Reference: Jacob
American
Son of Isaac and Rebekah, and twin-brother to Esau. As at his birth he held his brother's heel, he was called Jacob, that is, the heel-holder, one who comes behind and catches the heel of his adversary, a supplanter, Ge 25:26. This was a king of predictive intimation of his future conduct in life. Jacob was meek and peaceable, living a shepherd life at home. Esau was more turbulent and fierce, and passionately fond of hunting. Isaac was partial to Esau, Rebekah to Jacob. Jacob having taken advantage of his brother's absence and his father's infirmity to obtain the blessing of the birthright, or primogeniture, was compelled to fly into Mesopotamia to avoid the consequences of his brother's wrath, Ge 27-28. On his journey the Lord appeared to him in a dream, (see LADDER,) promised him His protection, and declared His purpose relative to his descendants' possessing the land of Canaan, and the descent of the Messiah through him, Ge 28:10, etc. His subsequent days, which he calls "few and evil," were clouded with many sorrows, yet amid them all he was sustained by the care and favor of God. On his solitary journey of six hundred miles into Mesopotamia, and during the toils and injuries of this twenty years' service with Laban, God still prospered him, and on his return to the land of promise inclined the hostile spirits of Laban and of Esau to peace. On the border of Canaan the angels of God met him, and the God of angels wrestled with him, yielded him the blessing, and gave him the honored name of Israel. But sore trials awaited him: his mother was no more; his sister-wives imbittered his life with their jealousies; his children Dinah, Simeon, Levi and Reuben filled him with grief and shame; his beloved Rachel and his father were removed by death; Joseph his favorite son he had given up as slain by wild beasts; and the loss of Benjamin threatened to bring his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. But the sunset of his life was majestically calm and bright. For seventeen years, he enjoyed in the land of Goshen a serene happiness: he gave a dying blessing in Jehovah's name to his assembled sons; visions of their future prosperity rose before his eyes, especially the long line of the royal race of Judah, culminating in the glorious kingdom of SHILOH. "He saw it, and was glad." Soon after, he was gathered to his fathers, and his body was embalmed, and buried with all possible honors in the burial-place of Abraham near Hebron, B. C. 1836-1689. In the history of Jacob we observe that in repeated instances he used unjustifiable means to secure promised advantages, instead of waiting, in faith and obedience, for the unfailing providence of God. We observe also the divine chastisement of his sins, and his steadfast growth in grace to the last, Ge 25-50. His name is found in the New Testament, illustrating the sovereignty of God and the power of faith, Ro 9:13; Heb 11:9,21.
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And after him, his brother came out, gripping Esau's foot; and he was named Jacob: Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.
Even as it is said, I had love for Jacob, but for Esau I had hate.
By faith he was a wanderer in the land of the agreement, as in a strange land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who had a part with him in the same heritage:
By faith Jacob gave a blessing to the two sons of Joseph, when he was near to death; and gave God worship, supported by his stick.
Easton
one who follows on another's heels; supplanter, (Ge 25:26; 27:36; Ho 12:2-4), the second born of the twin sons of Isaac by Rebekah. He was born probably at Lahai-roi, when his father was fifty-nine and Abraham one hundred and fifty-nine years old. Like his father, he was of a quiet and gentle disposition, and when he grew up followed the life of a shepherd, while his brother Esau became an enterprising hunter. His dealing with Esau, however, showed much mean selfishness and cunning (Ge 25:29-34).
When Isaac was about 160 years of age, Jacob and his mother conspired to deceive the aged patriarch (Ge 27), with the view of procuring the transfer of the birthright to himself. The birthright secured to him who possessed it (1) superior rank in his family (Ge 49:3); (2) a double portion of the paternal inheritance (De 21:17); (3) the priestly office in the family (Nu 8:17-19); and (4) the promise of the Seed in which all nations of the earth were to be blessed (Ge 22:18).
Soon after his acquisition of his father's blessing (Ge 27), Jacob became conscious of his guilt; and afraid of the anger of Esau, at the suggestion of Rebekah Isaac sent him away to Haran, 400 miles or more, to find a wife among his cousins, the family of Laban, the Syrian (28). There he met with Rachel (29). Laban would not consent to give him his daughter in marriage till he had served seven years; but to Jacob these years "seemed but a few days, for the love he had to her." But when the seven years were expired, Laban craftily deceived Jacob, and gave him his daughter Leah. Other seven years of service had to be completed probably before he obtained the beloved Rachel. But "life-long sorrow, disgrace, and trials, in the retributive providence of God, followed as a consequence of this double union."
At the close of the fourteen years of service, Jacob desired to return to his parents, but at the entreaty of Laban he tarried yet six years with him, tending his flocks (Ge 31:41). He then set out with his family and property "to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan" (Ge 31). Laban was angry when he heard that Jacob had set out on his journey, and pursued after him, overtaking him in seven days. The meeting was of a painful kind. After much recrimination and reproach directed against Jacob, Laban is at length pacified, and taking an affectionate farewell of his daughters, returns to his home in Padanaram. And now all connection of the Israelites with Mesopotamia is at an end.
Soon after parting with Laban he is met by a company of angels, as if to greet him on his return and welcome him back to the Land of Promise (Ge 32:1-2). He called the name of the place Mahanaim, i.e., "the double camp," probably his own camp and that of the angels. The vision of angels was the counterpart of that he had formerly seen at Bethel, when, twenty years before, the weary, solitary traveller, on his way to Padan-aram, saw the angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder whose top reached to heaven (Ge 28:12).
He now hears with dismay of the approach of his brother Esau with a band of 400 men to meet him. In great agony of mind he prepares for the worst. He feels that he must now depend only on God, and he betakes himself to him in earnest prayer, and sends on before him a munificent present to Esau, "a present to my lord Esau from thy servant Jacob." Jacob's family were then transported across the Jabbok; but he himself remained behind, spending the night in communion with God. While thus engaged, there appeared one in the form of a man who wrestled with him. In this mysterious contest Jacob prevailed, and as a memorial of it his name was changed to Israel (wrestler with God); and the place where this occured he called Peniel, "for", said he, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (Ge 32:25-31).
After this anxious night, Jacob went on his way, halting, mysteriously weakened by the conflict, but strong in the assurance of the divine favour. Esau came forth and met him; but his spirit of revenge was appeased, and the brothers met as friends, and during the remainder of their lives they maintained friendly relations. After a brief sojourn at Succoth, Jacob moved forward and pitched his tent near Shechem (q.v.), Ge 33:18; but at length, under divine directions, he moved to Bethel, where he made an altar unto God (Ge 35:6-7), and where God appeared to him and renewed the Abrahamic covenant. While journeying from Bethel to Ephrath (the Canaanitish name of Bethlehem), Rachel died in giving birth to her second son Benjamin (), fifteen or sixteen years after the birth of Joseph. He then reached the old family residence at Mamre, to wait on the dying bed of his father Isaac. The complete reconciliation between Esau and Jacob was shown by their uniting in the burial of the patriarch (Ge 35:27-29).
Jacob was soon after this deeply grieved by the loss of his beloved son Joseph through the jealousy of his brothers (Ge 37:33). Then follows the story of the famine, and the successive goings down into Egypt to buy corn (42), which led to the discovery of the long-lost Joseph, and the patriarch's going down with all his household, numbering about seventy souls (Ex 1:5; De 10:22; Ac 7:14), to sojourn in the land of Goshen. Here Jacob, "after being strangely tossed about on a very rough ocean, found at last a tranquil harbour, where all the best affections of his nature were gently exercised and largely unfolded" (Ge 48). At length the end of his checkered course draws nigh, and he summons his sons to his bedside that he may bless them. Among his last words he repeats the story of Rachel's death, although forty years had passed away since that event took place, as tenderly as if it had happened only yesterday; and when "he had made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost" (Ge 49:33). His body was embalmed and carried with great pomp into the land of Canaan, and buried beside his wife Leah in the cave of Machpelah, according to his dying charge. There, probably, his embalmed body remains to this day (Ge 50:1-13). (See Hebron.)
