(Heb.12:16) because he sold his birthright.
This shows that there was something besides mere foolishness in the transaction.
One would say that it was childish to sell a birthright for a meal of victuals; but it was worse than childish; it was wicked.
It showed that he was an infidel, feeling nothing but contempt for the promise of God to his father.
Notice these words of Esau’s, when Jacob asked him to sell his birthright: “Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall this birthright do me?”
He had no hope beyond this present life, and looked no further." E.J. Waggoner