Jacob
JACOB, or, in Hebrew, Yaʿaqov, also called Israel; the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham. The name Yaʿaqov is generally regarded as an abbreviation of yaʿaqov el, which probably means "God protects" and is attested among the Babylonians in the early part of the second pre-Christian millennium. The Bible relates it to forms of the Hebrew root ʿqv, meaning "heel" and "supplant," pertaining to Jacob's ongoing rivalry with his twin brother, Esau. That struggle originated in the womb, leading their mother Rebecca to seek a divine oracle from which she learned that the younger Jacob would rule over his brother. Esau was born first, with Jacob grasping at his heel (ʿaqev). The theme of fraternal rivalry continued when, as a young man, Jacob exploited Esau's hunger in order to buy his birthright (bekhorah) and then stole his brother's blessing (berakhah) by taking advantage of his father Isaac's blindness during Esau's absence.
A second period in Jacob's life was spent in Haran in northern Mesopotamia, where he fled to escape his brother's wrath. On the way, he had a vision of a stairway with angels climbing from earth to heaven and back again while God promised that his descendants would be numerous and possess the land all around. Jacob thus recognized the spot as God's house (Bethel), the gateway to heaven. In Haran, Jacob worked for his uncle Laban in order to obtain Rachel as a wife. After the stipulated seven years, Laban deceived Jacob by substituting Rachel's older sister Leah under cover of darkness, just as Jacob had exploited his father's inability to see in order to obtain the blessings intended for his older brother Esau.
During his return to Canaan, Jacob engaged in physical conflict with an apparently supernatural being (see Hos. 12:4), after which his name was changed to Israel (Heb., Yisraʾel). Although the historical etymology of this name is uncertain, the Bible explains it as meaning "he who has struggled with divine beings."
The final period of Jacob's life consists of various journeys and focuses primarily on the story of his son Joseph. Jacob eventually died at the age of 147 in Egypt, where he was embalmed before being brought back to Canaan to be buried in the family tomb at Machpelah.
Jacob's role as the third of Israel's patriarchs is central to the biblical account. The proper historical setting for all of the patriarchs is, however, currently a matter of scholarly disagreement. Although a wide range of possible dates have been proposed, most who accept the fundamental historicity of these figures date them to the middle or late Bronze Age on the basis of cultural similarities between the biblical descriptions and what is known of those periods from archaeological and epigraphic discoveries. One striking characteristic of these narratives is the way God is identified with individual patriarchs, as in the title avir yaʿaqov (the "strong one" or perhaps "bull" of Jacob).
Many modern scholars consider the various patriarchal traditions to have come from different tribal groups. Some even regard Jacob and Israel as two originally separate figures, in which case Jacob probably comes from Transjordan (Gilead) and Israel from central Canaan (the region near Bethel and Shechem). These traditions were merged with those relating to Abraham and Isaac as the various tribes of biblical Israel coalesced. As his changed name attests, Jacob symbolizes the northern kingdom as well as the entire people of Israel, a perspective reflected also in the fact that his sons are named for the twelve tribes. Indeed, many actions, such as his entrance into the land and journey to Shechem and Bethel, foreshadow events involving the people as a whole.
Many interpreters have been troubled by the devious ways in which Jacob obtained his position of preeminence. Rabbinic tradition, in which he represented all of Israel even as his rival Esau came to stand for Rome, sought to minimize these negative traits, which seem so evident in the Bible. It must be recognized that from the biblical point of view these actions, whatever their moral character, serve primarily to ensure the fulfillment of God's design indicated even prior to Jacob's birth. Moreover, the Bible clearly describes how Jacob paid for his behavior: he was forced to leave his home, he was deceived by his uncle, he found his daughter raped, his favorite wife died in childbirth, and her son was kidnapped.
Rachel and Leah.
Bibliography
An excellent survey of modern scholarship on the patriarchs is Nahum M. Sarna's Understanding Genesis (New York, 1966); more recent historical information relating to the date and historicity of these figures is provided by Roland de Vaux's The Early History of Israel, translated by David Smith (Philadelphia, 1978). Rabbinic traditions on Jacob are collected in Louis Ginzberg's The Legends of the Jews, 2d ed., 2 vols., translated by Henrietta Szold and Paul Radin (Philadelphia, 2003). An insightful description of the Jacob story's literary characteristics is contained in Michael A. Fishbane's Text and Texture: Close Readings of Selected Biblical Texts (New York, 1979).
The literary and historical background of Jacob's rivalry with Esau and similar biblical stories is discussed in Frederick E. Greenspahn, When Brothers Dwell Together, The Preeminence of Younger Siblings in the Hebrew Bible (New York, 1994).
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