The history of Jacob is referred to by the prophets Hosea (Ho 12:3-4,12) and Malachi (Mal 1:2). In Mic 1:5 the name is a poetic synonym for Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes. There are, besides the mention of his name along with those of the other patriarchs, distinct references to events of his life in Paul's epistles (Ro 9:11-13; Heb 12:16; 11:21). See references to his vision at Bethel and his possession of land at Shechem in Joh 1:51; 4:5,12; also to the famine which was the occasion of his going down into Egypt in Ac 7:12 (See Luz; Bethel.)
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And your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, because you have done what I gave you orders to do.
And after him, his brother came out, gripping Esau's foot; and he was named Jacob: Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.
And one day Jacob was cooking some soup when Esau came in from the fields in great need of food; And Esau said to Jacob, Give me a full meal of that red soup, for I am overcome with need for food: for this reason he was named Edom. read more. And Jacob said, First of all give me your birthright. And Esau said, Truly, I am at the point of death: what profit is the birthright to me? And Jacob said, First of all give me your oath; and he gave him his oath, handing over his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave him bread and soup; and he took food and drink and went away, caring little for his birthright.
And he said, Is it because he is named Jacob that he has twice taken my place? for he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not kept a blessing for me?
And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them.
These twenty years I have been in your house; I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters, and for six years I kept your flock, and ten times was my payment changed.
And on his way Jacob came face to face with the angels of God. And when he saw them he said, This is the army of God: so he gave that place the name of Mahanaim.
But when the man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob, he gave him a blow in the hollow part of his leg, so that his leg was damaged. And he said to him, Let me go now, for the dawn is near. But Jacob said, I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing. read more. Then he said, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome. Then Jacob said, What is your name? And he said, What is my name to you? Then he gave him a blessing. And Jacob gave that place the name of Peniel, saying, I have seen God face to face, and still I am living. And while he was going past Peniel, the sun came up. And he went with unequal steps because of his damaged leg.
So Jacob came safely from Paddan-aram to the town of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and put up his tents near the town.
And Jacob came to Luz in the land of Canaan (which is the same as Beth-el), he and all his people. And there he made an altar, naming the place El-beth-el: because it was there he had the vision of God when he was in flight from his brother.
And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had been living. And Isaac was a hundred and eighty years old. read more. Then Isaac came to his end and was put to rest with his father's people, an old man after a long life: and Jacob and Esau, his sons, put him in his last resting-place.
And he saw that it was, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast has put him to death; without doubt Joseph has come to a cruel end.
Reuben, you are my oldest son, the first-fruit of my strength, first in pride and first in power:
And when Jacob had come to the end of these words to his sons, stretching himself on his bed, he gave up his spirit, and went the way of his people.
And Joseph put his head down on his father's face, weeping and kissing him. And Joseph gave orders to his servants who had the necessary knowledge, to make his father's body ready, folding it in linen with spices, and they did so. read more. And the forty days needed for making the body ready went by: and there was weeping for him among the Egyptians for seventy days. And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph said to the servants of Pharaoh, If now you have love for me, say these words to Pharaoh: My father made me take an oath, saying, When I am dead, put me to rest in the place I have made ready for myself in the land of Canaan. So now let me go and put my father in his last resting-place, and I will come back again. And Pharaoh said, Go up and put your father to rest, as you gave your oath to him. So Joseph went up to put his father in his last resting-place; and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, and the chief men of his house and all the chiefs of the land of Egypt, And all the family of Joseph, and his brothers and his father's people: only their little ones and their flocks and herds they did not take with them from the land of Goshen. And carriages went up with him and horsemen, a great army. And they came to the grain-floor of Atad on the other side of Jordan, and there they gave the last honours to Jacob, with great and bitter sorrow, weeping for their father for seven days. And when the people of the land, the people of Canaan, at the grain-floor of Atad, saw their grief, they said, Great is the grief of the Egyptians: so the place was named Abel-mizraim, on the other side of Jordan. So his sons did as he had given them orders to do: For they took him into the land of Canaan and put him to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah, which Abraham got with the field, for a resting-place, from Ephron the Hittite at Mamre.
All the offspring of Jacob were seventy persons: and Joseph had come to Egypt before them.
For every mother's first son among the children of Israel is mine, the first male birth of man or beast: on the day when I sent death on all the first sons in the land of Egypt, I made them mine. And in place of the first sons among the children of Israel, I have taken the Levites. read more. And I have given them to Aaron and to his sons, from among the children of Israel, to undertake for them all the work of the Tent of meeting, and to take away sin from the children of Israel so that no evil may come on them when they come near the holy place.
Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now the Lord your God has made you like the stars of heaven in number.
But he is to give his first son his birthright, and twice as great a part of his property: for he is the first-fruits of his strength and the right of the first son is his.
The Lord has a cause against Judah, and will give punishment to Jacob for his ways; he will give him the reward of his acts. In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God;
In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God; He had a fight with the angel and overcame him; he made request for grace to him with weeping; he came face to face with him in Beth-el and there his words came to him;
He had a fight with the angel and overcame him; he made request for grace to him with weeping; he came face to face with him in Beth-el and there his words came to him;
And Jacob went in flight into the field of Aram, and Israel became a servant for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
All this is because of the wrongdoing of Jacob and the sins of the children of Israel. What is the wrongdoing of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?
You have been loved by me, says the Lord. But you say, Where was your love for us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the Lord: but Jacob was loved by me,
And he said to him, Truly I say to you all, You will see heaven opening and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of man.
So he came to a town of Samaria which was named Sychar, near to the bit of land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph:
Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the fountain and took the water of it himself, with his children and his cattle?
But Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, sent out our fathers the first time.
Then Joseph sent for Jacob his father and all his family, seventy-five persons.
Before the children had come into existence, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and his selection might be effected, not by works, but by him whose purpose it is, It was said to her, The older will be the servant of the younger. read more. Even as it is said, I had love for Jacob, but for Esau I had hate.
By faith Jacob gave a blessing to the two sons of Joseph, when he was near to death; and gave God worship, supported by his stick.
And that there may not be any evil liver, or any man without respect for God, like Esau, who let his birthright go for a plate of food.
Fausets
(See ESAU; ISAAC.) ("supplanter", or "holding the heel".) Esau's twin brother, but second in point of priority. Son of Isaac, then 60 years old, and Rebekah. As Jacob "took his brother by the heel (the action of a wrestler) in the womb" (Ho 12:3), so the spiritual Israel, every believer, having no right in himself to the inheritance, by faith when being born again of the Spirit takes hold of the bruised heel, the humanity, of Christ crucified, "the Firstborn of many brethren." He by becoming a curse for us became a blessing to the true Israel; contrast Heb 12:16-17. Jacob was a "plain," i.e. an upright man, steady and domestic, affectionate, so his mother's favorite: Ge 25:24, etc., "dwelling in tents," i.e. staying at home, minding the flocks and household duties; not, like Esau, wandering abroad in keen quest of game, "a man of the field," wild, restless, self indulgent, and seldom at home in the tent.
Having bought the birthright from Esau, he afterward, at Rebekah's instigation, stole the blessing which his father intended for Esau, but which God had appointed to him even when the two sons were yet unborn; "the elder shall serve the younger" (Ge 25:23; 27:29; Mal 1:3; Ro 9:12). His seeking a right end by wrong means (Genesis 27) entailed a life-long retribution in kind. Instead of occupying the first place of honour in the family he had to flee for his life; instead of a double portion, he fled with only the staff in his hand. It was now, when his schemes utterly failed, God's grace began to work in him and for him, amidst his heavy outward crosses. If he had waited in faith God's time, and God's way, of giving the blessing promised by God, and not unlawfully with carnal policy foiled Isaac's intention, God would have defeated his father's foolish purpose and Jacob would have escaped his well deserved chastisement.
