Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (also Karl;^[a] 4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863) was a German philologist, jurist and mythologist. He is best known as the discoverer of Grimm's Law, the author (with his brother) of the monumental Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie and, more popularly, as one of the Brothers Grimm, as the editor of Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Life[link]

Grimm was born in Hanau, in Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). His father, who was a lawyer, died while he was a child, and his mother was left with very small means; but her sister, who was lady of the chamber to the Landgravine of Hesse, helped to support and educate her numerous family. Jacob, with his younger brother Wilhelm (born on 24 February 1786), were sent in 1798 to the public school at Kassel.

In 1802 he proceeded to the University of Marburg, where he studied law, a profession for which he had been destined by his father. His brother joined him at Marburg a year later, having just recovered from a long and severe illness, and likewise began the study of law.

Up to this time Jacob Grimm had been actuated only by a general thirst for knowledge and his energies had not found any aim beyond the practical one of making himself a position in life. The first definite impulse came from the lectures of Friedrich Karl von Savigny, the celebrated investigator of Roman law, who, as Wilhelm Grimm himself says in the preface to the Deutsche Grammatik (German Grammar), first taught him to realize what it meant to study any science. Savigny's lectures also awakened in him a love for historical and antiquarian investigation, which forms the structure of all his work. The two men became personally acquainted, and it was in Savigny's well-stocked library that Grimm first turned over the leaves of Bodmer's edition of the Old German minnesingers and other early texts, and felt an eager desire to penetrate further into the obscurities and half-revealed mysteries of their language.

In the beginning of 1805 he received an invitation from Savigny, who had moved to Paris, to help him in his literary work. Grimm passed a very happy time in Paris, strengthening his taste for the literatures of the Middle Ages by his studies in the Paris libraries. Towards the close of the year he returned to Kassel, where his mother and Wilhelm had settled, the latter having finished his studies. The next year he obtained a position in the war office with the very small salary of 100 thalers. One of his grievances was that he had to exchange his stylish Paris suit for a stiff uniform and pigtail. But he had full leisure for the prosecution of his studies.

In 1808, soon after the death of his mother, he was appointed superintendent of the private library of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, into which Hesse-Kassel had been incorporated by Napoleon. Jerome appointed him an auditor to the state council, while he retained his other post. His salary was increased in a short interval from 2000 to 4000 francs, and his official duties were hardly more than nominal. After the expulsion of Jerome and the reinstalment of an elector, Grimm was appointed in 1813 secretary of legation, to accompany the Hessian minister to the headquarters of the allied army. In 1814 he was sent to Paris to demand restitution of the books carried off by the French, and in 1814–1815 he attended the Congress of Vienna as secretary of legation. On his return he was again sent to Paris on the same errand as earlier before.

Meanwhile Wilhelm had received an appointment in the Kassel library, and in 1816 Jacob was made second librarian under Volkel. Upon the death of Volkel in 1828, the brothers expected to be advanced to the first and second librarianships respectively, and were dissatisfied when the first place was given to Rommel, the keeper of the archives. Consequently, they moved next year to Göttingen where Jacob received the appointment of professor and librarian, and Wilhelm that of under-librarian. Jacob Grimm lectured on legal antiquities, historical grammar, literary history, and diplomatics, explained Old German poems, and commented on the Germania of Tacitus.

At this period he is described as small and lively in figure, with a harsh voice, speaking a broad Hessian dialect. His powerful memory enabled him to dispense with the manuscript on which most German professors relied, and he spoke extemporaneously, referring only occasionally to a few names and dates written on a slip of paper. He regretted that he had begun the work of teaching so late in life, but as a lecturer he was not successful: he had no aptitude for digesting facts and suiting them to the level of comprehension of his students. Even the brilliant, terse, and eloquent passages in his writings lost much of their effect when jerked out in the midst of a long array of dry facts.

In 1837, having been one of the seven professors who signed a protest against the King of Hanover's abrogation of the constitution established some years before, he was dismissed from his professorship and banished from the kingdom of Hanover. He returned to Kassel with his brother who had also signed the protest. They remained there until 1840 when they accepted an invitation from the King of Prussia to move to Berlin, where they both received professorships and were elected members of the Academy of Sciences. Not being under any obligation to lecture, Jacob seldom did so, but together with his brother worked at their great dictionary. During their time in Kassel, Jacob regularly attended the meetings of the academy where he read papers on the most varied subjects. The most well known are those on Lachmann, Schiller, his brother Wilhelm, old age, and on the origin of language. He also described his impressions of Italian and Scandinavian travel, interspersing his more general observations with linguistic details, as is the case in all his works.

Grimm died in Berlin at the age of 78, working even at the end.

He was never seriously ill, and worked all day without haste and without pause. He was not at all impatient of interruption, but seemed rather to be refreshed by it, returning to his work without effort. He wrote for the press with great rapidity, and hardly ever made corrections. He never revised what he had written, remarking with a certain wonder on his brother, Wilhelm, who read his own manuscripts over again before sending them to press. His temperament was uniformly cheerful and he was easily amused. Outside his own special work he had a marked taste for botany. The spirit that animated his work is best described by himself at the end of his autobiography:

"Nearly all my labors have been devoted, either directly or indirectly, to the investigation of our earlier language, poetry and laws. These studies may have appeared to many, and may still appear, useless; to me they have always seemed a noble and earnest task, definitely and inseparably connected with our common fatherland, and calculated to foster the love of it. My principle has always been in these investigations to under-value nothing, but to utilize the small for the illustration of the great, the popular tradition for the elucidation of the written monuments."

Linguistic work[link]

The purely scientific side of Grimm's character developed slowly. He seems to have felt the want of definite principles of etymology without being able to discover them, and indeed even in the first edition of his grammar (1819) he seemed to be often groping in the dark. As early as 1815 we find August Wilhelm von Schlegel reviewing the Altdeutsche Wälder (a periodical published by the two brothers) very severely, condemning the lawless etymological combinations it contained, and insisting on the necessity of strict philological method and a fundamental investigation of the laws of language, especially in the correspondence of sounds. This criticism is said to have had a considerable influence on the direction of Grimm's studies.

Grimm's scientific character is notable for its combination of breadth and unity. He was as far removed from the narrowness of the specialist who has no ideas or sympathies beyond just one author or corner of science as he was from the shallow dabbler who feverishly attempts to master the details of a half-dozen unrelated pursuits. The same concentration exists within his own special studies. The very foundations of his nature were harmonious; his patriotism and love of historical investigation received their fullest satisfaction in the study of the language, traditions, mythology, laws and literature of his own countrymen and their kin. But from this centre, he pursued his investigations in every direction as far as his instinct allowed. He was equally fortunate in the harmony that existed between his intellectual and moral nature. He cheerfully made the heavy sacrifices that science demands from its disciples, without envy or bitterness; although he lived apart from his fellow men, he was full of human sympathies, and has had a profound influence on the destiny of mankind.

