“Jacob said: Sell me your birthright this day” (Genesis 25:31). “Jacob said: Sell me…this day” – he said to him: ‘Sell me one day38The one day is the length of God’s day, based on an interpretation of the verse: “One thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday [keyom etmol]” (Psalms 90:4). of yours.’ Rabbi Aḥa said: Anyone who knows how to calculate the days of the exile will find that Jacob sat one day in tranquility in the shadow of Esau.
“Esau said: Behold, I am going to die, and why do I need [lama zeh li] a birthright?” (Genesis 25:32). “Esau said: Behold, I am going to die” – Reish Lakish said: He began cursing and blaspheming. “Lama li”39That would have been enough to convey his rhetorical question: “Why do I need a birthright?” is not written here, but rather, “lama zeh li.” It teaches that he denied: “This is [zeh] my God” (Exodus 15:2).
Another matter, “behold, I am going to die” – as Nimrod was seeking to kill him because of that garment that had belonged to Adam the first man. When he would don it and go out to the field, all the beasts and the birds in the world would come and gather near him. “Jacob said: Take an oath to me this day, and he took an oath to him, and he sold his birthright to Jacob” (Genesis 25:23). “[Jacob] said: Take an oath to me” – what did Jacob our patriarch see that led him to dedicate himself to acquiring the birthright?
It is as we learned: until the Tabernacle was established, private altars were permitted, and service was performed by the firstborn. From the time that the Tabernacle was established, private altars were prohibited, and service was performed by the priests.40Zevaḥim 112b. He said: ‘Will this evil one stand and sacrifice?’ That is why he dedicated himself to acquiring the birthright. That is what is written: “For I will render you blood, and blood will pursue you; surely, you hated blood, and blood will pursue you” (Ezekiel 35:6).
Did Esau hate blood? Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: This is the blood of birthright and offerings. Rabbi Levi said: This is the blood of circumcision. The Rabbis said: You hated a person’s blood in his body.
That is what is written: “He loved curses, and they will now come upon him. [He had no desire for blessing, and it will now be far from him]” (Psalms 109:17). Rabbi Levi said in the name of Rabbi Ḥama: “He had no desire for blessing” – and no desire for birthright. Rabbi Huna said: This is the blood of the offerings, as it is called blessing, just as it says: “You shall craft for Me an altar of earth…[in every place where I mention my name, I will come to you and I will bless you]” (Exodus 20:21).