Jacob

Isaac Blessing Jacob, Govert Flinck, 1638

Jacob or Ya'akov (Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב; Arabic: يعقوب, Yaʿqūb; "holds the heel"), also known as Israel ("Struggles with God"), was the third biblical patriarch and the father of the Israelites. His father was Isaac, and his grandfather was Abraham. According to the biblical account, Jacob was the father of one daughter and 12 sons, who became the 12 Tribes of Israel. He was the husband of two primary wives, Leah and Rachel, and two secondary wives, Bilhah and Zilpah.

In the Book of Genesis, Jacob overcomes many adversities to win God's blessing and a central place as the father of the Israelite people. Although some of his deeds—notably his deception of his father to gain the blessing of the first-born son—have been criticized as morally suspect, in the main he can be regarded as an example of a man who strove for his rightful place in history by winning over his adversaries, not by the sword, but by his wits, hard work, heroic persistence, and abiding faith.

Jacob's course of suffering for 21 years in Haran can be seen as a model for all those who must endure exile and privation. His course service to Laban is a model for those who wish to win the respect and trust of their oppressors. His wrestling with the angel shows that a man of strong faith can defeat the spiritual forces of darkness and the demons of his own mind. Most importantly, his dramatic and humble effort to make peace with his brother Esau—dramatically reversing the story of Cain and Abel—is the very first example of a man who successfully practices the dictum "love your enemy." It is paradigmatic for how all people can attain a peaceful "victory" over their adversaries, attaining the goal of unity through unselfish love. It can also be applied to groups and even nations.

Biblical accounts

Struggle over the Birthright

Jacob was born to Isaac and Rebekah after 20 years of marriage. Rebekah had been barren, but Isaac's prayers for her were answered when she finally conceived. During Rebekah's pregnancy, "the children struggled together within her" (Genesis 25:22). Rebekah questioned God about the tumult in her womb, and she received a message that "two nations struggled" within her. "The one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." (Gen. 25:23)

Jacob was born immediately after his twin brother Esau, and his hand grasped Esau's heel. His name, Ya'akov (יעקב), derives from the Hebrew word for "heel." Rabbinical commentators explain that Jacob was trying to hold Esau back from being the firstborn. The struggle with his brother over the birthright was the major theme in Jacob's life. It is evident from the text that God also favored Jacob, yet Esau was born first. Jacob's mother, who understood from the prophecy that it was Jacob's destiny to take the position of first-born, raised him with that ambition. Yet Isaac the father took no notice, and favored Esau.

File:Jacob-Esau-Birthright.jpg

Esau sells Jacob his birthright.

Jacob and his twin brother were markedly different in appearance and behavior. Esau was a hunter whose body was covered with red hair, but Jacob was a gentle man who "dwelled in tents," apparently preferring to stay close to home. One day while Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau returned from hunting, faint from hunger. Esau requested some of the stew, which Jacob agreed to give him in exchange for his birthright as the older brother. Esau agreed, saying, "I am going to die - what is this birthright to me?" (Genesis 25:29-34)

Jacob Steals His Father's Blessing

File:Isaac-and-Jacob.jpg

Jacob receives Isaac's blessing.

Esau continues to act as a son unworthy to carry on the traditions of Abraham and Isaac. He took two Hittite women to be his wives, "who were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah." (Gen 26:35) Yet Isaac still regarded him as the first-born son.

Isaac, who was old and nearly blind, decided to bless his eldest son before he died. He sent Esau out in the fields to hunt down some meat and prepare him a meal, after which he would receive Isaac's blessing. Rebekah overheard this exchange and instructed Jacob to fetch her two goats so that she could prepare a tasty meal for his father. She then commanded Jacob to bring the meal to Isaac to receive the blessing in his brother's stead. Jacob worried that his father might notice the substitution through touch, since Esau was hairy and he was smooth. "What if my father touches me?" he asked. "I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing." Gen. 27:12) Rebekah took responsibility for the act, saying, "Let the curse fall on me." She then disguised Jacob by placing hairy goatskins over his neck and arms.

