JACOB (Wkob), (Heb. yah-ak-obe', heel catcher, i. e., supplanter).
I. The second son of Isaac by his wife Re bekah. Her conceiving is stated to have been su pernatural. Led by peculiar feelings she went to inquire of the Lord. and was informed that she was indeed with child, that her offspring should bc the founders of two nations, and that' the elder should serve the younger: circumstances which ought to be borne in mind when a judgment is pronounced on her conduct in aiding Jacob to se cure the privileges of birth to the exclusion of his elder brother Esau—conduct which these facts, connected with the birth of the boys, may well have influenced.
1. Personal History. As the boys grew, Jacob appeared to partake of the gentle, quiet and retiring character of his father, and was accordingly led to prefer the tranquil safety and pleasing occupations of a shepherd's life to the bold and daring enterprises of the hunter, for which Esau had an irresistible predilection. Jacob, therefore, passed his days in or -near the paternal tent, simple and unpretending in his manner of life, and finding in the flocks and herds which he kept, images and emotions which both filled and satisfied his heart. His domestic habits and affections seem to have cobperated with the re markable events that attended his birth, in win ning for him the peculiar regard and undisguised preference of his mother, who probably in this merely yielded to impressions which she could scarcely account for, much less define, and who had not even a faint conception of the magnitude of influence to which her predilection was likely to rise, and the sad consequences to which it could hardly fail to lead.
(1) Buys Esau's Birthright. That selfishness, and a prudence which approached to cunning, had a seat in the heart of the youth Jacob, appears but too plain in his dealing with Esau, when he exacted from a famishing brother so large a price for a mess of pottage as the surrender of his birthright. Nor does the simple narra tive of the Bible afford grounds by which this act can be well extenuated. Esau asks for food, alleging as his reason, 'for I am faint.' Jacob, unlike both a youth and a brother, answers, 'Sell me this day thy birthright.' What could Esau
do? 'Behold,' he replies, 'I am at the point to die, and what profit (if by retaining my birth right I lose my life) shall this birthright do me?' Determined to have a safe bargain, the prudent Jacob, before he gave the needed refresh ment, adds, 'Swear to me this day.' The oath was given, the food eaten, and Esau 'went his way,' leaving a home where he had received so sorry a welcome.
The leaning which his mother had in favor of Jacob would naturally be augmented by the con duct of Esau in marrying, doubtless contrary to his parents' wishes, two Hittite women, who are recorded to have been a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
(2) Secures Isaac's Blessing. Circumstances thus prepared the way for procuring the transfer of the birthright, when Isaac, being now old, pro ceeded to take steps to pronounce the irrevocable blessing which acted with all the force of a mod ern testamentary bequest. This blessing, then, it was essential that Jacob should receive in prefer ence to Esau. Here Rebekah appears the chief agent; Jacob is a mere instrument in her hands. Isaac directs Esau to procure him some venison. This Rebekah hears, and urges her reluctant fa vorite to personate his elder brother. Jacob sug gests difficulties; they are met by Rebekah, who is ready to incur any personal danger so that her object be gained. Her voice is obeyed, the venison is brought, Jacob is equipped for the deceit; he helps out his fraud by direct false hood, and the old man, whose senses are now failing, is at last with difficulty deceived. It cannot be denied that this is a most reprehensi ble transaction, and presents a truly painful picture; in which a mother conspires with one son in order to cheat her aged husband, with a view to deprive another son of his rightful inheritance. Justification is here impossible; but it should not be forgotten in the estimate we form that there was a promise in favor of Jacob; that Jacob's qualities had endeared him to his mother; and that the prospect which arose was dark to her and threatening when she saw the neglected Esau at the head of the house, and his hateful wives assuming command over herself.