Jacob Cheats His Brother

Rebekah desperately wanted a child but was not able to get pregnant.  Isaac wanted a son and pleaded with Lord Yahweh to let her conceive.  The Lord Yahweh finally granted his request and Rebekah became pregnant with twin boys. 

Rebekah was annoyed that the boys struggled and fought with each other in her womb and Rebekah said to herself, if this is the way it is to be with my boys, my life is not worth living.  So she went to see Lord Yahweh to ask him about her unusual pregnancy. 

The Lord Yahweh told her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two nations will be born to you and they shall struggle against each other.  One shall be stronger than the other and the elder will become servant to the younger." 

When the time came Rebekah gave birth to twins.  The first came out red, his body covered with hair, so they named him Esau. Afterward his younger brother was born with his hand gripping Esau's heel and so he was named Jacob.  Esau grew up to become a skillful hunter, a rough man of the field and woods, while Jacob was reserved and more comfortable living quietly at home.  Isaac loved Esau more than he loved Jacob, because Esau was a hunter and Isaac loved the wild game he brought home from his hunting.  On the other hand, Rebekah's favorite son was Jacob.

One time when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from a long hunting trip.  He had been in the field quite a long time and he was very hungry.  Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that stew you are cooking, for I am almost dead with hunger!"

Jacob said, "Before I give you food to eat you must sell me your birthright as firstborn son." 

Esau said, "Alright, I will, I am about to die of hunger so what good are the rights of the eldest son doing for me?" 

So Jacob said, "Swear to me first."  So Esau swore an oath and sold his birthright to Jacob.  In return Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and so Esau ate and drank, then rose and went his way.  He cared very little for his birthright.

Many years later when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see and was almost blind, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, "My son."

Esau answered, "Here I am, father."

Isaac said, "You can see that I am old. I am close to death.  Please do me one last favor, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt wild game for me. Then prepare a spicy dish such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, and then I will grant you my blessing before I die."

Rebekah was nearby listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau.  So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father say to your brother Esau,  'Go hunting, bring me wild game, and prepare for me spicy food to eat, and I will pronounce my blessing of you in front of the Lord Yahweh before I die.'   So, my son, here is what you must do.  Do exactly what I tell you.  Go to the flock and get me two choice baby goats.  I will use them to prepare spicy food for your father, such as he likes.  You will take the food to your father to eat, and he will think you are Esau and he will pronounce the blessing on you rather than Esau before he dies."

Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, "That won't work, my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a man of smooth skin. Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall appear to be making a fool of him and that will bring a curse on me and not a blessing." 

His mother said to him, "Any curse will be on me, my son; just do what I told you, go and get the goats for me." 

So Jacob went and got the goats and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared the spicy food that his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which Esau had left with her in the house, and had Jacob put them on.  Rebekah covered Jacob's arms and neck with the hairy skins of the goats. Then she handed the spicy food and the bread that she had prepared to her son Jacob, who went into his father's room and said, “Father!”

Lot said, "Here I am; who are you, my son?"

Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat the spicy game I brought you, so that you may give me the blessing."

But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found game so quickly, my son?"

Jacob answered, "Because the Lord Yahweh, your God, granted me success." 

Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not."  So Jacob went up to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."  Isaac did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. 

Isaac asked again, "Are you really my son Esau?"

Jacob answered, "I am."

Isaac was convinced and said, "Bring the meat to me, and after I have eaten I will bless you."

Jacob brought the food to Isaac, and he ate.  Then Jacob brought him wine, and he drank. Then Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son."  So Jacob came near and kissed him; and Isaac smelled the smell of his garments, so Isaac gave Jacob the blessing he intended for Esau, with these words:

The smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May Yahweh give you the dew of heaven, and the richness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.

Let many peoples serve you and nations bow down to you.

You will now be master over your brothers, and all your mother's sons will bow down to you.

Everyone who curses you shall be cursed, and may good things come to those who are good to you. 

As soon as Isaac had finished giving Jacob the official blessing and Jacob had left his father's room,  Esau returned home from his hunting trip. He prepared spicy food as his father had asked and brought it to his father, and said to him, "Sit up, father, and eat your son's game, so that you may bless me." 

His father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?"

Esau answered, "You know who I am, I am your firstborn son, Esau."

Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Then who was it that brought me spicy meat that I have just finished eating before you came? Whoever it was I already gave my blessing—and he is now blessed. I can't take back a blessing once the words have been said!”   

Esau heard his father's anguished words and he cried out loudly and bitterly, and said to his father, "Give me your blessing also, father!"

Isaac said, "Your brother came deceitfully and he has taken away your blessing."

Esau said, "Jacob was rightly named.  First he took away my birthright.  Now he has taken away my blessing.  Don't you have a blessing for me also?”

Isaac told Esau, "Like I said, it is too late now.  The words have been spoken. I have already made him your lord and I have given him all his brothers, including you, as servants, and I have provided him with grain and wine to sustain him. What is left that I can for you, my son? I don't have anything else."

When Esau heard his father's words, he cried. 

Then Isaac said to him: “You must go away from here and make your home away from the fertile lands of the earth, and away from the falling dew of the skies.  You will live by your sword.  You will serve your brother.  But eventually you will break loose and will break the yoke from around your neck.”

Esau hated Jacob because he had stolen the blessing which was rightfully his, and he said to himself and to his friends, "Soon my father will die and the days of mourning for him will be over and then I will kill Jacob."

Esau's vow to kill Jacob was overheard and reported to Rebekah.  She called Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. So, my son, you must leave here immediately.  Go to my brother Laban in Haran and stay there with him for a while, at least until your brother's anger is diminished and he forgets what you did to him; then I will send for you and let you know that it is safe to come back here.”

 

This story explains the enmity and warfare between two related semitic tribes, the descendants of Jacob, the patriarch of Israel, and Esau, the legendary tribal father of the Edomites.  It also explains why the descendants of Jacob occupied Canaan when the Edomites were there first (i.e., the firstborn). Tribal tradition provides that the first born son inherits his father's goods and possessions and becomes the head of the tribe, with his brothers and others in the tribe becoming his “servants” and subject to his control.  Later Israelites did not seem troubled by the fact that Jacob inherited the land by cheating his “brother” out of his rightful inheritance. Nomadic tribesmen believed that an oath, a treaty, or a contract became a sacred obligation that could not be ignored or taken back once the words were spoken because they believed the words of an oath or a blessing had a life and power of their own and could not be withdrawn once the words were spoken.