Jacob went into his father's tent. Isaac was surprised that he had returned so soon from the supposed hunt. "Who are you, my son?" Isaac asked suspiciously. "I am Esau your firstborn," Jacob replied. Isaac was still suspicious and asked to feel him, since Esau was hairy. The goatskins seemed to fool him, although he declared, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." Nevertheless, Isaac blessed him:

May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you.

Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.

May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed. (Gen. 27:29)

As soon as Jacob left the tent, Esau arrived and exposed the deception. Isaac was shaken, but affirmed that Jacob would indeed be blessed. To Esau's pathetic entreaties, he agreed to give Esau a lesser blessing.

Vision of Jacob's Ladder

File:Jacob's-ladder.jpg

Jacob's ladder.

Esau swore to himself that he would kill Jacob in revenge as soon as their father was dead. Rebekah intuited Esau's murderous intentions, and instructed Jacob to flee to Haran to the house of her brother, Laban, until Esau's rage subsided. She also convinced Isaac to support the journey, on the grounds that in Haran, Jacob could marry a woman from their own clan, unlike Esau had done.

Traveling first northward, Jacob experienced a vision in which God confirmed that the covenant he had made with Abraham and Isaac would now pass to Jacob. He also saw a ladder reaching into heaven with angels going up and down it, a vision that is commonly referred to as Jacob's Ladder. He named the place Bethel, and erected a sacred pillar on the spot, vowing:

"If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house (literally beth-el)." (Gen 28:20-22)

Exile in Haran

Jacob continued on his way to Haran. As he approached his ancestral village, he stopped by the well where shepherds were watering their flocks and met Laban's younger daughter, his cousin Rachel. He loved her immediately, and after spending a month with his relatives, asked for her hand in marriage in return for working seven years for Laban.

Leah and Rachel listen while Laban bargains with Jacob.

These seven years seemed to Jacob "but a few days, for the love he had for her." (Gen 29:20) However, when it was time for their wedding, Laban deceived Jacob by switching his older daughter, Leah, as the veiled bride. In the morning, when the truth became known, Laban justified himself by saying that in their country it was unheard of to give the younger daughter before the older. However, he agreed that Jacob could also marry Rachel in exchange for an additional seven years of Jacob's labor. After the week of wedding celebrations with Leah, Jacob married Rachel and continued to work for Laban another seven years.

The contest between Jacob and his brother repeated itself in the rivalry between Jacob's wives. Because Jacob loved Rachel, Leah felt despised. However, "God opened Leah's womb" and she gave birth to four sons in succession: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Rachel, however, was barren and gave Jacob her slave woman Bilhah as an additional wife, considering Blihah's children to count as her own. Bilhah gave birth to Dan and Naphtali. Seeing that she had left off childbearing temporarily, Leah then gave her slave Zilpah to Jacob in marriage, so that she, too, could raise more children through her. Zilpah gave birth to Gad and Asher. Later, Leah became fertile again and gave birth to Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah. At this point, "God remembered Rachel," who gave birth to Joseph.

Around the time that Joseph was born, Jacob desired to return home to his parents, but Laban was reluctant to release him, on account of Jacob's great proficiency in animal husbandry. The two men struck an unusual deal. Jacob would receive every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat out of Laban's flocks. In exchange, Jacob would work an additional seven years for Laban. Through a ploy involving clever breeding techniques, Jacob became extremely wealthy, not only in herd cattle but also in slaves, camels, and donkeys.

Overall, Jacob labored in Laban's service for 21 years. He persevered even though Laban continued to cheat and deceive him. Some scholars believe that this was a time when Jacob matured, learning through those experiences to understand the effect of his earlier trickery on the members of his family. His perseverance can also be seen as demonstrating how the Jewish people, or any successful minority, can succeed in a hostile environment by persevering through mistreatment while using their wits and energy.

As time passed, Laban's sons grew jealous of Jacob's success, and Laban's friendly attitude toward Jacob began to change. God told Jacob he should now leave, and thus he and his clan did so without informing Laban. Before they left, Rachel stole all the "household idols" (teraphim) from Laban's house.

