Jacob

This article is about the patriarch. For other uses, see Jacob (disambiguation).

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel – Gustave Doré, 1855 (Granger Collection, New York).

Jacob (Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב, Standard Yaʿaqov; Septuagint Greek: Ἰακώβ; "heel" or "leg-puller"), also known as Israel (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל, Standard Yisraʾel, Isrāʾīl; Septuagint Greek: Ἰσραήλ; "persevere with God"; Template:Pron-en), was the third patriarch of the Jewish people, and ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel, named after ten of his twelve sons, as well as the two sons of his son Joseph.

In the Hebrew Bible he is the son of Isaac and Rebecca, the grandson of Abraham and Sarah and of Bethuel, and the twin brother of Esau. He had twelve sons and one daughter by his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and their maidservants, Bilhah and Zilpah. The children were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, daughter Dinah, Joseph, and Benjamin. Before the birth of Benjamin, Jacob is renamed "Israel" by an angel, the name after which the modern nation of Israel is named.

As a result of a severe famine in Canaan, Jacob resettled his whole family in Egypt, in the Land of Goshen, at the time when his son Joseph was viceroy. Jacob died there 17 years later, and Joseph carried Jacob's remains to the land of Canaan, where he gave them stately burial in the same Cave of Machpelah as were buried Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca and Jacob's wife Leah (Genesis 49:29–50:14).

Accounts in the Hebrew Bible

This section is a summary of the Book of Genesis, chapters 25-50.

Jacob and Esau's birth

Jacobj1234 and his twin brother, Esau, were born to Isaac and Rebekah after 20 years of marriage, when Isaac was 60 (Genesis 25:20, 25:26). There are two opinions in the Midrash as to how old Rebekah was at the time of her marriage and, consequently, at the twins' birth. According to the traditional counting cited by Rashi, Isaac was 37 years old at the time of the Binding of Isaac, and news of Rebecca's birth reached Abraham immediately after that event (see Rashi on Gen. 22:20). Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah (Gen. 25:20), making Rebekah 3 years old at the time of her marriage. According to the second opinion, Isaac was 29 years old and Rebekah was 14 years old at the time of their marriage. Another view is that Rebekah was 10 years old at the time. In any case, 20 years elapsed before they had children. Throughout that time, both Isaac and Rebecca prayed fervently to God for offspring. God eventually answered Isaac's prayers and Rebekah conceived.

Rebekah was extremely uncomfortable during her double pregnancy and went to inquire of God why she was suffering so. The Midrash says that whenever she would pass a house of Torah study, Jacob would struggle to come out; whenever she would pass a house of idolatry, Esau would agitate to come out. She received the prophecy that twins were fighting in her womb and would continue to fight all their lives, and after they became two separate nations. The prophecy also said that the older would serve the younger; its statement "one people will be stronger than the other" has been taken to mean that the two nations would never gain power simultaneously: when one fell, the other would rise, and vice versa. Traditionally, Rebekah did not share the prophecy with her husband.

When the time came for Rebekah to give birth, the first to come out emerged red and hairy all over, with his heel grasped by the hand of the second to come out. Onlookers named the first עשו, Esau (`Esav or `Esaw, meaning either "rough", "sensibly felt", "handled", from Hebrew: עשה, `asah, "do" or "make"; or "completely developed", from Hebrew: עשוי, `assui). The second is named יעקב, Jacob (Ya`aqob or Ya`aqov, meaning "heel-catcher", "supplanter", "leg-puller", "he who follows upon the heels of one", from Hebrew: עקב, `aqab or `aqav, "seize by the heel", "circumvent", "restrain", a wordplay upon Hebrew: עקבה, `iqqebah or `iqqbah, "heel").

The boys displayed very different natures as they matured. "Esau became a hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a simple man, a dweller in tents" (Genesis 25:27). Moreover, the attitudes of their parents toward them also differ: "Isaac loved Esau because game was in his mouth, but Rebecca loved Jacob" (ibid., 25:28).

Sale of the birthright

According to the Talmud, immediately after Abraham died, Jacob prepared a lentil stew as a traditional mourner's meal for his father, Isaac. The Hebrew Bible states that Esau, returning famished from the fields, begged Jacob to give him some of the stew. (Esau referred to the dish as, "that red, red stuff", giving rise to his nickname, Hebrew: אדום (`Edom, meaning "Red").) Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright (the right to be recognized as firstborn), and Esau agrees; the Talmudic dating indicates both men were 15 at the time.

