We are now looking at the top ten characters in the Old Testament. The “top ten” has been modified to include 5 men and 5 women and not include any that then been looked at recently. At number 9 is Jacob the father of Joseph (and the technicolour dreamcoat).
Jacob – a summary
Jacob is the grandson of Abraham, to whom God revealed himself, and the son of Isaac. He is born a twin and spends his life in sibling rivalry with his (slightly) older brother Esau.
He has two streaks that are to dominate his life: a sly, deceptive nature and a quest for spiritual things. As his spiritual side grows, his deceptive side diminishes.
Because his deceptive behavior incurs Esau’s anger, Jacob flees for his life to Haran, the family’s ancestral home in Mesopotamia. There he acquires two wives, two concubines, and a dozen children. When he arrives in Haran, he has only the clothes on his back to call his own. He leaves 20 years later a wealthy man, which he attributes to God’s blessing.
As he returns to Canaan, he wrestles with God, reconciles with Esau, and settles again in the Promised Land, living at Succoth, Shechem, Bethel, Hebron, and finally Goshen in Egypt. His sons are jealous of Jacob’s favorite son Joseph, whom they sell into slavery. But Joseph eventually rises to second in command of all Egypt.
When Jacob is an old man, a famine devastates Canaan, forcing the family to buy grain in Egypt. Through a course of events, Joseph reconciles with his brothers and moves the entire clan to Egypt, where Jacob dies at age 147.
The story also shows forgiveness in action.
I wonder as we look at these ten characters, the hero’s and heroines of the bible, that we will find that they all made mistakes, they were not perfect, but God was able to work with them.