[edit] History of the German Language

Of all his more general works the boldest and most far-reaching was his Geschichte der deutschen Sprache (History of the German Language), in which the linguistic elements are emphasized. The subject of the work is the history hidden in the words of the German language (the oldest natural history of the Teutonic tribes determined by means of language). For this purpose he laboriously collected the scattered words and allusions found in classical writers, and endeavoured to determine the relationship between the German language and those of the Getae, Thracians, Scythians, and many other nations whose languages were at the time known only through doubtfully identified, often extremely corrupted remains preserved by Greek and Latin authors. Grimm's results have been greatly modified by the wider range of comparison and improved methods of investigation that now characterize linguistics, and many questions he raised will probably remain obscure, but his book's influence has been profound.

[edit] German Grammar

Grimm's famous Deutsche Grammatik (German Grammar) was the outcome of his purely philological work. The labors of past generations from the humanists onwards resulted in an enormous collection of materials in the form of text-editions, dictionaries, and grammars, although most of it was uncritical and untrustworthy. Something had even been done in the way of the comparison and determination of general laws, and the concept of a comparative Germanic grammar had been clearly grasped by the illustrious Englishman George Hickes by the beginning of the 18th century in his Thesaurus. Ten Kate in Holland had afterwards made valuable contributions to the history and comparison of the Germanic languages. Even Grimm himself did not at first intend to include all the languages in his Grammar, but he soon found that Old High German postulated Gothic, and that the later stages of German could not be understood without the help of other West Germanic varieties including English, and that the rich literature of Scandinavia could not be ignored either. The first edition of the first part of the Grammar (which appeared in 1819), and is now extremely rare, treated of the inflections of all these languages, and included a general introduction, in which he vindicated the importance of an historical study of the German language against the a priori, quasi-philosophical methods then in vogue.

In 1822 this volume appeared in a second edition (really a new work, for, as Grimm himself says in the preface, it cost him little reflection to mow down the first crop to the ground). The wide distance between the two stages of Grimm's development in these two editions is significantly shown by the fact that while the first edition gives only the inflections, in the second volume phonology takes up no fewer than 600 pages, more than half of the whole volume. Grimm had, at last, awakened to the full conviction that all sound philology must be based on rigorous adhesion to the laws of sound change, and he never afterwards swerved from this principle, which gave to all his investigations, even in their boldest flights, that iron-bound consistency, and that force of conviction that distinguishes science from dilettanteism. Prior to Grimm's time, philology was nothing but a more or less laborious and conscientious dilettanteism, with occasional flashes of scientific inspiration.

His advances must be attributed mainly to the influence of his contemporary Rasmus Christian Rask. Rask was born two years later than Grimm, but his remarkable precocity gave him something of a head start. In Grimm's first editions, his Icelandic paradigms are based entirely on Rask's grammar, and in his second edition, he relied almost entirely on Rask for Old English. His debt to Rask can be appreciated only by comparing his treatment of Old English in the two editions; the difference is very great. For example, in the first edition he declines disg, dceges, plural dcegas, without having observed the law of vowel-change pointed out by Rask. There can be little doubt that the appearance of Rask's Old English grammar was the primary impetus for Grimm to recast his work from the beginning. To Rask also belongs the merit of having first distinctly formulated the laws of sound-correspondence in the different languages, especially in the vowels (those more fleeting elements of speech previously ignored by etymologists).

The Grammar was continued in three volumes, treating principally derivation, composition and syntax, the last of which was unfinished. Grimm then began a third edition, of which only one part, comprising the vowels, appeared in 1840, his time being afterwards taken up mainly by the dictionary. The Grammar stands alone in the annals of science for its comprehensiveness, method and fullness of detail. Every law, every letter, every syllable of inflection in the different languages was illustrated by an almost exhaustive mass of material, and it has served as a model for all succeeding investigators. Diez's grammar of the Romance languages is founded entirely on its methods, which have also exerted a profound influence on the wider study of the Indo-European languages in general.

Grimm's Law[link]

Jacob is recognized for enunciating Grimm's law, the Germanic Sound Shift, that was first observed by the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask. Grimm's law was the first non-trivial systematic sound change to be discovered. Grimm's Law, also known as 'Rask's-Grimm's Rule' is the first law in linguistics concerning a non-trivial sound change. It was a turning point in the development of linguistics, allowing the introduction of a rigorous methodology to historic linguistic research. It concerns the correspondence of consonants in the older Indo-European, and Low Saxon and High German languages, and was first fully stated by Grimm in the second edition of the first part of his grammar. The correspondence of single consonants had been more or less clearly recognized by several of his predecessors including Friedrich von Schlegel, Rasmus Christian Rask and Johan Ihre, the last having established a considerable number of literarum permutationes, such as b for f, with the examples bœra = ferre, befwer = fiber. Rask, in his essay on the origin of the Icelandic language, gave the same comparisons, with a few additions and corrections, and even the very same examples in most cases. As Grimm in the preface to his first edition expressly mentioned this essay of Rask, there is every probability that it inspired his own investigations. But there is a wide difference between the isolated permutations of his predecessors and his own comprehensive generalizations. The extension of the law to High German is entirely his own work, however.

The only fact that can be adduced in support of the assertion that Grimm wished to deprive Rask of his claims to priority is that he does not expressly mention Rask's results in his second edition. But this is part of the plan of his work, to refrain from all controversy or reference to the works of others. In his first edition he expressly calls attention to Rask's essay, and praises it most ungrudgingly. It is true that a certain bitterness of feeling afterwards sprang up between Grimm and Rask, but this may have well been the fault of the latter, who, impatient of contradiction and irritable in controversy, refused to consider the value of Grimm's views when they involved modification of his own.

[edit] German Dictionary

Grimm's monumental German dictionary, the Deutsches Wörterbuch, remains a standard work of reference to the present day.

The dictionary was undertaken on so large a scale as to make it impossible for him and his brother to complete it themselves. The dictionary, as far as it was worked on by Grimm himself, has been described as a collection of disconnected antiquarian essays of high value.

Literary work[link]

The first work Jacob Grimm published, Über den altdeutschen Meistergesang (1811), was of a purely literary character. Yet even in this essay Grimm showed that Minnesang and Meistersang were really one form of poetry, of which they merely represented different stages of development, and also announced his important discovery of the invariable division of the Lied into three strophic parts.

