Jacob (Genesis 25:19–34; Genesis 27:1–45; Genesis 28:10–22; Genesis 29:1–30; Genesis 31:1–55; Genesis 32:22–32; Genesis 33:1–17; Genesis 34:1–31; Genesis 35:1–29; Genesis 37:1–35; Genesis 42:36–38; Genesis 46:1–7; Genesis 47:7–12; Genesis 48:1–22; Genesis 49:1–33; Genesis 50:1–14; Hosea 12:3–4; Romans 9:10–13; Hebrews 11:21)

Israel, Father of the Twelve Tribes

The younger twin son of Isaac and Rebekah, who took Esau's birthright and blessing, dreamed at Bethel, served Laban in Haran for Rachel and Leah, wrestled at Peniel and was named Israel, met Esau again, mourned Joseph, went down into Egypt, blessed his sons, and was buried at Machpelah.

The LORD told Rebekah, “the elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23), and the twins were born, the second with “his hand had hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob” (Genesis 25:26). “Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents” (Genesis 25:27). He said to Esau, “Sell me first thy birthright” (Genesis 25:31), and later, at his mother's bidding, he came to his blind father and said, “I am Esau thy first-born” (Genesis 27:19). Isaac said to Esau, “Thy brother came with guile, and hath taken away thy blessing” (Genesis 27:35). Sent away to Haran, Jacob dreamed at Bethel and heard the LORD say, “I am with thee, and will keep thee, whithersoever thou goest” (Genesis 28:15).

In Haran “Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her” (Genesis 29:20). Laban gave him Leah, and Jacob served seven other years for Rachel. Of the twenty years in Laban's house he said, “I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock: and thou hast changed my wages ten times” (Genesis 31:41). When the LORD said, “Return unto the land of thy fathers” (Genesis 31:3), “Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled” (Genesis 31:20). Afraid of Esau, he prayed and sent a present; alone at the Jabbok “there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day” (Genesis 32:24), and his name was changed: “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel” (Genesis 32:28). Esau ran to meet him and embraced him (Genesis 33:4). The text then tells of Dinah and Shechem, the return to Bethel, Rachel's death on the way to Ephrath, and the death of Isaac, when “Esau and Jacob his sons buried him” (Genesis 35:29).

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children” (Genesis 37:3), and when the coat came back in blood Jacob “refused to be comforted” (Genesis 37:35). In the famine he said, “all these things are against me” (Genesis 42:36), yet when he heard that Joseph was alive, “the spirit of Jacob their father revived” (Genesis 45:27). He went down into Egypt, stood before Pharaoh, blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, spoke over his twelve sons, and “yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people” (Genesis 49:33). His sons buried him in Machpelah. The New Testament names him with Abraham and Isaac, and says, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph” (Hebrews 11:21).

Strengths

• A quiet man, dwelling in tents
• Obeyed his father and his mother
• Served seven years that seemed but a few days
• Prayed in fear, calling himself unworthy
• I will not let thee go, except thou bless me
• Bowed to the ground before Esau
• Built altars and put away foreign gods
• By faith blessed the sons of Joseph

Weaknesses

• Sell me first thy birthright
• Came to his father with guile
• Stole away unawares
• Loved Joseph more than all his children

Themes

• Birthright and blessing
• The promise renewed
• Wrestling and a new name
• Family strife
• Favoritism and grief
• Down into Egypt

The twins and the birthright (Genesis 25:19–34)

The LORD tells Rebekah the elder shall serve the younger, the twins are born with Jacob holding Esau's heel, and later Esau, faint from the field, swears and sells Jacob his birthright for bread and pottage of lentils.

The blessing taken (Genesis 27:1–45)

Rebekah overhears Isaac send Esau for venison, and Jacob, in Esau's garments with goat skins on his hands and neck, receives Isaac's blessing; Esau purposes to slay him, and Rebekah sends him to Laban.

The blessing taken

When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim, he told Esau, “make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die” (Genesis 27:4). Rebekah heard, and said to Jacob, “obey my voice according to that which I command thee” (Genesis 27:8). Jacob answered, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing” (Genesis 27:11-12). His mother said, “Upon me be thy curse, my son; only obey my voice” (Genesis 27:13).

Rebekah put Esau's garments upon Jacob, and “the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck” (Genesis 27:16). Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau thy first-born; I have done according as thou badest me” (Genesis 27:19). Isaac felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” (Genesis 27:22) The text adds: “And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him” (Genesis 27:23). The blessing began, “God give thee of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth” (Genesis 27:28), and included, “Be lord over thy brethren” (Genesis 27:29).

