Jacob was a thief who stole his brother Esau’s birthright by deception. That is what most Christians believe. But is it the truth? Was the real culprit in this story Jacob, or was it Esau?
The traditional understanding goes something like this: poor, hungry Esau gets tricked by his crafty brother into selling his birthright, which made Esau very sad and showed Jacob to be a thief. It sounds simple. It sounds settled. And it is almost entirely wrong.
The whole episode takes only five verses in Genesis 25. No complicated words are used. And yet somehow, for centuries, we have managed to read the passage and come away with the exact opposite of what the text actually says.
Who Are These Two Men?
Before examining the transaction itself, we must establish the character of the two parties involved. Scripture does not leave this to guesswork.
Esau was a wild man, hairy all over, and a cunning hunter. This places him in the biblical line of Ishmael, the bowman who could not live at peace with anyone and who persecuted the godly Isaac, and of Nimrod, the mighty hunter, tyrant, and founder of Babylon. Esau did not work in his father’s business. He hunted. He rejected the dominion mandate and the profession of his father. He was broadcasting to all who would look and listen that he had thrown off God’s yoke.
Jacob was very different. He “dwelt in tents,” which Genesis 4:20 identifies as the language of the livestock trade. Jacob was following in the footsteps of his godly father and grandfather. A neon sign follows Jacob around that reads: “I love my father and grandfather, and choose to live in their ways, and prepare myself to be my father’s heir.”
But the case for Jacob grows stronger still if we dig beneath the translation to the Hebrew itself. In the Hebrew of Genesis 25:27, Jacob is identified as an ish tam, a man who is “undefiled” (Song of Songs 5:2), “perfect” (Job 1:8), and “upright” (Proverbs 29:10). Before the birthright episode even takes place, the Holy Spirit has already identified Jacob as a man of integrity and Esau as a man of rebellion.
Jesus used the analogy of a good tree and a bad tree. Jacob is obviously the good tree. And what does a good tree produce? Good fruit. Esau is clearly the bad tree, and we should expect bad fruit from him.
The Prophecy and the Broader Narrative
We must not forget the prophecy concerning the twins. Romans 9 tells us that before Jacob and Esau were born, before either had done any good or evil, God declared that the older would serve the younger. “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” The birthright belonged to Jacob by divine decree.
Furthermore, the rivalry between Jacob and Esau is part of a much larger narrative. Genesis 3:15 establishes that all of history from the Fall to the Second Coming would be marked by conflict between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. We see this pattern in Cain and Abel, in the flood, in Ishmael and Isaac, and now in Esau and Jacob. Esau is the seed of the serpent. Jacob is the seed of the woman. Their actions and speech are marked by this reality throughout.
What Actually Happened?
When Esau came straggling in from the hunt, half dead from exhaustion, what was Jacob doing? He was about his father’s business, just like the Lord Jesus in Luke 2:49. He was doing the lowliest of jobs: making stew and serving bread. Bearing the yoke in his youth.
The text of Genesis 25:31-34 records a transaction, not a theft. Jacob said: “Sell me this day thy birthright.” Esau agreed. An oath was sworn. Jacob delivered the goods: bread and stew. Esau ate, drank, rose, and went his way. It was a deal, freely entered into by both parties.
The text then delivers its verdict: “Thus Esau despised his birthright.” The motivating force for Esau was not hunger-induced delirium but simple contempt for what God had given him. Hebrews 12:16 confirms it: “Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.” The birthright was of less value to Esau than lunch.
Did Esau Have the Right to Sell?
Deuteronomy 21:17 states that the right of the firstborn “is his,” meaning it is his property. If I own a pair of shoes, I have the right to sell them. The shoes are mine. Esau’s birthright was his by birth order. He was entirely within his rights to sell it. And sell it he did.
The question is not whether the sale was lawful. It was. The question is what the sale reveals about Esau’s character. He attributed zero value to the covenant promises of God. He despised the birthright, the inheritance that included stewardship of his father’s vast fortune, the care of his father in old age, and, most significantly, the responsibility of bringing forth the Messianic line. Esau traded all of that for stew and bread, wiped his mouth, and ran back to the hunt.
Jacob Did Nothing Wrong
Jacob delivered on his end of the bargain. He provided the meal. The deal was solemnised by an oath. There is no indication anywhere in the text that Jacob used force, fraud, or deception. He saw an opportunity, made an offer, and closed the deal. This is how business works. This is how the marketplace operates. And God never condemns Jacob for it. Not once.
So Why Is Jacob Called a Thief?
The answer is devastatingly simple. He is called a thief because Esau said so.
In Genesis 27:36, Esau says: “He took my birthright.” But Esau made a deal, fair and square, and confirmed it with an oath before God. Then he went back on it and accused his brother of theft. If I sell my shoes and then cry to the world that the buyer “took” my shoes, I am either a fool or a liar. Esau was both.
And yet, incredibly, the Christian church for generations has simply echoed the words of a man whom God calls profane, a fornicator, a man who married two Hittite wives, planned to murder his own brother, and later came after Jacob with 400 armed men. We have borne false witness against Jacob by repeating the slander of a reprobate.
Exodus 23:1 warns us: “Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.” Proverbs 25:18 adds: “A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.” The church has been wielding Esau’s false witness against Jacob like a weapon for far too long.
Why This Matters
God’s very specific Word about Esau has been turned on its head. Malachi 1 says that God has hated Esau, laid waste to his mountains, and called his territory “the Territory of Wickedness.” But God’s people have had sympathy for the man God hates, and have denounced the man God loves as a cheat, a thief, a liar, and a rascal.
This is what happens when we fail to meditate on God’s Word day and night, and when we fail to follow the example of the Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. We swallow a lie from the seed of the serpent and call it “tradition” or “sound exegesis.”
The birthright was Jacob’s by prophecy. It was doubly Jacob’s by the deal he made with Esau. Jacob categorically did not steal Esau’s birthright. He purchased it lawfully, and Esau went back on his word, showing himself once again to be exactly the profane man Scripture says he was.
Read the text slowly. Read it carefully. And let God be true, even if every man is a liar.