I believe the Lord takes our decisions seriously, and he relates to us according to what we decide. Conversely, the Lord most certainly has freedom of choice, so who can prevent him from doing as he pleases? We must relate to him, according to what he has decided to do. In other words, the Lord gets to do as he pleases, because we have no power to change that arrangement. However, we, also, get to decide, what we want to do, but this is by the grace of God. He is able to overrule our decisions, but, for the most part, he will not prevent our doing what we desire. Freedom of choice is the principle, by which God relates to mankind and vice versa. How do I know this is true? I believe a classic example of this was worked out in the lives of Esau and Jacob.
According to the ancient arrangement of things, barring the specific intervention of the patriarch, the firstborn had the right of inheritance. Other siblings could inherit, too, but the firstborn received the lion’s share. However, if he received the whole, he was responsible for the care of his siblings, but this wasn’t absolute. Once he had the inheritance, sharing was a matter of choice.
Some Biblical scholars believe that the Lord promised the firstborn’s right of inheritance to Jacob, when it technically belonged to Esau. Nevertheless, this is mere conjecture, because the Lord mentioned nothing that could be construed to be a promise (cp. Genesis 25:23). He merely predicted what would occur, because our lives are present with him as a whole, not in part (Psalm 139:16; cp. verse-4). In other words, what the Lord told Rebekah in Genesis 25:23, was what he knew would occur later, when Esau was hungry. What Esau did was his choice to do, and the Lord took that choice seriously and transferred the birthright to Jacob. It wasn’t promised to Jacob; Esau sold it to him for a morsel of food to satisfy his hunger pains!
Notice that Esau’s hunt was unsuccessful. He was hungry and found no food in the wild. Jacob, however, had cooked a meal over the fire at his campsite (Genesis 25:29). Esau came to Jacob’s campsite and asked his brother for a meal, because he was hungry. Apparently, he had gone without food for an unspecified number of days (Genesis 25:30). Nevertheless, Jacob doesn’t seem to be a very compassionate person, or there may have been an inherent rivalry between the brothers, where neither would show compassion to the other. In any case, Jacob refused to show mercy toward his brother, but he would sell him a meal in exchange for Esau’s birthright (Genesis 25:31).
It doesn’t appear that Jacob’s campsite was with Isaac and Rebekah’s, because Esau could have just as easily asked Rebekah for food, and it would have been given him without charge. Nevertheless, Esau was faint for lack of sustenance and believed Jacob was his only hope of survival. He reasoned that his birthright would do him no good, if he died. He would lose it to Jacob anyway, if that occurred. So, he agreed and sold his birthright to Jacob, fearing that, if he didn’t, he would die of hunger. Therefore, Esau swore to Jacob, vis-à-vis swearing by God, that he would exchange his birthright for one of Jacob’s meals (Genesis 25:32-33).
Once Esau has sworn, he would give Jacob the firstborn birthright, Jacob gave Esau some bread and a bowl of lentil stew. Thus, Esau is seen to have despised his birthright in favor of satisfying his hunger (Genesis 25:34). Esau swore by the Lord to give away his birthright, and the Lord took this decision seriously. This is what the Lord had foreseen would occur, and it was the result of this occurrence that he revealed to Rebekah (Genesis 25:23). Nothing was promised to Jacob by the Lord. Jacob received the birthright, because Esau was weak, and he didn’t trust the Lord to save him out of his predicament. Jacob knew Esau’s character was weak, and he took advantage of his understanding of his brother, and conspired to take the birthright away from him. Had Esau not done so, I believe, the Lord would have dealt with him as the firstborn, and the Messiah would have come through Esau, because freedom of choice is the primary principle, through which God relates to mankind, and, through which, man relates to his God.
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