Esau came in from his hunting, and Isaac “trembled very exceedingly” (Genesis 27:33). Isaac said, “Thy brother came with guile, and hath taken away thy blessing” (Genesis 27:35), and Esau said, “Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times” (Genesis 27:36). “And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him” (Genesis 27:41); Rebekah told Jacob, “flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran” (Genesis 27:43).

The dream at Bethel (Genesis 28:1–22)

Isaac charges Jacob and sends him away; at a place where he sleeps with a stone under his head, Jacob dreams of a ladder and angels, hears the LORD's promise, sets up a pillar, and vows a vow.

The dream at Bethel

Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and charged him, “Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan” (Genesis 28:1); “Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan-aram” (Genesis 28:7). On the way, Jacob “took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed; and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:11-12).

“And, behold, Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed” (Genesis 28:13). He said also, “in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee, whithersoever thou goest” (Genesis 28:14-15).

Jacob awoke and said, “Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. … How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:16-17). He set the stone up for a pillar, poured oil on it, and called the place Beth-el. Then he “vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee” (Genesis 28:20-22). Genesis does not say here whether he paid the tenth.

Laban, Rachel and Leah (Genesis 29:1–35; Genesis 30:1–24)

At a well in Haran Jacob meets Rachel and is received by Laban his mother's brother; he serves seven years for Rachel, is given Leah, serves seven other years for Rachel; Leah, the two handmaids, and at last Rachel bear him eleven sons and a daughter.

Wages, flocks, and the flight from Laban (Genesis 30:25–43; Genesis 31:1–55)

Jacob asks to be sent away, agrees wages with Laban over the speckled and spotted, grows exceedingly rich, and, told by the LORD to return, steals away unawares with his wives and goods; Laban overtakes him in Gilead, and they make a covenant at the heap of stones.

Wrestling at Peniel (Genesis 32:1–32; Hosea 12:3–4)

Left alone at the ford of the Jabbok, Jacob is wrestled by a man until daybreak, asks a blessing, is named Israel, calls the place Peniel, and limps upon his thigh.

Wrestling at Peniel

Esau was coming with four hundred men, and “Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed” (Genesis 32:7). He prayed, “Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him” (Genesis 32:11), and sent a present ahead of him. That night he sent his household and all that he had over the ford of the Jabbok.

“And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me” (Genesis 32:24-26). The man asked his name, and Jacob said, “Jacob.” (Genesis 32:27) Then: “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed” (Genesis 32:28).

Jacob asked, “Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.” (Genesis 32:29) The answer was, “Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?” (Genesis 32:29) and “he blessed him there” (Genesis 32:29). “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh” (Genesis 32:30-31). Hosea says of Jacob, “in his manhood he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him at Beth-el, and there he spake with us” (Hosea 12:3-4).

Meeting Esau (Genesis 33:1–17)

Jacob arranges his household in order, bows himself to the ground seven times, and Esau runs, embraces him and kisses him; Jacob urges his present on Esau, who returns to Seir, and Jacob journeys to Succoth.

Meeting Esau

“And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men” (Genesis 33:1). He put the handmaids and their children foremost, Leah and her children after, “and Rachel and Joseph hindermost” (Genesis 33:2). “And he himself passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept” (Genesis 33:3-4).

Esau asked about the women and the children, and Jacob said, “The children whom God hath graciously given thy servant” (Genesis 33:5). Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; let that which thou hast be thine.” (Genesis 33:9) Jacob answered, “Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found favor in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand; forasmuch as I have seen thy face, as one seeth the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. Take, I pray thee, my gift that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it” (Genesis 33:10-11).

Esau offered to go along; Jacob replied, “My lord knoweth that the children are tender” (Genesis 33:13), and said he would come to him at Seir. “So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth” (Genesis 33:16-17).

Dinah and Shechem (Genesis 33:18–20; Genesis 34:1–31)

Shechem the son of Hamor takes and humbles Dinah; Jacob holds his peace until his sons come, they answer with guile, Simeon and Levi slay the males of the city, and Jacob rebukes them.

Return to Bethel (Genesis 35:1–15)

God tells Jacob to go up to Bethel; he has the foreign gods put away, builds an altar there, and God appears again, confirms the name Israel, and speaks of a nation and the land.

Return to Bethel

“And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother” (Genesis 35:1). Jacob said to his household, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments” (Genesis 35:2). “And they gave unto Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem” (Genesis 35:4).

“And they journeyed: and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob” (Genesis 35:5). At Luz, which is Beth-el, Jacob “built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God was revealed unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother” (Genesis 35:7).

“And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel” (Genesis 35:9-10). God said, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins” (Genesis 35:11). Jacob “set up a pillar in the place where he spake with him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon” (Genesis 35:14).

Rachel's death and Isaac's burial (Genesis 35:16–29)

Rachel dies in hard labor bearing Benjamin and Jacob sets up a pillar on her grave; Reuben lies with Bilhah and Israel hears of it; Isaac dies, and Esau and Jacob bury him.

