JACOB was the son of Isaac and Rebecca, the grandson of Abraham, and the traditional ancestor of the people of Israel.
He is represented as the twin brother of Esau, the ancestor of Edom, and the two are representatives of two grades of social order, Jacob being a pastoral nomad, and Esau the typical Bedawin hunter and raider. Whilst Esau is actually the elder, Jacob by a double artifice (Gen. xxv. 28-34 and xxvii.) obtains the rights and privileges of seniority. He then goes to the Aramaean tribe from which his ancestry had sprung, and on the way receives a special revelation from God at Bethel. He marries two of his cousins, Leah and Rachel, and after serving Laban seven years for each of them, and an additional six years during which he amasses a large property in small cattle, he returns to Palestine. He receives a second revelation at Peniel, meets and is reconciled to Esau, and settles in Canaan. Twelve sons are born to him, six by Leah, and two each by Rachel and the female slaves of his wives. The story of his later years belongs rather to the life of Joseph, and it was as a result of the latter's success in Egypt that Jacob and his sons migrated thither in time of famine and took up their residence on the north-eastern border —the land of Goshen. Here Jacob ultimately died and was buried in Palestine.
These narratives are full of much valuable evidence regarding marriage customs, pastoral life and duties, popular beliefs and traditions, and are evidently typical of what was currently re tailed. Their historical value has been variously estimated. The name existed long before the traditional date of Jacob, and the Egyptian phonetic equivalent of Jacob-el (cf. Isra-el, Ishma el) appears to be the name of a district of central Palestine (or possibly east of Jordan) about 1500 B.C. But the stories in their present form are very much later. The close relation between Jacob and Aramaeans confirms the view that some of the tribes of Israel were partly of Aramaean origin; his entrance into Palestine from beyond the Jordan is parallel to Joshua's invasion at the head of the Israelites; and his previous journey from the south finds independent support in traditions of another distinct movement from this quarter. Consequently, it would appear that these extremely elevated and richly developed narratives of Jacob Israel embody, among a number of other features, a recollection of two distinct traditions of migration which became fused among the Israelites. See further GENESIS ; JEWS.