Jacob Part 1: Introduction
Notes
Transcript
Jacob: Introduction
Jacob: Introduction
Jacob is actually not how anybody in his family would've ever pronounced his name.
In Hebrew, this figure's name is Yaaqov
Say Together
Yaaqov.
Yaaqov, grandson of Avraham, takes up this third section of the Genesis scroll, though interestingly, he is actually the character who receives the most airtime in the story of Genesis. You might, when people think of Genesis, they think of Adam and Eve, they think of Noah, and then they mostly think of Abraham and Sarah, and then maybe Joseph. And then, oh yeah, there's Jacob, you know, it's kind of stuck in the middle there. But in our current chapter divisions of Genesis, which are not original, but they're the ones that we have right now. Genesis has 50 chapters in all of our modern Bibles. And Jacob, Yaaqov, is born in chapter 25.
26 After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.
"The brother who comes forth with his hand grabbing the heel of his brother." The name, the Hebrew word for heel is "aqev," aqev.
Yaaqov, grabbing the aqev.
Jacob's name is Heel, but it's a Hebrew idiom for somebody who grabs someone heel, grabs someone's heel to trip them, where it's idiom for to trick someone.
his name means the trickster
Jacob appear Genesis 25:26. So he appears right in the middle of the scroll. And Yaaqov dies in the very last chapter of Genesis.
33 When Jacob had finished giving charges to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, took his last breath, and was gathered to his people.
When Yaaqov dies, in chapter 49, verse 33,
And then chapter 50 is all about the burial of Yaaqov.
Abraham's story takes up 13 chapters in Genesis, and he is very important as the ancestor of the family of Israel. But Yaaqov's story takes up 25 chapters, and he is the father of the 12 sons who will become the 12 tribes of Israel.
So Yaaqov's story takes up half of the Genesis scroll, and he's not a background player in all of this. He's like a major foreground character.
The story of Yaaqov's sons, 12 sons, does take center stage for the last quarter of Genesis, but Yaaqov is right there.
This is like a really important figure that makes up, whose story makes up half of the first scroll of the biblical story. He may not always be the first person that people think of when they think of the Genesis story, but for the author who preserved and then crafted the scroll the way that we have it. Apparently, this story is really significant for everything that you're gonna take in for the rest of the Genesis scroll.
Yaaqov mentioned throughout the rest of the Bible.
Yaaqov’s character in Genesis is foundational for the entire story of the Israelites told in Exodus-2 Kings and reflected upon in the Prophets and Writings. Every aspect of Israel’s story influences the way their ancestor’s story is told.
Yaaqov is actually mentioned more then even Avraham in the Genesis scroll and also throughout the entirety of the Hebrew Bible.
Avram has two names in the story. He's called Avram at first, and then his name is changed Avraham in Genesis 17. So Avram, the name Avram appears 59 times in Genesis before the name change. And then in Genesis a 133 times Avraham after the name change. And then Avraham is mentioned, like referenced back to, as you go through the Torah 18 times, that's a lot.
As you go into the Prophets 11 times, into the Writings 13 times, and you're like, huh, yeah, yeah, this guy's important. Avraham's mentioned 236 times in the Hebrew Bible, like that's an important person. Avraham's mentioned 73 times in the New Testament by Jesus, by Paul, Peter. So Avraham's a big deal.
Yaaqov's a really big deal too.
His name is mentioned 180 times in Genesis. And like his grandfather, his name is changed too, isn't it? Yeah? His name is changed from Heel-Grabber, Yaaqov, to Wrestles With God, Israel, or Struggles With God.
And he's called Israel 43 times in the Genesis scroll.
Yaaqov is mentioned again or referenced back to 32 times in the Torah, 98 times in the Prophets, 39 times in the Writings.
Now, Israel is his second name, the name God gives him, Wrestles With God. And is that an important name in Hebrew Bible? yes. It's also the name of the people group that the whole rest of the Hebrew Bible is gonna be about: the family of Israel. So the name Israel is repeated 544 times in the Torah, 1,487 times in the Prophets, 432 times.