Jacob's deception of Isaac

Isaac Blessing Jacob, by Govert Flinck, 1638 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam).

Much later, Isaac became blind in his old age and, uncertain of when he would die, decided to bestow the blessing of the firstborn upon Esau. He sent Esau out to the fields to trap and cook a piece of savory game for him, so that he could eat it and bless Esau.

Rebecca overheard this conversation and realized prophetically that Isaac's blessings would go to Jacobj1234, since she was told before the twins' birth that the older son would serve the younger. She therefore ordered Jacob to bring her two goats from the flock, which she cooked in the way Isaac loved, and had him bring them to his father in place of Esau.

When Jacob protested that his father would recognize the deception and curse him as soon as he felt him, since Esau was hairy and Jacob smooth-skinned, Rebecca said that the curse would be on her instead. Before she sent Jacob to his father, she dressed him in Esau's garments and laid goatskins on his arms and neck to simulate hairy skin.

Thus disguised, Jacob entered his father's room. Surprised to perceive that Esau was back so soon, Isaac asked how it could be that the hunt went so quickly. Jacob responded, "Because the Lord your God arranged it for me"; Rashi (on Genesis 27:21) says Isaac's suspicions were aroused because Esau never used the personal name of God. Isaac demanded that Jacob come close so he could feel him, but the goatskins felt just like Esau's hairy skin. Confused, Isaac exclaimed, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau!" (27:22). Still trying to get at the truth, Isaac asked him point-blank, "Are you really my son Esau?" and Jacob answered simply, "I am" (which can be taken as "I am me", not "I am Esau"). Isaac proceeded to eat the food and to drink the wine that Jacob gave him, and then he blessed him with the dew of the heavens, the fatness of the earth, and rulership over many nations as well as his own brother.

Jacob had scarcely left the room when Esau returned from the hunt to prepare his game and receive the blessing. The realization that he has been deceived shocks Isaac, yet he acknowledges that Jacob had received the blessings as sworn, by adding, "Indeed, he will be [or remain] blessed!" (27:33). Rashi explains that Isaac smelled the heavenly scent of Gan Eden (Paradise) when Jacob entered his room and, in contrast, perceived Gehenna opening beneath Esau when the latter entered the room, showing him that he had been deceived all along by Esau's show of piety.

Esau was heartbroken by the deception, and begged for his own blessing. Having made Jacob a ruler over his brothers, Isaac could only promise, "By your sword you shall live, but your brother you shall serve; yet it shall be that when you are aggrieved, you may cast off his yoke from upon your neck" (27:39-40).

Esau was filled with hatred toward Jacob for taking away both his birthright and his blessing. He vowed to himself to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac dies. When Rebecca heard about his murderous intentions, she ordered Jacob to travel to her brother Laban's house in Haran, until Esau's anger subsided. She convinced Isaac to send Jacob away by telling him that she despaired of him marrying a local girl from the idol-worshipping families of Canaan (as Esau had done). After Isaac sent Jacob away to find a wife, Esau realized that his own Canaanite wives were evil in his father's eyes, and he took a daughter of Isaac's half-brother Ishmael as another wife.

According to the Talmud, the Torah's explicit dating of the life of Ishmael helps to date events in Jacob's life. Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86 years old (Gen. 16:16) and died at the age of 137 (25:17). Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 (21:5); at that time Ishmael was 14. Jacob and Esau were born when Isaac was 60 (25:26); at that time Ishmael was 74. Right after Jacob receives the blessings and flees to Laban, the Torah states that Esau married "Mahalat, the daughter of Ishmael, son of Abraham, sister of Nebaiot" (28:9), on which Rashi, quoting Megillah 17a, notes that Ishmael died between the engagement and wedding, so the girl's brother gave her away. If Ishmael was 137 at the time of his death, this means that Jacob and Esau were 63 at the time of the blessings. The Talmud adds that Jacob spent 14 years in the yeshiva of Shem and Eber before proceeding to Laban, arriving when he was 77.

