Jacob

Jacob (Heb. Ya‘aqov, “he grasps the heel,” “supplanter”) is the younger of Isaac and Rebekah’s twin sons, born grasping Esau’s heel (Gen.25.26). He purchases Esau’s birthright for a bowl of lentil stew (Gen.25.29–34) and, with Rebekah’s help, deceives the aged Isaac into giving him the patriarchal blessing (Gen.27). Fleeing Esau’s anger, he sees a stairway to heaven at Bethel and receives the covenant promise directly from the LORD (Gen.28.10–22). In Paddan-aram he serves his uncle Laban twenty years, marries Leah and Rachel, and fathers eleven sons and a daughter; Benjamin is born later in Canaan. Returning home, he wrestles through the night with a divine figure at Peniel and is renamed Israel — “for thou hast power with God and with men” (Gen.32.28). Reconciled with Esau, he settles in Canaan, suffers the loss of Rachel and (for years) of Joseph, and at last is reunited with Joseph in Egypt. Before dying at 147 he blesses Joseph’s two sons and prophesies over each of the twelve tribes (Gen.49). Jacob is the namesake of national Israel and stands beside Abraham and Isaac in the covenantal formula of God (Exo.3.6; Mat.22.32).