Jacob: Difference between revisions

===The Birthright and Blessing===

Esau became a skilled hunter, while Jacob stayed among the tents, helping with household affairs. Isaac favored Esau because he enjoyed the game he hunted, whereas Rebekah favored Jacob. One day, Jacob was cooking lentil stew when Esau returned from hunting, famished. Esau begged Jacob for some stew, and Jacob agreed on the condition that Esau sell him his [[Firstborn|birthright]]. Despising his birthright, Esau swore an oath to sell it for the stew.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+25%3A27-34&version=NIV |title=Genesis 25:27–34|quote= }}</ref>

===Fleeing to Haran===

When Esau, enraged for losing the birthright blessing, sought to kill Jacob, Rebekah sent Jacob to Haran, in Paddan-aram, to her father’s house. She gave the excuse to Isaac that Jacob could not marry a Canaanite woman.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+27%3A41-47&version=NIV |title=Genesis 27:41–47|quote= }}</ref> Isaac then blessed Jacob and instructed him to seek a wife from the daughters of his uncle Laban (Rebekah’s brother), rather than from among the Canaanites. On the journey to Haran, at a place called Luz, Jacob slept with a stone for his pillow. In his dream, he saw a ladder reaching up to heaven with [[Angel|angels]] ascending and descending on it. God, who was above the ladder, blessed Jacob.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+28%3A1-15&version=NIV |title=Genesis 28:1–15|quote= }}</ref> When Jacob awoke, he set up the stone he had used as a pillow as a pillar, and named the place [[Bethel]], meaning “House of God.” Jacob thanked God for His blessing and made a vow that if God brought him back to his homeland, he would make the stone pillar a house of God and would give a tenth ([[tithe]]) of all that God gives him.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+28%3A18-22&version=NIV |title=Genesis 28:18–22 |publisher= |quote= }}</ref>

===Trouble for Jacob===

Upon hearing of Jacob’s return, Esau set out to meet him with 400 men. Filled with fear, Jacob earnestly prayed to God for deliverance and sent livestock ahead as gifts to appease his brother’s anger. That night, after sending his family and possessions across the Jabbok River, Jacob stayed behind alone. During the night, a man appeared and wrestled with Jacob until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck [https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hbd/h/hip.html Jacob’s hip], [https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ko/%EC%82%AC%EC%A0%84/%EC%98%81%EC%96%B4/dislocating dislocating] it. Despite the pain, Jacob refused to let go unless the man blessed him. The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and have prevailed.” He then blessed Jacob. Jacob named the place Peniel, meaning the “face of God,” saying, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life was spared.” Afterward, Jacob walked with a limp because of his dislocated hip.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2032&version=NIV |title=Genesis 32 |publisher= |quote= }}</ref>

===Moved to the Land of Goshen, Egypt===

Jacob favored Joseph, the son of Rachel, above his other sons, giving him a richly ornamented robe. Joseph dreamed that his brothers would bow to him and boasted about his dreams. In their envy, Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt and deceived Jacob by claiming he had been killed by a wild animal. Grief-stricken, Jacob mourned for Joseph for a long time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2037&version=NIV|title=Genesis 37|quote= }}</ref> When Jacob heard that Joseph, whom he thought was dead, had become a governor, he was overjoyed and led his family to Egypt.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+45%3A25-46&version=NIV |title=Genesis 45:25–46:7|quote= }}</ref> After more than 20 years apart, Jacob reunited with Joseph, embracing him and weeping. Jacob’s family settled in the land of Goshen,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+46%3A28-34&version=NIV |title=Genesis 46:28–34|quote= }}</ref> where they lived until they were liberated from Egypt under Moses, about 430 years later.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+12%3A40-41&version=NIV |title=Exodus 12:40–41|publisher= |quote= }}</ref>

===Jacob Blessed Ephraim and Manasseh===

Seventeen years after moving to Egypt, at the age of 147, Jacob’s strength waned. Joseph brought his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to Jacob. Jacob declared that he would adopt them as his own sons. Joseph positioned Manasseh, the elder, at Jacob’s right hand, and Ephraim, the younger, at his left. However, Jacob crossed his arms, placing his hands on their heads to bless them. When Joseph tried to correct him, Jacob refused, affirming that Ephraim would surpass Manasseh in prominence. Jacob also assured them that God would bring their descendants back to the promised land of Canaan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+47%3A27-48&version=NIV |title=Genesis 47:27–48:22|quote= }}</ref> Jacob gathered his sons to reveal what would happen in the future and blessed each one according to their destiny. Their descendants became the foundation of the 12 tribes of Israel.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+49%3A1-28&version=NIV |title=Genesis 49:1–28 |publisher= |quote= }}</ref> Before his death, Jacob instructed his sons to bury him in the cave of Machpelah in front of Mamre in Canaan, where his ancestors were buried. Jacob passed away, and his funeral was conducted with great honor. Joseph fulfilled his father’s wishes and buried him in the cave of Machpelah in Canaan.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+49%3A29-50&version=NIV |title=Genesis 49:29–50:14 |publisher= |quote= }}</ref>