So he, this figure takes up half of the Genesis scroll, but then the people group that bears his second name, Israel, is the name of the main character throughout the rest of the Hebrew Bible. So all told, Yaaqov and Israel is referred to nearly 3,000 times in the Hebrew Bible. And though he's mentioned less in the New Testament, he's mentioned 27 times in the New Testament.
The biblical authors, Jesus and the apostles saw the stories of Abraham and Jacob, Avraham and Yaaqov, as hugely significant for understanding who Jesus Messiah was.
The story of Yaaqov, uniquely, somehow sets the table, prepares you for the story of his descendants named after him on through the rest of the Hebrew Bible.
The story of Yaaqov gives us, in seed form, a preview of the story that his descendants will experience from Exodus to the end of the Hebrew Bible. -Tim Mackie, The Bible Project
Let’s Look at some Examples
1 Ephraim feeds on wind, And pursues the east wind continually; He multiplies lies and violence. Moreover, he makes a covenant with Assyria, And oil is carried to Egypt. 2 The Lord also has a dispute with Judah, And will punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him according to his deeds. 3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, And in his maturity he contended with God. 4 Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; He wept and sought His favor. He found Him at Bethel And there He spoke with us, 5 Even the Lord, the God of hosts, The Lord is His name.
the prophet Hosea in Hosea chapter 12
Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom. This is after the near civil war and the tribes of Israel split. Hosea lived up north, and he mostly, you know, got into business and bothered the priests and the kings and the rulers up north. And so he calls the northern tribes Ephraim, which is one of Jacob's grandsons, one of Joseph's sons. And he's lamenting the fact that he's watching the family of Israel collapse into decadence, idolatry, injustice, and he knows that this is all gonna end very badly for this family.
Hosea chapter 12. "Ephraim feeds on the wind, pursues the east wind continually," chasing after the wind. Yeah? Like Ecclesiastes. "He multiplies lies and violence. He makes a covenant with Assyria. He takes oil to Egypt." That is to buy their protection.
"Yahweh has a dispute also with Judah down south. He will punish Yaaqov according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds" 'cause, so who are we talking about?
Are we talking about Israel or we talking about Yaaqov?
Yes.
Do you see right here even he can interplay?
Because whose story was full of deception and lies?
Jacob, Yaaqov, or his descendants? Yes, So he's shading back between the people and the ancestor. Verse 3, "In the womb, he took his brother by the heel.
In his power, he contended with God." That's a gutsy move. Pick a fight with God. "Yes, he wrestled with the angel, and he actually prevailed. He wept and sought his favor. He found him." That is he, Yaaqov, found Elohim, God, at Bethel. "And there he spoke with us." So God speaking to Yaaqov in the wrestling match is somehow also God speaking to us.
Do you see this?
So in other words, when Hosea looks back on the story of Yaaqov he sees his people's story in his day. It's the same story. It's as if the story of Yaaqov has been designed not just to preview, but to address the later descendants.
And it raises this interesting question of who is this story for? And what is it about?
Hosea seems to read and recall the story of Yaaqov bearing a story, a preview in anticipation. The Yaaqov story actually helps Hosea understand his present moment centuries later.
Yaaqov's story is filled with deception and trickery, exile and return, and it describes his struggle with Yahweh. All of this is remembered by later biblical authors as an explanation for Israel's corruption, but also as a source of hope for a future after exile
And this is a pattern that you're gonna see when Yaaqov is brought up in the prophets.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale; 23 But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, They will sanctify My name; Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
in Isaiah 29, this is anticipating the time when Yaaqov's descendants, Israel, is going to be exiled and defeated by Assyria and then Babylon. And so we're imagining what it's like to be in the time of exile and what that will feel like.
This passage from Isaiah recalls Yaaqov's exile as a lone figure trekking to Mesopotamia because that story ended with Yaaqov flourishing in exile with many children. Here Isaiah portrays Israel's future as a replay of this previous story so the now-exiled people of Israel can trust that Yahweh will once again bring abundance to his people in the midst of their suffering.
So there's somehow Isaiah's describing a time of shame for Yaaqov in the descent, the children of Yaaqov. There will be a time of shame, a time when Yaaqov no longer sees his children.