Laban, in a rage, pursued Jacob for seven days. The night before he caught up to him, God spoke to him in a dream and warned him not to say anything good or bad to Jacob. When the two met, Laban played the part of the injured father-in-law and also demanded his teraphim back. (Laban was hardly a pious man. His rage is explained by some scholars who theorize that the teraphim represented title deeds to the contested property.) Ignorant of Rachel's theft of the idols, Jacob told Laban that whoever stole them should die, and offered to let him search. When Laban reached Rachel's tent, she hid the idols by sitting on them, pleading that she could not rise because of menstrual cramps — "the way of women is upon me." (Gen. 31:35) Jacob and Laban parted from each other in peace, Laban returning home and Jacob continuing on his way.

Return to Canaan

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel – Gustave Doré, 1855

As Jacob neared the land of Canaan, he sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau. They returned with the news that Esau was coming to meet Jacob with an army of 400 men. In great apprehension, Jacob prepared for the worst. He felt that he must now depend only on God, and he went in earnest prayer to God. Jacob then sent rich gifts of livestock and other wealth to Esau, "a present to my lord Esau from thy servant Jacob."

With his family on one side of the ford of Jabbok, Jacob spent the night alone in communion with God on the other side of the river. There, a mysterious being—usually considered to be an angel—wrestled with Jacob, even striking him painfully in the hollow of his thigh. Yet Jacob would not give up, even until daybreak when the being apparently had to leave. When tried to leave, Jacob demanded a blessing first, and the angel declared that from now on, Jacob would be called Israel, meaning "he who struggles with God." Jacob then asked the being's name, but his opponent refused to answer. Afterward Jacob named the place Penu-el (meaning "face of God"), saying "I have seen God face to face and lived."

Jacob and Esau meet in peace at the Ford of Jabbok

In the morning Jacob assembled his wives and 11 sons, placing Rachel and her children in the rear and Leah and her children in the front. Jacob himself took the foremost position. Jacob's bounteous gift of camels, goats and flocks had convinced Esau he meant no threat. As he approached his brother, Jacob bowed to the ground seven times, signifying his sincere apology for all the bad feelings between them. Their reunion was an emotional one. "Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept." Esau assured his brother that he needed no gifts, being wealthy himself, but Jacob implored him to accept his presents, saying, "To see your face is like seeing the face of God." (Gen. 33:10) Esau then offered to accompany them on their way, but Jacob preferred that they go their separate ways.

Jacob arrived in Shechem, where he bought a parcel of land that would eventually house Joseph's Tomb. There he set up an altar and called it "El Elohe Israel" (El, the god of Israel). In Shechem, Dinah, his daughter through Leah, was raped by the prince's son, who then fell in love with her and desired to marry the girl. Dinah's brothers, pretending friendship, agreed on the condition that the men of Shechem first be circumcised. While the men were recovering from their wounds, Levi and Simeon slaughtered the male residents of the town and fled not only with Dinah, but also with much plunder including their victims' wives and children. Jacob would rebuked his two sons for this act only on his deathbed.(Genesis 49:5-7).

As Jacob and his clan neared the border of Canaan, Rachel went into labor and died as she gave birth to her second—and Jacob's twelfth—son, Benjamin. Jacob buried her and erected a monument over her grave, which is located just outside Bethlehem. Rachel's Tomb remains a popular site for pilgrimages and prayers to this day.

Jacob was finally reunited with his father Isaac in Mamre (outside Hebron). When Isaac died at the age of 180, Jacob and Esau buried him together in the Cave of Machpelah which Abraham had purchased as a family burial plot.

