Concept

Jacob

Overview

Jacob, later given the name Israel, is the third Hebrew patriarch in Judaism and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother Esau, Jacob's paternal grandparents are Abraham and Sarah and his maternal grandfather is Bethuel, whose wife is not mentioned. He is said to have bought Esau's birthright and, with his mother's help, deceived his aging father to bless him instead of Esau. Then, following a severe drought in his homeland Canaan, Jacob and his descendants migrated to neighbouring Egypt through the efforts of his son Joseph, who had become a confidant of the pharaoh. After dying in Egypt at the age of 147, he is supposed to have been buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron.

In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, Jacob's progeny were begotten by four women: his wives (and maternal cousins) Leah and Rachel; and his concubines Bilhah and Zilpah. His sons were, in order of their birth: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. He also had a daughter named Dinah, born to his first wife Leah. The descendants of Jacob's sons were collectively known as the Israelites, with each son being the forefather of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, of whom all but the Tribe of Levi were allotted territory in the Land of Israel. The Genesis narrative also states that Jacob displayed favoritism among his wives and children, preferring Rachel and her sons Joseph and Benjamin to the rest—culminating in Joseph's older brothers selling him into slavery out of resentment.

Scholars have taken a mixed view as to Jacob's historicity, with archaeology so far producing no evidence for his existence. Archaeologist and scholar William Albright initially dated Jacob to the 19th century BCE, but later scholars, such as John J. Bimson and Nahum Sarna, argued against using archaeological evidence to support such claims due to limited knowledge of that period. Recent scholarship by Thomas L. Thompson and William Dever suggest that these narratives are late literary compositions with ideological purposes rather than historical accounts.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

In the original texts

Passages from public-domain books where Jacob is discussed.

He cheats Laban through his knowledge of magic, gaining for himself the choicest of the young lambs by constructing the watering troughs of half-peeled rods of wood--a striking example of so-called imitative magic. On the other hand, Jacob is portrayed as the hero who rolls from the well's mouth the stone which all the servants of Laban could not move.
Wilhelm Max Wundt, Elements of Folk Psychology Outline of a Psychological History of the Development of Mankind
states what it is; names the idea
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
In him the promise of a countless people was first to be fully unfolded; he was to see many sons around him, but through them and their mothers was to endure manifold sorrows of heart. Seven years he serves for his beloved, without impatience and without wavering. His father-in-law, crafty like himself, and disposed, like him, to consider legitimate this means to an end, deceives him, and so repays him for what he…
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Autobiography of Goethe Truth and Poetry
names the idea; opens on it
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
This narrative begins: “And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob, etc. And He said, I am God, etc., I will go down with thee into Egypt” (Gen. xlvi. 2, 3).
Moses Maimonides, The guide for the perplexed
names the idea; opens on it
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
This son was named Isaac and he begat Jacob, who in his turn begat the twelve Patriarchs, God not reckoning in their number those whom nature in its ordinary course produced.[51] This Jacob, then, together with his sons and his household determined to dwell in Egypt for the purpose of trafficking; and the multitude of them increasing there in the course of many years began to be a cause of suspicion to the Egyptian…
Boethius, The Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy
commentary markers; states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
In the same manner the Scriptures say concerning Jacob, "The elder shall serve the younger," Gen. 25:23. But does not Jacob become a servant when we see him a most distressed supplicant? Does he not from fear of his brother haste away into exile? Does he not on his return home supplicate his brother and fall on his knees before him? Is not Isaac also seen to be a most miserable beggar? Gen. 6:1-35. Abraham his…
Martin Luther, Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1
names the idea; opens on it
Read the chapter · Open in the reader

Jacob

Overview

In the original texts

Philosophers who discussed Jacob

Related ideas

Place in the tradition