Isaac’s Blessing. 93

 

the most of Esau, and Rebekah’s favourite
was Jacob.

“One day, when they were grown up to be
men, Esau had been out hunting, and coming
home very hungry, he saw that Jacob had
just got some dinner ready. So the elder
brother said—

“« Feed me, I pray thee, for I am faint.’

“And Jacob said he would, if Esau would
give up to him his rights as eldest son. Esau
was very careless and impatient, so he said in
a moment that he would give up all his rights
to Jacob. Then the younger brother gave
him the food he wanted, and Esau ate and
drank, and went out again, forgetting all
about this promise. But it was a very serious
thing, as he ought to have remembered, for
the eldest son, in those days, received a special
blessing from his father, when the time of the
fathers death drew near; and in Esau’s
family this blessing would have included the
promise that the Redeemer of the world should
be one of his descendants. But this rough,
impatient man did not think about it at all;
the Bible says, ‘He despised his birthright.’
This is what made him wrong. Jacob was
also wrong, but in another way; he valued
the birthright so much, that he was selfish for