Jacob
Jacob was continually praised by God and never blamed. In fact, he is the only person in the Bible whom God says he "loves." ("Malachi" 1:2-3: "Is not Esau the brother of Jacob, saith the LORD? But I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.")
He used "a bowl of "Red Bean Soup" defrauded his brother Esau of his eldest son status and worked for his uncle Laban for 14 years in exchange for his wife Rachel. After he wrestled with an angel, he was renamed Israel (Genesis 32:23-30), and he was the ancestor of the Israelites.
Jacob was probably born in Beer-Rahelai. Isaac and Rebekah gave birth to twin brothers Esau and Jacob 20 years after their marriage. Isaac was already 60 years old at that time (Genesis 25:26). When Rebekah was with child, and the children were fighting among themselves within her, she went to consult the Lord. (Genesis 25:22). The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two tribes will be separated from you. One tribe will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." The eldest son Esau even gained the favor of his father Isaac. , because he often ate his wild game; the second son, Jacob, was quiet and often stayed in the tent, and was favored by his mother Rebekah.
[edit] Birthright Blessing
Esau grew up and became a hunter. One day he came back from hunting and fainted from exhaustion. Ask Jacob for red bean soup. Jacob asked Esau to sell him his birthright; Esau said, "I am dying now, what use is this birthright to me?" So he swore an oath and sold his birthright to Jacob. Esau thus despised his birthright.
The birthright includes: being the first in honor and power in the family (Genesis 49:3), receiving a double inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:17), and being separated and holy. To God (Numbers 8:17-19).
Isaac was old, his eyesight was dim, and he could not see. He told Esau to go to the fields and get some game. Then I would prepare delicious food for him to eat, so that I could bless Esau before he died. . When Rebekah heard this, she asked Jacob to disguise himself as Esau and cook two goats as delicacies for Isaac to eat in order to gain his father's blessing. And he bound his hands with kid's skin, and the smooth parts of his neck: and Isaac touched him, and said, The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. Isaac blessed Jacob; Esau came back, resentful of Jacob, and prepared to kill Jacob.
[edit] Laban and Rachel
When Rebekah heard that Esau was planning to kill Jacob, she asked Jacob to flee to his uncle Laban in Haran until Esau The anger turned away. On the way, Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching the sky and the blessing of the Lord. He met Rachel, Laban's youngest daughter, at a well. Jacob served Laban for seven years in order to marry Rachel; because he loved Rachel so much, he regarded these seven years as just a few days. But when the time was up, Laban replaced him with his eldest daughter Leah. In the morning, Jacob discovered that he had been deceived. Laban said that there was no custom in that country where the youngest daughter should be married first. Jacob was asked to serve Rachel for another seven years. So Jacob did it.
Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, but God allowed Leah to bear many children: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. When Rachel saw that she had not borne Jacob a child, she became jealous of her sister and gave her maid Bilhah to her husband as a concubine. Bilhah became pregnant and bore Jacob two sons: Dan and Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she also gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob as his concubine. Zilpah bore Jacob Gad and Asher. Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to Issachar and Zebulun. Later, a daughter was born and named Dinah. God remembered Rachel, listened to her, and made her fertile. Rachel became pregnant and gave birth to a son, whom she named Joseph.
At this time, Jacob asked to go home, but Laban discovered that Jacob had brought God's blessing there and asked him to stay. Laban promised to give Jacob wages, and Jacob asked for the sheep. Anyone with spots, spots, or black in the group is considered his wages. Laban agreed, and gave the sheep to his sons; and he separated himself from Jacob three days' journey; and Jacob tended the rest of Laban's sheep. Jacob peeled the bark of the branches into white stripes. When the fat ones among the flock were mating, Jacob put the branches in the water trough, right in front of the sheep, and made the sheep mate against the branches. Give birth to those with lines, spots, and spots.
It’s just that when the sheep are weak, they don’t plant branches. So the weak ones will belong to Laban, and the fat ones will belong to Jacob. So Jacob became extremely prosperous and acquired many flocks, servants, maidservants, camels, and donkeys.
Laban’s sons noticed that Jacob had taken away their wealth; Laban also changed his friendly attitude towards Jacob. God warned Jacob that he must leave, so Jacob fled with his wife, children, and treasure.
Laban chased Jacob for seven days. Just the night before he was about to catch up, God spoke to him in a dream: "Be careful not to speak good or evil to Jacob." (Genesis 31) :24)
Laban caught up with Jacob on Mount Gilead and blamed Jacob for leaving without saying goodbye, kidnapping his daughters, and stealing the idols. Finally, the two of them made a covenant, and Laban went home and Jacob continued on his journey.
[edit] Return to the Promised Land of God
"Jacob met an angel on the road", perhaps because God commemorated his 20 years of firm faith in God to stay away from evil behavior . He named that place Mahanaim, which means "Second Army Soldiers". Most likely this refers to him and the angels. Here he saw angels, whom he had previously dreamed of "going up and down a ladder to heaven" (28:12, see Jacob's Ladder for details).
As he neared the Promised Land, Jacob sent messengers to meet his brother Esau first. Esau was coming to meet Jacob with four hundred men. And Jacob was greatly afraid and troubled. He felt that he could only rely on God now, so he prayed earnestly and then gave Esau a generous gift.
