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.) Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 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.
—Genesis 25:29-34 (TNIV)
At first blush this seems like a strange little story. But look at the last sentence. There is the punchline. Esau let his own desires trump the inheritance that he would have had by being the first-born son. This was no ordinary inheritance. It was the inheritance his grandfather Abraham had received from God. In other words, Esau gave up God’s covenant promises to Abraham and Isaac. God’s promises were not as important to Esau as his own desires. How often do we “despise our birthright” as God’s children for our own misguided, shortsighted, and selfish desires?