Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebekah. He was the younger twin to his brother Esau, who as the first born inherited the birthright. When they were born, they were struggling with each other fiercely. Esau came out first with Jacob grasping his heel. The two children grew up very differently. While Esau became and outdoorsmen and skilled hunter, Jacob was simple and preferred to stay in the tents. He was Rebekah's favorite while Esau became Isaac's.
One day Esau came in from a hunt famished. He begged Jacob for some of the soup he was cooking. Jacob would only give him because he was so hungry.
As Isaac grew older, his eyesight failed him. When he was close to death, he called Esau to him. He told him to go hunt for an animal to eat so he could bless Esau after the meal. Rebekah, who favored Jacob, was listening to this conversation and helped Jacob prepare a dish in place of Esau's. She then put sheepskin on Jacob's smooth arms to feel like Esau's hairy ones and clothed him in Esau's best clothes so Jacob would smell like Esau to Isaac. Then Jacob served Isaac the meal and pretended to be Esau and in this way, tricked his father into giving him the birthright. When Esau returned home and learned of what his brother had done, he hated Jacob and vowed to kill him. With Rebekah's forewarning of Esau's plans, Jacob fled to go live with Rebekah's brother Laban in Haran.
One night on his way to Haran, Jacob had a wonderful dream. A stairway led up to heaven from earth and the Lord's messengers were going up and down. Then God appeared to Jacob and renewed the covenant he made with Abraham and Isaac. Jacob named the sacred site Bethel, or House of God.
When Jacob reached Haran, he met Rachel, Haran's daughter, who took him to see her father. Jacob met Laban and they agreed that for seven years of service, Jacob could marry Rachel. After seven years had passed, Jacob married Rachel, who wore a veil the entire night. When Jacob awoke the next morning, he was enraged to find that it was Leah, Rachel's older sister, in the bed beside him. When Jacob confronted Laban, Laban replied that it was their custom that the oldest daughter be married first and in return for seven more years of service, he could have Rachel's hand in marriage.
Leah, under the grace of God, bore Jacob many children, while Rachel had none. Rachel, angry at being barren, gave her maidservant Bilhah to Jacob to have a son by her. She bore Jacob two children, Dan and Naphtali. Leah then gave her maidservant Zilpah to Jacob to have more children by her. Then Leah had two more sons and one daughter. Then Rachel finally conceived Joseph on her own.
Laban asked Joseph what he could pay him for his time spent in service to him. He told Laban to give him all the speckled animals in his flock. He then mated all the speckled with the solid colors and so he was able to keep all the newborns that were speckled because he bred them that way.
Jacob soon learned that Laban's sons were angry with him for tricking their father, so he called Rachel and Leah to him. They fled with their new flocks and possessions. Laban, however, caught up with them at Mt. Gilead. He was very angry, but God had appeared to him in a dream and told him not to harm Jacob. Laban then accused Jacob of stealing his idols of false gods. He searched Jacob's camp but found nothing. Rachel had stolen the idols, but hid them in the pillow she was sitting on when her father searched her tent.
Jacob became enraged at Laban. He yelled and cursed him about how he had spent 20 years in service while Laban had cheated him and constantly changed deals; he only had what he had because of God. But then Laban repented and made a pact with Jacob that he should have only his two daughters as wives and Laban would let them go. God would be watching both of them. They made a mound as a witness and neither was to pass it into each other's lands with hostile intent.
When Jacob had almost reached home, he sent a message seeking forgiveness to his brother Esau, but when his messengers came back, they told him that Esau was coming with 400 men. Jacob was afraid and divided his camp into two parts in hope that if one was destroyed, the other might survive. Then he sent over 500 animals in many separate flocks and each shepherd was to say "These flocks belong to your brother, Jacob, and he sends them as an offering to you. Jacob is right behind us." Jacob hoped that in this way by the time he reached Esau, he would be ready to forgive him.
During the night, Jacob awoke and took his family and possessions across a stream. There he met a man whom he wrestled with until daybreak. When the man discovered there was no way he could win, he touched Jacob's hip socket, which immediately went lame. Jacob asked the man for a blessing and the man named him Israel, or 'he who struggles with God'. This man was God.
The next day when Esau and Jacob met, Esau ran forward and hugged and kissed Jacob. He was overjoyed to see Jacob again. Jacob and his family settled in Succoth. Soon however trouble fell on Jacob's house. Shechem, son of Hamor, raped his daughter Dinah. His sons, hungry for revenge, advanced on their town and obliterated it. They killed all the males and carried off all of the towns' flocks.
Then one day, God came to Jacob. He told him to go back to Bethel, where he had the dream about the stairway. Jacob got his family together, purified them, and left for Bethel. When they arrived, Jacob built an altar. God came to him again and once more renewed the covenant he made with Abraham and Isaac.
On the way from Bethel, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin, who became Jacob's favorite next to Joseph. Jacob then went to be with his father Isaac while he died. Jacob finally settled for good in Canaan. There, Jacob lost Joseph to the jealousy of his other sons who sold him into slavery in Egypt.
Then many years later a famine swept the land and Jacob sent all of his sons minus Benjamin, who he couldn't stand to lose, to buy grain from the Egyptians. They returned with the grain and a full refund that they were unaware of. The man they had bought the grain from, who was really Joseph, told them not to come back to Egypt unless they brought their youngest brother with them, so when the brothers made a second trip, they brought Benjamin along with them. Joseph revealed to them after testing their character that he was their brother, and he forgave them. Jacob, full of joy and wonder, went to live with his son in Egypt.
When Jacob was close to death, he called his family to him. He blessed Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and predicted the future of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, each headed by his twelve sons. Jacob then died. Joseph , his family, and many members of the Egyptian government went with him to the field of Machpelah in Canaan, a field that Abraham had bought for use as a burial ground from the Hittites. Jacob was buried there with his two wives Rebekah and Leah.
A parent, Mr. bob Tandler, wrote
The two stories by Zack Hartwig in the TEEN HEBREW SCRIPTURES section, The Story of Isaac and Jacob, both describe Jacob, dressing like Esau and tricking an old, blinded Isaac into giving him the birthright (that naturally belonged to Esau).� I understood the story to be that Esau traded his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of food.� What Jacob received when he tricked his father by dressing like Esau was Isaac's coveted blessing.