Like Yitzhak Like Esav: They’d give anything for a meal

As I was sitting in shul this past Shabbat, listening to the reading of Parshat Toledot, I realized something very interesting: A striking parallel between Yitzhak and Esav.

וַיֶּאֱהַ֥ב יִצְחָ֛ק אֶת־עֵשָׂ֖ו כִּי־צַ֣יִד בְּפִ֑יו וְרִבְקָ֖ה אֹהֶ֥בֶת אֶֽת־יַעֲקֹֽב׃
וַיָּ֥זֶד יַעֲקֹ֖ב נָזִ֑יד וַיָּבֹ֥א עֵשָׂ֛ו מִן־הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה וְה֥וּא עָיֵֽף׃
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר עֵשָׂ֜ו אֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֗ב הַלְעִיטֵ֤נִי נָא֙ מִן־הָאָדֹ֤ם הָאָדֹם֙ הַזֶּ֔ה כִּ֥י עָיֵ֖ף אָנֹ֑כִי עַל־כֵּ֥ן קָרָֽא־שְׁמ֖וֹ אֱדֽוֹם׃
וַיֹּ֖אמֶר יַעֲקֹ֑ב מִכְרָ֥ה כַיּ֛וֹם אֶת־בְּכֹרָֽתְךָ֖ לִֽי׃
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר עֵשָׂ֔ו הִנֵּ֛ה אָנֹכִ֥י הוֹלֵ֖ךְ לָמ֑וּת וְלָמָּה־זֶּ֥ה לִ֖י בְּכֹרָֽה׃

And Yitzhak loved Esav because game was in his mouth, but Rivkah loved Yaakov.
Now Yaakov cooked a pottage, and Esav came from the field, and he was faint.
And Esav said to Yaakov, “Pour into [me] some of this red, red [pottage], for I am faint”; he was therefore named Edom.
And Yaakov said, “Sell me as of this day your birthright.”
Esav replied, “I’m about to die, of what value is it for me to be the first born?t?”

Bereishit 25:28-32 / Hayyei Sarah

וַיֹּ֕אמֶר הִנֵּה־נָ֖א זָקַ֑נְתִּי לֹ֥א יָדַ֖עְתִּי י֥וֹם מוֹתִֽי׃
וְעַתָּה֙ שָׂא־נָ֣א כֵלֶ֔יךָ תֶּלְיְךָ֖ וְקַשְׁתֶּ֑ךָ וְצֵא֙ הַשָּׂדֶ֔ה וְצ֥וּדָה לִּ֖י (צידה) [צָֽיִד]׃
וַעֲשֵׂה־לִ֨י מַטְעַמִּ֜ים כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר אָהַ֛בְתִּי וְהָבִ֥יאָה לִּ֖י וְאֹכֵ֑לָה בַּעֲב֛וּר תְּבָרֶכְךָ֥ נַפְשִׁ֖י בְּטֶ֥רֶם אָמֽוּת׃

And he (Yitzhak) said, “Behold now, I have grown old; I do not know the day of my death.
So, now, sharpen your implements, your sword [and take] your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me.
And prepare for me the dishes that I love and bring them for me to eat for which I will bless you before I die.”

Bereishit 27:2-4 / Toledot

In Parshat Hayyei Sarah, Esav is famished after he comes home from a hunt, and abdicates his primogeniture for a bowl of Yaakov’s lentil pottage.

“I’m about to die, of what value is it for me to be the first born?” (Bereishit 25:32).   Esav does not really think he is about to die when he makes this hyperbolic statement.

Likewise, in Parshat Toledot, Yitzhak does not really think he is about to die when he tells  Esav “Prepare for me the dishes that I love and bring them for me to eat for which I will bless you before I die” (Bereishit 27:4). Yitzhak also does not believe he is about to die when he says this. In fact he goes on to live for another 80 years.

In both cases the meals are transactional, Yaakov acquires first-born status, Esav acquires the blessing of the first born.

We can reasonably assume that when Esav sells his birthright he is returning from a hunt from which he would feed his father. We know this from verse 25:28. Clearly Yitzhak prefers the gamy flavor of hunted meat to the tame taste of herded sheep which he owns in abundance.

In selling out his status for a bowl of soup, Esav is – intentionally or not – doing this to quell his hunger pangs in order to be able to prepare his father’s dinner. We know this from verse 25:28 which tells us exactly why Yitzhak loves his elder son. Hence, in effect, Esav is declaring his life as worthless if he cannot immediately fulfill his father’s wishes.

Yaakov takes ruthless advantage of this at the behest of his mother Rivkah, the sister of Lavan, her sibling in chicanery.

It is highly likely that Yitzhak gets wind of this swindle. Such news has a way of traveling fast. And clearly this troubles him.  To the extent that he has the mental faculties to construe an appropriate response, he decides upon one that would literally be midah k’negged midah – measure for measure – in effect, echoing Esav’s capitulation. He would declare that his life is over without this meal, for which he would trade his blessing the way Esav traded his birthright.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Rivkah is at least one step ahead of Yitzhak (after all she is the Sister of Lavan) and ju jitsus her husband so that Yaakov gets the blessing prior to being dispatched off to Lavan University where he would evolve from a born nebbish into a PhD in cunning.