My husband loves to hunt and we eat the meat he harvests. I make spaghetti, meat loaf, chili, and chicken-fried steak from the meat he brings in. My dear hubby is a pretty good cook, too. His deer jerky is popular with all the family and friends.
Genesis 25:27-28 NKJV says, “Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac (their dad) loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.”
Jacob was the cook and Esau was the hunter. Jacob cooked a stew and when Esau came in from the fields, all worn out from a day of hunting, he begged Jacob for some red bean stew and bread. Jacob started bargaining with him. “I’ll sell it to you for your birthright.” Esau said, “I am about to die anyway, so what good is it to me if I am dead?” And they shook on it.
Later, Isaac who was 180 years old called Esau to him and said, “I’m hungry for venison, so go hunting out in the north forty acres. And make me some good deer stew, such as I love, so I can bless you before I die.”
While Esau was gone hunting, Rebekah, their mother, put together a scheme to get Isaac to give Jacob the birthright blessing instead of Esau. They would cook him a lamb stew and disguise Jacob as Esau, so that Isaac would give Jacob the birthright blessing which was a double portion and the blessing of being in the lineage of the Messiah. So Jacob became the ancestor of Jesus Christ the Messiah.
The day Esau bargained with Jacob, he was hungry but not near death. He was just like his father, “I am hungry for some good stew, such as I love.” Esau was probably like some of us–it wouldn’t have hurt him to do without a few meals. He loved eating just a little too much. He put his earthly needs above his spiritual needs.
Esau gave up his spiritual birthright for an earthly bowl of beans.