John Calvin Commentary Genesis 25:34

"And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils. And he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright." — Genesis 25:34 (ASV)

Then Jacob gave. Although, at first sight, this statement seems to be cold and superfluous, it nevertheless carries great weight. For, in the first place, Moses commends the piety of holy Jacob, who, in aspiring to a heavenly life, was able to bridle his appetite for food. Certainly, he was not a log of wood; in preparing food to satisfy his hunger, he would sharpen his appetite all the more.

Therefore, he necessarily had to do violence to himself to bear his hunger. But he would never have been able to subdue his flesh in this way, unless a spiritual desire for a better life had flourished within him. On the other hand, the remarkable indifference of his brother Esau is emphatically described in a few words: he did eat and drink, and rose up and went his way.

For what reason are these four actions stated? Indeed, this is stated so that we may know what is declared immediately after: that he regarded the incomparable benefit of which he was deprived as nothing. The complaint of the Lacedemonian captive is often recounted by historians. The army, which had long sustained a siege, surrendered to the enemy for lack of water.

After they had drunk from the river, he exclaimed, "O comrades, for what a little pleasure have we lost an incomparable good!" That miserable man, having quenched his thirst, returned to his senses and mourned over his lost liberty.

But Esau, having satisfied his appetite, did not consider that he had sacrificed a blessing far more valuable than a hundred lives to purchase a meal that would be over in half an hour.

This is how all profane persons are accustomed to act: alienated from the celestial life, they do not perceive that they have lost anything, until God thunders upon them from heaven. As long as they enjoy their carnal desires, they cast the anger of God behind them; and so it happens that they go stupidly forward to their own destruction.

Therefore, let us learn, if at any time, deceived by the allurements of the world, we swerve from the right way, to quickly rouse ourselves from our slumber.

CHAPTER 26.