April 12, 2026

Do you remember the twins’ names? The first was Esau; the second was Jacob. When Esau was born, his body was red and hairy. The name Esau actually means “hairy.” Jacob was born holding Esau’s heel. His name means “he takes by the heel” or “he cheats.” It was the perfect name because he grew up to be quite a trickster. Esau became a skillful hunter. He loved the outdoors! Jacob was the opposite: he “was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.” Isaac (the dad) favored Esau because he would hunt animals and serve him yummy meat to eat. But Rebekah (the mom) favored Jacob. One day, Esau came back tired from a long day of hunting. Exhausted Esau saw that his brother was cooking stew. “Give me a bowl!” he ordered. “Hmm,” tricky Jacob thought, “sure. But I want something in return. Trade me your birthright!” “My birthright,” Esau said, “who cares about that? I’m starving to death!” Esau wasn’t thinking about how amazing his birthright was, he was just thinking about what he wanted right then. You see, the birthright means, when the dad dies, the firstborn son gets everything his father owned. But Esau was so foolish that he followed his belly and agreed to Jacob’s sneaky offer. He gave away his amazing birthright. Jacob’s next sneaky move comes when his dad is about to die and nearly blind. Before he died, Isaac wanted to give his oldest son Esau a blessing. Rebekah’s love for Jacob made her a trickster too. She dressed Jacob up in Esau’s clothes and stuck dead, furry animals on his skin so, when Jacob brought his father a yummy meal (like Esau did after hunting), his father would think he was his hairy brother. It worked! The tricky twin cheated the hairy one yet again. Isaac gave Esau’s blessing to Jacob. Amazing! Want to hear something even more amazing? Even before Jacob and Esau were born, God had told Rebekah that the older son would serve the younger son. That is, God had chosen Jacob, instead of Esau, to receive his promise of
blessing. Jacob’s sin didn’t stop God’s plan to bless him and keep his promise to Abraham.