Jacob

Also known as: Ya'akob · Family: Jacob's family · Role: son of Isaac · First appears: Eliezer's Mission

Jacob, also known as Ya'akob, was the son of Isaac and Rebekah and the twin brother of Esau. The brothers quarreled in the womb, and after Abraham blessed Jacob and charged him to follow the Lord’s ways, Jacob prepared a mourner’s meal following Abraham’s death. Esau sold him the birthright for lentils, payment, and a sword Isaac had given Jacob. Later, Isaac sent him to study with Shem and Eber, while Rebekah urged him not to marry a Canaanite and gave him her maternal blessing. At her instruction, Jacob received Isaac’s blessing; Isaac later affirmed, “I gave my blessing to the right one!”

After hiding for fourteen years at Eber’s house, Jacob returned home, but Esau sought to kill him. Isaac sent him to Haran to find a wife among Laban’s daughters. On the journey, Jacob dreamed of God’s promise of land and descendants, then arrived in Haran, where he met his cousin Rachel and fell in love with her. He agreed to serve Laban seven years to marry her, but Laban deceived him, giving him Leah first. Jacob then served seven more years for Rachel. Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah bore him sons and a daughter; among the children named in the account are Reuben, Simon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, Benjamin, and Leah’s unnamed daughter.

After Joseph’s birth, Jacob prepared to leave Haran with his wives and children. Laban pursued him, but they made a treaty at Gilead. On his return, Jacob prepared to meet Esau; after wrestling with Michael, he was blessed and told, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel”. He met Esau, gave him gifts, and continued on to Succoth and Shechem. At Shechem, Jacob tried to retrieve his daughter Dinah after she was held in Shechem’s house; later, he prayed when the Canaanite kings threatened his family. He continued toward Isaac, fought alongside his sons in the wars described, and went to Beth-el, where he built an altar. Deborah (Rebekah's nurse) died there, and Jacob buried her; Rachel later died giving birth to Benjamin, and Jacob buried her on the way to Ephrath. After Isaac’s death, Esau acknowledged Jacob’s birthright and departed for Mount Seir. Jacob and his sons later fought Esau’s forces; Jacob mortally wounded Esau at Adora, and his sons buried Esau out of respect for their father.