The Book of Genesis contains the story of Jacob and Esau focusing on the sale of Esau's birthright to Jacob and the conflict that had spawned between their descendant nations because of this sale.
This conflict was paralleled by the affection the parents had for their favored child: "Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob." (Genesis 25:28). Even since conception, their conflict was foreshadowed: "And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." (Genesis 25:22–23)
Then at birth, “his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob”. This passage in Genesis 25:26 is as if Jacob was seemingly trying to pull Esau back into the womb so that he could be firstborn. The grasping of the heel is also a reference to deceptive behavior.
Read more about Jacob And Esau: Views of The Birthright
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)