The Heritage of Lies

Jacob, son of Isaac and Rebekah, grandson of Abraham and Sarah, is a founding father of the nation Israel. He is a man who gains great wealth, suffers great loss and ultimately launches a nation. Through his descendents the promises of Yahweh are realized, as the nation of Israel grows and is blessed. Jacob’s life is one filled with subterfuge and deception from which he garners his share of heartache, and yet a divine plan is still fulfilled through him. It appears that the particulars of how a nation comes into being are not that important to the God of Israel. He seems more concerned with the outcome than He does with the process.

If dishonesty were a genetic trait, able to be passed from one generation to the next, Jacob came by his from both sides of the family tree. His grandsire, Abraham, wasn’t above a lie or two in the interest of self-preservation. He made a practice of calling his wife his sister when in the company of strangers, so that his own neck would be spared if someone desired her. Jacob’s mother was also an adept fabricator of the truth. Raised at her knee, he learned to bend the truth and outright lie in order to get what he wanted. Although the Bible doesn’t relate stories from his childhood, one can image that he watched his mother, Rebekah, manipulate the truth and perhaps even extort others to her benefit. As a young man, Jacob wasn’t above these same practices and uses his brother Esau’s simple ways to wrest his birthright from him. However, it should be noted that God had already foretold that Jacob would be the superior and the fact that Esau would sell his birthright for food is a strong indication that he wasn’t the best choice to lead the nation.

Following his mother’s lead, Jacob also deceives his father, Isaac, and gains for himself the blessing that was intended for Esau. Pretending to be Esau, even donning wool to imitate Esau’s hairy skin, Jacob tricks his aging father into giving him the best blessing. Of course, his mother is the mastermind behind the ruse and even cooks the "savory" dish for him to serve his father. The blessing cannot be changed, but now Jacob has reason to fear for his safety when Rebekah hears that Esau wants to kill him. Rebekah again manipulates Isaac, having him send Jacob away in search of a wife. Again, the plan is in accordance with God’s desire to see a line of descendents that is not of the Canaanites. So even though the path is set in motion because of trickery and fear, God’s plan is realized, but Jacob pays the price of being separated from his family, risking that both parents might die while he is away.

In sending Jacob to her brother, Laban, Rebekah is continuing Jacob’s education in deception. She and her brother Laban appear to share the "lying" gene. Jacob wants to marry Laban’s daughter Rachel and agrees to work for her father for 7 years to win her. On the wedding night, Laban substitutes Leah, the older sister, for Rachel, and Jacob is tricked. Now, to get Rachel, he must work another 7 years. It seems to be a case of what goes around comes around for Jacob, as over the course of twenty years Laban uses Jacob for his own profit and attempts to cheat him time after time. Still, Yahweh gives Jacob great blessings in progeny and herds and he returns to his country a wealthy man, with many fine sons.

Jacob appears to become less deceptive as he ages, but his sons are all handy liars and Jacob suffers because of them. First they create havoc with the neighbors to exact vengeance for the rape of their sister. They convince the men of the offender’s community to circumcise themselves, and then while they are still recovering, they slaughter them and plunder the town. Jacob’s reputation in the area is damaged and God has to direct him to move to Bethel. Of course, the most horrendous lie these men contrive is to sell their brother Joseph into slavery and show their father his blood stained garments as proof that he is dead. Here, perhaps, is Jacob’s greatest suffering over deceit. He grieves long and hard over the loss of his beloved Joseph. Again, the suffering of man appears a temporal trifle in comparison to divine will. In the end, it was all meant to be, as Joseph is raised up in Egypt, and through him the Egyptians and Israelites survive a seven-year famine. The line of Jacob is spared starvation, and the fledgling nation marches on.

The life of Jacob, even filled as it is with trickery and deception, seems to be a story of "all’s well that ends well". Even Joseph himself, who suffered betrayal, slavery and imprisonment, seems to say, "Its all good, see how well it turned out." Because of the deceit in his life and the lives of others, Jacob paid some heavy prices, and yet, he triumphed in the end. He was used in God’s plan, he was blessed and wealthy, and he died surrounded by his sons. In the case of Yahweh’s dealing with the nation, He appears to overlook the human failings, work with the material at hand, and always, His will is accomplished.