According to this accounting, Isaac was 123 years old at the time of the blessings, but lived to age 180, suggesting to literal interpreters that Isaac dramatically underestimated his own life expectancy. Rashi quotes the Midrash that one who approaches the age at which his parents died should be concerned for five years prior that he too will die. Since Isaac's mother, Sarah, died at 127 (Genesis 23:1), Isaac prepared for his approaching death by blessing his sons when he was 123.

Jacob's ladder

Nearby Luz en route to Haran, Jacob experienced a vision of a ladder or staircase reaching into heaven with angels going up and down it, commonly referred to as "Jacob's ladder". From the top of the ladder he heard the voice of God, who repeated many of the blessings upon him.

According to Rashi, this ladder signified the exiles that the Jewish people would suffer before the coming of the Jewish Messiah: the angels that represented the exiles of Babylonia, Persia, and Greece each climbed up a certain number of steps, paralleling the years of the exile, before they "fell down"; but the angel representing the last exile, that of Rome or Edom, kept climbing higher and higher into the clouds. Jacob feared that his children would never be free of Esau's domination, but God assured him that at the End of Days, Edom too would come falling down.

Jacob awakened, and continued on his way to Haran in the morning, naming the place "Bethel", "God's house".

Jacob's marriages

Arriving in Haran, Jacob saw a well where the shepherds were gathering their flocks to water them, and met Laban's younger daughter Rachel, Jacob's first cousin; she was working as a shepherdess. 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. Laban agreed to the arrangement. These seven years seemed to Jacob "but a few days, for the love he had for her"; but when they were complete and he asked for his wife, Laban deceived Jacob by switching Rachel's older sister, Leah, as the veiled bride.

According to the Midrash, both Jacob and Rachel suspected that Laban would pull such a trick; Laban was known as the "Aramean" (deceiver), and changed Jacob's wages ten times during his employ (Genesis 31:7). The couple therefore devised a series of signs by which Jacob could identify the veiled bride on his wedding night. But when Rachel saw her sister being taken out to the wedding canopy, her heart went out to her for the public shame Leah would suffer if she were exposed. Rachel therefore gave Leah the signs so that Jacob would not realize the switch.

In the morning, when the truth became known, Laban justified himself, saying that in his country it was unheard of to give the younger daughter before the older. However, he agreed to give Rachel in marriage as well if Jacob would work another seven years for her. After the week of wedding celebrations with Leah, Jacob married Rachel, and he continued to work for Laban for another seven years.

Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, and Leah felt hated. God opened Leah's womb and she gave birth to four sons rapidly: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Rachel, however, remained barren. Following the example of Sarah, who gave her handmaid to Abraham after years of infertility, Rachel gave Jacob her handmaid, Bilhah, in marriage, so that Rachel could raise children through her. Bilhah gave birth to Dan and Naphtali. Seeing that she had left off childbearing temporarily, Leah then gave her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob in marriage so that Leah could raise more children through her. Zilpah gave birth to Gad and Asher. (According to some commentators, Bilhah and Zilpah were younger daughters of Laban.) Afterwards, Leah became fertile again and gave birth to Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah. God remembered Rachel, who gave birth to Joseph. If pregnancies of different marriages overlapped, the twelve births could have occurred within seven years.

After Joseph was born, Jacob decided to return home to his parents. Laban was reluctant to release him, as God had blessed his flock on account of Jacob. Laban asked what he could pay Jacob, and Jacob proposed that all the spotted, speckled, and brown goats and sheep of Laban's flock, at any given moment, would be his wages. Jacob placed peeled rods of poplar, hazel, and chestnut within the flocks' watering holes or troughs, an action he later attributes to a dream. The text suggests that Jacob performed breeding experiments over the years to make his own flocks both more abundant and stronger than Laban's, that Laban responded by repeatedly reinterpreting the terms of Jacob's wages, and that the breeding favored Jacob regardless of Laban's pronouncements. Thus Jacob's herds increased and he became very wealthy.

As time passed, Laban's sons noticed that Jacob was taking the better part of their flocks, and Laban's friendly attitude towards Jacob began to change. God told Jacob that he should leave, and he and his wives and children did so without informing Laban. Before they left, Rachel stole the teraphim, considered to be household idols, from Laban's house.

