THE STORY OF ESAU AND JACOB
SUMMARY
Summary
Following Abrahams death, God reveals to Isaacs wife
Rebekah that she will soon give birth to two sons who
will represent two nations, one stronger than the other.
When Rebekah delivers, Esau is born first and is
extremely hairy. Jacob, who is smooth skinned, is born
immediately after, grasping the heel of his brother.
Isaacs two sons grow to be opposites. Esau is a hunter
and a brash man. Jacob stays at home, soft-spoken but
quick-witted. One day, Esau comes home famished,
demanding to be fed, and agrees to give Jacob his
inheritance rights in exchange for a bowl of soup.
Like his own father, Isaac prospers in Canaan and,
despite occasional errors in judgment, enlarges his
property, making alliances with area rulers and
continuing to erect monuments to God. One day, when
he is old and blind, Isaac instructs Esau to catch some
game and prepare him a meal so that he may give the
elder son his blessing. While Esau is gone, Rebekah
helps Jacob deceive his father, preparing a separate
meal and disguising the younger son with hairy arms
and Esaus clothing. When Jacob presents Isaac with
the meal, Isaacsmelling Esaus clothing and feeling
the hairy bodyproceeds to bless Jacob, promising him
the inheritance of Gods covenant and a greater status
than his brother. Esau returns to discover the
deception, but it is too late. Isaac, though dismayed,
says that he cannot revoke the stolen blessing.
Jacob flees in fear of Esau, traveling to the house of his
uncle Laban in upper Mesopotamia. En route, Jacob
THE STORY OF ESAU AND JACOB
SUMMARY
dreams of a stairway leading up to heaven, where
angels and God reside. In the dream, God promises
Jacob the same covenant he previously made with
Abraham and Isaac. Jacob arrives at Labans house,
where he agrees to work for his uncle in exchange for
the hand of Labans daughter, Rachel, in marriage.
Laban deceives Jacob into marrying Leah, Rachels
older sister, before marrying Rachel. The two wives
compete for Jacobs favor and, along with their maids,
give birth to eleven sons and a daughter.
After twenty years, Jacob heeds Gods urging and
leaves to return to Canaan, taking his family, his flocks,
and Labans collection of idols, or miniature
representations of gods. Rachel, who has stolen the
idolic figurines from her father, hides them under her
skirt when Laban tracks down the fleeing clan in the
desert. Unable to procure his belongings, Laban settles
his differences with Jacob, who erects a pillar of stone
as a witness to God of their peaceful resolution
(31:48). Jacob continues on and, nearing home, fears
an encounter with Esau. Jacob prepares gifts to
appease his brother and, dividing his family and
belongings into two camps, spends the night alone on
the river Jabbok. Jacob meets God, who, disguised as a
man, physically wrestles with Jacob until dawn. Jacob
demands a blessing from his opponent, and the man
blesses Jacob by renaming him Israel, meaning, he
struggles with God.
The next morning, Jacob meets Esau, who welcomes his
brother with open arms. Jacob resettles in Shechem,
THE STORY OF ESAU AND JACOB
SUMMARY
not far from Esau, who has intermarried with the
Canaanites and produced a tribe called the Edomites.
Jacob and his sons prosper in peace until one day
Jacobs daughter, Dinah, is raped by a man from
Shechem. Enraged, Jacobs sons say they will let the
Shechemite marry Dinah if all the members of the
mans family will be circumcised. The man agrees and,
while the greater part of his village is healing from the
surgical procedure, Jacobs sons take revenge and
attack the Shechemites, killing all the men. Isaac and
Rachel die soon thereafter.
Jacobs sons grow jealous of their youngest brother,
Joseph, who is Jacobs favorite son. When Jacob
presents Joseph with a beautiful, multi-colored coat, the
eleven elder brothers sell Joseph into slavery, telling
their father that Joseph is dead. Joseph is sold to
Potiphar, a high-ranking official in Egypt, who favors the
boy greatly until, one day, Potiphars flirtatious wife
accuses Joseph of trying to sleep with her. Potiphar
throws Joseph in prison, butever faithful to GodJoseph
earns a reputation as an interpreter of dreams. Years
pass until the Pharaoh of Egypt, bothered by two
troublesome dreams, hears of Joseph and his abilities.
Pharaoh summons Joseph, who successfully interprets
the dreams, warning Pharaoh that a great famine will
strike Egypt after seven years. Impressed, Pharaoh
Elects Joseph to be his highest official, and Joseph leads
a campaign throughout Egypt to set aside food in
preparation for the famine.