The fear of man, precautions cunning, habitual timidity as to danger, characterize him, as we might have expected in one quiet and shrewd to begin with, then schooled in a life exposed to danger from Esau, to grasping selfishness from Laban, and to undutifulness from most of his sons (Ge 31:15,42; 34:5,30; 43:6,11-12). Jacob's grand superiority lay in his abiding trust in the living God. Faith made him "covet earnestly the best gift," though his mode of getting it (first by purchase from the reckless, profane Esau, at the cost of red pottage, taking ungenerous advantage of his brother's hunger; next by deceit) was most unworthy.
When sent forth by his parents to escape Esau, and to get a wife in Padan Aram, he for the first time is presented before us as enjoying God's manifestations at Bethel in his vision of the ladder set up on earth, and the top reaching heaven, with "Jehovah standing above, and the angels of God ascending and descending (not descending and ascending, for the earth is presupposed as already the scene of their activity) on it," typifying God's providence and grace arranging all things for His people's good through the ministry of "angels" (Genesis 28; Heb 1:14). When his conscience made him feel his flight was the just penalty of his deceit God comforts him by promises of His grace.
Still more typifying Messiah, through whom heaven is opened and also joined to earth, and angels minister with ceaseless activity to Him first, then to His people (Joh 14:6; Re 4:1; Ac 7:56; Heb 9:8; 10:19-20). Jacob the man of guile saw Him at the top of the ladder; Nathanael, an Israelite without guile, saw Him at the bottom in His humiliation, which was the necessary first step upward to glory. Joh 1:51; "hereafter," Greek "from now," the process was then beginning which shall eventuate in the restoration of the union between heaven and earth, with greater glory than before (Re 5:8; Revelation 21:1 - 22:21). Then followed God's promise of (1) the land and (2) of universal blessing to all families of the earth "in his seed," i.e. Christ; meanwhile he should have
(1) God's presence,
(2) protection in all places,
(3) restoration to home,
(4) unfailing faithfulness (Ge 28:15; compare Ge 28:20-21).
Recognizing God's manifestation as sanctifying the spot, he made his stony pillow into a pillar, consecrated with oil (See BETHEL), and taking up God's word he vowed that as surely as God would fulfill His promises (he asked no more than "bread and raiment") Jehovah should be his God, and of all that God gave he would surely give a tenth to Him; not waiting until he should be rich to do so, but while still poor; a pattern to us (compare Ge 32:10). Next follows his seven years' service under greedy Laban, in lieu of presents to the parents (the usual mode of obtaining a wife in the East, Ge 24:53, which Jacob was unable to give), and the imposition of Leah upon him instead of Rachel; the first installment of his retributive chastisement in kind for his own deceit. Kennicott suggested that Jacob served 14 years for his wives, then during 20 years he took care of Laban's cattle as a friend, then during six years he served for wages (Ge 31:38,41).
One (zeh) 20 years I was with thee (tending thy flocks, but not in thy house); another (zeh) 20 years I was for myself in thy house, serving thee 14 years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle. The ordinary view that he was only 20 years old in Padan Aram would make him 77 years old in going there; and as Joseph, the second youngest, was born at the end of the first 14 years, the 11 children born before Benjamin would be all born within six or seven years, Leah's six, Rachel's one, Bilhah's two, and Zilpah's two. It is not certain that Dinah was born at this time. Zebulun may have been borne by Leah later than Joseph, it not being certain that the births all followed in the order of their enumeration, which is that of the mothers, not that of the births. Rachel gave her maid to Jacob not necessarily after the birth of Leah's fourth son; so Bilhah may have borne Dan and Naphtali before Judah's birth.
Leah then, not being likely to have another son, probably gave Zilpah to Jacob, and Asher and Naphtali were born; in the beginning of the last of the seven years probably Leah bore Issachar, and at its end Zebulun. But in the view of Kennicott and Speaker's Commentary Jacob went to Laban at 57; in the first 14 years had sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah by Leah; Dan and Naphtali by Bilhah; in the 20 years (Ge 35:29) next had Gad and Asher by Zilpah, Issachar and Zebulun by Leah, lastly Dinah by Leah and Joseph by Rachel; then six years' service for cattle, then flees from Padan Aram where he had been 40 years, at 97. In Jacob's 98th year Benjamin is born and Rachel dies. Joseph at 17 goes to Egypt, at 30 is governor. At 130 Jacob goes to Egypt (Ge 46:1); dies at 147 (Ge 47:28).
The assigning of 40, instead of 20, years to his sojourn with Laban allows time for Er and Onan to be grown up when married; their strong passions leading them to marry, even so, at an early age for that time. The common chronology needs some correction, since it makes Judah marry at 20, Er and Onan at 15. On Jacob desiring to leave, Laban attested God's presence with Jacob. "I have found by experience (Hebrew "by omens from serpents," the term showing Laban's paganness: Ge 30:19,32) that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake." Jacob then required as wages all the speckled and spotted sheep and goats, which usually are few, sheep in the East being generally white, the goats black or brown, not speckled.
With characteristic sharpness Jacob adopted a double plan of increasing the wages agreed on. Peeling rods of (Gesenius) storax ("poplar"), almond ("hazel"), and plane tree ("chesnut") in strips, so that the dazzling white wood of these trees should appear under the dark outside, he put them in the drinking troughs; the cattle consequently brought forth spotted, speckled young, which by the agreement became Jacob's. Thus by trickery he foiled Laban's trickery in putting three days' journey between his flock tended by Jacob and Jacob's stipulated flock of spotted and speckled goats and brown put under the care of his sons. Secondly, Jacob separated the speckled young, which were his, so as to be constantly in view of Laban's
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And the man said, This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: let her name be Woman because she was taken out of Man. For this cause will a man go away from his father and his mother and be joined to his wife; and they will be one flesh.
Then he took jewels of silver and jewels of gold and fair robes and gave them to Rebekah: and he gave things of value to her mother and her brother.
And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your body, and two peoples will come to birth from you: the one will be stronger than the other, and the older will be the servant of the younger. And when the time came for her to give birth, there were two children in her body.
And the Lord came to him in a vision and said, Do not go down to Egypt; keep in the land of which I will give you knowledge:
Let peoples be your servants, and nations go down before you: be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons go down before you: a curse be on everyone by whom you are cursed, and a blessing on those who give you a blessing.
And truly, I will be with you, and will keep you wherever you go, guiding you back again to this land; and I will not give you up till I have done what I have said to you.
Then Jacob took an oath, and said, If God will be with me, and keep me safe on my journey, and give me food and clothing to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace, then I will take the Lord to be my God, read more. And this stone which I have put up for a pillar will be God's house: and of all you give me, I will give a tenth part to you.
And again Leah became with child, and she gave Jacob a sixth son.
Let me go through all your flock today, taking out from among them all the sheep which are marked or coloured or black, and all the marked or coloured goats: these will be my payment.
And at the time when the flock were with young, I saw in a dream that all the he-goats which were joined with the she-goats were banded and marked and coloured. And in my dream the angel of the Lord said to me, Jacob: and I said, Here am I. read more. And he said, See how all the he-goats are banded and marked and coloured: for I have seen what Laban has done to you. I am the God of Beth-el, where you put oil on the pillar and took an oath to me: now then, come out of this land and go back to the country of your birth.
Are we not as people from a strange country to him? for he took a price for us and now it is all used up.
These twenty years I have been with you; your sheep and your goats have had young without loss, not one of your he-goats have I taken for food.
These twenty years I have been in your house; I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters, and for six years I kept your flock, and ten times was my payment changed. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away with nothing in my hands. But God has seen my troubles and the work of my hands, and this night he kept you back.
Then Jacob was in great fear and trouble of mind: and he put all the people and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two groups;
Then Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, the God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, Go back to your country and your family and I will be good to you: I am less than nothing in comparison with all your mercies and your faith to me your servant; for with only my stick in my hand I went across Jordan, and now I have become two armies.
I am less than nothing in comparison with all your mercies and your faith to me your servant; for with only my stick in my hand I went across Jordan, and now I have become two armies.
