Jacob And Esau Definition & Meaning

Definition

Examples

Jacob and Esau Cultural

1. The sons of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham. As the eldest son of Isaac, Esau should have inherited the covenant with God that Abraham had passed on to Isaac. But Esau traded his birthright (inheritance) to his younger brother, Jacob, for a “mess of pottage” (a meal of stew) when he was too hungry to consider what he was throwing away. Jacob also cheated Esau out of their blind father's deathbed blessing by impersonating him, a deceit prompted by their mother, Rebecca. The feud between the brothers ended many years later in a joyful reconciliation. The night before his reunion with Esau, Jacob wrestled with God and forced God to bless him. God gave Jacob the new name of Israel, meaning “one who has been strong against God.” (See Jacob's ladder.)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They’ve been symbols of light and shade, divinity and mortality, good and evil; embodiments of enduring love, like the Greek Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, as well as mortal enmity, such as the Bible’s Jacob and Esau.

From New York Times

There’s fraternal competition, as old and awful as Jacob and Esau.

From New York Times

It’s about Jacob and Esau, whose story my Torah reading covers.

From Literature

The trope of twins ensnared with each other traces back to Castor and Pollux, Jacob and Esau, but she makes it fresh.

From Washington Post

As a study that Feinberg co-authored notes, the book of Genesis, which includes the “founding stories of the Western psyche,” is dripping with tales of murderous and covetous siblings, like Cain and Abel and Jacob and Esau.

From New York Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.