A brief Analysis if Jacob in Bible

1. Life experiences of Jacob

1.1 Birth and birthright

Jacob and his twin older brother, Esau, jostled each other within

their mother’s womb. At the moment of birth, Jacob grasped Esau’s heel,

but failed to become the first-born. However, one day Esau returned

home hungrily, longing for the red stew that Jacob was cooking. Too

famished to care, he agreed to sell his birthright to Jacob, which made

Jacob’s dream come true.

1.2 Deceive blessing

When Isaac is old, almost blind, and near death, he tells Esau to do

several things so that he may bless his favorite son. Overhearing this

exchange, Rebekah(their mother) told Jacob to do the same things to

receive the blessing. she also covers his hands and neck with goatskins to

make him feel hairy like Esau. The deceit works: Jacob receives his

father’s blessing.

1.3 Jacob’s ladder

Having lose the blessing, Esau vows to murder Jacob once their

father is dead. So Jacob flees to Haran, where Rebekah’s brother Laban

lives. One night on the journey, he has a dream in which he sees angels

ascending and descending a stairway between Earth and heaven. There,

be blessed through you and your offspring…I will not leave you until I

have done what I have promised you.”1

1.4 Laban tricks Jacob

However, the tricker is punished by a trick. When Jacob arrives at

his uncle Laban’s house, he falls in love with his cousin Rachel, Laban’s

younger daughter. So he says, “I'll work for you seven years in return for

your younger daughter Rachel.”2 Laban promises him. Nevertheless, at

the end of this time, Laban substitutes his eldest daughter Leah at the

ceremony. Jacob must work another seven years to marry Rachel.

1.5 Return to Canaan

When Jacob’s growing wealth incurs the jealousy of Laban’s sons,

God tells him to leave: “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your

relatives, and I will be with you.” 3 Jacob’s wives, Leah and Rachel,

support and tell him that “Surely all the wealth that God took away from

our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told

you.”4

1.6 The wrestling match

One day, stranger challenges Jacob to wrestle. The ensuing struggle

lasts the night, with neither party win. To bring the wrestling match to a

1
Holy Bible, Authorized New International Version, Biblica, 2011, “Genesis”, 28:14-15
2
Holy Bible, Authorized New International Version, Biblica, 2011, “Genesis”, 29:18
3
Holy Bible, Authorized New International Version, Biblica, 2011, “Genesis”, 31:3
4
Holy Bible, Authorized New International Version, Biblica, 2011, “Genesis”, 31:16
close, he touches the socket of Jacob’s hip, dislocating the bone. Despite

the pain, Jacob refuses to release his hold unless the stranger blesses him.

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,

because you have struggled with God and with men and have

overcome.”5 The next day, Jacob meets his brother Esau and bows down

before him to signal that he means no harm. The two men are reconciled.

5
Holy Bible, Authorized New International Version, Biblica, 2011, “Genesis”, 32:28
 2. Analysis of Jacob

2.1 Struggling

Jacob’s life is a struggling one. He struggles from birth to death.

Esau was the firstborn, but Jacob followed promptly—his hand clinging

to his brother’s heel, as if he wants to draw his older brother back and

replace by himself. Undoubtedly, he failed. Also, when he met the girl he

falls in love with, he chose to make a deal with the girl’s father(work

seven years), rather than waiting for love to come.

2.2 Careful

Jacob's prudence is reflected in his ability to think further ahead.

When Rebekah told Jacob to deceive the blessing from his father, he

pointed out the difference between them two as well as the outcome that

the father “would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.” 6

In fact, his father did verify many times before giving blessing.

Furthermore, his preparation before meeting Esau also shows his

carefulness: “He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah

and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.”7 Put the most

important people at the end of the team to ensure that they can be the first

to escape in case of danger.

2.3 Deceitful

In order to achieve the goals, Jacob will do whatever they take, of

6
Holy Bible, Authorized New International Version, Biblica, 2011, “Genesis”, 27:12
7
Holy Bible, Authorized New International Version, Biblica, 2011, “Genesis”, 33:2
which, deception is his most skilled tool. Despite his old age and

blindness, Isaac still used his senses of touch, hearing and smell to verify

whether the man in front of him was his son Esau. However, in a bid to

be a realistic imitation of his brother, Jacob was so well prepared that his

father could not tell the difference and gave the blessing to the cheater.

2.4 Powerful

Jacob’s wrestle with God is one of the most mysterious passages in

the Old Testament. He is so strong that God could not overpower him and

their fight lasted until daybreak. Then God wrenched Jacob’s hip, which

made him painful, but he still refused to release the man. This is also an

indirect reflection of his tenacity.

3. Conclusion

Compared to his ancestors, Jacob is an extremely secular figure. He

was not the most righteous saint in the world like Noah, nor was he a very

devout believer like Abraham. On the contrary, he was cunning, deceitful

to others, and very indifferent to his relatives. But it is also for this reason

that the Bible has taken on a much broader meaning. “If they were all like

Joseph and Joshua, and Daniel, and Jeremiah, and John the Baptist, and a

few of those characters that never tripped and fell, that never deviated a

hair's breadth, I think it would discourage a good many of us.”8

8
Anonymity, “Character of Jacob”, [Link]
[Link].*
 参考文献
Holy Bible, Authorized New International Version, Biblica, 2011, “Genesis”
“Character of Jacob”, [Link]
awakening/[Link].*