Activity Suggestion: The story could be play by the children. Print and use this text as a script, make costumes for the actors and have fun!
" Give me some of that stew, I'm starving!" said Esau.
Jacob said, "Sure! I'll give you some stew IF you will give me your Birthright."
You see, the Birthright was a very important thing. When Isaac died, Esau's Birthright would make him the head of the household.
But Esau didn't care about tomorrow. He was hungry NOW.
"All right! All right!" Esau said, "You can have my Birthright."
"Do you promise?" Jacob said.
"I promise!" Esau snapped. So Jacob gave Esau what he wanted, a bowl of stew.
Esau didn't value much the Birthright.When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau.
"My son."
"Here I am," Esau answered.
Isaac said, " I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. Get your weapons and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die."
Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. As soon as Esau left, Rebekah said to Jacob,
"Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it ot your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."
Jacob said to his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing."
His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. just do what I say, go and get them for me."
And so Jacob went and got the goats, brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. He went to his father and said,
"My father."
"Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?"
Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."
Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?"
"God game me success," he replied.
Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."
Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. Are you really my son Esau?" he asked.
"I am," he replied.
And so Isaac ate the meal Jacob brought it to him. Then Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me and then I will give you my blessing."
So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,
“Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell
of a field that the Lord has blessed.
May God give you the dew of heaven,
and the richness of the earth,
corn and new wine in plenty!
May nations and peoples bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may theons of your mother bow dowan to you.
May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."
After Isaac finished blessing him, Jacob left his father and his brother Esau came in from hunting. He prepared some food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him,
" My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that ou may give me your blessing."
His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?"
"I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."
Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him and indeed he will be blessed!"
Then Esau burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me, me too, my father!"
"I can't your brother came and took your blessing." replied his father.
From that day on Esau hated his brother Jacob who deceived him twice by taking his birthright and then his blessing. Esau said to himself, "One day, my father will die, and then I will kill my brother Jacob!"
Esau's words got back to Rebekah.
"Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. Stay with him for a while until your brother no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him. I'll send word for you to come back from there."
Next: Jacob and Esau unite
Boardgame to review the lesson
