Jacob and Esau

Cultural  

1. The sons of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham. As the eldest son of Isaac, Esau should have inherited the covenant with God that Abraham had passed on to Isaac. But Esau traded his birthright (inheritance) to his younger brother, Jacob, for a “mess of pottage” (a meal of stew) when he was too hungry to consider what he was throwing away. Jacob also cheated Esau out of their blind father's deathbed blessing by impersonating him, a deceit prompted by their mother, Rebecca. The feud between the brothers ended many years later in a joyful reconciliation. The night before his reunion with Esau, Jacob wrestled with God and forced God to bless him. God gave Jacob the new name of Israel, meaning “one who has been strong against God.” (See Jacob's ladder.)

---

Example Sentences

They’ve been symbols of light and shade, divinity and mortality, good and evil; embodiments of enduring love, like the Greek Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, as well as mortal enmity, such as the Bible’s Jacob and Esau.

From New York Times

There’s fraternal competition, as old and awful as Jacob and Esau.

From New York Times

It’s about Jacob and Esau, whose story my Torah reading covers.

From Literature

The trope of twins ensnared with each other traces back to Castor and Pollux, Jacob and Esau, but she makes it fresh.

From Washington Post

As a study that Feinberg co-authored notes, the book of Genesis, which includes the “founding stories of the Western psyche,” is dripping with tales of murderous and covetous siblings, like Cain and Abel and Jacob and Esau.

From New York Times