I am less than nothing in comparison with all your mercies and your faith to me your servant; for with only my stick in my hand I went across Jordan, and now I have become two armies. Be my saviour from the hand of Esau, my brother: for my fear is that he will make an attack on me, putting to death mother and child. read more. And you said, Truly, I will be good to you, and make your seed like the sand of the sea which may not be numbered.
And he said to him, Let me go now, for the dawn is near. But Jacob said, I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.
And Jacob went on to Succoth, where he made a house for himself and put up tents for his cattle: for this reason the place was named Succoth.
And for a hundred bits of money he got from the children of Hamor, the builder of Shechem, the field in which he had put up his tents.
Now Jacob had word of what Shechem had done to his daughter; but his sons were in the fields with the cattle, and Jacob said nothing till they came.
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made trouble for me and given me a bad name among the people of this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and because we are small in number they will come together against me and make war on me; and it will be the end of me and all my people.
Then Isaac came to his end and was put to rest with his father's people, an old man after a long life: and Jacob and Esau, his sons, put him in his last resting-place.
And he saw that it was, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast has put him to death; without doubt Joseph has come to a cruel end. Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day. read more. And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld to my son. So great was his father's sorrow for him.
And Jacob their father said to them, You have taken my children from me: Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin away; all these things have come on me.
And Jacob their father said to them, You have taken my children from me: Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin away; all these things have come on me.
And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother?
Then their father Israel said to them, If it has to be so, then do this: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels to give the man, perfumes and honey and spices and nuts: And take twice as much money with you; that is to say, take back the money which was put in your bags, for it may have been an error;
And Israel said, It is enough: Joseph my son is still living; I will go and see him before my death.
And Israel went on his journey with all he had, and came to Beer-sheba, where he made offerings to the God of his father Isaac.
And Jacob was living in the land of Goshen for seventeen years; so the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. And the time of his death came near, and he sent for his son Joseph and said to him, If now I am dear to you, put your hand under my leg and take an oath that you will not put me to rest in Egypt; read more. But when I go to my fathers, you are to take me out of Egypt and put me to rest in their last resting-place. And he said, I will do so. And he said, Take an oath to me; and he took an oath to him: and Israel gave worship on the bed's head.
And when they said to Jacob, Your son Joseph is coming to see you: then Israel, getting all his strength together, had himself lifted up in his bed.
And I have given you more than your brothers, even Shechem as your heritage, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.
Simeon and Levi are brothers; deceit and force are their secret designs. Take no part in their secrets, O my soul; keep far away, O my heart, from their meetings; for in their wrath they put men to death, and for their pleasure even oxen were wounded.
I have been waiting for your salvation, O Lord.
These are the twelve tribes of Israel: and these are the words their father said to them, blessing them; to every one he gave his blessing.
And the Lord came down in the cloud and took his place by the side of Moses, and Moses gave worship to the name of the Lord. And the Lord went past before his eyes, saying, The Lord, the Lord, a God full of pity and grace, slow to wrath and great in mercy and faith; read more. Having mercy on thousands, overlooking evil and wrongdoing and sin; he will not let wrongdoers go free, but will send punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, and on their children's children to the third and fourth generation.
And said to them, It is clear to me that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has come on us;
And he said in answer, Have no fear; those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Then Elisha made a prayer to the Lord, saying, Lord, let his eyes be open so that he may see. And the Lord made the young man's eyes open; and he saw that all the mountain was full of horses and carriages of fire round Elisha.
Would he make use of his great power to overcome me? No, but he would give attention to me.
In the time of my fear, I will have faith in you. In God will I give praise to his word; in God have I put my hope; I will have no fear of what flesh may do to me.
In God have I put my hope, I will have no fear of what man may do to me.
Or let him put himself under my power, and make peace with me.
For the bed is not long enough for a man to be stretched out on: and the cover is not wide enough for him to be covered with. For the Lord will come up as on Mount Perazim, he will be moved to wrath as in the valley of Gibeon; so that he may do his work--strange is his work; and give effect to his act--unnatural is his act. read more. And now, take care that you do not make sport of him, or your bands will be made strong; for I have had word from the Lord, the Lord of armies, of an end, of a complete end, which is to come on all the land.
For the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit: and when the Lord's hand is stretched out, the helper and he who is helped will come down together.
And his rock will come to nothing because of fear, and his chiefs will go in flight from the flag, says the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his altar in Jerusalem.
He gives power to the feeble, increasing the strength of him who has no force. Even the young men will become feeble and tired, and the best of them will come to the end of his strength; read more. But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness.
Put me in mind of this; let us take up the cause between us: put forward your cause, so that you may be seen to be in the right.
In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God;
In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God; He had a fight with the angel and overcame him; he made request for grace to him with weeping; he came face to face with him in Beth-el and there his words came to him;
And Esau was hated, and I sent destruction on his mountains, and gave his heritage to the beasts of the waste land.
Come to an agreement quickly with him who has a cause against you at law, while you are with him on the way, for fear that he may give you up to the judge and the judge may give you to the police and you may be put into prison.
And from the days of John the Baptist till now, the kingdom of heaven is forcing its way in, and men of force take it.
And after he had sent the people away, he went up into the mountain by himself for prayer: and when evening was come, he was there by himself.
And a woman of Canaan came out from those parts, crying and saying, Have pity on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is greatly troubled with an unclean spirit.
For this cause will a man go away from his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and the two will become one flesh?
And in the morning, a long time before daylight, he got up and went out to a quiet place, and there he gave himself up to prayer.
And it came about in those days that he went out to the mountain for prayer; and he was all night in prayer to God.
Do your best to go in by the narrow door, for I say to you, A number will make the attempt to go in, but will not be able to do so.
And he said to him, Truly I say to you all, You will see heaven opening and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of man.
Jesus said to him, I am the true and living way: no one comes to the Father but by me.
Then Joseph sent for Jacob his father and all his family, seventy-five persons.
And he said, Now I see heaven open, and the Son of man at the right hand of God.
And we are conscious that all things are working together for good to those who have love for God, and have been marked out by his purpose.
What may we say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
But we are able to overcome all these things and more through his love.
It was said to her, The older will be the servant of the younger.
For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against authorities and powers, against the world-rulers of this dark night, against the spirits of evil in the heavens.
Are they not all helping spirits, who are sent out as servants to those whose heritage will be salvation?
Who in the days of his flesh, having sent up prayers and requests with strong crying and weeping to him who was able to give him salvation from death, had his prayer answered because of his fear of God.
The Holy Spirit witnessing by this that the way into the holy place had not at that time been made open, while the first Tent was still in being;
So then, my brothers, being able to go into the holy place without fear, because of the blood of Jesus, By the new and living way which he made open for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
By faith he was a wanderer in the land of the agreement, as in a strange land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who had a part with him in the same heritage:
All these came to their end in faith, not having had the heritage; but having seen it with delight far away, they gave witness that they were wanderers and not of the earth.
By faith Jacob gave a blessing to the two sons of Joseph, when he was near to death; and gave God worship, supported by his stick.
And that there may not be any evil liver, or any man without respect for God, like Esau, who let his birthright go for a plate of food. For you have knowledge that even long after, when he was desiring the blessing for his heritage, he was turned away, though he made his request frequently and with weeping; because the past might not be changed.
To him who overcomes I will give a place with me on my high seat, even as I overcame, and am seated with my Father on his high seat.
After these things I saw a door open in heaven, and the first voice came to my ears, like the sound of a horn, saying, Come up here, and I will make clear to you the things which are to come.
And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty rulers went down on their faces before the Lamb, having every one an instrument of music, and gold vessels full of perfumes, which are the prayers of the saints.
