1. Since Esau and Jacob are both the firstborn sons, we can only assume that problems such as we have seen in the past will arise.  Right away we are told that Isaac likes Esau better, the one who is more manly, hairy, and a hunter.  Rebekah likes Jacob better, the softer, quieter of the two.  This automatically pits the brothers against each other in gaining the affections of their parents.  It also puts the parents at odds because they disagree which son is the better one and who is more worthy of his father's blessing.  The two boys seem very different in all ways.  Not only are they different in appearance, but their personality and interests also differ from one another.  Jacob likes to stay inside and cook while Esau likes to go out and hunt.  I also noticed that Jacob seems to be more deceptive than Esau.  He makes Esau sell him his birthright for a bowl of soup, and later on Rebekah helps him deceive Isaac into giving him the blessing instead of Esau.  We do not see such actions by Esau, although who knows what he might have done if he were in Jacob's position.

3. The role of the parents in this conflict is very large.  They both show an obvious favoritism that fuels both sons to compete with one another.  Esau must feel a certain power and overall "betterness" over Jacob because he is favored by his father, a more important figure than his mother.  Jacob most likely feels inferior to Esau in this way, but his mother helps him create intelligent plans of deception to overcome that.  Rebecca uses the words of her husband to foil his plan to give the blessing to Esau.  She is the most deceptive person in this story.  She knows how to fool Isaac and get what she wants.  She is supposed to be obedient to her husband and follow his wishes, but instead she changes everything to fall the way she would like.  It is obvious that she cares so much more for her son than anything else, especially when she says "Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me."  She doesn't much care about anything else besides her son getting this important blessing, even if that means carrying the burden and responsibility of the actions.


4. Jacob's dream can be taken as a message to the Jews in general, rather than just Jacob as an individual.  In all of Genesis and even later in the Bible we see the Lord telling certain people of all the descendants that they are to have--the Jews.  He also tells Jacob how far they will spread, which we know comes later on.  He will not leave "Jacob" until this is done, and in history, God did not leave the Jewish people until this goal was reached.  He came to many prophets and helped them to lead the Jewish people to new lands.  This dream could also be a parallel for the beginning of the Jewish faith/journey.  It basically sums up the beginning beliefs of the Jewish religion and Genesis itself, or the message that Genesis is meant to give to readers.