Million Dollar Soup

“And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.” Genesis 25:33-34

Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of soup. There was undoubtedly a great deal of spiritual significance to the birthright, but in a practical sense, it was a matter of an additional share of the inheritance (see Genesis 48:22). Jacob and Esau’s father, Isaac, was extremely wealthy. It is difficult to bring biblical monetary values into our present day currency, but let’s assume for a moment that the total value of Isaac’s possessions was three million dollars. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. In order to give one of them a double portion of the inheritance, he would need to divide everything he owned into three portions. Esau was the oldest, so by our assumed values he stood to receive two million dollars, and Jacob stood to receive only one. Jacob probably had thought about that one million dollars many times, and when he saw his brother was desperate, he took advantage of the situation. Jacob proposed a deal; the soup for the birthright (an even trade), and Esau took the deal. One million dollars for a bowl of soup! This may have been the worst deal in history! This story begs the question, what is it in our lives that we have undervalued? May God help us never to trade away so much for so little!