‘Esau Birthright Sold’ is a Bible story from the Book of Genesis chapter 25. Esau returns from a hunt and sells his birthright to his brother, Jacob, for a bowl of stew.
The promised land is crumbling under the dry rot of a severe famine, and Jacob's lost-and-found son Joseph has invited the family to move down to Egypt, where there would be food and a place for them to wait it out.
Joseph's brothers return to Egypt to buy food a second time and are treated royally but when they leave Joseph's special cup ends up in the sack of Benjamin and they are hauled back to Egypt in great fear.