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When Jesus addressed the Jewish spiritual leaders of His day, He reminded them that: “Moses … calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’” (Lk. 20:37). For us today we will add: “God the Father of Jesus Christ and the God of the Bible” to the list to identify the only God we believe in. Jacob was the third of the great Hebrew patriarchs and the second born of the twins of Isaac and Rebekah. The narrative in Genesis of the twins Esau and Jacob is important to the Jewish nation and to us. It occupied nearly half of the book of Genesis which included the narrative of Jacob’s important son, Joseph.

Esau and Jacob were born after their parents had been married for 20 years. Isaac was 60 years old at that time. The twins were born as an answer to his prayer for Rebekah. When they were within pregnant Rebekah, they were already struggling to reflect their continuing struggle throughout their lives and the future history of their respective nations, Edom and Israel. Esau (hairy) was named because of his appearance, but Jacob’s name (he grasps the heel or he deceives) aptly described his future character. Esau was preferred by Isaac but Jacob was the favourite of Rebekah causing the obvious resultant sibling rivalry between the twins.
In the Genesis narrative we come across the difficult topic of the Sovereignty of God. God gave Rebekah, while she was carrying the twins, a special message that “the older (Esau) will serve the younger (Jacob)” (Gen 25:23). However, the way the reversal of sibling authority came about seemed devious and conniving. Jacob cheated Esau of his natural birthright due to Esau’s weakness when hungry. Jacob assisted by his mother Rebekah further cheated Esau of Isaac’s deathbed blessing. On this occasion, Esau was really angry and resolved to kill Jacob. The sibling rivalry came to a head but thankfully Rebekah advised Jacob to flee to Haran to stay with her brother Laban. By God’s grace and mercy, Jacob met the LORD at Mahanaim where he had a wrestling encounter with God. This episode resulted in a spiritual awakening for Jacob. God renamed him Israel (he struggles with God) after this occasion. Thankfully, the threat by Esau was softened by Jacob’s prudent planned meeting with Esau. Sibling rivalry came to a reasonable conclusion but sad to say was never fully resolved. The struggle between Esau’s and Jacob’s descendants continued for many generations after their deaths.