Hastings
1. Son of Isaac and Rebekah. His name is probably an elliptical form of an original Jakob'el, 'God follows' (i.e. 'rewards'), which has been found both on Babylonian tablets and on the pylons of the temple of Karnak. By the time of Jacob this earlier history of the word was overlooked or forgotten, and the name was understood as meaning 'one who takes by the heel, and thus tries to trip up or supplant' (Ge 25:26; 27:36; Ho 12:3). His history is recounted in Ge 25:21 to Ge 50:13, the materials being unequally contributed from three sources. For the details of analysis see Dillmann, Com., and Driver, LOT [Note: OT Introd. to the Literature of the Old Testament.] , p. 16. Priestly Narrative supplies but a brief outline; Jahwist and Elohist are closely interwoven, though a degree of original independence is shown by an occasional divergence in tradition, which adds to the credibility of the joint narrative.
Jacob was born in answer to prayer (Ge 25:21), near Beersheba; and the later rivalry between Israel and Edom was thought of as prefigured in the strife of the twins in the womb (Ge 25:22 f., 2Es 3:16; 2Es 6:8-10, Ro 9:11-13). The differences between the two brothers, each contrasting with the other in character and habit, were marked from the beginning. Jacob grew up a 'quiet man' (Ge 25:27 Revised Version margin), a shepherd and herdsman. Whilst still at home, he succeeded in overreaching Esau in two ways. He took advantage of Esau's hunger and heedlessness to secure the birthright, which gave him precedence even during the father's lifetime (Ge 43:33), and afterwards a double portion of the patrimony (De 21:17), with probably the domestic priesthood. At a later time, after careful consideration (Ge 27:11 ff.), he adopted the device suggested by his mother, and, allaying with ingenious falsehoods (Ge 27:20) his father's suspicion, intercepted also his blessing. Isaac was dismayed, but instead of revoking the blessing confirmed it (Ge 27:33-37), and was not able to remove Esau's bitterness. In both blessings later political and geographical conditions are reflected. To Jacob is promised Canaan, a well-watered land of fields and vineyards (De 11:14; 33:28), with sovereignty over its peoples, even those who were 'brethren' or descended from the same ancestry as Israel (Ge 19:37 f., 2Sa 8:12,14). Esau is consigned to the dry and rocky districts of Idum
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Cain said to his brother, Let us go into the field: and when they were in the field, Cain made an attack on his brother Abel and put him to death.
And travelling on from the South, he came to Beth-el, to the place where his tent had been before, between Beth-el and Ai;
And the older daughter had a son, and she gave him the name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
Isaac made prayer to the Lord for his wife because she had no children; and the Lord gave ear to his prayer, and Rebekah became with child.
Isaac made prayer to the Lord for his wife because she had no children; and the Lord gave ear to his prayer, and Rebekah became with child. And the children were fighting together inside her, and she said, If it is to be so, why am I like this? So she went to put her question to the Lord.
And after him, his brother came out, gripping Esau's foot; and he was named Jacob: Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. And the boys came to full growth; and Esau became a man of the open country, an expert bowman; but Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.
And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, But Esau my brother is covered with hair, while I am smooth:
And Isaac said, How is it that you have got it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it come my way.
And in great fear Isaac said, Who then is he who got meat and put it before me, and I took it all before you came, and gave him a blessing, and his it will be? And hearing the words of his father, Esau gave a great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Give a blessing to me, even to me, O my father! read more. And he said, Your brother came with deceit, and took away your blessing. And he said, Is it because he is named Jacob that he has twice taken my place? for he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not kept a blessing for me?
And he said, Is it because he is named Jacob that he has twice taken my place? for he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not kept a blessing for me? And Isaac answering said, But I have made him your master, and have given him all his brothers for servants; I have made him strong with grain and wine: what then am I to do for you, my son?
By your sword will you get your living and you will be your brother's servant; but when your power is increased his yoke will be broken from off your neck.
And be there with him for a little time, till your brother's wrath is turned away;
Then Rebekah said to Isaac, My life is a weariness to me because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of Heth, such as these, the women of this land, of what use will my life be to me?
And he saw the Lord by his side, saying, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: I will give to you and to your seed this land on which you are sleeping.
And early in the morning Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it.
Let the week of the bride-feast come to its end and then we will give you the other in addition, if you will be my servant for another seven years.
And Laban said, What am I to give you? And Jacob said, Do not give me anything; but I will again take up the care of your flock if you will only do this for me:
But your father has not kept faith with me, and ten times he has made changes in my payment; but God has kept him from doing me damage.
And on his way Jacob came face to face with the angels of God.
When the servants came back they said, We have seen your brother Esau and he is coming out to you, and four hundred men with him.
And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.
And without loss of time the young man did as they said, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was the noblest of his father's house.
And God said to Jacob, Go up now to Beth-el and make your living-place there: and put up an altar there to the God who came to you when you were in flight from your brother Esau.
Then they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob put them away under the holy tree at Shechem.
And there he made an altar, naming the place El-beth-el: because it was there he had the vision of God when he was in flight from his brother.
And Jacob put up a pillar in the place where he had been talking with God, and put a drink offering on it, and oil.
And Jacob put up a pillar on her resting-place; which is named, The Pillar of the resting-place of Rachel, to this day. And Israel went journeying on and put up his tents on the other side of the tower of the flock.
And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had been living.
And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder.
And Israel went on his journey with all he had, and came to Beer-sheba, where he made offerings to the God of his father Isaac. And God said to Israel in a night-vision, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. read more. And he said, I am God, the God of your father: go down to Egypt without fear, for I will make a great nation of you there: I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will see that you come back again, and at your death Joseph will put his hands on your eyes. Then Jacob went on from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Jacob took their father and their little ones and their wives in the carts which Pharaoh had sent for them. And they took their cattle and all the goods which they had got in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, even Jacob and all his seed: His sons and his sons' sons, his daughters and his daughters' sons and all his family he took with him into Egypt.
And Jacob and his sons came to Joseph in Egypt, and when word of it came to the ears of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, he said to Joseph, Your father and brothers have come to you; all the land of Egypt is before you; let your father and your brothers have the best of the land for their resting-place.
And Joseph made a place for his father and his brothers, and gave them a heritage in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had given orders.
And Jacob was living in the land of Goshen for seventeen years; so the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven.
But his father would not, saying, I am doing it on purpose, my son; he will certainly become a nation and a great one; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a great family of nations.
And I have given you more than your brothers, even Shechem as your heritage, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.
Come near, O sons of Jacob, and give ear to the words of Israel your father. Reuben, you are my oldest son, the first-fruit of my strength, first in pride and first in power: read more. But because you were uncontrolled, the first place will not be yours; for you went up to your father's bed, even his bride-bed, and made it unclean. Simeon and Levi are brothers; deceit and force are their secret designs. Take no part in their secrets, O my soul; keep far away, O my heart, from their meetings; for in their wrath they put men to death, and for their pleasure even oxen were wounded. A curse on their passion for it was bitter; and on their wrath for it was cruel. I will let their heritage in Jacob be broken up, driving them from their places in Israel. To you, Judah, will your brothers give praise: your hand will be on the neck of your haters; your father's sons will go down to the earth before you. Judah is a young lion; like a lion full of meat you have become great, my son; now he takes his rest like a lion stretched out and like an old lion; by whom will his sleep be broken? The rod of authority will not be taken from Judah, and he will not be without a law-giver, till he comes who has the right to it, and the peoples will put themselves under his rule. Knotting his ass's cord to the vine, and his young ass to the best vine; washing his robe in wine, and his clothing in the blood of grapes: His eyes will be dark with wine, and his teeth white with milk. The resting-place of Zebulun will be by the sea, and he will be a harbour for ships; the edge of his land will be by Zidon. Issachar is a strong ass stretched out among the flocks: And he saw that rest was good and the land was pleasing; so he let them put weights on his back and became a servant. Dan will be the judge of his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. May Dan be a snake in the way, a horned snake by the road, biting the horse's foot so that the horseman has a fall. I have been waiting for your salvation, O Lord. Gad, an army will come against him, but he will come down on them in their flight. Asher's bread is fat; he gives delicate food for kings. Naphtali is a roe let loose, giving fair young ones. Joseph is a young ox, whose steps are turned to the fountain; He was troubled by the archers; they sent out their arrows against him, cruelly wounding him: But their bows were broken by a strong one, and the cords of their arms were cut by the Strength of Jacob, by the name of the Stone of Israel: Even by the God of your father, who will be your help, and by the Ruler of all, who will make you full with blessings from heaven on high, blessings of the deep stretched out under the earth, blessings of the breasts and of the fertile body: Blessings of sons, old and young, to the father: blessings of the oldest mountains and the fruit of the eternal hills: let them come on the head of Joseph, on the crown of him who was separate from his brothers. Benjamin is a wolf, searching for meat: in the morning he takes his food, and in the evening he makes division of what he has taken.
