1. God blessed Isaac and Isaac
prayed for Rebekah who was barren and after twenty years God heard him and she
conceived. Her sons struggled together within her womb. She went to inquire of
the Lord and it was told her, “Two nations are in your womb,” that is,
the Edomite and Hebrew nations. As to whom she went to inquire it was to
Melchizedek that she went to inquire, as we mentioned above in the genealogy of
Melchizedek. She returned quickly because of the pangs that were striking her
and she gave birth to Esau and Jacob.
2. Jacob saw that the right of the
firstborn was despised by Esau and she contrived to take it from him, trusting
in God who had said, “The elder shall serve the younger.” Jacob boiled
some lentils and Esay came home famished after hunting, and said to Jacob “Let
me eat some of that red pottage,” that is, “Let me eat some of your
lentils.” Jacob said to him, “Give me your birthright and you may take all
of them.” After Esau swore to him and sold him his birthright, Jacob then gave
Esay [the lentils]. To show that it was not by reason of his hunger that
Esau sold his birthright, Scripture says, After he had eaten he arose and
went away and Esay despised his birthright. Therefore, Esay did not sell it
because he was hungry but rather, since it had no value to him, he sold it for
nothing as if it were nothing. (Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Genesis
Section 23.1-2, in St. Ephrem the Syrian: Selected Prose Works [trans.
Edward G. Matthews, Jr. [The Fathers of the Church 91; Washington, D.C.: The
Catholic University Press of America, 1994], 171)
