Jacob (Israel)

Holy Righteous Jacob (Israel), a patriarch of the Old Testament, was the second son of the patriarch Isaac and of Rebecca. Esau and Jacob, the twins, were the fruit of a nineteen-⁠year barrenness of their mother. The second was born immediately after the first, as if holding on to his heel, and for that reason was named Jacob, that is, the one who grasps the heel (Genesis 25:26). The difference of character of the twins was shown to Rebecca by God even before their birth. Esau loved the hunter's life, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents, faithful to the family order and the traditions of the line (Genesis 25:27). Esau's sale of his birthright and his thoughtless marriage to two pagan Hittite women showed that the careless hunter could not be the successor of the great mission of the patriarchs; this required respect for tradition, a clear mind and moral steadiness. Such was Jacob, though some sides of his character still needed the working of God's providence.

The blessing and the flight

The rights of the firstborn passed to Jacob at the bedside of their aged father: Rebecca arranged matters so that the dying blessing was received by him and not by Esau. Only on leaving his father's tent did Esau feel the whole loss, and he said in his heart that he would kill his brother after their father's death (Genesis 27:41). To protect him, his parents sent him to the city of Haran in Mesopotamia, to his uncle Laban, Rebecca's brother, where he was also to find a wife of his own kin. The blessing Isaac gave at his departure shows that the patriarch had made peace in his soul with the change, seeing in it the will of God.

Alone, pursued and homeless, Jacob had at Luz a wonderful vision: a ladder and angels. He understood that he was not alone on earth, and the voice of blessing and promise calmed him. He set up a stone, poured oil on it and named the place Bethel, that is, the House of God. He made a vow that if the Lord would be with him and bring him back in peace to his father's house, the Lord would be his God and of all that was given him he would offer a tenth (Genesis 28:10-22).

With Laban

At Haran Jacob settled with Laban and tended his flocks. He loved Laban's younger daughter, Rachel, and served seven years for her, years that seemed to him a few days, because he loved her. But his uncle gave him first her elder sister, Leah, and Jacob served seven years more for Rachel (Genesis 29). By Leah he had Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun and a daughter, Dinah; by Rachel, Joseph and later Benjamin; by the maids Zilpah and Bilhah, Gad, Asher, Dan and Naphtali. After fourteen years he asked to return, and Laban, seeing the blessing that had come upon his house with Jacob, kept him on wages. In an agreement about the flocks, by Jacob's resourcefulness, he became within six years the owner of great flocks. The displeasure of Laban's sons made him leave secretly with his wives, children and flocks toward Canaan. Laban overtook him in Gilead and, after a quarrel, the two made a treaty of peace and parted (Genesis 30-31).

The struggle with God and reconciliation with Esau

The fear of Laban was replaced by the fear of meeting his brother. At the border of Canaan he saw a host of angels, but remained troubled. He sent envoys of reconciliation to Esau, learned that he was coming to meet him with four hundred men, divided his camp, prepared gifts and prayed. That night, at the river Jabbok, he had a mysterious struggle with God. The one who wrestled with him said: Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, that is, he who strives with God. Jacob named the place Peniel, the Face of God, for, he said, I have seen God face to face, and my soul is preserved. In the morning he limped on one thigh; for this reason the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew at the hip joint. When Esau came, Jacob bowed seven times to the ground, and Esau ran, embraced him, kissed him and wept. The brothers parted in peace (Genesis 32-33).

The last years

Staying a long time at Succoth, the patriarch understood that goods won by human effort have no perfect permanence and that the Lord alone is their source and defender. The sad events after his entry into Canaan, the dishonouring of Dinah, the slaughter begun by Simeon and Levi, the death of Rachel near Bethlehem and Reuben's sin, then the trials connected with his beloved son Joseph, completed his transformation. The Jacob of the second half of his life is the finished type of the righteous patriarch; the God of Abraham and Isaac calls Himself also the God of Jacob. Shaken by the news of Joseph's supposed death, then glad to see him again, he moved with his family to Egypt, to the land of Goshen, where he lived seventeen years.

Feeling death approach, he prophetically blessed his sons and Joseph's sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Judah received the blessing of the firstborn and the promise that the ruler's staff would not depart from him until He comes to whom it belongs, and to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Reuben, Simeon and Levi were deprived of the blessing of the firstborn, for their sins. According to his will, the patriarch's body, who died at one hundred and forty-⁠seven, was carried from Egypt and buried in the family tomb in Canaan, Machpelah (Genesis 47-50).

He is commemorated on the Sundays of the Holy Fathers and of the Holy Forefathers before the Nativity of the Lord (in the Russian calendar on 3 January and 27 December, movable days).