Birthright
That esau gives away to jacob; its symbolism
February 18th 2015
You probably know the episode in the Old Testament where Esau is so hungry he gives away his birthright to his brother Jacob in exchange for a plate of lentils. This is obviously a symbolic story requiring interpretation.
Esau represents those people who are ready to sacrifice the dignity that allows their heavenly Father to hold them in high esteem (symbolized by the birthright) in exchange for immediate pleasures (the plate of lentils). For hunger is synonymous with all appetite and all desire. There are many, many kinds of hunger, other than the physical kind, that expect to be satisfied and cause humans to lose their birthright – their dignity as sons and daughters of God! Each time someone gives in to an instinct – and not only greed, but sensuality, anger, jealousy, ambition, hate, and so on – they sell their birthright, their inner kingship, for a plate of lentils, and they become impoverished, submissive and enslaved. In exchange for something that is worth very little, they abandon an extremely precious internal possession – divine life.