he other. And you must
recollect, that it was not at all a regular custom in the East for
the eldest son to be his father's heir, as it is in England. You
find that few or none of the great kings of the Jews were eldest
sons. The custom was not kept up as it is here. So Jacob may have
said to himself, and not have been very wrong in saying it:

'I have as good a right to the birthright as Esau. My father loves
him best because he brings him in venison; but I know the value of
the honour which is before my family. Surely the one of us who
cares most about the birthright will be most fit to have it, and
ought to have it; and Esau cares nothing for it, while I do.'

So Jacob, in his cunning, bargaining way, took advantage of his
brother's weak, hasty temper, and bought his birthright of him, as
the text tells.

That story shows us what sort of a man Esau was: hasty, careless,
fond of the good things of this life. He had no reason to complain
if he lost his birthright. He did not care for it, and so he had
thrown it away. Perhaps he forgot what he had done; but his sin
found him out, as our sins are sure to find each of us out. The day
came when he wanted his birthright and could not have it, and found
no place for repentance--that is, no chance of undoing what he had
done--though he sought it carefully with tears. He had sown, and he
must reap; he had made his bed, and he must lie on it. And so must
Jacob in his turn.

Now this, I think, is just what the story teaches us concerning God.
God chooses Abraham's family to grow into a great nation, and to be
a peculiar people. The next question will be: If God favours that
family, will he do unjust things to help them?--will he let them do
unjust things to help themselves? The Bible answers positively, No.
God will not be unjust or arbitrary in choosing one man and
rejecting another. If he chooses Jacob, it is because Jacob is fit
for the work which God wants done. If he rejects Esau, it is
because Esau is not fit.

It is natural, I know, to pity poor Esau; but one has no right to do
more. One has no right to fancy for a moment that God was arbitrary
or hard upon him. Esau is not the sort of man to be the father of a
great nation, or of anything else great. Greedy, passionate,
reckless people like him, without due feeling of religion or of the
unseen world, are not the men to govern the world, or help it
forward, or be of use to mankind, or train up