Why were Jacob and Esau at odds?

Answer 1

In The Bible, Jacob wronged Esau because he "stole" the blessing his father was going to give to Esau (Genesis 27:1-40) . Jacob did this by pretending to be Esau. He lied to his father basically. He deceived him. His father couldn't tell by sight if it was Esau because he was blind (Genesis 27:1).

Answer 2

A:

Jacob and Esau are portrayed as bitter rivals who were constantly at loggerheads, with Jacob stealing Esau's birthright by subterfuge. Genesis 25:22-26 says that they fought even before their birth and Jacob held on to Esau's heel in an attempt to prevent him being born first, something that would have required intelligence, awareness of the outside world and manual dexterity far beyond the capabilities of ordinary mortals. A literal reading of the story, as it has come down to us in the Bible, says that Jacob's bitter rivalry with Esau was over ownership of Israel.

However, there is good evidence that the biblical stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob evolved from much earlier stories in which they were successive incarnations of the moon god, and Esau was the sun god in legend. Although Esau is not mentioned by name in the story of Jacob's wrestle, this demonstrates something of the nature of the earlier myths and legends. Just after Jacob left Esau, he was left alone and wrestled with an opponent all night until the break of day, when the man said he must leave (Genesis 32:24ff). Even though his leg was dislocated, Jacob refused to let his opponent go unless he blessed Jacob. That the 'man' was a god is amply demonstrated - Jacob asked for his blessing, he had the prerogative of changing Jacob's name, Jacob's new name was Israel (generally assumed to mean 'wrestled with God') and Jacob called the place Peniel ('the face of God') because he had seen God face to face. If the man who wrestled with Jacob was a god, then Jacob was also a god in the much earlier tradition behind this passage, as demonstrated by the fact that he was such an even match for his opponent. And if the opponent was a god, he was also a sun god - daybreak signalled the end of the contest, he had to leave Jacob before the sun could rise, then the sun rose upon Jacob. This is consistent with the ancient daily struggle in which the sun god defeats the moon god at dawn.

Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel) describe archaeological finds consistent with worship of the sun god and the moon god in Israel and Judah during the monarchical period, and say that the moon god was portrayed anthropomorphically in the form of an El deity.

Answer 3

Jacob lie to his father pretended to be Esau his brother.

"And Jacob said to his father Isaac, I am Esau thy first born; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me." Genesis 27:19 (KJV)

"And he said, thy brother came with subtilty and hath taken away thy blessing. And Esau said, is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? Genesis 27:35-36 (KJV)

Jewish answer:

The word "lie" is inappropriate, though Jacob did stretch the truth, as commanded by his mother to do (Genesis ch.27). The reason that it was not a lie for Jacob to claim being Esau, was that Esau had willingly sold him his birthright as firstborn (Genesis ch.25). This entitled Jacob, not Esau, to Isaac's primary blessing, as had been foretold (Genesis 25).