Who got the blessing? Jacob or Esau?

As far as we can tell, Esau had a pretty good life. He acquired much livestock and goods. He had wives, children and servants. His descendants were so numerous they became a kingdom (known as Edom).  He even showed grace toward his brother Jacob -- who had stolen the blessing due the eldest son.  

Jacob, on the other hand, fled for his life after cheating Esau. He went to his uncle Laban -- who turned out to be similarly deceptive, cheating Jacob out of 7 years of labor for a bride that he didn't want. While working for Laban, he devised a questionable way to develop his own herds, thereby arousing jealousy amongst his cousins and prompting Jacob to flee once again. Years later, he bore much grief when he learned that his favourite son had been killed -- a deception carried out by his other children who had actually sold the son into slavery! Jacob's life was a nightmare of deceiving and being deceived -- not quite the classic definition we associate with the word "blessed".

Looking closer we see a life transformed.  As a child Jacob was groomed by his mother to use deceptive means to get what he wanted. He wanted the right thing - God's blessing - but he went about getting it in all the wrong ways. After years of living in distrust and fear for his life, he came to a low point at Bethel.  There he met God and their struggle came to its climax. We read that Jacob would not let God go until his blessing was assured. And God did bless him in response to this new humility.  From this point forward we hear of no more deception on Jacob's part.  His encounter with God changed him, so much so that He also changed his name...to Israel.  He is literally the (grand)father of all Hebrew/Jewish people. 

While God's blessing toward Jacob wasn't obvious for most of his life, we easily see the richness of God's blessing on him today. We see, as did Jacob, that God transformed him into the new man - Israel. We also see how he became a tenacious nation that has endured against all odds.  And finally, from Jacob's flesh came our saviour -- Jesus, the light and life of the world.