In a rage, Laban pursued Jacob for seven days. The night before he caught up to him, God appeared to Laban 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. Knowing nothing about Rachel's theft, Jacob told Laban that whoever stole them should die, and stood aside to let him search. When Laban reached Rachel's tent, she hid the teraphim by sitting on them and stating she could not get up because she was menstruating; this event was considered by the Biblical audience as conveying significant defilement upon the teraphim. Jacob and Laban then parted from each other with a pact to preserve the peace between them. Laban returned to his home and Jacob continued on his way.

Journey back to Canaan

Jacob struggles with the angel, by Rembrandt (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin).

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. With great apprehension, Jacob prepared for the worst. He engaged in earnest prayer to God, then sent on before him a tribute of flocks and herds to Esau, "a present to my lord Esau from thy servant Jacob".

Jacob then transported his family and flocks across the ford Jabbok by night, then recrossed back to send over his possessions, being left alone in communion with God. There, a mysterious being appeared ("man", Genesis 32:24, 28; or "God", Genesis 32:28, 30, Hosea 12:3, 5; or "angel", Hosea 12:4), and the two wrestled until daybreak. When the being saw that he did not overpower Jacob, he touched Jacob on the sinew of his thigh (the gid hanasheh, גיד הנשה), and as a result, Jacob developed a limp (Genesis 32:31). Because of this, "to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket" (Genesis 32:32). This incident is the source of the mitzvah of porging.

Jacob then demanded a blessing, and the being declared that from then on, Jacob would be called יִשְׂרָאֵל, Israel (Yisra`el, meaning "one that struggled with the divine angel" (Josephus), "one who has prevailed with God" (Rashi), "a man seeing God" (Whiston), "he will rule as God" (Strong), or "a prince with God" (Morris), from Hebrew: שרה, "prevail", "have power as a prince"). Jacob asked the being's name, but he refused to answer. Afterwards Jacob named the place Penuel (Penuw`el, Peniy`el, meaning "face of God"), saying "I have seen God face to face and lived."

Because of the ambiguous and varying terminology, and because he refused to reveal his name, there are varying views as to whether this being was a man, an angel, or God. Josephus uses only the terms "angel", "divine angel", and "angel of God", describing the struggle as no small victory. According to Rashi, the being was the guardian angel of Esau himself, sent to destroy Jacob before he could return to the land of Canaan. Trachtenberg theorized that the being refused to identify itself for fear that, if its secret name was known, it would be conjurable by incantations. Literal Christian interpreters like Henry M. Morris say that the stranger was "God Himself and, therefore, Christ in His preincarnate state", citing Jacob's own evaluation and the name he assumed thereafter, "one who fights victoriously with God", and adding that God had appeared in the human form of the Angel of the LORD to eat a meal with Abraham in Genesis 18.

In the morning, Jacob assembled his 4 wives and 11 sons, placing the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. Some commentators cite this placement as proof that Jacob continued to favor Joseph over Leah's children, as presumably the rear position would have been safer from a frontal assault by Esau, which Jacob feared. Jacob himself took the foremost position. Esau's spirit of revenge, however, was apparently appeased by Jacob's bounteous gifts of camels, goats and flocks. Their reunion was an emotional one.

Esau offered to accompany them on their way back to Israel, but Jacob protested that his children were still young and tender (born 6 to 13 years prior in the narrative); Jacob suggested eventually catching up with Esau at Mount Seir. According to the Sages, this was a prophetic reference to the End of Days, when Jacob's descendants will come to Mount Seir, the home of Edom, to deliver judgment against Esau's descendants for persecuting them throughout the millennia (see Obadiah 1:21). Jacob actually diverted himself to Succoth and was not recorded as rejoining Esau until, at Machpelah, the two bury their father Isaac, who lived to 180 and was 60 years older than them.

Template:Biblical longevity Jacob then arrived in Shechem, where he bought a parcel of land, now identified as Joseph's Tomb. In Shechem, Jacob's daughter Dinah was kidnapped and raped by the ruler's son, who desired to marry the girl. Dinah's brothers, Simeon and Levi, agreed in Jacob's name to permit the marriage as long as all the men of Shechem first circumcised themselves, ostensibly to unite the children of Jacob in Abraham's covenant of familial harmony. On the third day after the circumcisions, when all the men of Shechem were still in pain, Simeon and Levi put them all to death by the sword and rescued their sister Dinah, and their brothers plundered the property, women, and children. Jacob condemned this act, saying "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land." He later rebuked his two sons for their anger in his deathbed blessing (Genesis 49:5-7).

