Jacob and Esau
Rebecca became the mother of twins. Though Esau was born first, God indicated that Jacob would be the one to receive the greater inheritance and would be the father of a nation. Jacob and Esau make an infamous bargain in which Esau sells his rights to extra inheritance as the firstborn son to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Combined with some deception, Jacob ends up getting his father’s blessing as if he were firstborn. This angers Esau so much that Jacob flees for his life to his uncle Laban. He meets and later marries Laban’s daughters Leah and Rachel. Jacob stays in Haran for 20 years and works for Laban before returning to his homeland.
Jacob became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, and ultimately the kingdom of Israel (and later Judah, which split off).
Read more about this topic: Abraham's Family Tree
Famous quotes containing the words jacob and/or esau:
“I was not unemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor; a name which, I admit, I love to repeat, for it hath a rounded and orbicular sound to it, and rings like unto bullion.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.”
—Bible: Hebrew Jacob, in Genesis, 27:11.
To his mother Rebekah, explaining how the blind Isaac might discover the ploy of his pretending to be Esau. “Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.” (25:27)