The Story

Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons. The first baby came out red and covered with hair, so they called him Esau. Then his brother came out holding onto Esau's heel, and they called him Jacob. The boys grew up very different from each other. Esau became a skilful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet, plain man who stayed near the tents. Isaac loved Esau and his tasty food from hunting, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

One day Esau came in from the field very tired and hungry. Jacob was cooking a pot of red lentil stew, and Esau begged him, "Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint". Jacob answered with a bargain: sell me your birthright — the special double blessing that belonged to the firstborn son — and then you can eat. Esau thought only of his empty stomach. He promised it away, sat down, ate and drank, got up, and went off. The Bible tells us the sad result: "thus Esau despised his birthright". He had traded a treasure for a bowl of stew.

Years later Isaac was old, and his eyes were so dim he could not see. He called Esau and told him to hunt and cook his favourite food, so that he could give him the father's blessing before he died. But Rebekah heard. She and Jacob made a plan to trick the old man: Jacob would wear Esau's clothes and put goat skins on his hands and neck so he would feel hairy like his brother. Jacob carried in the tasty food and said he was Esau. Isaac was puzzled. He felt Jacob's hands, and he said, "The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." Still, he ate, and he gave Jacob the blessing — a blessing that could not be taken back.

When Esau came in from hunting with his own food, it was too late. He cried with a great and bitter cry and begged for a blessing too, but the big blessing was gone. Esau was so angry that he planned to kill Jacob, and Jacob had to run far away from home. The grabbed blessing did not make Jacob happy — it sent him away from his mother and everything he knew. Tricking and grabbing never turn out well.