FBkids: Lesson 13 - Jacob and Esau

Bible Story – Lesson 13

Hello boys and girls! Happy Sunday! I am still praying for you all as we can’t be together yet. I pray you are making some wonderful memories with your families and that God blesses this time together.

Today we are actually going to be talking about blessings. We are going to learn about two of Abraham’s sons, Jacob and Esau.

Do you remember that God made a covenant with Abraham? A covenant is a promise. God promised that Abraham would have many children, that he would have many nations, and that God would be with him and all these nations. This promise would be passed down to the first-born child of every generation for many years.

Abraham’s son Isaac married a woman named Rebekah. She became pregnant with twins. These babies were unique! The fought even while Rebekah was still pregnant. God told Rebekah that her two children would be very different from each other. He said that the older would even serve the younger.

This was strange because usually the oldest child becomes the family leader. Even so, God chose the younger son and passed the covenant on to him. When the twins were born the were, in fact, very different. Esau was born first and he had red hair all over his body. He didn’t look like his brother Jacob at all.

As they boys got older, they liked doing different things. Esau like to hunt and spend time outdoors. Jacob preferred to stay home. He learned to cook like his mom.

One day Jacob made some delicious stew. Esau had been out early in the morning hunting and he was very hungry. So hungry that he could smell the stew from a far way off.

As soon as Esau got home, he asked Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of your stew, I'm starving!" Jacob replied, "First give me your birthright."

A birthright is an extra blessing for the oldest child. Jacob and Esau's family believed that the oldest child should receive double of all the things they would leave behind after they died. Things like money and the farm with all the animals.

Esau could only think about how hungry he was, so he gave his birthright to his brother Jacob. By choosing food over his birthright Esau did a bad thing. He made a decision he couldn't change and he disappointed God by not seeing the importance of his special gift. he chose a silly thing like a bowl of soup instead.

The story isn't over yet. The next part of the story is about Jacob and the bad choices he makes.

Isaac was getting old and he wasn't able to see anymore. He wanted to give his oldest and favorite son Esau his blessing before he died. This blessing was the special promise that God promised to his grandfather Abraham, and then to his father Isaac.

Isaac loved the food that Esau hunted. He told Esau to go hunt and prepare a special meal for him and then he would give him the blessing.

Rebekah overheard Isaac talking to Esau and rushed to tell her favorite son Jacob. She said to Jacob, "Your father is about to give Esau his blessing and I want you to have it instead. You need to go get two of our goats and bring them to me,I will prepare them just the way Isaac likes it. Then you can take it to him and he will give you the blessing instead."

Jacob replied, "But, Esau is a hairy man. What if our father touches me and realizes that I'm tricking him?"

His mother said to him, "Don't worry you can wear Esau's clothes and we'll put the goat hair on your hands and neck so he'll never know."

So they did just that and Jacob went to see his father pretending to be Esau.

In this way Jacob tricked Isaac into giving him the blessing meant for Esau. When Esau found out he was furious! He was so angry that he wanted to kill his brother. Rebekah sent Jacob away to save his life.

Even through this trickery and sin, God still chose to bless Jacob. This is a picture of salvation. Salvation comes to those God has chosen before their birth. It comes according to God’s choice, not according to what humans want. The only way to be saved is to entrust ourselves to God through Jesus Christ.

Thanks for listening today. Let’s all keep praying for each other and our world. Have a great week!