8- Jacob & Esau Flashcards
When Abraham was 137 years old, Sarah died at Hebron and Abraham buried her there. Now Isaac was almost forty and still not married, so Abraham sent his servant up north to their relatives in Syria to find him a wife because he did not want him to marry the daughter of a Canaanite. When he got to Syria, the servant prayed for God to show him the right girl and God led him directly to Rebekah. She was the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother who had stayed in Syria. Rebekah and her father agreed to the marriage so she went back to Canaan with the servant, and she became Isaac’s wife. After this, Abraham died, and Isaac buried him at Hebron beside Sarah.
For a long time Rebekah did not get pregnant. So Isaac prayed to God for her and after twenty years she finally had twin boys. While she was pregnant, Rebekah felt the two boys struggling with each other. God told her, “There are two nations in your womb. . . One people will be stronger than the other. The older will serve the younger.” They named the first boy Esau. The second son was born grasping the firstborn’s heel. Therefore he was named Jacob, which means deceiver. Because he was the oldest, Esau was supposed to receive the birthright, that is a double portion of the inheritance, and he was supposed to receive God’s promise to bless Abraham’s descendants through him. As the boys grew up, Esau was a hunter, and he loved being out in the country. Isaac liked the taste of the animals he hunted, and he loved Esau best. But Jacob was a quiet man and stayed around the tents, and was the favorite of his mother, Rebekah.
b
One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came home from hunting feeling very hungry. He said, “Jacob, give me something to eat.” “I won’t give it to you but I’ll sell it to you for your birthright.” “Look, Jacob, I’m about to starve to death. What good is the birthright to a dead man?” And he swore to Jacob to sell him his birthright for a bowl of stew. So Esau despised his birthright.
c
Time passed and Isaac called Esau, “I’m old and I don’t know how much longer I’m going to live. Go hunt some game and cook it just the way I like. I want to give you my blessing before I die.” But Rebekah was listening, and while Esau was away hunting, she helped Jacob trick his father, who was blind, into thinking he was Esau coming with some tasty meat. So Isaac blessed Jacob with the blessing that belonged to his firstborn, Esau. When Esau realized Jacob had tricked him out of both the birthright and the blessing, he was furious and he swore to kill his brother. So Rebekah told Jacob, “Listen to me. You should go stay with my brother up in Syria until Esau calms down. I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come back.” But to Isaac she said, “I’m fed up with these foreign wives of Esau. If Jacob marries one of them, my life won’t be worth living!” So Isaac said, “Jacob, don’t marry a Canaanite girl. Go to Syria now and take one of your Uncle Laban’s daughters instead.” So Jacob went to Syria.
d