Grimm's text-editions were mostly prepared in conjunction with his brother. In 1812 they published the two ancient fragments of the Hildebrandslied and the Weißenbrunner Gebet, Jacob having discovered what till then had never been suspected — namely the alliteration in these poems. However, Jacob had little taste for text editing, and, as he himself confessed, working on a critical text gave him little pleasure. He therefore left this department to others, especially Lachmann, who soon turned his brilliant critical genius, trained in the severe school of classical philology, to Old and Middle High German poetry and metre.

Both Brothers were attracted from the beginning by all national poetry, whether in the form of epics, ballads or popular tales. They published In 1816–1818 a collection of legends culled from diverse sources and published the two-volume Deutsche Sagen (German Legends). At the same time they collected all the folktales they could find, partly from the mouths of the people, partly from manuscripts and books, and published in 1812–1815 the first edition of those Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales), which has carried the name of the brothers Grimm into every household of the western world. The closely related subject of the satirical beast epic of the Middle Ages also held great charm for Jacob Grimm, and he published an edition of the Reinhart Fuchs in 1834. His first contribution to mythology was the first volume of an edition of the Eddaic songs, undertaken jointly with his brother, and was published in 1815. However, this work was not followed by any others on the subject.

The first edition of his Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology) appeared in 1835. This great work covered the whole range of the subject, tracing the mythology and superstitions of the old Teutons back to the very dawn of direct evidence, and following their evolution to modern-day popular traditions, tales, and expressions.

Legal scholarship[link]

Grimm's work as a jurist was influential for the development of the history of law, particularly in Northern Europe.

His essay Von der Poesie im Recht (Poetry in Law, 1816) developed a far-reaching, suprapositivist Romantic conception of law. The Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer (German Legal Antiquities, 1828) was a comprehensive compilation of sources of law from all Germanic languages, whose structure allowed an initial understanding of older German legal traditions not influenced by Roman law. Grimm's Weisthümer (4 vol., 1840–63), a compilation of partially oral legal traditions from rural Germany, allows research of the development of written law in Northern Europe.^[1]

Politics[link]

Jacob Grimm's work tied in strongly to his views on Germany and its culture. His work with fairy tales and his philological work dealt with German origins. He loved his people and wished for a united Germany, he and his brother were vocal proponents of expansionist Pan-Germanism. In the German revolution of 1848, he was given a chance to make these views known when he was elected to the Frankfurt National Parliament. The people of Germany had demanded a constitution, so the Parliament, formed of elected members from various German states, met to form one. Grimm was selected for the office in a large part because of his part in the University of Goettingen's refusal to swear to the king of Hanover expounded upon above. He then went to Frankfurt, where he did not play a big part, but did make some speeches, which tended to stray into the realms of history and philology rather than whatever political question was at hand. Grimm was adamant on one subject, however; he wanted the Danish duchy of Holstein to be under German control. He talked passionately on this subject, which showed his fierce German nationalism.

Grimm was not made to be a politician, and also soon realized that the National Assembly was not getting anywhere (it was eventually dissolved without establishing a constitution), and so asked to be released from his duties and returned with relief to his former studies. His political career did not bloom into anything great, but it does illustrate his characteristics—his nationalism and his moralism. He believed that good would triumph in the Parliament, and pushed for human rights legislation just as he wished for a unified Germany.

Works[link]

The following is a complete list of his separately published works. Those he published with his brother are marked with a star (*). For a list of his essays in periodicals, etc., see vol. V of his Kleinere Schriften, from which the present list is taken. His life is best studied in his own Selbstbiographie, in vol. I of the Kleinere Schriften. There is also a brief memoir by Karl Goedeke in Göttinger Professoren (Gotha (Perthes), 1872).

• Über den altdeutschen Meistergesang (Göttingen, 1811)
• *Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Berlin, 1812–1815) (many editions)
• *Das Lied von Hildebrand und des Weissenbrunner Gebet (Kassel, 1812)
• Altdeutsche Wälder (Kassel, Frankfurt, 1813–1816, 3 vols.)
• *Der arme Heinrich von Hartmann von der Aue (Berlin, 1815)
• Irmenstrasse und Irmensäule (Vienna, 1815)
• *Die Lieder der alten Edda (Berlin, 1815)
• Silva de romances viejos (Vienna, 1815)
• *Deutsche Sagen (Berlin, 1816–1818, 2nd ed., Berlin, 1865–1866)
• Deutsche Grammatik (Göttingen, 1819, 2nd ed., Göttingen, 1822–1840) (reprinted 1870 by Wilhelm Scherer, Berlin)
• Wuk Stephanowitsch' Kleine Serbische Grammatik, verdeutscht mit einer Vorrede (Leipzig and Berlin, 1824) Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic - Serbian Grammer
• Zur Recension der deutschen Grammatik (Kassel, 1826)
• *Irische Elfenmärchen, aus dem Englischen (Leipzig, 1826)
• Deutsche Rechtsaltertumer (Göttingen, 1828, 2nd ed., 1854)
• Hymnorum veteris ecclesiae XXVI. interpretatio theodisca (Göttingen, 1830)
• Reinhart Fuchs (Berlin, 1834)
• Deutsche Mythologie (Göttingen, 1835, 3rd ed., 1854, 2 vols.)
• Taciti Germania edidit (Göttingen, 1835)
• Über meine Entlassung (Basel, 1838)
• (together with Schmeller) Lateinische Gedichte des X. und XI. Jahrhunderts (Göttingen, 1838)
• Sendschreiben an Karl Lachmann über Reinhart Fuchs (Berlin, 1840)
• Weistümer, Th. i. (Göttingen, 1840) (continued, partly by others, in 5 parts, 1840–1869)
• Andreas und Elene (Kassel, 1840)
• Frau Aventure (Berlin, 1842)
• Geschichte der deutschen Sprache (Leipzig, 1848, 3rd ed., 1868, 2 vols.)
• Des Wort des Besitzes (Berlin, 1850)
• *Deutsches Wörterbuch, Bd. i. (Leipzig, 1854)
• Rede auf Wilhelm Grimm und Rede über das Alter (Berlin, 1868, 3rd ad., 1865)
• Kleinere Schriften (F. Dümmler, Berlin, 1864–1884, 7 vols.).
  • vol. 1 : Reden und Abhandlungen (1864, 2nd ed. 1879)
  • vol. 2 : Abhandlungen zur Mythologie und Sittenkunde (1865)
  • vol. 3 : Abhandlungen zur Litteratur und Grammatik (1866)
  • vol. 4 : Recensionen und vermischte Aufsätze part I (1869)
  • vol. 5 : Recensionen und vermischte Aufsätze part II (1871)
  • vol. 6 : Recensionen und vermischte Aufsätze part III
  • vol. 7 : Recensionen und vermischte Aufsätze part IV (1884)

See also[link]