Jacob sent his whole family across the ford of Jabbok, leaving him alone, and a man wrestled with him until dawn. When the man saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the hollow of his thigh. While Jacob was wrestling with the man, the hollow of his thigh came out of joint. When the man was about to leave, Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man renamed him Israel (Hebrew: ?; Yi?rā’ēl, meaning “the one who wrestles with angels”). Jacob called the name of that place Peniel, because he saw the angel face to face and his life was spared.
After Jacob wrestled with God, Esau came. He had his wife and sons behind, and his beloved Rachel and Joseph at the back. He himself passed before them, and fell on his face seven times until he was near his brother. (Genesis 33:3) Esau ran to meet him, but Jacob refused Esau’s invitation. Soon Esau moved his family to a place far south of the Promised Land. Jacob settled in Succoth for a while. On the way to Ephrath (the Canaanite name of Bethlehem), Rachel died in childbirth (35:16–20) of her youngest son Benjamin, who was older than Joseph. 6 years younger.
Jacob pitched his tent in Shechem (33:18); but God directed Jacob to go up to Bethel and build an altar there to offer sacrifices to God (35:6, 7). God appeared to him, officially changed his name to Israel, and reestablished the covenants between Adam and Eve, Noah and Abraham.
After God appeared to him in Bethel—where the whole family witnessed together—Jacob came to Mamre to his father Isaac.
[edit] Recovering Joseph
Isaac died at the age of 180 44 years after he blessed Jacob and told him to go to Haran to get a wife. At that time, Joseph was 30 years old and had been released from prison in Egypt to rule over the entire earth. This means that Jacob and his family had been back in the Promised Land for 24 years when Isaac died. Esau and Jacob buried their father with Abraham, Sarah, and Rebekah (35:27-29).
A long time ago, Jacob mourned for many days because of the loss of his beloved son Joseph (who was betrayed by his jealous brothers). (Chapter 37) The rest of Genesis continues the story of this family. As they went down to Egypt to buy grain (Genesis Chapter 42), they found Joseph who had been missing for many years, so all seventy members of Jacob’s family went down to Egypt. (Exodus 1:5; Deuteronomy 10:22), living in the land of Goshen.
Before Israel died, his eyes were dim and he could not see; he blessed Joseph’s two sons. Joseph put Ephraim toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh toward Israel's right hand.
“But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim (Ephraim was the second son), and he took his left hand and laid it on the head of Manasseh (Manasseh was the eldest son). Although Joseph was displeased and wanted to lift his father's hand from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. But Israel refused and insisted on setting Ephraim before Manasseh.
He also called his sons to his bedside and blessed them (49:3-27):
* Reuben, you are my firstborn and my strength, the first in my strength. The one who is born should be first in honor and first in power. But your lust is boiling like water, and you will not be in the first place; for you have come to your father's bed and have defiled my bed.
* Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are instruments of violence. Do not confer with them, O my soul; do not join together with them, O my glory; for they kill in anger and kill as they please. Cut off the sinews of oxen. Cursed is their fierce anger, cursed is their cruelty of wrath; I will separate them among the house of Jacob and scatter them in the land of Israel.
* Judah, your brother. they will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you. Judah is a young lion; you, my son, have taken your food and gone up to the mountain, and you have crouched down like a lion. Like a lioness, who dares to offend him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the royal scepter from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and all the people will obey him. On the good vine. He washed his garments in wine, and his robes in grape juice. His eyes were red with wine; his teeth were white with milk.
* Zebulun will be. He will dwell on the seashore, and it will be a port for ships; his territory will extend to Sidon. Seeing the beauty of the land, he bowed his shoulders and became a hardworking servant.
* Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a serpent in the road and an adder in the road. , gnawing at the hoofs of horses, and causing the rider to fall backward.
* Gad will be pursued by his pursuers, but he will pursue their heels.
>* Asher's food is rich, he will bring forth kingly delicacies
* Naphtali is a freed hind, and he will bring forth pleasant words.
* Joseph is a fruitful branch, a fruitful branch by the spring; his branches stick out over the wall. The archers afflict him, and shoot at him, and persecute him; but his bow remains strong; The arm is strong and agile; for this is the hand of the mighty One of Jacob, the shepherd of Israel, the stone of Israel. The God of your father will help you; the Almighty One will bring all the blessings in heaven that are hidden in the depths of the earth. The blessings of your father are given to you, as well as the blessings of childbirth and nursing. The blessings of your father are greater than those of my ancestors, even to the uttermost limits of the mountains of eternity; these blessings will be upon the head of Joseph, upon the head of one who is distinct from his brother.
* Benjamin was a plundering wolf. In the morning he ate his plunder, and in the evening he divided his spoils.
“When Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he put his feet up on his bed, breathed his last, died, and returned to his people.” (49:33) Jacob’s life was one day. One hundred and forty-seven years old. (Genesis 47:28)
Joseph was 57 years old at this time. When Joseph was 40 years old, Jacob was 130 years old. At that time, he and his family arrived in Egypt. This means that Jacob gave birth to Joseph when he was 90 years old. At the end of the 14 years of serving Rachel, his father arrived in Haran at the age of 76, which was no longer young.
Jacob’s body was brought back to Canaan and buried with Leah in the Cave of Machpelah.