Joseph's coat (Genesis 37:1–4; Genesis 37:31–35)

Israel loves Joseph more than all his children and makes him a coat of many colors, and when the coat is brought back dipped in blood he rends his garments and refuses to be comforted.

The famine and Benjamin (Genesis 42:1–4; Genesis 42:29–38; Genesis 43:1–14)

Jacob sends ten sons to buy grain in Egypt but keeps Benjamin back, cries that all these things are against him, refuses Reuben's pledge, and at last sends Benjamin with Judah, surety for him, and a present.

Down into Egypt (Genesis 45:25–28; Genesis 46:1–7; Genesis 46:28–30; Genesis 47:7–12)

Told that Joseph is alive, Jacob says it is enough and goes; at Beer-sheba God bids him not fear, Joseph meets him in Goshen, and Jacob blesses Pharaoh and tells him the days of his pilgrimage.

Blessings and death (Genesis 47:27–31; Genesis 48:1–22; Genesis 49:1–33; Genesis 50:1–14)

Israel makes Joseph swear to bury him with his fathers, adopts and blesses Ephraim and Manasseh with crossed hands, speaks over his twelve sons, charges them concerning Machpelah, and dies; his sons bury him there.

Blessings and death

“And the time drew near that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, … bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt; but when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place” (Genesis 47:29-30). Falling sick, Jacob told Joseph, “God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me” (Genesis 48:3), and said of Joseph's two sons, “Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine” (Genesis 48:5).

“And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the first-born” (Genesis 48:14). When Joseph objected, his father “refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: howbeit his younger brother shall be greater than he” (Genesis 48:19).

Then “Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days” (Genesis 49:1). To Reuben he said, “Boiling over as water, thou shalt not have the pre-eminence” (Genesis 49:4); of Judah, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah” (Genesis 49:10); of Joseph, “Joseph is a fruitful bough” (Genesis 49:22). “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them” (Genesis 49:28).

He charged them to bury him in the cave of Machpelah, “and there I buried Leah” (Genesis 49:31). “And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people” (Genesis 49:33). Joseph had the physicians embalm Israel, and a very great company went up; “his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah” (Genesis 50:13).

Isaac (Genesis 25:28; Genesis 27:18–29; Genesis 28:1–5; Genesis 35:27–29)

His father, who loved Esau, was deceived into blessing Jacob, charged him and sent him to Paddan-aram, and was buried by Esau and Jacob.

Rebekah (Genesis 25:28; Genesis 27:5–17; Genesis 27:42–45)

His mother, who loved Jacob, told him to obey her voice, and sent him to Laban her brother to flee Esau.

Esau (Genesis 25:29–34; Genesis 27:30–41; Genesis 33:1–16; Genesis 35:29)

His twin, who sold him the birthright, lost the blessing, hated him, and later ran to meet him and embraced him; together they buried Isaac.

Abraham (Genesis 28:13; Genesis 32:9; Genesis 48:15)

The LORD named himself to Jacob as the God of Abraham, and Jacob prayed to the God of his father Abraham.

Laban (Genesis 29:13–27; Genesis 31:38–42; Genesis 31:43–55)

His mother's brother, whose daughters Jacob married and whose flocks he fed twenty years; they parted with a covenant at the heap of stones.

Rachel (Genesis 29:18–20; Genesis 30:1–2; Genesis 35:16–20)

The younger daughter of Laban, for whom he served seven years, and who died in hard labor on the way to Ephrath.

Leah (Genesis 29:23–35; Genesis 49:31)

The elder daughter, given to him in the evening, whom the LORD saw was hated and whose womb he opened.

Joseph (Genesis 37:3; Genesis 37:31–35; Genesis 46:28–30)

Rachel's firstborn, whom Israel loved more than all his children, mourned as torn in pieces, and later saw alive in Goshen.

Judah (Genesis 43:8–9; Genesis 49:8–10)

Leah's fourth son, who pledged himself as surety for Benjamin and was blessed by his father.

Simeon and Levi (Genesis 34:25–31; Genesis 49:5–7)

Sons who slew the males of Shechem, and to whom Jacob said, “Ye have troubled me” (Genesis 34:30).

The LORD (Genesis 28:13–15; Genesis 31:3; Genesis 35:9–12; Genesis 46:2–4)

Spoke to him at Bethel, bade him return to the land of his fathers, renewed the name Israel, and said, “fear not to go down into Egypt” (Genesis 46:3).

Pharaoh (Genesis 47:7–10)

Asked how many were the days of his life; Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.

Major sections

• Genesis 25–28
• Genesis 29–31
• Genesis 32–33
• Genesis 34–35
• Genesis 37–50

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