Jacob and Esau: Genesis 25:21-34, Genesis 26:27,28

Maybe you know two boys or girls who have the same birthday and are exactly the same age. Maybe you can’t even tell them apart because they look so much alike! Brothers and sisters like this are called twins.

Twins are fun, aren’t they? Some twins look so much alike that even their mother doesn’t know which one is which! Maybe she has to look and look until she finally finds a little mark that one twin has that the other one does not.

Sometimes twins don’t look at all alike. That’s the way it was with Isaac and Rebekah’s twins. Their two boys were born on the same day. The one who came first was a very red baby, hairy and strong. They decided to call his name “Esau.”

Then came the other twin. But he didn’t look at all like Esau. He was smooth-skinned, quiet and happy. Isaac and Rebekah called him “Jacob.”

Rebekah was very happy to have her two little boys. But she noticed that they became very different as they grew up. Rebekah began to love Jacob the most. She loved both the boys, but Jacob was the one who was always helping her in the kitchen. He enjoyed doing quiet work, reading, and hearing Rebekah tell stories about God.

But Esau wasn’t like this at all. He loved to hunt animals out in the woods for food. He loved to be outside and help his father. He didn’t care about God, but Isaac began to love him the most.

Remember that we told you that the twins were born the same day, but that Esau was born first? In those days the baby born first in a family was very special. In fact it was so special that he received a greater blessing. This blessing was called a “birthright.” A birthright was a very special thing. If you had one, you would never give it away!

“I will give you some,” Jacob told Esau, “if you give me your birthright.”

Esau was Isaac and Rebekah’s first baby, so he was the one to receive the birthright blessing. This birthright gave Esau more of his father’s land and fields than Jacob. It made him the leader over Jacob and any other brothers he might have. But Esau didn’t really care that he had it.

One day Jacob was sitting in the tent eating a bowl of delicious pottage, which is like vegetable stew. Then—Esau came home from hunting in the fields. Esau was tired and hot. The smell of the pottage made him hungry.

“Feed me some of your pottage,” he said to Jacob, “for I am so hungry.”

Jacob thought about this for a minute. Really, it should have been easy for him to give Esau some of his stew—but—a bad thought came to his mind. He had always wanted Esau’s birthright, and now—maybe—he could get it!

“I will give you some,” Jacob told Esau, “if you give me your birthright.”

Esau didn’t really care about his birthright anyway, so he told Jacob, “Look, I am so hungry and tired that I am about to die! Then what good will a birthright do me anyway?”

This wasn’t enough for Jacob. “Swear that you will give it to me,”: he said. So Esau swore that he would do it, which means that he promised it. So now the very special birthright with its blessings was Jacob’s!

Esau didn’t think about that. He just hungrily ate up the vegetable stew and drank some water. Then he felt better. He went out hunting and forgot what happened.

But Jacob didn’t forget it. And—someone else heard Esau’s promise, too. That someone was—God.

Esau did wrong in selling his birthright, but Jacob also did wrong in asking for this trade. However, in providence God used this trade to make His plans come to pass. He used this trade to cause Esau to be Jacob’s servant. Even though we may do wrong, God can make everything turn out for good.

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