Genesis 25:31 - Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Sell me this day thy birth — right — He cannot be excused in taking advantage of Esau's necessity, yet neither can Esau be excused who is profane, Hebrews 12:16, because for one morsel of meat he sold his birth — right. The birth — right was typical of spiritual privileges, those of the church of the first — born: Esau was now tried how he would value those, and he shews himself sensible only of present grievances: may he but get relief against them, he cares not for his birth — right. If we look on Esau's birth — right as only a temporal advantage, what he said had something of truth in it, that our worldly enjoyments, even those we are most fond of, will stand us in no stead in a dying hour. They will not put by the stroke of death, nor ease the pangs, nor remove the sting. But being of a spiritual nature, his undervaluing it, was the greatest profaneness imaginable. It is egregious folly to part with our interest in God, and Christ, and heaven, for the riches, honours, and pleasures of this world.