31. No man is altogether good and no one is wholly bad. Good and evil
struggle for the mastery in us. Jacob is a man in whom this is very
clearly seen. He was the twin brother of Esau, but Esau had the right of
the oldest son. This was called the birthright. It was very important in
that day. It meant that after the father's death Esau would become the
head of the tribe, and would have twice as much of the property as his
brother. Jacob did not like this and began to scheme to get the better
of his brother.