The Angels Set the Table and Write the Birthright to Jacob

"And Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew" (Genesis 25:34). Just as this lentil has in it joy and has in it mourning, so there was mourning, because Abraham had died, and joy, because Jacob had received the birthright. "And he ate and drank" — he brought in with him a band of scoffers. He said, "Let us eat of his and mock him." And the Holy Spirit says, "Set the table" (Isaiah 21:5) — arrange the table; "watch in the watchtower" — set up the lamp (there is a place where they call a lamp tzipita); "arise, you princes" — this is Michael and Gabriel; "anoint the shield" — write the birthright over to Jacob. Bar Kappara taught: because they were as ones making sport [treating it lightly], the Holy One, blessed be He, agreed with them. And how do we know He agreed? As it is written, "Thus says the LORD: Israel is My son, My firstborn" (Exodus 4:22). "And he rose up and went his way" — he went out, and his disgrace went with him. "And Esau despised the birthright" — what did he despise along with it? He despised the resurrection of the dead along with it. This is what is written, "When the wicked comes, contempt comes also" — that he came and his disgrace with him; "and with ignominy reproach" — that the disgrace of hunger accompanied him. And "reproach" means nothing other than hunger, as you say, "I will no longer make you a reproach of famine among the nations."