Jacob’s escape from his brother Esau

For many years Rebecca was unable to give birth children to her husband Isaac, so they prayed with great faith to the LORD and were answered. The woman gave birth two twins, Esau and Jacob. They were two very different personalities, Esau loved to go hunting, while Jacob preferred stay at home. From the womb the two brothers seemed to be fighting over their birthright. One day, while the eldest was out hunting, Jacob prepared a lentil soup, and when his brother came home hungry, he asked for some soup. Jacob proposed it in exchange for the primogeniture. So Esau answered him, “All right. I’m about to starve to death, what do I do with my birthright?” And so he ate, but he broke his promise. A long time came for Jacob to get his acquired right. Isaac was supposed to bless the firstborn as tradition required, and so for the special occasion he asked Esau to go and catch some game, and then prepare a tasty dish for him, saying, “I will eat it, and then I will give you my blessing. But Rebecca, who preferred to give the primogeniture to Jacob, had listened to everything, so when Esau went hunting, she organized with her son Jacob a way to exploit the situation and the fact that in old age her husband’s eyesight was now weak. “Go at once to the flock and get me two nice goats. I’ll cook your father a dish to his taste. You will bring it to your father and he will give you his blessing.” So Rebecca invited her son to cover his hands and neck with the skin of the kids, to look as hairy as her brother Esau by deceiving his father. When Esau realized that he had been defrauded of his birthright, he became very angry and declared revenge to his brother.
Jacob feared death for his brother Esau’s sake and so on his mother’s advice he fled far away, led by his uncle Laban. To reach his goal, he had to cross a deserted area and always fearing to be reached by his brother, he ran all day long. In the evening after falling asleep he had a vision of the ladder.