Like other plot devices that are used by the storytellers, I quite enjoy this one. Leaving aside the fact that God would answer a pretty routine question of a pregnant woman, why does he tell her this information. What is the purpose of letting Rebecca know what the future holds. It reminds me of the role the witches played in Macbeth when they told Macbeth that he would be king. Instead of letting the prediction take its course, Macbeth goes about killing the king and anybody else that might get in the way of his lineage. God's comment seems to play the same role as the witches. Throw out a prediction and see how his little creations deal with it.
The boys grow up and Esau becomes the hunter, the outdoors man and the favourite of his father. Jacob hangs around the house and becomes the favourite of his mother. One day, Esau comes home from hunting. He is famished and asks Jacob for some stew. Jacob, instead of just giving it to his brother like we would expect most brothers would do, asks for Esau's birthright. Esau gives it to him saying what good is a birthright when I am dying?
Let me digress for a minute.
Did Rebecca tell Jacob that he would be ruling Esau as God had told her? Had she told Esau? Did anybody know? In fact how do we know? Who told the storytellers? Who are the witnesses to these conversations? Let's go back to the Abraham - Isaac sacrifice story. How does anybody know what happened on that mountain. Who told what and to whom?
Abraham: God told me to kill my son but just as I was about to, an angel stopped me.
Abraham's friend:: He WHAT? You WHAT?
Isaac: Dad took me up the mountain and was just about to stick me a knife when some angel came along and stopped him.
Isaac's friend: WTF?
These stories are trying to show a link between a specific person, the founder of a great nation and the favour shown by some god. That group of people several generations later are trying to show why they are favoured and why they live as they do. The stories want to connect the dots. They want to show why Isaac was favoured and not Ishmael. In fact there are several verses giving the generations of Ishmael and how they lived in hostility with their neighbours. I am sure the Koran has an entirely different take on the generations of Ishmael.
Now we are finding out why Jacob's descendants are favoured rather than those of Esau. Revisionist history through storytelling.
Back to the story. If Jacob knew what God had told Rebecca then, like Macbeth, he is trying to make the prediction come true instead of allowing God's work to take its course, and that makes his actions even more repugnant. If he didn't know then he is just being a sleazy opportunist. Is this what God was hoping for when he told Rebecca that the younger would rule the older?
Did Esau know? I am guessing he had to. Why would he say he was dying just because he was hungry. He must have known that his birthright was meaningless to him, that Jacob would be ruling over him regardless. If not, then he is just a fool. If you are that hungry, grab an apple.
Now back to a previous question. Who was a witness to this event?
Isaac: He sold me his birthright for a bowl of stew.
Esau: Did not!
Isaac: Did too!
Regardless of how one interprets the story, I do think the selling of the birthright is an important consideration. Jacob may have been opportunistic and he is even more deceitful in the next part of the story but Esau would lose all respect by the ancient Hebrews because of his willingness to give up his birthright so easily. Being the eldest did not just mean you would get the most of the inheritance, the most land and cattle; it also meant that you would get the most responsibility. You would now be the leader of the family, of a tribe of people, and all the duties that came with that role. By despising (term used in my version of the Bible) his birthright, Esau is showing little regard for his family.
This story isn't finished.
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