Listen to this amazing episode where Jacob wrestles with God, and earns the name 'Israel'.

After working for his uncle Laban for twenty years, Jacob decided that it was time for him to take his new family and go home.

After running away from Esau, Jacob ran to his uncle Laban’s home. He stayed with Laban for a month and worked for him, taking care of his animals. Laban wanted to pay Jacob for his work, so he asked Jacob what he wanted. Jacob asked to marry Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel. She was beautiful and Jacob loved her. Laban said that, if Jacob worked for him for seven years, he could marry Rachel. So Jacob worked for seven years, but they seemed like a few days because he loved Rachel so much.

On his way to his relative's house at Haran, Jacob lay down for the night near Luz. As he was dreaming, he had a vision of a ladder, or stairway, between heaven and earth. God's angels were on it, ascending and descending.

Jacob flees in fear of Esau, traveling to the house of his uncle Laban in upper Mesopotamia.

‘Esau Birthright Sold’ is a Bible story from the Book of Genesis chapter 25. Esau returns from a hunt and sells his birthright to his brother, Jacob, for a bowl of stew.

As he approached, Rebekah saw him and asked the servant, “What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us?” The servant answered, “It is Isaac.” Rebekah quickly covered her face with a veil* jumped from the camel to greet Isaac. She was excited, for she was about to meet the man God had chosen to be her husband.

Abraham wanted his son to marry a woman who worships the “true and living God” so he sent a servant back to the land of his relatives to find a wife for Isaac. Rebekah and her family believed in God. She decided to leave her home and her family and travel back to Canaan to become Isaac’s wife.

Abraham believed God. When God promised a son, Abraham believed in God’s promise even when he was old and it seemed impossible. Abraham loved God and wanted to obey Him. God kept His promise and gave Abraham the promised son, named Isaac. Imagine Abraham’s delight when he finally held his own baby boy after waiting so many years. Abraham loved Isaac. When he watched his baby boy grow into a young man, sometimes he would look at Isaac with so much love his heart felt like it would burst … but did Abraham love Isaac more than he loved God?

Abraham's wife Sarah had a maid named Hagar, an Egyptian woman, who ran away from her mistress, and saw an angel by a well, and afterward came back to Sarah. She, too, had a child and his name was Ishmael. So now there were two boys in Abraham's tent, the older boy, Ishmael, the son of Hagar, and the younger boy, Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah.