What is the biblical account of Jacob?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Before Jacob was born, God promised that Jacob would reverse the normal order and rule over his brother. This was fulfilled in his life as Esau forsook his birthright and it was given to Jacob instead. Jacob was not perfect—he was deceptive and made many mistakes including his favoritism of Rachel and of Joseph—however, overall his life revealed his faith in God. Throughout Jacob’s life, God was with him. He allowed Jacob to be disciplined with a taste of his own deception. He gave Jacob a dream of a ladder with angels ascending and descending. He wrestled Jacob and gave him a new name and identity. God chose Jacob to form the nation of Israel, and He kept His promise to Jacob in bringing him to the land He had promised. Jacob had faith that God would keep His promises.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• Jacob is known as one of the patriarchs along with Abraham and Isaac.
• Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebekah and the younger twin brother of Esau. The account of his life begins in Genesis 25.
• In the womb, Jacob fought Esau, symbolizing the conflict their descendants (the Israelites and the Edomites) would have throughout history. Before they were born, God told Rebekah that the younger would rule over the older (Genesis 25:23). Jacob was born holding onto Esau's heel, as if trying to prevent him from leaving first.
• As they grew, Esau roamed the fields hunting, pleasing his father, while Jacob stayed mostly in the family tents, pleasing his mother. After hunting one day, Esau came home exhausted. He traded his birthright as firstborn for a bowl of Jacob’s stew (Genesis 25:29-34), setting the stage for the fulfillment of God's promise to Rebekah.
• In Genesis 27 we read about Rebekah and Jacob tricking Isaac into giving Jacob the firstborn blessing. Dressed with goat hair, Jacob pretended to be Esau; and Isaac blessed Jacob, saying that Esau’s people would serve his (the Israelites).
• Prompted by Rebekah who had heard of Esau's desire to kill Jacob, Isaac sent Jacob to Rebekah's people to find a suitable wife (Genesis 27:41—28:5). On his way to Laban, Rebekah’s brother, in Haran, Jacob had a dream of a ladder to heaven with angels ascending and descending. There, God reiterated the covenant He had made with Abraham (Genesis 28:10-22).
• Jacob met and fell in love with Laban's younger daughter, Rachel. Jacob agreed to serve Laban for seven years in order to marry her, but at the wedding, Laban tricked Jacob into marrying Rachel's older sister, Leah, claiming it wasn't right for the younger sister to marry first. Laban agreed to give Rachel to Jacob at the completion of Leah's wedding week if he promised to serve another seven years (Genesis 29:1-30).
• Jacob had twelve sons and a daughter, Dinah. Seven of these children were born from Leah, two from Leah's maidservant Zilpah, two from Rachel's maidservant Bilhah, and two from Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife.
• Laban cunningly tried to keep Jacob from returning home by not giving Jacob animals, but somehow Jacob was able to breed Laban’s flock and "increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys” (Genesis 30:25-43). But Jacob fled from Laban. When Laban caught up to him, the two made a covenant to not harm one another (Genesis 31).
• On his way home, Jacob realized that he would have to meet his brother Esau, whom he assumed was still angry. He sent messengers ahead to Esau. Those messengers returned with news that Esau was coming with four hundred men. Afraid, Jacob divided his people and belongings so that at least one set would survive. He also prayed: "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude’” (Genesis 32:9–12). After praying, Jacob sent gifts ahead of himself with the servants to try to appease Esau (Genesis 32:17–21).
• At the camp where he waited while his servants went ahead of him to meet Esau, Jacob wrestled a “man” all night. He wrestled until the man “touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him” (Genesis 32:25). Jacob persisted and refused to let go until the man gave him a blessing (Genesis 32:22–32). The man told Jacob, " Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed" (Genesis 32:28). Jacob then understood that the “man” was God. Jacob named the place Peniel, since he had seen God had spared Jacob’s life. This wrestling match and name change marked a new beginning for Jacob.
• The next morning, Jacob met Esau in peace and then they went their separate ways (Genesis 33).
• Jacob followed God's instruction and returned to Bethel, the same place where Abram had built an altar (Genesis 12) and where Jacob had dreamed of the ladder (Genesis 31:4–16). After collecting and burying all the idols his family had hidden, Jacob made an altar to God. God reiterated the Abrahamic covenant and officially changed Jacob's name to "Israel," or "he who contended with God," reflecting his persistence during the wrestling match (Genesis 35:1–15).
• Before arriving home, Rachel gave birth to her second son, Benjamin, and died in childbirth. Some time later, Jacob returned home to be with his father, Isaac, as he died (Genesis 35:16–29).
• Jacob experienced many difficulties with his children from his daughter being raped, Reuben sleeping with Jacob’s concubine, and his sons being jealous of and supposedly murdering his favorite son, Joseph.
• When famine came to the land of Canaan where they had settled, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt for food. As God orchestrated it, He had preserved Joseph, and Joseph was able to save his family by providing food and restoration (Genesis 41—45).
• Eventually, Jacob was reunited with Joseph and settled in Goshen (Genesis 46:1—47:12).
• As Jacob neared death, he blessed his sons (Genesis 48:1—49:27), counting Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh as his own, and giving Joseph a double portion. Jacob died after giving his sons instructions to return his bones to Abraham's tomb. Joseph had Jacob embalmed like the Egyptians and personally went to bury his father. The sons of Jacob returned to Egypt for what would turn out to be an unusually long stay (Genesis 49:28—50:14).
• Throughout the psalms and other places in the Old Testament, God is referred to as the God of Jacob (Psalm 20:1; 24:6; 46:11; 75:9), and the Israelites are referred to as the children of Jacob (2 Kings 17:34; 1 Chronicles 16:13; Psalm 22:23; 105:6; Isaiah 2:5).

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• Jacob is listed in Jesus’ genealogies (Matthew 1; Luke 3).
• Jacob’s history is recounted by Stephen in Acts 7.
• In Romans 9, Paul warns that not everyone who is a descendant of Israel is a true son but those who are children of the promise. Paul uses God’s choosing of Jacob and rejection of Esau as proof of this.
• Jacob’s faith is given as an example in Hebrews 11:21.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

Jacob’s life reveals the difficulties that sin brings but also the restoration that God brings when we trust in Him. Jacob’s deception of both Esau, his brother, and of Laban, his uncle, brought about immense difficulties for Jacob. Even though Esau despised his birthright and Laban did not act rightly and fairly, Jacob still chose to be deceptive. God never calls us to repay evil with evil but to repay evil with good (1 Peter 3:9). God’s good plans can be trusted and accomplished in His way and in His timing. Jacob eventually learned this lesson as seen through the way he reconciled with Esau and with the restoration of his family through Joseph. Yet, getting to that lesson came through much difficulty. It’s much better to trust and obey God’s ways than to learn the hard way.

Through Jacob’s life, we see God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises and bringing restoration. God restored Jacob by giving him a new name, purpose, and identity. When we are saved, we, too, become new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17) with a new purpose and identity. We no longer live for ourselves according to the flesh but for Christ in whom we have life (Galatians 2:20). Though we continue to sin on this earth, God works in and through us to transform us more and more into His likeness (Romans 8:28–30; Philippians 1:6; 2:12–13). By doing this, we can live the abundant life He came to give us (John 10:10) and reflect Him to a world that so desperately needs Him. God is faithful and He “works in [us], both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). God not only restored Jacob, but He restored Jacob’s relationships and fulfilled His plan and promise to make Jacob into a prospering nation.

UNDERSTAND

• Jacob deceived his brother for the birthright and his father for the blessing of the firstborn, fulfilling God’s promise that the younger would rule the older.
• Jacob was deceived by his uncle, which God used to discipline Jacob.
• God restored Jacob by giving him a new name, purpose, and identity and forming the nation of Israel through him.

REFLECT

• It is interesting that Jacob was deceived just as he deceived his father and brother. How does God’s discipline work in our lives to grow and shape us?
• God’s faithfulness and restoration is seen throughout the life of Jacob.
• God works in and through those who trust in Him despite their sinfulness. In what ways is this encouraging or challenging to you?

ENGAGE

• How can we be wise as serpents and innocent as doves in this world without doing it in a deceitful way?
• Some people think we need to be perfect before we can come to God or be accepted by Him, but Jacob’s life is proof that God is the One who is perfect and grows us into His likeness. He can use us even when we fail if we trust in Him. His ways in His timing are perfect.
• Some people believe Jacob was passive and that God worked in spite of him. However, there is a difference in Jacob before he was named Israel and after, and his life reveals evidence of his continual faith in God.