Children's literature portal

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Grimm, Jakob Ludwig Carl". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Grimm`s Fairy Tales.
• Teutonic Mythology, English translation of Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie (1880).
• Household Tales by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Margaret Hunt (This site is the only one to feature all of the Grimms' notes translated in English along with the tales from Hunt's original edition. Andrew Lang's introduction is also included.)
• Works by Jacob Grimm at Project Gutenberg
• Official website
• Works by or about Jacob Grimm in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jacob Grimm

Jacob
Jacob wrestling with an angel, as imagined in a Bible illustration
Prophet, Third Hebrew Patriarch, Seer, Israel, Father of the Tribes, Holy Forefather, 'Possessor of Power and Vision'
Honored in	Judaism Christianity Islam
Major shrine	Cave of the Patriarchs, Hebron
Influences	His forefathers Abraham and Isaac
Influenced	Twelve Tribes of Israel as well as many Jews, Christians and Muslims

Jacob ( /ˈdʒeɪkəb/; Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב‎‎ Standard Yaʿakov, Tiberian  Yaʿăqōḇ (help·info); Septuagint Greek: Ἰακώβ Iakōb; Arabic: يَعْقُوب‎ Yaʿqūb; "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל‎‎, Standard Yisraʾel, Tiberian Yiśrāʾēl; Septuagint Greek: Ἰσραήλ Israēl; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل‎ Isrāʾīl; "persevere with God"^[1]), as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.

In the Hebrew Bible, he is the son of Isaac and Rebekah, the grandson of Abraham and Sarah and of Bethuel, and the younger twin brother of Esau. Jacob had twelve sons and at least one daughter, by his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and by their female slaves Bilhah and Zilpah. The children named in Genesis were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, daughter Dinah, Joseph, and Benjamin.^[2][3]

Before the birth of Benjamin, Jacob is renamed "Israel" by an angel (Genesis 32:28-29 and 35:10). The name "Israel" can be translated as "God contended",^[4] but other meanings have also been suggested. Some commentators say the name comes from the verb śœarar ("to rule, be strong, have authority over"), thereby making the name mean "God rules" or "God judges".^[5] Other possible meanings include "the prince of God" (from the King James Version) or "El fights/struggles".^[6]

As a result of a severe drought in Canaan, Jacob moved to Egypt at the time when his son Joseph was viceroy. Jacob died there 17 years later, and Joseph carried Jacob's remains to the land of Canaan, where he gave them stately burial in the same Cave of Machpelah as were buried Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah and Jacob's wife Leah (Genesis 49:29-50:14).

Historicity[link]

Most biblical scholars and historians of ancient Israel today view the patriarchical narratives, including the life of Jacob, as late (6th and 5th centuries BCE) literary compositions that have ideological and theological purposes but are unreliable for historical reconstruction of the presettlement period of Israel’s past.^[7][8]

Jacob in Genesis[link]

The biblical account of the life of Jacob is found in the Book of Genesis, chapters 25-50.

Jacob and Esau's birth[link]

Jacob and his twin brother, Esau, were born to Isaac and Rebekah after 20 years of marriage, when Isaac was 60 (Genesis 25:20, 25:26). Rebekah was uncomfortable during her double pregnancy and went to inquire of God why she was suffering. She received the prophecy that the twins were fighting in her womb and would continue to fight all their lives, even after they became two separate nations. The prophecy also said that "the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger;" (Genesis 25:25 KJV)

When the time came for Rebekah to give birth, the first, Esau, to come out red all over like a hairy garment, with his heel grasped by the hand of the second, Jacob, to come out. According to Genesis 25:25, Isaac and Rebekah named the first עשו, Esau (`Esav or `Esaw, meaning "hairy" or "rough", from Hebrew: עשה‎, `asah, "do" or "make";<sup>[9]</sup> or "completely developed", from Hebrew: עשוי‎, `assui^{[citation needed]}). The second is named יעקב, Jacob (Ya`aqob or Ya`aqov, meaning "heel-catcher", "supplanter", "leg-puller", "he who follows upon the heels of one", from Hebrew: עקב‎, `aqab or `aqav, "seize by the heel", "circumvent", "restrain", a wordplay upon Hebrew: עקבה‎, `iqqebah or `iqqbah, "heel").^[10]

The boys displayed very different natures as they matured. "...and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a simple man, dwelling in tents" (Genesis 25:27). Moreover, the attitudes of their parents toward them also differed: "And Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob." (Genesis 25:28)

Jacob offering a dish of lentils to Esau for his birthright, 18th century painting by Zacarias Gonzalez Velazquez.

Sale of the birthright[link]

The Hebrew Bible, in (Genesis 25:29-34), tells the account of Esau selling his birthright to Jacob. This passage states that Esau, returning famished from the fields, begged Jacob to give him some of the stew that Jacob had just made. (Esau referred to the dish as, "that same red pottage", giving rise to his nickname, Hebrew: אדום‎ (`Edom, meaning "Red").) Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright, and Esau agreed.

Jacob's deception of Isaac[link]

As Isaac aged, he became blind, and was uncertain when he would die, so he decided to bestow Esau's birthright upon him. He requested that Esau go out to the fields with his weapons (quiver and bow) to kill some venison. Isaac went on to request that Esau make "savory meat" for him out of the venison, according to the way he enjoyed it the most, so that he could eat it and bless Esau.

Rebekah overheard this conversation. It is suggested that she realized prophetically that Isaac's blessings would go to Jacob, since she was told before the twins' birth that the older son would serve the younger.^[11] She quickly ordered Jacob to bring her two kid goats from their flock, so that he could take Esau's place in serving Isaac and receiving his blessing. Jacob protested that his father would recognize their deception, since Esau was hairy and he himself was smooth-skinned. He feared his father would curse him as soon as he felt him, but Rebekah offered to take the curse herself, then insisted that Jacob obey her. Jacob did as his mother instructed, and when he returned with the kids, Rebekah made the savory meat that Isaac loved. Before she sent Jacob to his father, she dressed him in Esau's garments and laid goatskins on his arms and neck to simulate hairy skin.

Disguised as Esau, Jacob entered Isaac's room. Surprised that Esau was supposedly back so soon, Isaac asked how it could be that the hunt went so quickly. Jacob responded, "Because the LORD your God brought it to me." Rashi, on Genesis 27:21 says Isaac's suspicions were aroused even more, because Esau never used the personal name of God. Isaac demanded that Jacob come close so he could feel him, but the goatskins felt just like Esau's hairy skin. Confused, Isaac exclaimed, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau!" Genesis 27:22. Still trying to get at the truth, Isaac asked him directly, "Art thou my very son Esau?" and Jacob answered simply, "I am." Isaac proceeded to eat the food and to drink the wine that Jacob gave him, and then told him to come close and kiss him. As Jacob kissed his father, Isaac smelled the clothes which belonged to Esau, and finally accepted that the person in front of him was Esau. Isaac then blessed Jacob with the blessing that was meant for Esau. Genesis 27:28-29 states Isaac's blessing: "Therefore God give thee of the dew of heavens, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee."

