Devotion
Only fools rush in
David Jacobs
If you use computers or Apple products at all, you have all signed the "Terms and Conditions" of software and probably not read a single word of it. I know that I have. We usually just check the box stating that we agree without ever considering what the updated terms and conditions states. These updates are usually fine, but what about the scam emails that many people also receive? These emails usually offer millions of dollars to you, but in order to unlock the funds we must send a small amount of money first. Few people fall for these scams nowadays, but it is only because so many people fell for them before. We have learned to discern what is and is not a scheme, considering all options before we sign the dotted line.
In these verses, we discover some of the major differences between Esau and Jacob. Esau was a cunning hunter, loved by his father, Isaac, and Jacob a more sensitive farmer, loved by his mother, Rebekah. Esau was the elder twin, so he inherited the birthright, which in those times meant he basically inherited all of his father's fortune. Being second in his father's eyes became a bit of an obsession of Jacob, and being first made Esau flippant with his birthright, not considering it nearly as important as Jacob did as evidenced by these verses. Esau swears his birthright to Jacob for a meal, an outrageous exchange that sounds familiar today: "I am so hungry I could eat a horse" and "I would die for a hamburger right now" are phrases we might hear in modern society, hyperbolic statements that nobody would take seriously. Esau, exhausted and famished, seems to make such a statement, and Jacob takes it seriously.
Prayer
Like checking the box on the terms and conditions, Esau did not fully think before he spoke, and it cost him in more ways than one: he spurned his birthright, forfeiting his inheritance for a meal, and he dishonored his family name. Consider these verses the next time you agree to something. Being patient may make a difference.