Appetites

My mom makes the best lentil stew. Its mouth-watering combination of cumin and vinegar give it a unique flavor unlike any other dish. I’ve made the same recipe a couple of dozen times – but it’s never quite as good as my mom’s. I remember when my cousin would come for dinner when we were young. She didn’t like my mom’s lentil stew. My mom tried hard to sell her on it: “Come on, this is what Esau sold his birthright for!”

Jacob’s special recipe for lentil stew must have been not only delicious – but the smell of the simmering lentils and spices and meat must have reached Esau from outside the door of the house. By the time he got to the kitchen, the enzymes in his saliva had activated hunger in his stomach. Strong hunger.

Let’s look at the story:

Genesis 25:29-34

Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

There are a few implications for us that I want to point out in this story:

1. Esau was exhausted

The enemy knows when we are most vulnerable to sin – he comes in with his tempting schemes when we are most exhausted. He did it to Esau, he did it to Jesus (after 40 days of fasting), and he does it to us. When we are tired and hungry (or unsatisfied), we are weak against temptation. We need to be aware of this so that we can 1) be particularly vigilant against temptation during these times and 2) take rest and Sabbath seriously.

2. Esau had an exaggerated appetite

I don’t doubt Esau was hungry. I do doubt that he was about to die. He probably could have waited until Rebecca got home to mediate between the brothers. He probably could have made himself some ramen (or whatever the B.C. equivalent was). But the voices of our appetites tend to scream “SATIATE ME!” while the voice of reason speaks at a reasonable volume. And physical hunger is not the only appetite that calls out. We need to consider seriously: What appetites do we tend to obey?

3. Esau despised his birthright.

Imagine Jacob and Esau around the breakfast table the morning before the lentil stew event. Picture Jacob, leaning back in his chair. “Hey Esau, I’m making your favorite lentil stew for lunch today. But I’m not going to give you any. If you want a bowl of stew, you’ll have to give me your birthright.” I’m sure Esau would have laughed at Jacob’s proposal! His birthright was of far more value than the entire pot of stew! Is it possible that in the morning, Esau valued his birthright – and in the afternoon, he despised it? I think the writer of Genesis is trying to show us how Esau’s appetites had become so out of control (he later married Ishmaelite women just to spite his parents) that even the most important thing – his birthright – was of no value in comparison to his obsession with satiating his appetites.

4. Esau’s appetite was satisfied – for a few hours

I hope that was the tastiest bowl of lentil stew Esau ever ate – because once it was gone, it was gone. He may have felt good about his decision for the first few bites, but reality must have sank in as he came to the end of the bowl – he had given up his and his descendants’ futures … to satisfy his appetite for a moment. And the nature of an appetite is that it keeps coming back. “Appetites have only one word in their vocabulary – MORE. Appetites are never fully and finally satisfied” (Andy Stanley). Even when we’ve said “yes” to fulfilling that appetite, an hour or a day or a week later, its voice is loud again. The only way to silence an appetite is to keep on saying “no” on a regular basis.

Appetites don’t have to get the best of us. The writer of Hebrews gives us a firm, yet encouraging warning: “See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son” (Hebrews 12:16). This warning is encouraging because it shows us that Esau could have chosen to dominate his appetite and he would have eaten the fruit of long-term faithfulness instead of the short-term satiating stew that leads to a lifetime of regret.