And when Jacob had come to the end of these words to his sons, stretching himself on his bed, he gave up his spirit, and went the way of his people.
For they took him into the land of Canaan and put him to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah, which Abraham got with the field, for a resting-place, from Ephron the Hittite at Mamre.
For they took him into the land of Canaan and put him to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah, which Abraham got with the field, for a resting-place, from Ephron the Hittite at Mamre.
Then I will send rain on your land at the right time, the early rains and the late rains, so that you may get in your grain and your wine and your oil.
But he is to give his first son his birthright, and twice as great a part of his property: for he is the first-fruits of his strength and the right of the first son is his.
And these are the words which you will say before the Lord your God: My father was a wandering Aramaean, and he went down with a small number of people into Egypt; there he became a great and strong nation:
And Israel is living in peace, the fountain of Jacob by himself, in a land of grain and wine, with dew dropping from the heavens.
So Joshua made an agreement with the people that day, and gave them a rule and a law in Shechem. And Joshua put these words on record, writing them in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and put it up there under the oak-tree which was in the holy place of the Lord.
And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had taken up from Egypt, they put in the earth in Shechem, in the property which Jacob had got from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred shekels: and they became the heritage of the children of Joseph.
And all the townsmen of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together and went and made Abimelech their king, by the oak of the pillar in Shechem.
And all the people who were in the public place, and the responsible men, said, We are witnesses. May the Lord make this woman, who is about to come into your house, like Rachel and Leah, which two were the builders of the house of Israel: and may you have wealth in Ephrathah, and be great in Beth-lehem;
When you have gone away from me today, you will see two men by the resting-place of Rachel's body, in the land of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, The asses which you went in search of have come back, and now your father, caring no longer for the asses, is troubled about you, saying, What am I to do about my son?
The nations of Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon and the Philistines and the Amalekites and the goods he had taken from Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
And he put armed forces in Edom; all through Edom he had armed forces stationed, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And the Lord made David overcome wherever he went.
And Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had come together to make him king,
So Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah to this day. And at the same time, Libnah made itself free.
So Manasseh went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body to rest in his house, and Amon his son became king in his place.
Let them take the robes which the king generally puts on, and the horse on which the king goes, and the crown which is on his head: And let the robes and the horse be given to one of the king's most noble captains, so that they may put them on the man whom the king has delight in honouring, and let him go on horseback through the streets of the town, with men crying out before him, So let it be done to the man whom the king has delight in honouring. read more. Then the king said to Haman, Go quickly, and take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, who is seated at the king's doorway: see that you do everything as you have said.
And I will give you judges again as at the first, and wise guides as in the past; then you will be named, The Town of Righteousness, the true town.
And at your back, when you are turning to the right hand or to the left, a voice will be sounding in your ears, saying, This is the way in which you are to go.
And the goods taken in war will be got together like the massing of young locusts; men will be rushing on them like the rushing of locusts.
Your eyes will see the king in his glory: they will be looking on a far-stretching land.
For the Lord is angry with all the nations, and his wrath is burning against all their armies: he has put them to the curse, he has given them to destruction.
To give them a fair head-dress in place of dust, the oil of joy in place of the clothing of grief, praise in place of sorrow; so that they may be named trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and so that he may have glory.
So has the Lord said: In Ramah there is a sound of crying, weeping and bitter sorrow; Rachel weeping for her children; she will not be comforted for their loss.
In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God;
In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God; He had a fight with the angel and overcame him; he made request for grace to him with weeping; he came face to face with him in Beth-el and there his words came to him;
And Jacob went in flight into the field of Aram, and Israel became a servant for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
And you, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, the least among the families of Judah, out of you one will come to me who is to be ruler in Israel; whose going out has been purposed from time past, from the eternal days.
So he came to a town of Samaria which was named Sychar, near to the bit of land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph: Now Jacob's fountain was there. Jesus, being tired after his journey, was resting by the fountain. It was about the sixth hour.
Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the fountain and took the water of it himself, with his children and his cattle?
But Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, sent out our fathers the first time.
Then Joseph sent for Jacob his father and all his family, seventy-five persons.
And they were taken over to Shechem, and put to rest in the place which Abraham got for a price in silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
Before the children had come into existence, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and his selection might be effected, not by works, but by him whose purpose it is, It was said to her, The older will be the servant of the younger. read more. Even as it is said, I had love for Jacob, but for Esau I had hate.
By faith Jacob gave a blessing to the two sons of Joseph, when he was near to death; and gave God worship, supported by his stick.
Morish
Jacob. Ja'cob
Son of Isaac and Rebekah. Though a twin, he is called 'the younger,' being born after Esau. Before the children were born it was said, "the elder shall serve the younger." The promises made by God to Abraham were thus confirmed to Jacob, as they had been to Isaac. When they grew up, Esau became a hunter, whereas Jacob was a peaceful man, dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau, and Rebekah loved Jacob. The typical character of these three patriarchs has been described thus: "In general, Abraham is the root of all promise, and the picture of the life of faith; Isaac is a type of the heavenly Man, who receives the church; and Jacob represents Israel as heir of the promises according to the flesh." The difference may be seen by comparing Ge 22:17 ('stars ' and 'sand'), with Ge 26:4 ('stars' only), and Ge 28:14 ('dust of the earth' only).
Though Jacob was heir of the promises, and valued God's blessing in a selfish manner, he sought it not by faith, but tried in an evil and mean way to obtain it: first in buying the birthright when his brother was at the point of death; and then, in obtaining the blessing from his father by lying and deceit: a blessing which would surely have been his in God's way if he had waited: cf. Ge 48:14-20.
Jacob had then to become a wanderer; but God was faithful to him, and spoke to him, not openly as to Abraham, but in a dream. The ladder reaching to heaven, and the angels ascending and descending on it, showed that he on earth was the object of heaven's care. The promises as to the land being possessed by his descendants, and all nations being blessed in his Seed, were confirmed to him, with this difference that in connection with the latter promise it says "in thee and in thy seed," because it includes the earthly blessings to his seed in the millennium. God also said He would keep Jacob wherever he went, and bring him back to the promised land. Jacob called the place Beth-el, saying that it was the house of God, and the gate of heaven. It is figurative of Israel's position, not in heaven, but the 'gate' is theirs. He made a vow that if God would bless him and bring him back in peace, Jehovah should be his God. This was not the language of faith.
Jacob, who had tricked his brother, was treated in a similar way by Laban, and Leah was given to him as wife instead of Rachel, though he had Rachel, the one he loved, afterwards. He had not learnt to trust God, but used subtle ways to increase his possessions; and he also was dealt with in a like manner, having his wages changed 'ten times.' But God was watching over him and bade him return to the land of his fathers; and when Laban pursued after him, God warned him in a dream not to speak to Jacob either good or bad. They made a covenant together, and each went his way.
Immediately afterwards the angels of God met Jacob, and he recognised them as 'God's host.' Then he had to meet Esau, and doubtless conscience smote him, for he was greatly alarmed. He prayed to God for help, yet was full of plans, sending presents to appease his brother, and
dividing his people into two bands, so that if one of them were smitten, the other might escape. When he was alone God took him in hand: a 'man' (called 'the angel' in Ho 12:4) wrestled with him. He was lamed, yet he clung, and in faith said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." He was accounted a victor, and his name was changed from Jacob to ISRAEL: "for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." God did not yet make known His name to him.
