son of Kore, of the sons of Ebiasaph.

Bible Verses About dreams – Zechariah 10:2
For the images have said what is not true, and the readers of signs have seen deceit; they have given accounts of false dreams, they give comfort to no purpose: so they go out of the way like sheep, they are troubled because they have no keeper.

Bible Verses About wisdom – Revelation 7:12
So be it. Let blessing and glory and wisdom and praise and honour and power and strength be given to our God for ever and ever. So be it.

Bible Verses About fathers – Jeremiah 16:3
For this is what the Lord has said about the sons and daughters who come to birth in this place, and about their mothers who have given them birth, and about their fathers who have given life to them in this land:

Bible Verses About friend – Judges 14:20
But Samson's wife was given to the friend who had been his best man.

Bible Verses About clean – Numbers 19:14
This is the law when death comes to a man in his tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, will be unclean for seven days.

Bible Verses About grace – Isaiah 60:10
And men from strange countries will be building up your walls, and their kings will be your servants: for in my wrath I sent punishment on you, but in my grace I have had mercy on you.

World English Bible

Bible Verses About pasture – Joel 1:18
How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

Bible Verses About stubborn – Deuteronomy 21:20
And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son [is] stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; [he is] a glutton, and a drunkard.

Bible Verses About itch – Judges 6:33
Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.

Bible Verses About ascend – Revelations 11:12
And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Bible Verses About bark – Nehemiah 7:55
The children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Tamah,

Bible Verses About island – Acts 27:26
Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.

Bible Verses About contend – Nehemiah 13:25
And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, [saying], Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.

Bible Verses About kneel – Mark 1:40
And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

Bible Verses About preserve – Genesis 19:32
Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

Bible Verses About exit – Micha 7:4
The best of them [is] as a brier: the most upright [is sharper] than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen [and] thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

Bible Verses About earnest – Micha 7:3
That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge [asketh] for a reward; and the great [man], he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.

Bible Verses About ophir – Kings-1 22:48
Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Eziongeber.

Bible Verses About wander – Hosea 9:17
My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Bible Verses About empty – Zecharia 4:12
And I answered again, and said unto him, What [be these] two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden [oil] out of themselves?

Bible Verses About trap – Jeremiah 5:26
For among my people are found wicked [men]: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

Bible Verses About suddenly – Isaiah 48:3
I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them; I did [them] suddenly, and they came to pass.

Bible Verses About kidneys – Leviticus 4:9
And the two kidneys, and the fat that [is] upon them, which [is] by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away,

Bible Verses About careful – Philippians 2:28
I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

Bible Verses About visit – Luke 1:68
Blessed [be] the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,

Bible Verses About goliath – Samuel-1 17:4
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height [was] six cubits and a span.