As you read on in Isaiah the exile is described as this great separation of a mother from her children. And her children are sent away into exile in Babylon. But there's gonna be this time when Yaaqov, that is Israel, looks up and they'll see that despite this great shameful tragedy, they've been fruitful and multiplying. And they have many, there's this whole family that appears here that's going to return from exile.
Can I think of a story where a guy gets exiled from his family, but there in his exile becomes fruitful and multiply in the father of many families?
Oh, yeah, that's Yaaqov's story. He gets exiled, right? To the house of his uncle, Lavan. And there, in a season of 20 years of slavery to Lavan, he's fruitful and multiply and becomes the father of the 12 tribes. So even Yaaqov's exile from his family halfway to Babylon and being fruitful there becomes an image that can be drawn upon centuries later for Israel going into exile.
8 “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend, 9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its remotest parts And said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you.
Here the story of Yaaqov’s exile and return is recalled and turned into a model for the generation of Israel in exile, waiting for their return. The stories of Genesis have been shaped by the prophets with an eye toward the future.
15 Thus says the Lord, “A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more.” 16 Thus says the Lord, “Restrain your voice from weeping And your eyes from tears; For your work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord, “And they will return from the land of the enemy. 17 “There is hope for your future,” declares the Lord, “And your children will return to their own territory.
Here the story of Rakhel’s death (from Gen. 35) is recalled and turned into an image of Israel's ancestors grieving over the nation’s suffering, defeat, and exile at the hands of the Babylonians. But, just as Rakhel died while giving birth to Benjamin, so also the current generation in exile is undergoing a kind of death that will be followed by a return to the land. Remember that Benjamin’s role in the story of Yaaqov’s sons (Gen. 43-45) is pivotal to their entry into Egyptian exile and their eventual return into the promised land.
25 “ ‘This is what the Lord God says: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are scattered, I will demonstrate my holiness through them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob.
Just like Yaaqov returned from exile and was promised land, the generation of Babylonian exiles will be granted the same hope and promise.
1 A pronouncement: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. 2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. Yet you ask, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” This is the Lord’s declaration. “Even so, I loved Jacob, 3 but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
Here the story of God’s selection of Yaaqov instead of Esau is turned into a paradigm for their respective descendants, so Edom’s choices and fate will mirror the choices and fate of their ancestors.
Yaaqov in the New Testament
Yaaqov in the New Testament
Yaaqov is mentioned in the genealogies of Jesus provided in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. This is part of showing Jesus’ identity as an Israelite.
Yaaqov is also mentioned in ways that show how Jesus' story replays and fulfills Yaaqov's story.
Jesus meets the Samaritan women at “Yaaqov’s well,” mirroring the story of Yaaqov meeting Rakhel at a well (John 4 and Gen. 29).
Jesus was favored by his heavenly Father and rejected by his Israelite brothers, just as Joseph was favored by Yaaqov and rejected by his brothers (Acts 7:8-15).
God’s selection of the nations to participate in the victory of Israel’s message, while many Israelites reject their own Messiah, was pre-figured by God’s selection of the unworthy Israelites and not the Edomites, which was itself prefigured by the story of God’s selection of Yaaqov and not Esau (see Rom. 9:6-13, alluding to Mal. 1:2-4, alluding to Gen. 25-27).
The Birth of Esau and Jacob
The Birth of Esau and Jacob
Bibliography
Bibliography
https://bibleproject.com/classroom/jacob
Freedman, David Noel, Gary A. Herion, David F. Graf, John David Pleins, and Astrid B. Beck, eds. in The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
Freedman, David Noel, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck. in Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000.
Mathews, K. A. Genesis 11:27–50:26. Vol. 1B of The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005.
Brannan, Rick, and Israel Loken. The Lexham Textual Notes on the Bible. Lexham Bible Reference Series. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014.
Barry, John D., Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R. Grigoni, and David Bomar. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016.
Cotter, David W. Genesis. Edited by Jerome T. Walsh, Chris Franke, and David W. Cotter. Berit Olam Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2003.
