{"id":"01KFXVBB7C8ZJ5SXMFKSRP2EE5","cid":"bafkreihxxiiifjxsargk37bwqbdkaipw45y7jl457d4rqddrf77whr2mzu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":376,"extracted_at":"2026-01-26T19:09:05.843Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KFXVA454RTKCJEQJMP0QKNKY","start_line":346,"text":" 247\tgether to get it—first, by buying off Esau, by persuading him to relinquish a claim on something he did not value; and, second, by deceiving Isaac, old and blind, and who alone could bestow it. So one day when Esau returned from the chase, faint from fatigue and hunger, the wily young Jacob had a savory stew simmering over a fire. The nostrils of Esau informed his stomach that it was good, and the cry of the appetite was louder and stronger than the voice of the soul.\n 248\t\n 249\t“And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me... for I am faint... And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” And so it was done; Esau sold his birthright for Jacob’s pottage. “He did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.” And there are some things done once for all in this world. This was one of them, “For afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was reject-\n\n\n 250\t![img-0.jpeg](arke:01KFXV75EMG0V9BKAT67VK8ZVZ)\n 251\tESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT\n\n\n 252\t.\n\n\n 253\t39\n 254\ted: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”\n 255\t\n 256\tNow let me point the moral which adorns this tale.\n 257\t\n 258\tA boy or a man who lives from his senses, who heeds the cries of passion, and disregards the calm voice of conscience and duty, is an Esau who sells his birthright as a child of God, for God, when He created man, made an immortal soul, and built a body up around it—a casket to contain this precious jewel. Therefore in a boy or man the soul should always be on top, and should come first in choices we make and directions we take. The senses of this body of dust should be the soul’s servants, not its masters, and its inclinations always be subordinate to the dictates of duty—another word for God—conscience, and soul.\n 259\t\n 260\tBut Esau preferred the gratification of his senses to the reward of spiritual well-being, and he was lost. He lived a life that came to nothing. As Dean Stanley says: “With all his good-nature, frank\n 261\t3\n\n\n 262\t40\n 263\t\n 264\tmanners, ready courage, he disappeared in the wilderness; he lived a wandering sheik of the desert; he left no mark in history;” he fought no battle for any good cause.\n 265\t\n 266\tPoor Esau! He did not frankly abandon the flesh and take up with the spirit; he could not “scorn delights to live laborious days,” and was *rejected*, as all such men are. For men of the spirit always, in the long-run, beat men of the flesh in making their way to fame, or fortune, or the Promised Land, or handing down a covenant blessing. Abraham prayed, as Matthew Arnold said, “that Ishmael might stand before the Lord”—that is, succeed him. But no. Not the brilliant and audacious Ishmael, but the homely and humble Isaac is the child of promise, continues the good work, and is the favorite of God; for Ishmael was a man of the senses, but Isaac a man of the soul.\n 267\t\n 268\tSo Isaac loved Esau, and would have preferred him; but God gave the blessing to Jacob, for, with all his faults, he was a\n","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFXVAZHQX85GCCPN05SV2VGV","peer_label":"ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-01-26T19:09:06.307Z","ts":"2026-01-26T19:09:06.307Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}