Jacob: The "Chosen" Brother
             Jacob was born holding onto the heel of his elder twin brother Esau, therefore earning him a name which is derived from the Hebrew ekev which means "heel" or "supplanter." This special birth circumstance is a prime example of the fierce rivalry between the two brothers. This rivalry almost ended in death for Jacob after Esau discovered that his younger brother and mother had fooled their father into granting Jacob the family's birthright. Jacob was forced to flee to his mother's brother, Laban, in a foreign country. Jacob's life seems to be predominated by his having to flee from one circumstance after another, thus proving an interesting person in the history of the Pentateuch.
             Laban is skeptical at first, accepting a stranger into his household, especially a male stranger, but he agrees that if Jacob will work for seven years, he will be allowed to wed Laban's youngest daughter, Rachel. At the end of seven years, Jacob is tricked into marrying Leah, Laban's eldest daughter, when the girls pull a switch on the wedding night. Jacob is outraged, but Leah reminds him of the trick he and his mother played on his brother, so he relents and agrees to Laban's request that he work seven more years in return for Rachel's hand in marriage again. After seven more years of labor, he finally acquired both daughters of Laban and had also figured out a way to breed better livestock, which made him a very rich man. The Bible tells us that Jacob became rich and Laban became increasingly poor. All Jacob wanted was for Laban to release him and let him settle into a new land of his own with his growing family. Jacob pleads
             "Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know very well the service I have given you"(Gen 30:26).
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