Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary”… But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day…. And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”
So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way.
Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Genesis 25:27-34
Esau despised the birthright— the privilege to be the heir of the covenant that God made with Abraham to, ultimately, be the progenitor of the Messiah—Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul further says, “Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright“, Hebrews 12:16.
Spiritual things were of no value to Esau. In other words, Esau’s craving was so great that he sold what had eternal value in order to gain temporal satisfaction. Esau, driven by hunger and impulse, chose to prioritize immediate gratification over the profound and lasting blessings that come from spiritual fulfillment.
This same Esau, who despised the birthright, had a son called Eliphaz, Genesis 36:10, who in turn had a son called Amalek, through his concubine, Timna, verse 12.
The Amalekites—the descendants of Amelek, the grandson of Esau— were Israel’s first and a constant enemy after they left Egypt. About them it is said, “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt… he did not fear God.” Deuteronomy 25:17-18
The Amalekites, Moses tells us, “did not fear God”, in other words, they did not reverence God, they did not honour God as God.
Just as Esau despised his birthright, not giving it proper value or respect, so his grandson, Amalek, did not respect God.
“Like father, like son”…. even grandson.
However, the story of Esau and his grandson Amalek reminds us of an even greater spiritual truth. Like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal, the flesh cannot wait. It demands that its cravings be satisfied immediately, not later, but now! This impulsiveness leads to regrettable choices that can have long-lasting consequences. Like Amalek, the flesh knows no respect or reverence for God—or for the things of God. It pursues its desires relentlessly, often trampling upon higher moral principles and spiritual commitments. This serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of succumbing to our base instincts, urging us instead to cultivate patience and self-discipline in the face of temptation.
“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21
All of these things belong to Esau and his children, not to the redeemed child of God, who has been set free from bondage to sin. For, says Jesus—”whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin” but “if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:34,36
Knowing this, that our old man (old nature, the flesh) is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Romans 6:6-7
Friends, a perpetual warfare is raging in our bodies; the greatest battle ever fought is the battle against self. “The flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and these two are contrary one to another so that you cannot do the things that you wish.” Galatians 5:17
We must not be like Esau or like Amalek, who yielded to the fleshly, carnal nature, and despised the eternal reward, rather, we must constantly be on the alert, ever cognisant of the divine promise that if we walk in the Spirt, we “will not carry out the desires of the flesh”, verse 16, see also Matthew 26:41.
The flesh must daily be put to death, we must, as Paul says, “die daily”, and in the words of Christ Himself, “if any man follows after Me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross and follow Me.” The cross was an instrument of death—Jesus Himself showed us this by dying upon one. Therefore, if we desire to follow Jesus, we must daily die to the flesh and the carnal desires and walk as the Spirit leads.
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God.” Romans 8:14
Therefore Reader, in closing, I leave you with the below quotation taken from the book “Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing“, page 141. May you be blessed.
The Christian life is a battle and a march. But the victory to be gained is not won by human power. The field of conflict is the domain of the heart. The battle which we have to fight—the greatest battle that was ever fought by man—is the surrender of self to the will of God, the yielding of the heart to the sovereignty of love. The old nature, born of blood and of the will of the flesh, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The hereditary tendencies, the former habits, must be given up.
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