Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/97

* JACMEL. 81 JACOB. and is visited regularly by the English Royal Mail steamers. The population of the commune is estimated at from 30,000 to 50,000. Jacmel is the seat of a United States consul. JA'COB (Heb. Ya'akoh, probably God sup- plants or rewards ; connected by Gen. xxv. 26 with 'akeb, "a heel,' and by Gen. xxvii. 3G with the root meaning 'to deceive'). The third of the Hebrew patriarchs. The story of Jacob, with numerous in- sertions, is found in Genesis xxv.-l., and is as fol- lows : He was one of the two sons born to Isaac and Kebekah. His character, quiet, peaceful, and home-loving, appealed to Rebekah, and she loved him more than she did Esau. Taking advantage of his brother's hunger, he bought his birth- right (Gen. xxv. 29-34). Later on, instigated by his mother, who had heard of Isaac's purpose to bless Esau, he impersonated his brother and got the blessing intended for the latter. As a consequence Jacob had to flee from home, receiv- ing another blessing from his father before his departure. By his father's command he went to Padan-.rara. to the house of Laban (Gen. xxvii. -xxviii. o ) . JJere he served seven years for Rachel, but Leah was given to him instead. Undaunted, he served seven years more for Rachel (Gen. xxix. ). Of his two wives and two maids, Bilhah and Zilpah, Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter (Gen. xxix. 31-xxx. 24: xxxv. 16-18). Finally Jacob made up his mind to return home. His wives readily agreed, and they stole away from Laban, who pursued and caught up to .Jacob, but did him no harm (Gen. XXX. 2.5xxxi.). On the way home he met Esau, who behaved magnanimously (Gen. xxxii.- xxxiii. 16). After having put away the strange gods found in his' camp, Jacob came to Bethel and made an altar on the place where God had appeared to him when he fled from his brother (Gen. xxxv. 1-15). He finally settled in Pales- tine, but afterwards went to Eg^pt, where his son Joseph (q.v. ) had preceded him (Gen. xxxii.. xlvi.). Jacob died in Egypt at the age of 147, but was buried by his sons in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. xlix. 33. 1. 13). In the course of his career there were three distinct places in which Yahweli or His messengers appeared to him. When fleeing from Esau he halted at Bethel (Gen. xxviii.), and was there assured in a dream, in which God Himself appeared stand- ing beside a ladder on which angels ascended and descended, that he should come safely back to his native land. After his return he again visited Bethel, and God once more appeared to him, changed his name to Israel, and announced the future greatness of the Hebrew nation (Gen. xxxv.). At Mahanaim he encountered angels of God (Gen. xxxii. 1. 2). Lastly, at Penuel he had an encounter with a divine being, who first fought with him. and. when subdued, blessed the patriarch and announced that his name should henceforth be Israel, interpreted as one who pre- vails in the conflicts with gods and with men (Gen. xxxii. 24-32). Scholars who accept the compilatory theory of the origin of the Hexateuch find in the Jacob account the same sources as elsewhere in the Book of Genesis. ( See Eloiiist and Y.HW^ST ; Hexateich ; Genesis. Book of. ) The first notable feature of the composite narrative, viewed as a wliole, is the greater abimdance of incidents than in the narratives of Abraham and Isaac, and the second is the various cycles of tales embodied in the Jacob narrative. We have in the first place (a) a series of Jacob-Esau stories; (bj Jacob- Laban stories; (c) a series of incidents connect- ed with sanctuaries, Bethel, Mahanaim, Penuel, and Shechem ; (d) stories of Jacob's children. There are good reasons for supposing that the Jacob-Esau and the Jacob-Laban stories existed independently, but have been combined by the compilers of the Yahwistic and Elohistic his- tories. In this process the various incidents have been arbitrarily separated and insert- ed in the story of Jacob's career at points where they seemed best to fit in. It thus happens that the .Jacob-Esau stories are not told consecutively; but after the account of the birth of Jacob and Esau it is explained how Esau lost his birthright, and the flight of Jacob is related ( chaps, xxv.-xxvii. ) ; the .Jacob-Laban tales are then introduced (chaps, x.xviii.-xxxi. ), ending with a second flight of .Jacob, this time from Laban; then the combination of the Jacob- Esau stories is again taken up and brought to a close ( xxxii. -xxxiii. 17), after which we have a series of miscellaneous incidents in Canaan and Egj'pt. Interspersed in these three sections of the narrative we encounter the incidents at the sanctuaries Bethel and Mahanaim ; the marriages of Jacob and the birth of his children; incidents in the careers of his children, leading to the introduction of an entirely independent cycle of Joseph stories (Gen. xxxvii.-xlvii., 1.). The elaborate and complex character of the narrative points to the union of various streams of tradition, and under the circumstances it is not easy to determine the centre to which Jacob belongs. That, like Israel, he is not an indi- vidual, but represents some clan, or rather is the eponymous ancestor of some clan, is thought to be certain, and the prominence of Bethel in the Jacob-Esau cycle points to this place as at one time at least the home of the tribe. The rivalry between Jacob and Esau is also easy to under- stand. It reflects the hostility between Hebrews and Edomites (see Esau; Edom), which marks the relation between those two groups, conscious throughout their history of the close genealogical ties that bound them together. Just as in the ease of Ishmael (q.v.) features are found which place him in a more favorable light than Isaac, so in the Jacob-Esau cycle there is at bottom a series of traditions which originated in the Esau groups, and which Jewish tradition had to re- shape so as to remove all features unfavorable to .Jacob. The attempt, however, did not suc- ceed altogether; and accordingly .Jacob apiiears actually in the light of a deceiver, and. what is more, is obliged to flee from Esau. This flight, if it means anything, points to the discomfiture at some time of the Jacob clan driven from its district by the more powerful Esau. An alliance is entered upon between Jacob and a distinct Aramaean clan, Laban. The marriages of Jacob into four groups and the birth of numerous chil- dren indicate the gradual giowth and extension of the Jacob clan until it feels itself powerful enough to cut loose from Laban and return to its former haunts. But the old popular traditions have been* made to serve the historical pragmatism. It was deemed necessary to connect the twelve sec- tions of the Hebrew confederacy with patriarchal history, and hence the extension of the Jacob