The Cheater Gets Cheated
Isaac said to his son, Jacob, “It's time for you to get married, but you may not marry one of the local Canaanite women. Son, go to your grandfather's house at Haran in Mesopotamia and pick out for yourself one of the daughters of Laban, your uncle, to marry, and may you have lots of children to be your descendants. With Lord Yahweh's help, may your sons win control of the land where we are now aliens and outsiders.” So Jacob, following his father's instructions, went to the country of his grandfather in Mesopotamia, seeking a wife from among his cousins, the daughters of his Uncle Laban. Esau heard that his brother had gone to Mesopotamia to hunt for a wife because none of the local Canaanite women were acceptable to his father, so just to annoy his father Esau visited Ishmael (who was the son of Abraham with his Egyptian slave girl), and arranged for one of Ishmael's daughters to be his newest wife, to add to those he already had. Meanwhile Jacob was...