THE STORY OF ESAU AND JACOB
SUMMARY
Famine eventually plagues the land and, learning of the
Egyptian supply of grain, Josephs brothers go to Egypt
to purchase food. The eleven men present themselves
to Joseph, who recognizes them immediately but
refrains from revealing his identity. Joseph toys with his
brothers to test their good will, first throwing them in
jail and then sending them back to Canaan to retrieve
their newest brother, Benjamin. They return with the
boy, and Joseph continues his game, planting a silver
cup in the boys satchel and threatening to kill the boy
when the cup is discovered. When Judah offers his own
life in exchange for Benjamins, Joseph reveals his
identity. Joseph persuades his brothers to return to
Egypt with Jacob, who, overjoyed, moves to Egypt with
his family of seventy.
As Jacob approaches death, he promises Joseph that
the covenant will pass on through Joseph and his two
sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. However, when Jacob
places his hands on the two boys to bless them, he
crosses his arms, placing his right hand on Ephraim, the
younger son. Joseph protests, but Jacob says that
Ephraim will be greater than Manasseh. Jacob dies soon
thereafter and, accompanied by Egyptians, Joseph
buries his father in Canaan. They return to Egypt,
where Jacobs descendants, the Israelite people, grow
rapidly. Joseph eventually dies, instructing his family to
return one day to the land God has promised to give to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Analysis
THE STORY OF ESAU AND JACOB
SUMMARY
The division of the world into binary opposites, initiated
with the creation story, dominates the latter half of
Genesis. Just as light absolutely opposes darkness and
male absolutely opposes female in the creation story,
Esau and Jacob are diametrically opposed in everything
from their appearance to their occupations and
behavior. Rachel and Leah constitute another pair of
binary opposites, struggling with each other for Jacobs
affections. Oppositions continue, not only between
Josephs sons, Ephraim and Mannasseh, but with other,
more intangible elements, such as the wrestling match
between God and man, the contrast between
abundance and famine in Egypt, and the decidedly
joyful welcome of Esau after Jacobs expectations of a
violent homecoming. Alongside the motif of opposites
runs a motif of substitution or crossing; Jacob is blessed
instead of Esau, and Jacob himself crosses his arms
when he blesses Josephs sons, bestowing the higher
blessing on the younger son.
These opposing elements generate both irony and
radical reversals in the stories of Isaac, Jacob, and
Joseph. Esau does not merely receive a lesser blessing
because Jacob steals his inheritance but is actually
cursed to serve his younger brother forever, barred
from the covenant entirely. Characters are increasingly
tricky or deceptive in these stories, and their skill at
deception usually earns them praise and privilege
rather than punishment. Jacob deceives Esau, and as a
result becomes the founder of one of the greatest
nations in the Old Testament. Laban deceives Jacob,
and receives twice as many years of service from him
THE STORY OF ESAU AND JACOB
SUMMARY
as a result. Rachel hides her fathers idols under her
dress, and Jacobs sons murderously trick the
Shechemites. The most interesting deception, on a
literary level, is Josephs decision to veil his identity
from his brothers. The elaborate deception builds in
suspense over four chapters, as the narrative does not
make it clear whether Joseph plans to enact revenge or
simply to scare his brothers. When Judah offers to give
his life for Benjamin, and Joseph forgives his brothers,
trickery is replaced by the possibility of redemption,
foreshadowing Gods plan to reverse the Israelites
fortune with a promise of abundance in a new land.
Joseph plays a game of punishment and redemption
with his brothers, and God plays the same game with
the whole of humanity throughout Genesis. God creates
a realm of opposing forces, symbols, and reversals to
suggest a pattern of how and through whom his
covenant will be revealed. The game is in the
foreground, while God and his reasons for playing the
game move into the background of the Genesis
narrative. The game becomes literal rather than
figurative when God wrestles Jacob by the Jabbok River.
The event is a metaphor for how God conveys his
promise to humankind in the second half of Genesis.
Just as the mysterious man never identifies himself to
Jacob, so God recedes further and further from
humankind. Jacob, however, is able to see past his
opponents bodily appearance because he is persistent
and faithful, eventually able to wrest a blessing from
this obscured manifestation of God. The giving of the
name Israel to Jacob not only commemorates this
THE STORY OF ESAU AND JACOB
SUMMARY
specific struggle but also commemorates the struggle
of the Israelites with an unseen God. Joseph, the
ancestor of the Israelites, never has an explicit
conversation with God, yet he notes in the final chapter
of Genesis that the happy outcome of the first trick his
brothers play on him has helped to save many lives in
Egypt. The experience of Joseph and Jacob shows that
Gods covenant is fulfilled largely through the act of
struggling.