Jacob and Joseph

Now in his old age, Jacob was especially fond of his and Rachel's son Joseph, for whom he made a richly embroidered coat. Joseph's brothers grew jealous of him and brought bad reports to Jacob about him. At the age of 17, Joseph reported a dream: that the sun, moon and stars had bowed to him. The dream left a deep impression on Jacob, who interpreted it as meaning that he (the sun), Rachel (the moon) and Joseph's brothers (the stars) would one day prostrate themselves before Joseph. Soon, however, Joseph's brothers brought tragic news: Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Seeing Joseph's torn and bloodied clothes, Jacob was inconsolable. In reality, Joseph was not dead. He had been sold into slavery by his brothers. However, Jacob remained ignorant of this fact and deeply grieved for his beloved son.

Jacob (at right) blessing his grandchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh, in the presence Joseph and their mother.

More than a decade later another famine struck. Jacob ordered his sons, except for Benjamin, the youngest, to travel to Egypt to procure grain for their starving families in Canaan. When they returned with the grain, they informed Jacob that they had been accused as spies and that Simeon had remained behind as a hostage. To redeem him, they must return with young Benjamin to show their good faith. Jacob initially refused, but after the initial token shipment of grain had been consumed and the famine continued to plague the clan, he reluctantly agreed that Benjamin could accompany the brothers on the return trip. While there, they learned that great Egyptian lord with whom they had been dealing was in reality none other than their long lost brother Joseph. Having cruelly tricked his siblings several times, Joseph was now satisfied that they had seen the error of their earlier ways. He richly rewarded them with grain and other wealth and sent them back to report the whole story to Jacob.

Overjoyed to see his beloved Joseph — now the prime minister of Egypt — again, Jacob's last seventeen years were spent in tranquility in Egypt, knowing that all his 12 sons had become righteous men. He died there at the age of 147. Before he died, he made Joseph promise that he would bury him in the Cave of Machpelah.

Jacob elevated Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to the status of full tribes. He also blessed all twelve of his sons, each with a prophetic blessing related to the character of the tribe that would spring from them. To his fourth son, Judah, he gave a particularly significant blessing, signaling the tribe's future pre-eminence and the coming of the Messiah from Judah's lineage:

The scepter will not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,

until he comes to whom it belongs

and the obedience of the nations is his. (Gen. 49:10)

With the Pharaoh's permission, after Jacob died, Joseph led a huge state funeral back to the land of Canaan, with the 12 sons carrying their father's coffin and many Egyptian officials accompanying them.

Rabbinical teachings

According to the traditional Jewish texts, Jacob, as the third and last patriarch, lived a life that paralleled the descent of his offspring, the Jewish people, into the darkness of exile and suffering. Abraham illuminated the world with knowledge of God and earned the respect of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan while Isaac continued his father's teachings and lived in relative harmony with his neighbors. But Jacob had many personal struggles both in the land and out of it. He experienced the hatred of his brother Esau, the deception of his father-in-law Laban) while in exile, a violent and injurious struggle with the angel of God Himself, a near attack by the armed forces of Esau, the early death of his favorite wife Rachel, the apparent death of his son Joseph, the rape of his daughter Dinah, and the enmity of the people of Canaan on account of his sons' slaughter of the Schechemites. For this reason, the Jewish commentators interpret many elements of his story as being symbolic of the future difficulties and struggles the Jewish people would undergo during their long exile, which continues to the present day.

File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 063.jpg

Jacob struggles with the angel, by Rembrandt

According to one rabbinical tradition, the day on which Esau sold his birthright was the very same day that Abraham died. The lentil soup which Jacob had cooked was a food traditionally eaten at times of mourning. This would have made Jacob and Esau 15 years old at that time. This midrash further states that while the pious Jacob was observing the mourning rites for his grandfather, Esau had committed the three cardinal sins – murder, adultery and idolatry, which is why he was so tired that day and also why he had fallen so low as to despise his birthright.

When the supposed angel struck Jacob's thigh, a tradition arose that the Israelites would not consume that part of an animal's thigh from that point on (Genesis 32:33). This incident still has an impact on many Jews today, as Orthodox Jews will not eat the area containing the gid hanasheh (commonly identified as the sciatic nerve) on an otherwise kosher animal.