Jacob had scarcely left the room when Esau returned from the hunt to prepare his game and receive the blessing. The realization that he had been deceived shocked Isaac, yet he acknowledged that Jacob had received the blessings by adding, "Indeed, he will be [or remain] blessed!" (27:33).

Esau was heartbroken by the deception, and begged for his own blessing. Having made Jacob a ruler over his brothers, Isaac could only promise, "By your sword you shall live, but your brother you shall serve; yet it shall be that when you are aggrieved, you may cast off his yoke from upon your neck" (27:39-40).

Although Esau sold Jacob his own birthright, which was his blessing, for "red pottage", Esau still hated Jacob for eventually receiving his blessing that his father Isaac unknowingly given to him. (Genesis 27:41 KJV) He vowed to himself to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac died. When Rebekah heard about his murderous intentions,^[12] she ordered Jacob to travel to her brother Laban's house in Haran, until Esau's anger subsided. She convinced Isaac to send Jacob away by telling him that she despaired of him marrying a local girl from the idol-worshipping families of Canaan (as Esau had done). After Isaac sent Jacob away to find a wife, Esau realized his own Canaanite wives were evil in his father's eyes, and he took a daughter of Isaac's half-brother Ishmael as another wife.

Jacob's ladder[link]

Nearby Luz en route to Haran, Jacob experienced a vision of a ladder or staircase reaching into heaven with angels going up and down it, commonly referred to as "Jacob's ladder". From the top of the ladder he heard the voice of God, who repeated many of the blessings upon him.

According to Rashi, this ladder signified the exiles that the Jewish people would suffer before the coming of the Jewish Messiah: the angels that represented the exiles of Babylonia, Persia, and Greece each climbed up a certain number of steps, paralleling the years of the exile, before they "fell down"; but the angel representing the last exile, that of Rome or Edom, kept climbing higher and higher into the clouds. Jacob feared that his children would never be free of Esau's domination, but God assured him that at the End of Days, Edom too would come falling down.

Jacob awakened, and continued on his way to Haran in the morning, naming the place "Bethel", "God's house".

Jacob's marriages[link]

Arriving in Haran, Jacob saw a well where the shepherds were gathering their flocks to water them, and met Laban's younger daughter Rachel, Jacob's first cousin; she was working as a shepherdess. He loved her immediately, and after spending a month with his relatives, asked for her hand in marriage in return for working seven years for Laban. Laban agreed to the arrangement. These seven years seemed to Jacob "but a few days, for the love he had for her"; but when they were complete and he asked for his wife, Laban deceived Jacob by switching Rachel's older sister, Leah, as the veiled bride.

Rachel and Jacob by William Dyce

In the morning, when the truth became known, Laban justified himself, saying that in his country it was unheard of to give the younger daughter before the older. However, he agreed to give Rachel in marriage as well if Jacob would work another seven years for her. After the week of wedding celebrations with Leah, Jacob married Rachel, and he continued to work for Laban for another seven years.

Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, and Leah felt hated. God opened Leah's womb and she gave birth to four sons rapidly: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Rachel, however, remained barren. Following the example of Sarah, who gave her handmaid to Abraham after years of infertility, Rachel gave Jacob her handmaid, Bilhah, in marriage, so that Rachel could raise children through her. Bilhah gave birth to Dan and Naphtali. Seeing that she had left off childbearing temporarily, Leah then gave her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob in marriage so that Leah could raise more children through her. Zilpah gave birth to Gad and Asher. (According to The Testaments of the Patriarchs, Bilhah and Zilpah were daughters of Rotheus and Euna, servants of Laban.)^{[citation needed]} Afterwards, Leah became fertile again and gave birth to Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah, Jacob's first and only daughter. God remembered Rachel, who gave birth to Joseph and Benjamin. If pregnancies of different marriages overlapped, the twelve births could have occurred within seven years (the first eleven births occur within six years - Genesis 31:38).

After Joseph was born, Jacob decided to return home to his parents. Laban was reluctant to release him, as God had blessed his flock on account of Jacob. Laban asked what he could pay Jacob, and Jacob proposed that all the spotted, speckled, and brown goats and sheep of Laban's flock, at any given moment, would be his wages. Jacob placed peeled rods of poplar, hazel, and chestnut within the flocks' watering holes or troughs, an action he later attributes to a dream. The text suggests that Jacob performed breeding experiments over the years to make his own flocks both more abundant and stronger than Laban's, that Laban responded by repeatedly reinterpreting the terms of Jacob's wages, and that the breeding favored Jacob regardless of Laban's pronouncements. Thus Jacob's herds increased and he became very wealthy.

As time passed, Laban's sons noticed that Jacob was taking the better part of their flocks, and Laban's friendly attitude towards Jacob began to change. God told Jacob that he should leave, and he and his wives and children did so without informing Laban. Before they left, Rachel stole the teraphim, considered to be household idols, from Laban's house.

In a rage, Laban pursued Jacob for seven days. The night before he caught up to him, God appeared to Laban in a dream and warned him not to say anything good or bad to Jacob. When the two met, Laban played the part of the injured father-in-law and also demanded his teraphim back. Knowing nothing about Rachel's theft, Jacob told Laban that whoever stole them should die, and stood aside to let him search. When Laban reached Rachel's tent, she hid the teraphim by sitting on them and stating she could not get up because she was menstruating; this event was considered by the biblical audience as conveying significant defilement upon the teraphim.^{[citation needed]} Jacob and Laban then parted from each other with a pact to preserve the peace between them. Laban returned to his home and Jacob continued on his way.

Journey back to Canaan[link]

Jacob struggles with the angel, by Rembrandt (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin).

As Jacob neared the land of Canaan, he sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau. They returned with the news that Esau was coming to meet Jacob with an army of 400 men. With great apprehension, Jacob prepared for the worst. He engaged in earnest prayer to God, then sent on before him a tribute of flocks and herds to Esau, "a present to my lord Esau from thy servant Jacob".

