The story of Jacob and Esau is very similar to the story of Isaac and Ishmael. We can only speculate on the reasons for the similarities for the Bible is the oldest source of historical documentation of these men. With these similarities we must first look simply at the names.

First we must mention Isaac. The story of Isaac, outside of the moment where he was nearly sacrificed by Abraham, is insignificant. Everything mentioned about Isaac is relative to Abraham’s care for him along with the i...