So I was tutor this teenage Jewish girl on the book of Genesis... It was the first time I had read it, but she needed me to make the material interesting.

When I finally got to the story of Isacs sons Esau and Joseph I couldnt believe it, what a bloody prick. Joseph taking advantage of his older brothers stew addiction to make un extremely unfair trade, One pot of Stew for Esau's birth right as first born.

my question is was it "wrong" of Joseph to make such a trade with his brother and take advantage of a poor stew addict like that?

Without the hyperbole, it's still wrong.

Isn't it Jacob? Not Joseph.

Jacob and Esau?

ok it could have been Jacob, but I think he goes through a couple name changes, ending with the name israel..... The name isnt terribly important though.... now to google the hyperbole

Well, Joseph is one of Jacob's sons, so it is important not to confuse the two.

When you think about it, it wasn't fair to begin with. Esau had the birth right just because he was older. Jacob used his own ability (being clever) to get the birthright from Esau, who didn't really even care about it that much.

The point of the story is that Jacob, ancestor of the Israelites, is the underdog, and he uses trickery to gain the underhand. However, he gets a taste of his own medicine from his uncle Laban later on http://www.totse.com/bbs/tongue.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/tongue.gif)

quote:Originally posted by Viraljimmy:

Isn't it Jacob? Not Joseph.

Jacob and Esau?

Yea. It is.

*Not to be incredibly off topic here, but I once read a really awesome book called Jacob Have I Loved Essau Have I Hated.

Cheers,

Lost