God protected him from Esau, as He had from Laban: they kissed each other and wept. He then feigned that he would follow Esau to Seir, but turned aside to Shechem, where he bought the portion of a field, thus settling down for his own ease in the midst of the Canaanites, instead of going to Beth-el, God's house, from whence he had started. His peace was soon disturbed by his daughter Dinah going to see the daughters of the land, and being dishonoured, which was avenged by the slaughter of the Shechemites by his sons Simeon and Levi, bringing Jacob into great fear.
God used this humiliating sorrow to discipline Jacob, and recover him to his true calling. He therefore bade Jacob go to Beth-el, and make an altar there. This disclosed a sad state of things: he had to meet God, and must purify himself, and his household must put away their strange gods. He built an altar and called it, 'El-beth-el;' 'the God of Bethel.' God renewed His promises and revealed Himself to Jacob as GOD ALMIGHTY.
Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other sons, which caused them to hate Joseph; they also hated him for the communications given to him through dreams, and eventually sold him to the Ishmeelites. Again Jacob was dealt with deceitfully; his sons pretended that they had found Joseph's coat stained with blood, and Jacob was greatly distressed. But God was watching and overruling all for good. When Jacob and his household arrived in Egypt, he as a prince of God blessed Pharaoh king of Egypt. He lived in Egypt seventeen years, and died at the good old age of 147.
Jacob at the close of his life rose up to the height of God's thoughts, and by faith blessed the two sons of Joseph, being led of God to cross his hands, and gave the richest blessing to Ephraim. Then, as a true prophet of God, he called all his sons before him, and blessed them, with an appropriate prophecy as to the historical future of each (considered under each of the sons' names). He fell asleep, and his body was embalmed and carried into Palestine to lie with those of Abraham and Isaac.
Jacob being named ISRAEL led to his descendants being called the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. They are however frequently addressed as 'JACOB,' or 'house of Jacob,' as if they had not preserved the higher character involved in the name of 'Israel,' but must be addressed by the natural name of their forefather, Jacob. Gen. 25
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That I will certainly give you my blessing, and your seed will be increased like the stars of heaven and the sand by the seaside; your seed will take the land of those who are against them;
I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and will give them all these lands, and your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth;
Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south: you and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.
And Israel, stretching out his right hand, put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands on purpose, for Manasseh was the older. And he gave Joseph a blessing, saying, May the God to whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, gave worship, the God who has taken care of me all my life till this day, read more. The angel who has been my saviour from all evil, send his blessing on these children: and let my name and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, be given to them; and let them become a great nation in the earth. Now when Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it did not seem right to him; and lifting his father's hand he would have put it on the head of Manasseh. And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the older; put your right hand on his head. But his father would not, saying, I am doing it on purpose, my son; he will certainly become a nation and a great one; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a great family of nations. So he gave them his blessing that day, saying, You will be the sign of blessing in Israel, for they will say, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh; and he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
He had a fight with the angel and overcame him; he made request for grace to him with weeping; he came face to face with him in Beth-el and there his words came to him;
And Eliud had Eleazar; and Eleazar had Matthan; and Matthan had Jacob; And the son of Jacob was Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus, whose name is Christ.
Smith
Ja'cob
(supplanter), the second son of Isaac and Rebekah. He was born with Esau, probably at the well of Lahai-roi, about B.C. 1837. His history is related in the latter half of the book of Genesis. He bought the birthright from his brother Esau, and afterward acquired the blessing intended for Esau, by practicing a well-known deceit on Isaac. (Jacob did not obtain the blessing because of his deceit, but in spite of it. That which was promised he would have received in some good way; but Jacob and his mother, distrusting God's promise, sought the promised blessing in a wrong way, and received with it trouble and sorrow. --ED.) Jacob, in his 78th year, was sent from the family home to avoid his brother, and to seek a wife among his kindred in Padan-aram. As he passed through Bethel, God appeared to him. After the lapse of twenty-one years he returned from Padan-aram with two wives, two concubines, eleven sons and a daughter, and large property. He escaped from the angry pursuit of Laban, from a meeting with Esau, and from the vengeance of the Canaanites provoked by the murder of Shechem; and in each of these three emergencies he was aided and strengthened by the interposition of God, and in sign of the grace won by a night of wrestling with God his name was changed at Jabbok into Israel. Deborah and Rachel died before he reached Hebron; Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob, was sold into Egypt eleven years before the death of Isaac; and Jacob had probably exceeded his 130th year when he went tither. He was presented to Pharaoh, and dwelt for seventeen years in Rameses and Goshen, and died in his 147th year. His body was embalmed, carried with great care and pomp into the land of Canaan, and deposited with his fathers, and his wife Leah, in the cave of Machpelah. The example of Jacob is quoted by the first and the last of the minor prophets. Besides the frequent mention of his name in conjunction with the names of the other two patriarchs, there are distinct references to the events in the life of Jacob in four books of the New Testament -
Joh 1:51; 4:5,12; Ac 7:12,16; Ro 9:11-13; Heb 11:21; 12:16
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And he said to him, Truly I say to you all, You will see heaven opening and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of man.
So he came to a town of Samaria which was named Sychar, near to the bit of land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph:
Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the fountain and took the water of it himself, with his children and his cattle?
But Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, sent out our fathers the first time.
And they were taken over to Shechem, and put to rest in the place which Abraham got for a price in silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
Before the children had come into existence, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and his selection might be effected, not by works, but by him whose purpose it is, It was said to her, The older will be the servant of the younger. read more. Even as it is said, I had love for Jacob, but for Esau I had hate.
By faith Jacob gave a blessing to the two sons of Joseph, when he was near to death; and gave God worship, supported by his stick.
And that there may not be any evil liver, or any man without respect for God, like Esau, who let his birthright go for a plate of food.
Watsons
JACOB, the son of Isaac and Rebekah. He was the younger brother of Esau, and a twin. It was observed, that at his birth he held his brother Esau's heel, and for this reason was called Jacob, Ge 25:26, which signifies "he supplanted." Jacob was of a meek and peaceable temper, and loved a quiet pastoral life; whereas Esau was of a fierce and turbulent nature, and was fond of hunting. Isaac had a particular fondness for Esau; but Rebekah was more attached to Jacob. The manner in which Jacob purchased his brother's birthright for a mess of pottage, and supplanted him by obtaining Isaac's blessing, is already referred to in the article ESAU.
The events of the interesting and chequered life of Jacob are so plainly and consecutively narrated by Moses, that they are familiar to all; but upon some of them a few remarks may be useful. As to the purchase of the birthright, Jacob appears to have been innocent so far as any guile on his part, or real necessity from hunger on the part of Esau, is involved in the question; but his obtaining the ratification of this by the blessing of Isaac though agreeable, indeed, to the purpose of God, that the elder should serve the younger, was blamable as to the means employed. The remarks of Dr. Hales on this transaction implicate Isaac also:
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And after him, his brother came out, gripping Esau's foot; and he was named Jacob: Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.
Now when Isaac was old and his eyes had become clouded so that he was not able to see, he sent for Esau, his first son, and said to him, My son: and he said, Here am I. And he said, See now, I am old, and my death may take place at any time: read more. So take your arrows and your bow and go out to the field and get meat for me; And make me food, good to the taste, such as is pleasing to me, and put it before me, so that I may have a meal and give you my blessing before death comes to me. Now Isaac's words to his son were said in Rebekah's hearing. Then Esau went out to get the meat. And Rebekah said to Jacob, her son, Your father said to your brother Esau in my hearing, Go and get some roe's meat and make me a good meal, so that I may be full, and give you my blessing before the Lord before my death. Now, my son, do what I say. Go to the flock and get me two fat young goats; and I will make of them a meal to your father's taste: And you will take it to him, so that he may have a good meal and give you his blessing before his death. And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, But Esau my brother is covered with hair, while I am smooth: If by chance my father puts his hand on me, it will seem to him that I am tricking him, and he will put a curse on me in place of a blessing. And his mother said, Let the curse be on me, my son: only do as I say, and go and get them for me. So he went and got them and took them to his mother: and she made a meal to his father's taste. And Rebekah took the fair robes of her oldest son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son: And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck: And she gave into the hand of Jacob, her son, the meat and the bread which she had made ready. And he came to his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I: who are you, my son? And Jacob said, I am Esau, your oldest son; I have done as you said: come now, be seated and take of my meat, so that you may give me a blessing. And Isaac said, How is it that you have got it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it come my way. And Isaac said, Come near so that I may put my hand on you, my son, and see if you are truly my son Esau or not. And Jacob went near his father Isaac: and he put his hands on him; and he said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he did not make out who he was, because his hands were covered with hair like his brother Esau's hands: so he gave him a blessing. And he said, Are you truly my son Esau? And he said, I am. And he said, Put it before me and I will take of my son's meat, so that I may give you a blessing. And he put it before him and he took it; and he gave him wine, and he had a drink. And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, my son, and give me a kiss. And he came near and gave him a kiss; and smelling the smell of his clothing, he gave him a blessing, and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field on which the blessing of the Lord has come: May God give you the dew of heaven, and the good things of the earth, and grain and wine in full measure: Let peoples be your servants, and nations go down before you: be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons go down before you: a curse be on everyone by whom you are cursed, and a blessing on those who give you a blessing.
