ESAU'S POTTAGE

Esau's Pottage

½ cup olive oil
6 onions, diced
1 lb. lamb, cubed
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 green pepper
2 cups tomatoes
1 lb. lentils
2–3 cups water
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper



This hearty stew known as Esau's Pottage is so delicious that a brother might even give up his birthright for a mere taste.

Heat the oil; add the onions and saute until tender but not brown. Add the cubed meat (it should be as lean as possible) and let simmer while washing and dicing the vegetables. Add the vegetables and lentils to the meat with 2 cups of water, and simmer gently until lentils are tender. It will take about 1½ hours. Add salt and pepper when the lentils are cooked. Shake the pot occasionally or add another cup of water to prevent sticking. * Serve hot in a bowl or on a plate next to a cucumber salad.

Yield: 6–8 servings

*If you double the recipe, you'll keep adding water as needed. Those lentils soak up a lot of liquid! Source: Adapted from The Bible Cookbook by Marian Maeve O'Brien, 203.


acob gave Esau bread and a stew of lentils in exchange for the older brother's birthright.

24 When Rebekah's time to give birth came, sure enough, there were twins in her womb.

25 The first came out reddish, as if snugly wrapped in a hairy blanket; they named him Esau.

26 His brother followed, his fist clutched tight to Esau's heel; they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

27 The boys grew up. Esau became an ex pert hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob was a quiet man preferring life indoors among the tents.

28 Isaac loved Esau because he loved Esau's game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 One day Jacob was cooking a stew. Esau came in from the field, starved.

30 Esau said to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stew—I'm starved!” That's how he came to be called Edom.

31 Jacob said, “Make me a trade: my stew for your rights as the firstborn.”

32 Esau said, “I'm starving! What good is a birthright if I'm dead?”

33 Jacob said, “First, swear to me.” And he did it. On oath Esau traded away his rights as the firstborn.

34 Jacob gave him bread and the stew of lentils. He ate and drank, got up and left. That's how Esau shrugged off his rights as the firstborn.

Genesis 25:24–34, adapted from The Message


The stew that Jacob feeds his brother is made of lentils, a vegetable that is mentioned only four times in the Bible (II Samuel 17:28 and 23:12; Ezekiel 4:9; and in this chapter of Genesis), but it seems very likely that lentils were widely planted and utilized during the biblical era. Even today they are grown throughout the Middle East and are known as a good source of vitamins A and C, and they are rich in protein and amino acids, making it natural that they became a staple among the poorer inhabitants of the land. Planted during the winter season in very small patches of plowed soil and harvested during late spring or early summer, the plants grow to about one foot tall and sport small bluish-white flowers.2

There are two main types of lentils grown in the Middle East. The first is a large, gray bean with a reddish center. This is usually prepared by grinding off the outer layer, the seed coat, leaving the red cotyledons. The seed coat residue is fed to animals.3 Lentils of this type cook more rapidly than the second type, which is smaller and does not have red cotyledons, although some of the seed coats themselves can have a brownish-red hue. This type of lentil is eaten with the outer coating intact. (Cotyledons are the first part of the plant that pokes out of the ground when a seed sprouts; they keep the new seedling fed until it can make its own food through photosynthesis.)