We were not meant to descend from Jacob.  We should all have descended from Esau, only Rebecca played a trick.

Jacob and Esau were twins.  Isaac loved Esau more than he loved Jacob.  He loved that Esau brought him wild animals to eat, whereas Jacob was not a hunter at all. 

So when Isaac was very old and wanted to bless his son, he called over Esau and told him to bring him some tasty game before he blessed him.

Guess what.  Isaac loved Esau, but Rebecca, Isaac’s wife, loved her other son Jacob more.  She heard Isaac’s plans and knew that Esau had gone off to hunt.   So she told Jacob to wear Esau’s clothes and to cover himself with a sheepskin so that Isaac would think he was hairy like Esau.  She made a tasty game dish and sent Jacob in to his old, blind father.  Isaac was fooled, and, thinking he was Esau, gave Jacob a beautiful blessing “So may God give you from the dew of the heavens, from the fat of the earth.”  Which was fine, only another part of the blessing was that everybody, including Esau, would bow down to Jacob.

When Esau found that out, he let out a huge cry.  ”Bless me, me also, father!”  But it was too late.  Jacob had the blessing and Esau was fated to serve him.

Esau was so angry at Jacob that he swore to kill him!

Rebecca heard this and told Jacob to get the heck out of there.  Isaac agreed to Jacob’s going. The one thing he said was: Don’t take a wife from other tribes.  Marry one of your cousins and may God bless you, and may you have lots of children.

Food for Thought

What is God’s part in this story?