There are varying views as to whether this mysterious being who wrestled with Jacob was a man, an angel, or God Himself. According to Rashi, he was the guardian angel of Esau himself, sent to destroy Jacob before he could return to the land of Canaan. Others theorize that the being refused to identify itself for fear that if its secret name was known, it would have been conjurable by incantations. Some commentators, however, argue that the stranger was God Himself, citing Jacob's own words and the name he assumed thereafter ("struggles with God"). They point out that although later scriptures maintain that God does not manifest as a mortal, several instances of it arguably occurs in Genesis, for example, in 18:1, with Abraham.

Stories and interpretations of Jacob's life abound in the rabbinical literature. [1]

Jacob in Islam

In Arabic, Jacob is known as Yaqub. He is revered as a prophet who received inspiration from God. The Qur'an does not give the details of Jacob’s life. He was later honored by God with the name Is'rail not after his fight with the angel, but after he faithfully migrated during the night at God's command. Isra' means Night Journey and Il simply means God (Allah) (similar to the word El in Semitic languages meaning). God bestowed his special favor on Jacob and his posterity as He did on Abraham and Isaac (Qur'an 12:6). Jacob was a man of might and vision (38:45) and was chosen by God to preach the Message. The Qur'an stresses that true service to the One true God, especially in worship, was the main legacy of Jacob and his fathers (2:132-133). Salvation, according to the Qu'ran, hinges upon this legacy rather than one's religious identity. (2:130-141).

According to the Qu'ran, Jacob is of the company of the Elect and the Good (38:47, 21:75).

Critical Views

Jacob, along with the other patriarchs, is at the center of numerous controversies among biblical scholars, historians, and archaeologists. Was he an historical person at all? If so, was he truly the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham? Is the biblical story of Jacob accurate? Was it written by Moses, as traditionally claimed, or from several sources later combined by scribes during the period of the Kings?

According to the documentary hypothesis, some sections of the Jacob saga are derived from the northern "Elohist" source (derived the its author's use of the word "Elohim" for God), while the greater part is derived from the southern "Yahwist" source, (derived from its use of the word Yahweh for God).

The traditions of Yahweh-worship and El-worship were eventually unified in the monotheistic tradition. However, enmity between northern and southern tribes was often strong. It is interesting to note Jacob's erecting of a sacred pillar at Bethel in this context. The southern priests in Jerusalem later condemned such pillars — called asherim and translated as "Ashera poles" — as idolatrous. In a campaign to centralize worship in Jerusalem, the northern sanctuary at Bethel was destroyed by King Josiah, and its sacred pillar was obliterated. (2 Kings 23:13) The town of Shechem, where Jacob reportedly established another altar, later became a center of Samaritan tradition.

Some scholars doubt the lineal descent of the patriarchs. They believe that several distinct peoples — the tribes of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph — eventually federated into one nation which called itself the Israelites. Accordingly, the stories of their origins were similarly unified, by making them a single lineage. Other scholars, usually referred to as biblical "minimalists," affirm that the historicity of these men must be rejected altogether.

In a similar vein, the story of Jacob and Esau can be seen as explaining the ancient enmity that existed in later times between the Israelites and the Edomites, supposedly descended from Esau. Historically, Israel and Edom were sometimes allied, sometimes tributaries of each other, and sometimes outright enemies. The story of Jacob and Esau justifies Israel's dominance over Edom on the grounds that "the elder must serve the younger." Later, the prophet Malachi would declare God's words: "I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated." (Mal. 1:2-3)

Literary critic Harold Bloom sees Jacob as the only real male hero in the Yahwist narrative, which he believes to have been written by a female literary genius in the time of King Rehoboam. "Partly it is his energy of being, partly his heroic persistence," Bloom says, "but mostly it is because J [the Yahwist] persuades us that Jacob, Israel, has the Blessing." (Bloom, 2005)

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bloom, Harold, 2005. The Book of J. Grove Press. ISBN 0802141919
• Heap, Norman, 1999. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: Servants and Prophets of God. Family History Pubns. ISBN 978-0945905028
• Smith, Mark S., 2002. The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0802839725
• Jacob in the Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 9, 2007.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Jacob  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Jacob"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.