Jacob then transported his family and flocks across the ford Jabbok by night, then recrossed back to send over his possessions, being left alone in communion with God. There, a mysterious being appeared ("man", Genesis 32:24, 28; or "God", Genesis 32:28, 30, Hosea 12:3, 5; or "angel", Hosea 12:4), and the two wrestled until daybreak. When the being saw that he did not overpower Jacob, he touched Jacob on the sinew of his thigh (the gid hanasheh, גיד הנשה), and as a result, Jacob developed a limp (Genesis 32:31). Because of this, "to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket" (Genesis 32:32). This incident is the source of the mitzvah of porging.^[13]

Jacob then demanded a blessing, and the being declared that from then on, Jacob would be called יִשְׂרָאֵל, Israel (Yisra`el, meaning "one that struggled with the divine angel" (Josephus), "one who has prevailed with God" (Rashi), "a man seeing God" (Whiston), "he will rule as God" (Strong), or "a prince with God" (Morris), from Hebrew: שרה‎, "prevail", "have power as a prince").<sup>[14]</sup> Jacob asked the being's name, but he refused to answer. Afterwards Jacob named the place Penuel (Penuw`el, Peniy`el, meaning "face of God"),^[15] saying "I have seen God face to face and lived."

Because the terminology is ambiguous ("el" in Yisra`el) and inconsistent, and because this being refused to reveal his name, there are varying views as to whether he was a man, an angel, or God. Josephus uses only the terms "angel", "divine angel", and "angel of God", describing the struggle as no small victory. According to Rashi, the being was the guardian angel of Esau himself, sent to destroy Jacob before he could return to the land of Canaan. Trachtenberg theorized that the being refused to identify itself for fear that, if its secret name was known, it would be conjurable by incantations.^[16] Literal Christian interpreters like Henry M. Morris say that the stranger was "God Himself and, therefore, Christ in His preincarnate state", citing Jacob's own evaluation and the name he assumed thereafter, "one who fights victoriously with God", and adding that God had appeared in the human form of the Angel of the LORD to eat a meal with Abraham in Genesis 18.^[17]

In the morning, Jacob assembled his 4 wives and 11 sons, placing the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. Some commentators cite this placement as proof that Jacob continued to favor Joseph over Leah's children, as presumably the rear position would have been safer from a frontal assault by Esau, which Jacob feared. Jacob himself took the foremost position. Esau's spirit of revenge, however, was apparently appeased by Jacob's bounteous gifts of camels, goats and flocks. Their reunion was an emotional one.

Peter Paul Rubens, The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau, 1624.

Esau offered to accompany them on their way back to Israel, but Jacob protested that his children were still young and tender (born 6 to 13 years prior in the narrative); Jacob suggested eventually catching up with Esau at Mount Seir. According to the Sages, this was a prophetic reference to the End of Days, when Jacob's descendants will come to Mount Seir, the home of Edom, to deliver judgment against Esau's descendants for persecuting them throughout the millennia (see Obadiah 1:21). Jacob actually diverted himself to Succoth and was not recorded as rejoining Esau until, at Machpelah, the two bury their father Isaac, who lived to 180 and was 60 years older than them.

Jacob then arrived in Shechem, where he bought a parcel of land, now identified as Joseph's Tomb. In Shechem, Jacob's daughter Dinah was kidnapped and raped by the ruler's son, who desired to marry the girl. Dinah's brothers, Simeon and Levi, agreed in Jacob's name to permit the marriage as long as all the men of Shechem first circumcised themselves, ostensibly to unite the children of Jacob in Abraham's covenant of familial harmony. On the third day after the circumcisions, when all the men of Shechem were still in pain, Simeon and Levi put them all to death by the sword and rescued their sister Dinah, and their brothers plundered the property, women, and children. Jacob condemned this act, saying "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land."^[18] He later rebuked his two sons for their anger in his deathbed blessing (Genesis 49:5-7).

Jacob returned to Bethel, where he had another vision of blessing. Although the death of Rebecca, Jacob's mother, is not explicitly recorded in the Bible, Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, died and was buried at Bethel, at a place that Jacob calls Allon Bachuth (אלון בכות), "Oak of Weepings" (Genesis 35:8). According to the Midrash,^[19] the plural form of the word "weeping" indicates the double sorrow that Rebecca also died at this time.

Jacob then made a further move while Rachel was pregnant; near Bethlehem, Rachel went into labor and died as she gave birth to her second son, Benjamin (Jacob's twelfth son). Jacob buried her and erected a monument over her grave. Rachel's Tomb, just outside Bethlehem, remains a popular site for pilgrimages and prayers to this day. Jacob then settled in Migdal Eder, where his firstborn, Reuben, slept with Rachel's servant Bilhah; Jacob's response was not given at the time, but he did condemn Reuben for it later, in his deathbed blessing. Jacob was finally reunited with his father Isaac in Mamre (outside Hebron).

When Isaac died at the age of 180, Jacob and Esau buried him in the Cave of the Patriarchs, which Abraham had purchased as a family burial plot. At this point in the biblical narrative, two genealogies of Esau's family appear under the headings "the generations of Esau". A conservative interpretation is that, at Isaac's burial, Jacob obtained the records of Esau, who had been married 80 years prior, and incorporated them into his own family records, and that Moses augmented and published them.^[20]

Jacob in Hebron[link]

The house of Jacob dwelt in Hebron,^[21] in the land of Canaan. His flocks were often fed in the pastures of Shechem ^[22][23] as well as Dothan.^[24] Of all the children in his household, he loved Rachel’s firstborn son, Joseph, the most. Thus Joseph’s half brothers were jealous of him and they ridiculed him often. Joseph even told his father about all of his half brothers’ misdeeds. When Joseph was seventeen years old, Jacob made a long coat or tunic of many colors for him. Seeing this, the half brothers began to hate Joseph. Then Joseph began to have dreams that implied that his family would bow down to him. When he told his brothers about these dreams, it drove them to conspire against him. When Jacob heard of these dreams, he rebuked his son for proposing the idea that the house of Jacob would even bow down to Joseph. Yet, he contemplated his son’s words about these dreams. (Genesis 37:1-11)

Joseph's Coat Brought to Jacob
by Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari, c. 1640.

