Mister Spak: Actually, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a mess of pottage. Jacob then married first Leah, and then Leah's sister, Rachel. Then he had a bunch of kids, first with Leah, then with Rachel's handmaid since she was barren, then with Leah's handmaid since Leah wasn't about to be outdone by her sister, and then finally Rachel got pregnant and had first Joseph, then died bearing Benjamin.
The last we hear of Esau, he's living the good life as Edom, having reconciled with his brother Jacob, and doing a bunch of begatting.
Regarding Ishmael as a "sin" against God, I think Mr. Strandberg needs to re-read his Bible.
Genesis 16:1-16 ESV
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” ..."
It looks to me that the "sin" was that Hagar got uppity because she got pregnant and Sarai (Sarah's name before she got knocked up with Isaac) couldn't. Sarai was the first wife and didn't have to put up with that BS. So Abram, to keep peace in his house, dumped Hagar and her kid.
And that's a straightforward reading! No "well, it really means this" interpretation needed!