And he said, Is it because he is named Jacob that he has twice taken my place? for he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not kept a blessing for me? And Isaac answering said, But I have made him your master, and have given him all his brothers for servants; I have made him strong with grain and wine: what then am I to do for you, my son? read more. And Esau said to his father, Is that the only blessing you have, my father? give a blessing to me, even me! And Esau was overcome with weeping. Then Isaac his father made answer and said to him, Far from the fertile places of the earth, and far from the dew of heaven on high will your living-place be: By your sword will you get your living and you will be your brother's servant; but when your power is increased his yoke will be broken from off your neck.
By your sword will you get your living and you will be your brother's servant; but when your power is increased his yoke will be broken from off your neck. So Esau was full of hate for Jacob because of his father's blessing; and he said in his heart, The days of weeping for my father are near; then I will put my brother Jacob to death. read more. Then Rebekah, hearing what Esau had said, sent for Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, It seems that your brother Esau is purposing to put you to death. So now, my son, do what I say: go quickly to Haran, to my brother Laban; And be there with him for a little time, till your brother's wrath is turned away;
Then Isaac sent for Jacob, and blessing him, said, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan; But go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there get yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. read more. And may God, the Ruler of all, give you his blessing, giving you fruit and increase, so that you may become an army of peoples. And may God give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed, so that the land of your wanderings, which God gave to Abraham, may be your heritage.
And that Jacob had done as his father and mother said and had gone to Paddan-aram;
So Jacob went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran. And coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head he went to sleep in that place. read more. And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw the Lord by his side, saying, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: I will give to you and to your seed this land on which you are sleeping. Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south: you and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth. And truly, I will be with you, and will keep you wherever you go, guiding you back again to this land; and I will not give you up till I have done what I have said to you. And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said, Truly, the Lord is in this place and I was not conscious of it. And fear came on him, and he said, This is a holy place; this is nothing less than the house of God and the doorway of heaven. And early in the morning Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el, but before that time the town was named Luz. Then Jacob took an oath, and said, If God will be with me, and keep me safe on my journey, and give me food and clothing to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace, then I will take the Lord to be my God, And this stone which I have put up for a pillar will be God's house: and of all you give me, I will give a tenth part to you.
This was my condition, wasted by heat in the day and by the bitter cold at night; and sleep went from my eyes.
I am less than nothing in comparison with all your mercies and your faith to me your servant; for with only my stick in my hand I went across Jordan, and now I have become two armies.
And he himself, going before them, went down on his face to the earth seven times till he came near his brother. Then Esau came running up to him, and folding him in his arms, gave him a kiss: and the two of them were overcome with weeping.
Then Esau came running up to him, and folding him in his arms, gave him a kiss: and the two of them were overcome with weeping. Then Esau, lifting up his eyes, saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these with you? And he said, The children whom God in his mercy has given to your servant. read more. Then the servants and their children came near, and went down on their faces. And Leah came near with her children, and then Joseph and Rachel, and they did the same. And he said, What were all those herds which I saw on the way? And Jacob said, They were an offering so that I might have grace in my lord's eyes. But Esau said, I have enough; keep what is yours, my brother, for yourself. And Jacob said, Not so; but if I have grace in your eyes, take them as a sign of my love, for I have seen your face as one may see the face of God, and you have been pleased with me. Take my offering then, with my blessing; for God has been very good to me and I have enough: so at his strong request, he took it. And he said, Let us go on our journey together, and I will go in front. But Jacob said, My lord may see that the children are only small, and there are young ones in my flocks and herds: one day's over-driving will be the destruction of all the flock. Do you, my lord, go on before your servant; I will come on slowly, at the rate at which the cattle and the children are able to go, till I come to my lord at Seir. And Esau said, Then keep some of my men with you. And he said, What need is there for that, if my lord is pleased with me?
And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had been living.
Then Joseph went to Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers with their flocks and their herds and all they have, are come from Canaan, and are now in the land of Goshen. And he took five of his brothers to Pharaoh. read more. And Pharaoh said to them, What is your business? And they said, Your servants are keepers of sheep, as our fathers were before us. And they said to Pharaoh, We have come to make a living in this land, because we have no grass for our flocks in the land of Canaan; so now let your servants make a place for themselves in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Let them have the land of Goshen; and if there are any able men among them, put them over my cattle. And Jacob and his sons came to Joseph in Egypt, and when word of it came to the ears of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, he said to Joseph, Your father and brothers have come to you; all the land of Egypt is before you; let your father and your brothers have the best of the land for their resting-place. Then Joseph made his father Jacob come before Pharaoh, and Jacob gave him his blessing. And Pharaoh said to him, How old are you? And Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty; small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers.
And Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty; small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers. And Jacob gave Pharaoh his blessing, and went out from before him.
And I have given you more than your brothers, even Shechem as your heritage, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.
And Jacob sent for his sons, and said, Come together, all of you, so that I may give you news of your fate in future times. Come near, O sons of Jacob, and give ear to the words of Israel your father.
The rod of authority will not be taken from Judah, and he will not be without a law-giver, till he comes who has the right to it, and the peoples will put themselves under his rule.
And when Jacob had come to the end of these words to his sons, stretching himself on his bed, he gave up his spirit, and went the way of his people.
And Joseph put his head down on his father's face, weeping and kissing him. And Joseph gave orders to his servants who had the necessary knowledge, to make his father's body ready, folding it in linen with spices, and they did so. read more. And the forty days needed for making the body ready went by: and there was weeping for him among the Egyptians for seventy days. And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph said to the servants of Pharaoh, If now you have love for me, say these words to Pharaoh: My father made me take an oath, saying, When I am dead, put me to rest in the place I have made ready for myself in the land of Canaan. So now let me go and put my father in his last resting-place, and I will come back again. And Pharaoh said, Go up and put your father to rest, as you gave your oath to him. So Joseph went up to put his father in his last resting-place; and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, and the chief men of his house and all the chiefs of the land of Egypt, And all the family of Joseph, and his brothers and his father's people: only their little ones and their flocks and herds they did not take with them from the land of Goshen. And carriages went up with him and horsemen, a great army. And they came to the grain-floor of Atad on the other side of Jordan, and there they gave the last honours to Jacob, with great and bitter sorrow, weeping for their father for seven days. And when the people of the land, the people of Canaan, at the grain-floor of Atad, saw their grief, they said, Great is the grief of the Egyptians: so the place was named Abel-mizraim, on the other side of Jordan.
In his time Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah, and took a king for themselves. Then Jehoram went over with his captains and all his war-carriages ... made an attack by night on the Edomites, whose forces were all round him ... on the captains of the war-carriages. read more. So Edom made themselves free from the rule of Judah, to this day: and at the same time Libnah made itself free from his rule; because he was turned away from the Lord, the God of his fathers.
Then Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and let him be judged by your law. But the Jews said to him, We have no right to put any man to death.