In 260 BC, Isaacs wife Rebekah gives birth to twins, Jacob and Esau. Isaac lived in Egypt and Jacob is the second born son of Isaac and Rebekah. The Lord told Rebekah and Isaac that " two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided. One shall be stronger than the other and the elder shall serve the younger."
One day, Jacob was cooking up a great stew as Esau returned, famished from hunting. Esau was starving from his day of work and needed something to fulfil his hunger. Jacob agreed and gave Esau the stew, in exchange for the birth right. Esau was too famished to realise what he has just agreed to.
Jacob pretended to be Esau and tricked dying Isaac to give him the birth right, which Esau actually agreed to before in exchange for soup. Jacob gets the birth right with the help of his mother and Esau is fuming.
After successfully acquiring the blessing of the birth right from his father, he began to fear the wrath of his brother. Because of the encouragement of his mother and the recommendation of his father, Jacob fled to the land of Haran. There he was to find a wife. Jacob did fall in love with Rachel, his cousin.
After another six years, Jacob left to return to his father’s house. On his return journey, Jacob was visited by three angels. Many believe this was a sort of welcoming party back to the Promised Land. When he became aware of the approaching band of people led by his brother he sent a peace offering and greetings on to his brother Esau.
During his time with the Lord and travel back to meet again with Esau, Jacob was visited by another angel of the Lord. This unusual visit was spent in a wrestling match between the angel and Jacob. As the angel could not overcome Jacob, he touched his hip and caused it to be wrenched from then on. Jacob refused to release the angel until he blessed him. From then on the Lord changed Jacob’s name to Israel, which means struggles with God. When Jacob resumed his journey home and met up with his brother Esau, the brothers met as friends and continued that relationship through the remainder of their lives.