Genesis 25:19-34 Treasures in the Attic

The Public Broadcasting System airs a weekly program “Antiques Road Show.” The program consists of people bringing old items to antique appraisers who provide some background concerning the items and then assign a dollar value.

Usually the appraiser asks the owner how he acquired the item and how much he paid. Often the buyer found the treasure in an attic or paid a few dollars at a garage sale. Some of the items are worth thousands of dollars. What we think is of little value may be far more valuable than we realize.

In Genesis 25 we read about a tragic case in which someone traded something of great value for something of relatively small worth. This chapter presents the records of the generations of Isaac. He and his wife had no children, so he prayed to the Lord (Gen 25:21). Notice again the emphasis on prayer. The patriarchs were people who looked to the Lord for His blessing. If we wish to be like them and to have the kind of faith they had, we should also be people who pray.

The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer and his wife became pregnant. The Lord delights in blessing us. He hears our prayers and lovingly responds.

A Christian woman nearing the last months of pregnancy mentioned her thoughts that the Lord was going to give her a deformed baby because she was not a perfect person. There was no reason for her to think that way. The Lord is not a cosmic meanie sitting in heaven waiting to send us sorrow. True, He may discipline us when we sin, but His real delight is in blessing us.

That is not to say that sorrow may not appear in our lives. We do have sorrows. We give birth to children with deformities and limitations. However, the Lord gives us joy in the midst of sorrows, and He shows us the tremendous blessing associated with caring for his special kids. In either case, we are blessed.

While Rebekkah was pregnant she noticed her twins were struggling within her. Like her husband, she went to the Lord in prayer. He told her that the struggle was not just between two children, but was between two nations in her womb. Further, the older would serve the younger.

When the twins were born she named one Esau, meaning “red” and the other Jacob. Esau was a hunter, but Jacob was a peaceful man.

One day when Esau returned from the field, he wanted to have the stew that Jacob had cooked stew. Jacob responded, “First sell me your birthright” (25:31).

As the oldest child, Esau had the birthright, but he was willing to trade it for something to eat. He may have rationalized it by saying that he was about to die from hunger in which case he wouldn’t need the birthright anyway (25:32).

Esau traded something of great value for something of substantially lesser value. If the Antiques Road Show appraisers could have properly appraised his birthright, he would have realized the folly of treating it like a worthless item lying in the attic.

We should never trade spiritual blessings merely to satisfy our physical desires. Although Esau made a bad choice, Jacob is not free from blame. He should not have used the stew and his brother’s hunger in order to acquire the spiritual blessing that rightly belonged to his brother.

In our culture we do not have birthrights as they did in Abraham’s day. However, we may still find ourselves making bad trades. When we choose to watch television for several hours a week and never open our Bibles, we are trading spiritual food for junk food.

When we choose to marry someone who is not a believer, we may later learn the reality of what it is like to go through life without having spiritual fellowship with our mate.

When we go to a church that does not preach the gospel message, we may find that we have attended for years and still do not know what the Bible says about going to heaven. The people may be friendly. The music may appeal to us. The children’s program may offer lots of activities. But if we have all of those things and do not know the gospel, we have traded the eternal, saving message of the gospel for a temporal experience that leads to an eternity without the Lord.

A young boy who said, “It must be Sunday because dad is still in bed.” That father let his family go to church without him while he cooked a leisurely breakfast or played golf. That trade results in emptiness at the end of life. All the golf games are gone, and we go into eternity without having a personal relationship with the Lord.

The Antiques Road Show appraiser makes his evaluations and puts dollar values on earthly items. The Lord makes heavenly appraisals our lives not in regard to dollars but in regard to eternity. Do you know Him? Are you sure that heaven is your home?

Thanks to the Lord for His unspeakable gift.

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.”
– Matt 25:21