Sometime afterward, the sons of Jacob by Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah, were feeding his flocks in Shechem. Jacob wanted to know how things were doing, so he asked Joseph to go down there and return with a report.^[25] This was the last time he would ever see his son in Hebron. Later that day, the report that Jacob ended up receiving came from Joseph's brothers who brought before him a coat laden with blood. Jacob identified the coat as the one he made for Joseph. At that moment he cried “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” He rent his clothes and put sackcloth around his waist mourning for days. No one from the house of Jacob could comfort him during this time of bereavement. (Genesis 37:31-35)

The truth was, Jacob’s son Joseph, was turned on by his brothers and ultimately sold into slavery on a caravan headed for Egypt. (Genesis 37:36)

Seven year famine[link]

Twenty years later,^[26] throughout the Middle East a severe famine occurred like none other that lasted seven years.^[27] It crippled nations.^[28] The word was that the only kingdom prospering was Egypt. In the second year of this great famine,^[29] when Israel (Jacob) was about 130 years old,^[30] he told his ten sons of Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah, to go to Egypt and buy grain. Israel’s youngest son Benjamin, born from Rachel, stayed behind by his father’s order to keep him safe. (Genesis 42:1-5)

When the ten sons returned to their father Israel, from Egypt, they were stockpiled with grain on their donkeys. They relayed to their father all that had happened in Egypt. They spoke of being accused of as spies and that their brother Simeon, had been taken prisoner. When Reuben, the eldest, mentioned that they needed to bring Benjamin to Egypt to prove their word as honest men, their father became furious with them. He couldn’t understand how they were put in a position to tell the Egyptians all about their family. When the sons of Israel opened their sacks, they saw their money that they used to pay for the grain. It was still in their possession, and so they all became afraid. Israel then became angry with the loss of Joseph, Simeon, and now possibly Benjamin. (Genesis 42:26-38)

It turned out that Joseph, who identified his brothers in Egypt, was able to secretly return that money that they used to pay for the grain, back to them.^[31] When the house of Israel consumed all the grain that they brought from Egypt, Israel told his sons to go back and buy more. This time, Judah spoke to his father in order to persuade him about having Benjamin accompany them, so as to prevent Egyptian retribution. In hopes of retrieving Simeon and ensuring Benjamin's return, Israel told them to bring the best fruits of their land, including: balm^{[disambiguation needed ]}, honey, spices, myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. Israel also mentioned that the money that was returned to their money sacks was probably a mistake or an oversight on their part. So, he told them to bring that money back and use double that amount to pay for the new grain. Lastly, he let Benjamin go with them and said “may God Almighty give you mercy… If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!” (Genesis 43:1-14)

Jacob in Egypt[link]

House of Israel welcomed by Pharaoh, watercolor by James Tissot (c. 1900)

When the sons of Israel (Jacob) returned to Hebron from their second trip, they came back with twenty additional donkeys carrying all kinds of goods and supplies as well as Egyptian transport wagons. When their father came out to meet them, his sons told him that Joseph was still alive, that he was the governor over all of Egypt and that he wanted the house of Israel to move to Egypt. Israel’s heart “stood still” and just couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Looking upon the wagons he declared “Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” (Genesis 45:16-28)

Israel and his entire house of seventy,^[32] gathered up with all their livestock and began their journey to Egypt. En route, Israel stopped at Beersheba for the night to make a sacrificial offering to his god, Yahweh. Apparently he had some reservations about leaving the land of his forefathers, but God reassured him not to fear that he would rise again. God also assured that he would be with him, he would prosper, and he would also see his son Joseph who would lay him to rest. Continuing their journey to Egypt, when they approached in proximity, Israel sent his son Judah ahead to find out where the caravans were to stop. They were directed to disembark at Goshen. It was here, after twenty-two years, that Jacob saw his son Joseph once again. They embraced each other and wept together for quite a while. Israel then said, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive.” (Genesis 46:1-30)

The time had come for Joseph’s family to personally meet the Pharaoh of Egypt. After Joseph prepared his family for the meeting, the brothers came before the Pharaoh first, formally requesting to pasture in Egyptian lands. The Pharaoh honored their stay and even made the notion that if there were any competent men in their house, then they may elect a chief herdsman to oversee Egyptian livestock. Finally, Joseph’s father was brought out to meet the Pharaoh. Because the Pharaoh had such a high regard for Joseph, practically making him his equal,^[33] it was an honor to meet his father. Thus, Israel was able to bless the Pharaoh. The two chatted for a bit, the Pharaoh even inquiring of Israel’s age which happened to be 130 years old at that time. After the meeting, the families were directed to pasture in the land of Ramses where they lived in the province of Goshen. The house of Israel acquired many possessions and multiplied exceedingly during the course of seventeen years, even through the worst of the seven year famine. (Genesis 46:31-47:28)

Final days[link]

Jacob blessing Ephraim and Manasseh

Jacob's funeral procession

Israel (Jacob) was 147 years old when he called to his favorite son Joseph and pleaded that he not be buried in Egypt. Rather, he requested to be carried to the land of Canaan to be buried with his forefathers. Joseph swore to do as his father asked of him. Not too long afterward, Israel had fallen ill losing much of his vision. When Joseph came to visit his father, he brought with him his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Israel declared that they would be heirs to the inheritance of the house of Israel, as if they were his own children, just as Reuben and Simeon were. Then Israel laid his right hand on the younger Ephraim’s head and his left hand on the eldest Manasseh’s head and blessed Joseph. However, Joseph was displeased that his father’s right hand was not on the head of his firstborn, so he switched his father’s hands. But Israel refused saying, “but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he.” A declaration he made, just as Israel himself was to his firstborn brother Esau. Then Israel called all of his sons in and prophesied their blessings or curses to all twelve of them in order of their ages. (Genesis 47:29-49:32)

Afterward, Israel died and the family, including the Egyptians, mourned him seventy days. Israel was embalmed and a great ceremonial journey to Canaan was prepared by Joseph. He led the servants of Pharaoh, and the elders of the houses Israel and Egypt beyond the Jordan River to Atad where they observed seven days of mourning. Their lamentation was so great that it caught the attention of surrounding Canaanites who remarked “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” This spot was then named Abel Mizraim. Then they buried him in the cave of Machpelah, the property of Abraham when he bought it from the Hittites. (Genesis 49:33-50:14)

Cenotaph of Jacob, Cave of the Patriarchs

Sons of Jacob[link]

Jacob's wives had twelve sons and one daughter: Reuben (Genesis 29:32), Simeon (Genesis 29:33), Levi (Genesis 29:34), Judah (Genesis 29:35), Dan (Genesis 30:5), Naphtali (Genesis 30:7), Gad (Genesis 30:10), Asher (Genesis 30:12), Issachar (Genesis 30:17), Zebulun (Genesis 30:19), Dinah (Genesis 30:21), Joseph (Genesis 30:23), and Benjamin (Genesis 35:18).

The offspring of Jacob's sons became the tribes of Israel following the Exodus, when the Israelites conquered and settled in the Land of Israel.

