Meet Jacob and Esau | Kid's Club

So part of God's story is about twin brothers, and it begins like this. Once, there were twins named Jacob and Esau, and they didn't go along. They actually started fighting before they were born. Then during birth, Esau came out first, but Jacob was holding onto his heel. That's not normal. And they even looked at him. The Bible says Esau's body was covered in so much red hair, it was almost like he had clothes on. Jacob's skin was smooth. Well, they got even more different as they grew up. Esau hunted animals and spent time outside. Their dad, Isaac, was a big meat eater, so Esau was his favorite. Jacob, on the other hand, was a quiet guy who liked to stay indoors. Their mom, Rebecca, liked Jacob the best. The Bible doesn't talk much about Jacob and Esau as kids, but we do know Esau was lucky to be the oldest because he had what's called a birthright. That meant Esau would be in charge of their family, including all their money, land, and stuff. Jacob would probably have to work for his brother Esau. And their dad, Isaac, would give Esau a blessing, which means Isaac would ask God to take care of his oldest son Esau in an extra special way. Well, you probably think Esau was pretty excited about this, but he wasn't. In fact, one day he gave it up. He'd just returned from a hunting trip. Since he was out killing animals all day, he didn't have time to eat. He came home starving. Jacob was making stew, so Esau said, "Quick, give me some of that stew. I'm very hungry." Now, Jacob was a little sneaky, so he didn't just share the stew with his hungry brother, which would have been nice. Instead, he said, "First, sell me your birthright." And guess what? Esau said, "Yes." It's a little like paying a million dollars for a bowl of mushy soup. We don't know why Esau did that, but the Bible says he didn't care about the birthright.

But later, when Isaac was really old and about to die, he wanted to ask God to take special care of his firstborn Esau. So he told Esau to go hunting and make him some tasty food, maybe for the last time. Now, Esau wanted the birthright, so he left right away to hunt. Meanwhile, Rebecca had heard Isaac and Esau talking, and remember, Jacob was her favorite. She wanted him to get the blessing, so she did something really sneaky. She told Jacob, "I will prepare tasty food for your father. You take it to your father to eat, then he'll give you his blessing before he dies." See, Isaac was blind. She was telling Jacob to pretend he was Esau. But there was a slight problem with her plan. First off, Esau was hairy. So if Isaac touched Jacob's smooth skin, he would know the truth. The Bible says Esau had a certain smell, too, which might be a polite way of saying, "He's stuck." I mean, imagine how smelly a guy would be if he was always sweating and getting dead animal blood stuck on his clothes and matted in his hairy skin, and this was before deodorant. So even though Isaac was blind, he might smell Jacob or touch his smooth arm and know the truth. Well, Rebecca was sneaky like Jacob. She told Jacob to put sheep skin on his arms and wear some of Esau's smelly clothes. Now Isaac would never know, and even though Isaac wondered why the voice sounded like Jacob, guess what? The trick worked. Jacob got the blessing. Now Esau would have to work for him. As you might imagine, Esau was furious. In fact, Rebecca had to help Jacob run away so Esau wouldn't kill him. What's really crazy about this story is Jacob messed up big time, but he really did get God's blessing. Esau even forgave him later. We don't know why God let this happen, but the truth is we all mess up sometimes, and God still wants us to be part of his story. And that's the story of Jacob and Esau. So in case you missed it, here's the quick version. Jacob and Esau were twins. They were different. Jacob tricked Esau. Esau sold his birthright for stew. Later, Esau wanted his blessing. Rebecca helped Jacob trick his dad Isaac. Jacob got Esau's blessing.

Esau was furious. Jacob ran away, but God still blessed him. And that's a part of God's story.