The trickster figure features prominently in the Book of Genesis, from the wife/sister narratives of Abram and Isaac, to the persistently deceptive natures of Jacob and Laban. As prominent as the trickster figure is in The Book of Genesis, no other characters are shown to be as inherently deceptive as are Jacob and Laban. Jacob and Laban's deceptive characters serve to illustrate such themes as marginalization, primogeniture, sibling rivalry and reconciliation, and warn of the risks of deceiving those close to us. Additionally, Jacob's dealings with Laban remind us of the overriding theme of the covenant made between God and Abraham, that God will be with Abraham and all of his offspring after him (Gen. 17.7).
             Jacob and Esau's rivalry began with the brothers struggling in Rebekah's womb. Jacob was born after Esau, "with his hand gripping Esau's heel" (25.26). Because Jacob is not the first born, he is immediately marginalized from the men in the family and does not have the birthright of the elder Esau. Jacob is further marginalized from the men in his family because his brother is the hunter, and "Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game" (25.28). As in other trickster narratives of the Pentateuch, it is the marginalized who turn to deception to avert a perceived threat (e.g. wife/sister narratives of Abraham and Isaac). In Jacob's case, the perceived threat is that he, as the younger brother, is to serve Esau and not receive their father's blessing.
             The brothers' rivalry continues when Esau returns from hunting empty-handed and starving. Jacob refuses to feed Esau any of the stew that he has cooked unless Esau sells him his birthright (25.31). While bribing his starving brother with stew is not actually deceptive, the bribe functions to demonstrate the plotting, devious nature of the trickster, and questions the idea of primogeniture, in that God's will is for Jacob to be the dominant brother, as God told Rebekah:
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