Jacob returned to Bethel, where he had another vision of blessing. Although the death of Rebecca, Jacob's mother, is not explicitly recorded in the Bible, Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, died and was buried at Bethel, at a place that Jacob calls Allon Bachuth (אלון בכות), "Oak of Weepings" (Genesis 35:8). According to the Midrash, the plural form of the word "weeping" indicates the double sorrow that Rebecca also died at this time.

Jacob then made a further move while Rachel was pregnant; near Bethlehem, Rachel went into labor and died as she gave birth to her second son, Benjamin (Jacob's twelfth son). Jacob buried her and erected a monument over her grave. Rachel's Tomb, just outside Bethlehem, remains a popular site for pilgrimages and prayers to this day. Jacob then settled in Migdal Eder, where his firstborn, Reuben, slept with Rachel's servant Bilhah; Jacob's response was not given at the time, but he did condemn Reuben for it later, in his deathbed blessing. 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 in the Cave of the Patriarchs, which Abraham had purchased as a family burial plot. At this point in the Biblical narrative, two genealogies of Esau's family appear under the headings "the generations of Esau". A conservative interpretation is that, at Isaac's burial, Jacob obtained the records of Esau, who had been married 80 years prior, and incorporated them into his own family records, and that Moses augmented and published them.

Joseph in Egypt

Joseph was separated from his father Jacob at the age of 17 when his brothers, who had been jealous of his dreams of kingship over them, sold him to traders heading down to Egypt, then-capital of the slave trade. Jacob was deeply grieved by the loss of his favorite son, and refused to be comforted. Unbeknownst to the family, Joseph was sold as a slave to Potiphar, Pharaoh's chief butcher. He resisted the advances of his master's wife for a long time until she accosted him and then accused him of trying to rape her; he was then thrown into prison.

After Joseph had spent twelve years in prison, the Pharaoh of Egypt had two troubling dreams, and his butler recalled having met Joseph, a successful interpreter of dreams, in Pharaoh's prison. Joseph was called from prison and interpreted the dreams as prophesying seven years each of abundance and famine; Pharaoh was so impressed that he made Joseph viceroy (second in command) over Egypt and the manager of Egypt's grain stores, due to the prophecy of famine. When the prophesied famine struck throughout the known world, Joseph sold stored grain to men of all nations.

In the first year of famine, Jacob sent ten sons to Egypt, excluding Benjamin, to procure grain for their starving families (Genesis 42:3). Joseph recognized them but did not reveal himself to them; desirous to see his full brother Benjamin, of whom they had spoken, Joseph accused them of being spies, imprisoned Simeon as a hostage, and demanded Benjamin be produced to verify their claims. Jacob was distraught by this news, concluding that Simeon was as lost as Joseph, and refusing to send Benjamin, even in response to a rash vow by Reuben. Benjamin is taken to represent all that is left to Jacob of his favorite wife's children.

When famine worsened the second year and food stores ran out, Judah pledged his own honor to Jacob that he would protect Benjamin from harm, and Jacob relented and sent the brothers again. On meeting them, Joseph threatened to imprison Benjamin, but Judah offered himself in Benjamin's place. Interpreters say Joseph had tested his brothers with this threat and recognized that Judah passed the test, by refusing to sell Rachel's son into slavery as he had done once before. Overcome with emotion, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and provided for them to move Jacob's entire family to Egypt.

Jacob's family, including 66 direct descendants, were housed by Joseph in the Egyptian province of Goshen. Jacob's final 17 years were spent in peace and tranquility in Egypt, with all 12 sons.

Jacob blessing his grandchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh, in the presence of Joseph and their mother Asenath by Mattia Preti, 17th century (Whitfield Fine Art Gallery).

Jacob adopted Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, as his own. Anticipating his death, he blessed each of his 12 sons with varying blessings he deemed appropriate. It has been understood that Judah, the fourth born, received the primary blessing, due to Reuben's incest and Simeon's and Levi's betrayal. Jacob also made Joseph promise that he would bury him in the Cave of the Patriarchs (with Leah, and Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca; Rachel was buried at Bethlehem). According to the Midrash, he desired to tell his sons the exact date when the Messiah would arrive, but the prophecy fails him. Another tradition states that the two lines of the Shema Yisrael were exchanged, the sons proclaiming their righteousness to "Yisrael" (Jacob), and Jacob blessing God's name responsively. The first line is actually Deuteronomy 6:4 and the response was instituted by the rabbis, and the chant is central to Jewish prayer services.

