Whenever I read this section I am always thinking about the deception that has happened so far in this family and whether that has an effect on how Jacob will turn out. Abraham, you remember, lied at least twice about Sarah being his sister to avoid being killed. Now, in these chapters, Isaac does the same thing. If you were the son and grandson of someone who deceived, what would your set of values (morals) concerning lying be? It should be no surprise then, that Jacob would be a deceiver. He starts right away by grabbing his brother's heel and then follows this up by stealing his birthright for a stew dinner. Esau (or Edom) then has his blessing stolen by the very sneaky plan of Rebekah and Jacob. He makes a meal and covers himself in hair so as to confuse his father who has poor sight. This leads to the stealing of the blessing, a murderous threat and a fleeing Jacob. Talk about family disfunction!
All the while, more nations are being birthed. Edom will become a nation that will affect Israel, so will some of Abraham's later sons – Midian, Joktan, etc. This will provide Israel some difficult situations in the days to come – note this storyline detail!
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