Religious perspectives[link]

Jewish tradition[link]

According to the classic Jewish texts, Jacob, as the third and last patriarch, lives a life that parallels the descent of his offspring, the Jewish people, into the darkness of exile. In contrast to Abraham — who illuminates the world with knowledge of God and earns the respect of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan — and Isaac — who continues his father's teachings and also lives in relative harmony with his neighbors — Jacob experiences many personal struggles both in the land and out of it - including the hatred of his brother, Esau; the deception of his father-in-law, Laban; the rape of his daughter, Dinah; the death of his favorite wife, Rachel; and the sale of his son, Joseph. For this reason, the Jewish commentators interpret many elements of his story as being symbolic of the future difficulties and struggles the Jewish people would undergo.^{[citation needed]}

There are two opinions in the Midrash as to how old Rebekah was at the time of her marriage and, consequently, at the twins' birth. According to the traditional counting cited by Rashi, Isaac was 37 years old at the time of the Binding of Isaac, and news of Rebekah's birth reached Abraham immediately after that event.^[34] In that case, since Isaac was 60 when Jacob and Essau were born and they had been married for 20 years, then Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah (Gen. 25:20), making Rebekah 3 years old at the time of her marriage, and 23 years old at the birth of Jacob and Essau. According to the second opinion, Rebekah was 14 years old at the time of their marriage, and 34 years old at the birth of Jacob and Essau.^[35] In either case, Isaac and Rebekah were married for 20 years before Jacob and Esau were born. The Midrash says that during Rebekah's pregnancy whenever she would pass a house of Torah study, Jacob would struggle to come out; whenever she would pass a house of idolatry, Esau would agitate to come out.^[36]

Rashi explained that Isaac, when blessing Jacob instead of Esau, smelled the heavenly scent of Gan Eden (Paradise) when Jacob entered his room and, in contrast, perceived Gehenna opening beneath Esau when the latter entered the room, showing him that he had been deceived all along by Esau's show of piety.^[37]

When Laban planned to deceive Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel, the Midrash recounts that both Jacob and Rachel suspected that Laban would pull such a trick; Laban was known as the "Aramean" (deceiver), and changed Jacob's wages ten times during his employ (Genesis 31:7). The couple therefore devised a series of signs by which Jacob could identify the veiled bride on his wedding night. But when Rachel saw her sister being taken out to the wedding canopy, her heart went out to her for the public shame Leah would suffer if she were exposed. Rachel therefore gave Leah the signs so that Jacob would not realize the switch.

Jewish Apocalyptic literature of the Hellenistic period includes many ancient texts with narratives about Jacob, many times with details different from Genesis. The more important are the book of Jubilees and the Book of Biblical Antiquities. Jacob is also the protagonist of the Testament of Jacob, of the Ladder of Jacob and of the Prayer of Joseph, which interpret the experience of this Patriarch in the context of merkabah mysticism.

Eastern Christianity[link]

Russian Orthodox Icon of St. Jacob, 18th century (Iconostasis of Kizhi monastery, Russia).

The Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite see Jacob's dream as a prophecy of the Incarnation of the Logos, whereby Jacob's ladder is understood as a symbol of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), who, according to Orthodox theology, united heaven and earth in her womb. The biblical account of this vision (Genesis 28:10-17) is one of the standard Old Testament readings at Vespers on Great Feasts of the Theotokos.

The account of Jacob's blessing of Joseph's sons is also seen as prophetic by Christian commentators. For example, the crossing of his arms to bestow his patriarchal blessing on them in Genesis 48:8-20 is seen as a foreshadowing of the blessings Christians believe resulted from Jesus' death on the cross.^{[citation needed]}

Islamic tradition[link]

Muslims revere Jacob (Arabic: يعقوب , Standard: Ya'qub) as a Prophet of Islam who received inspiration from God. He is acknowledged as a patriarch of Islam. Muslims believe that he preached the same monotheistic faith as his forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Jacob is mentioned 16 times in the Qur'an.^[38] In the majority of these references, Jacob is mentioned alongside fellow prophets and patriarchs as an ancient and pious prophet. According to the Qur'an, Jacob remained in the company of the elect throughout his life. (XXXVIII: 47) The Qur'an specifically mentions that Jacob was guided (VI: 84) and inspired (IV: 163) and was chosen to enforce the awareness of the Hereafter. (XXXVIII: 46) Jacob is described as a good-doer (XXI: 72) and the Qur'an further makes it clear that God inspired Jacob to contribute towards purification and hold the contact prayer. (XXI: 73) Jacob is further described as being resourceful and a possessor of great vision (XXXVIII: 45) and is further spoken of as being granted a "tongue [voice] of truthfulness to be heard". (XIX: 50)

Of the life of Jacob, the Qur'an narrates two especially important events. The first is the role he plays in the story of his son Joseph. The Qur'an narrates the story of Joseph in detail, and Jacob, being Joseph's father, is mentioned thrice and is referenced another 25 times.^[38] In the narrative, Jacob does not trust some of his older sons (XII: 11, 18, 23) because they do not respect him. (XII: 8, 16-17) Jacob's prophetic nature is evident from his foreknowledge of Joseph's future greatness (XII: 6), his foreboding and response to the supposed death of Joseph (XII: 13, 18) and in his response to the sons' plight in Egypt. (XII: 83, 86-87, 96) Islamic literature fleshes out the narrative of Jacob, and mentions that his wives included Rachel.^[39] Jacob is later mentioned in the Qur'an in the context of the promise bestowed to Zechariah, regarding the birth of John the Baptist. (XIX: 6) Jacob’s second mention is in the Qur'an’s second chapter. As Jacob lay on his deathbed, he asked his twelve sons to testify their faith to him before he departed from this world to the next. (II: 132) Each son testified in front of Jacob that they would promise to remain Muslim until the day of their death, that is they would surrender their wholeselves to God alone and would worship only Him.

In contrast to the Judeo-Christian view of Jacob, one main difference is that the story of Jacob's blessing, in which he deceives Isaac, is not accepted in Islam. The Qur'an makes it clear that Jacob was blessed by God as a prophet and, therefore, Muslims believe that his father, being a prophet as well, also knew of his son's greatness.^[40] Jacob is also cited in the Hadith as an example of one who was patient and trusting in God in the face of suffering.^[38] Jacob is also important as his life drew numerous parallels with the life of Muhammad. Jacob suffered great loss repeatedly, as did Muhammad in the Year of Sorrow, when both Khadija and Abu Talib died. Muhammad’s famous Night Journey, when the prophet travelled through the Heavens, has been seen by scholars as the obvious prophetic parallel to Jacob’s equally famous vision of Jacob's Ladder coming down from the Heavens. Muslim scholars have also linked both prophets through the fact that both prophets made at least one important journey in their lives; just as Jacob migrated from Canaan to Egypt, Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina.

The story of Jacob in Islam also draws many parallels with the Islamic traditions of Job, In that both had lost many things, and still upheld patience. In Islamic tradition, Jacob had lost his father, Isaac as well as his wife Rachel in the same year, followed by his loss of his favorite son, Joseph. Similarly Job lost everything, and stayed patient and kept faith in God, and eventually everything was returned back to him and some things were multiplied for him.

References[link]