After giving these instructions, Jacob died at the age of 147 (Genesis 47:28). With Pharaoh's permission, Joseph had Jacob meticulously embalmed and led a huge state funeral back to Canaan, with the twelve sons carrying their father's coffin and many Egyptian officials accompanying them.

Sons of Jacob

See also: Israelite

Jacob's wives had twelve sons and one daughter: Reuben (Genesis 29:32), Simeon (Genesis 29:33), Levi (Genesis 29:34), Judah (Genesis 29:35), Dan (Genesis 30:5), Naphtali (Genesis 30:7), Gad (Genesis 30:10), Asher (Genesis 30:12), Issachar (Genesis 30:17), Zebulun (Genesis 30:19), Dinah (Genesis 30:21), Joseph (Genesis 30:23), and Benjamin (Genesis 35:18).

The offspring of Jacob's sons became the twelve tribes of Israel following the Exodus, when the Israelites conquered and settled in the Land of Israel.

Jewish teachings

According to the classic Jewish texts, Jacob, as the third and last patriarch, lives a life that parallels the descent of his offspring, the Jewish people, into the darkness of exile. In contrast to Abraham — who illuminates the world with knowledge of God and earns the respect of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan — and Isaac — who continues his father's teachings and also lives in relative harmony with his neighbors — Jacob experiences many personal struggles both in the land and out of it (including the hatred of his brother, Esau; the deception of his father-in-law, Laban; the rape of his daughter, Dinah; the death of his favorite wife, Rachel; and the sale of his son, Joseph). 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.

Apocalyptic literature

The Apocalyptic literature includes many ancient texts with narratives about Jacob, many times with details different from Genesis. The more important are the book of Jubilees and the Book of Biblical Antiquities. Jacob is also the protagonist of the Testament of Jacob, of the Ladder of Jacob and of the Prayer of Joseph, which interpret the experience of this Patriarch in the context of merkabah mysticism.

Eastern Christianity

Russian Orthodox Icon of St. Jacob, 18th century (Iconostasis of Kizhi monastery, Russia).

The Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite see Jacob's dream as a prophecy of the Incarnation of the Logos, whereby Jacob's ladder is understood as a symbol of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), who, according to Orthodox theology, united heaven and earth in her womb. The biblical account of this vision (Genesis 28:10–17) is one of the standard Old Testament readings at Vespers on Great Feasts of the Theotokos.

The account of Jacob's blessing of Joseph's sons is also seen as prophetic: when he crosses his arms to bestow his patriarchal blessing (Genesis 48:8–20), this is seen as a foreshadowing of the blessings Christians believe resulted from Jesus' death on the cross.

Islam

Main article: Islamic view of Jacob

In Arabic, Jacob is known as Yakub. He is revered as a prophet who received inspiration from God. The Qur'an does not give the details of Jacob’s life. Isra'il is the Arabic translation of the Hebrew Yisrael. God perfected his favor on Jacob and his posterity as he perfected his favor on Abraham and Isaac (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 worshiping and bowing to the One true God was the main legacy of Jacob Kaaihue and his fathers (2:132-133). Salvation, according to the Qur'an, hinges upon this legacy rather than being a Jew or Christian (See Qur'an 2:130-141).

According to the Qur'an, Jacob was of the company of the Elect and the Good (38:47, 21:75). Yaqub is a name that is accepted in Muslim community showing the value attributed to Jacob.

See also

• History of ancient Israel and Judah
• Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, the name given to at least three different major paintings
• During the Second World War the French writer and anti-Nazi resistance fighter André Malraux worked on a long novel, The Struggle Against the Angel, the manuscript of which was destroyed by the Gestapo upon his capture in 1944. The name was apparently inspired by the Jacob story. A surviving opening book to The Struggle Against the Angel, named The Walnut Trees of Altenburg, was published after the war.

Further reading

• Template:Harvard reference

External links

• Behind Jacob’s deal with Laban - its genetics illustrated