Bible Dictionaries
Jacob

　　JACOB.—1. According to the genealogical list in Matthew, Jacob (אָבוֹח ‘fathers.’ To them was traced not only the origin of the nation, but also the beginning of true worship. As a descendant of these three, a Jew might claim nobility and a special relationship to God. This claim was recognized as אָבוֹח ‘righteousness of the fathers,’ and was based on Exodus 32:13. It was denounced by John the Baptist (see Abraham, and cf. Matthew 3:9, Luke 3:8), and it figured prominently in the conflicts between Jesus and the Pharisees (cf. John 8:33; John 8:37). Apparently in the time of Jesus it was liable to be abused, and on this account later Rabbis refused to lay stress upon it, declaring it no longer valid. In Rabbinic literature, Jacob is recognized as the most important of the three patriarchs (cf. Leviticus 26:42). He prevails with God (Genesis 32:28). He names the sanctuary the house of God (Genesis 28:22), and, in contrast to Abraham the father of Ishmael, and Isaac the father of Esau, Jacob inherits the promise in his children (49).

　　Literature.—A most suggestive analysis of the character of Jacob, and a full discussion of the problems of the narrative in Genesis, including the names ‘Jacob’ and ‘Israel,’ is given by Driver in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible ii. 526–535; cf. also Stanley, Jewish Church, i. pp. 46–66; Gore, Studia Biblica, iii. 37 f.; Ph. Berger, ‘La Signification Historique des Noms des Patriarches Hébreux’ in Mémoires de la Société Linguistique, vi. 150.

　　G. Gordon Stott.