Jacob and Esau are born

And when the time came, the twins were born.

The first was very red at birth. He was covered with so much hair that one would think he was wearing a piece of clothing. So they called him Esau which means hair.

Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau's heel. So they called him Jacob which means he grasps at the heel, but it also mean deceive which will be important shortly in our story. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.

Twins Jacob and Esau

Today, we tell the history of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Did you enjoy your trip to Israel? What were some of the high points?

< = = = Ein Gedi and Masada were awesome. I liked celebrating Shabatt in Israel. The buffet breakfast at the hotels, I liked everything. We hired an armored bus and went to Rachel's tomb, Hebron, and the cave of the patriarch's that you have been telling me about. And we went to Ramat David, where my cousin flies an F16 and he let me climb into the cockpit, it was all great.

Excellent, well let's begin with our story. When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban. Isaac pleaded with the LORD to give Rebekah a child because she was childless. So the LORD answered Isaac's prayer, and his wife became pregnant with twins.

But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the LORD about it. "Why is this happening to me?" she asked. And the LORD told her, "The sons in your womb will become two rival nations. One nation will be stronger than the other; the descendants of your older son will serve the descendants of your younger son."