When Laban found the object of his pursuit camped a few miles N of the Jabbok River he demanded that Jacob explain: Why had he left without allowing Laban to kiss his children and grandchildren goodbye, and why had he stolen Laban’s gods? (Gen. 31:24-30) The answer to the first question was rather obvious—fear that Laban would have prevented him from leaving. As to the second question, Jacob was innocent of the fact, and a search failed to disclose that Rachel had indeed stolen the family teraphim and hidden them in her camel’s saddle basket.—Gen. 31:31-35.

One explanation for Rachel’s actions, and Laban’s concern, is this: “Possession of the household gods marked a person as the legitimate heir, which explains Laban’s anxiety in Gen. 31:26 ff. to recover his household gods from Jacob.”—Ancient Near Eastern Texts, edited by J. B. Pritchard, 2d ed., p. 220, ftn. 51.

Their quarrel peacefully settled, Jacob set up a stone pillar and then heaped up stones, which stood there for many years as a witness to the covenant of peace that these two had concluded with a ceremonial meal. The names given to this heap of stones were Galeed (“witness heap”) and The Watchtower.—Gen. 31:36-55.

Jacob was now anxious to make peace also with his brother Esau, whom he had not seen for more than twenty years. To soften any lingering hatred his brother might still harbor, Jacob sent ahead of him costly gifts for Esau—hundreds of goats and sheep, and many camels, cattle and asses. (Gen. 32:3-21) Jacob had fled Canaan with practically nothing; now because of Jehovah’s blessing he was returning a wealthy man.

During the night that Jacob’s household crossed the Jabbok on the way S to meet Esau, Jacob had the most unusual experience of wrestling with an angel, and because of his perseverance his name was changed to Israel, meaning “God contends,” or, “Contender (Perseverer) with God.” (Gen. 32:22-28) Thereafter both names often appear in Hebrew poetic parallelisms. (Ps. 14:7; 22:23; 78:5, 21, 71; 105:10, 23) In this struggle the angel touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh joint and he limped for the rest of his life—perhaps to teach him humility; a constant reminder not to be overly exalted because of his God-given prosperity or for having grappled with an angel. In commemoration of these momentous events Jacob called the place Peniel or Penuel.—Gen. 32:25, 30-32.

After the conclusion of the amiable meeting between Jacob and Esau these twins, now about ninety-nine years old, each went his separate way, presumably not to meet again until they jointly buried their father Isaac some twenty-three years later. Esau went S to Seir with his gifts and Jacob turned N, recrossing the Jabbok.—Gen. 33:1-17; 35:29.

NEXT THIRTY-THREE YEARS AS ALIEN RESIDENT

After parting company with Esau, Jacob settled down in Succoth. This was the first place where Jacob stayed for any length of time after returning from Paddan-aram. How long he was here is not stated, but it may have been a number of years, for he built himself a permanent structure in which to live and also booths or covered stalls of some sort for his livestock.—Gen. 33:17.

Jacob’s next move was westward across the Jordan to the vicinity of Shechem, where he bought a tract of land from the sons of Hamor for “a hundred pieces of money [Heb., q^esi·tahʹ].” (Gen. 33:18-20; Josh. 24:32) The value of that ancient money unit, the q^esi·tahʹ, is not known today, but a hundred of them, all together, must have amounted to a considerable sum of weighed-out silver, there being no coins in those days.

It was at Shechem that Jacob’s daughter Dinah began associating with the Canaanite women, and this, in turn, opened the way for Shechem, the chieftain Hamor’s son, to violate her. In the wake of this episode matters soon developed beyond Jacob’s control—his sons killed every male inhabitant of Shechem, took the women and children captive, appropriated all the property and wealth of the community, and made their father Jacob a stench to the inhabitants of the land.—Gen. 34:1-31.

Jacob was then divinely directed to leave Shechem and move down to Bethel, which he did. However, before going he had his household clean themselves up, change their garments, remove all their false gods (probably including Laban’s teraphim), as well as the earrings possibly worn as amulets. These Jacob buried out of sight near Shechem.—Gen. 35:1-4.

Bethel, the “house of God,” was of special importance to Jacob, for here, perhaps some thirty years before, Jehovah had passed on to him the Abrahamic covenant. Now, after Jacob built an altar to this great God of his forefathers, Jehovah restated the covenant and also confirmed that Jacob’s name had been changed to Israel. Jacob then erected a pillar over which he poured a drink offering and oil in commemoration of these momentous events. It was also while sojourning here at Bethel that his mother’s nurse Deborah died and was buried.—Gen. 35:5-15.

Again we do not know how long Jacob lived at Bethel. Upon leaving there and moving southward, and while yet some distance from Bethelem (Ephrath), birth pains struck Rachel, and in the ordeal of giving birth to her second son, Benjamin, she died. Jacob buried his beloved Rachel there and erected a pillar to mark her grave.—Gen. 35:16-20.

This man Israel, now blessed with a full complement of twelve sons from whom the twelve tribes of Israel would spring, traveled on farther S. His next campsite being described as “a distance beyond the tower of Eder,” which places it somewhere between Bethlehem and Hebron. It was while residing there that his oldest son Reuben had sexual relations with his father’s concubine Bilhah, the mother of Dan and Naphtali. Reuben may have thought his father Jacob was too old to do anything about it, but Jehovah disapproved, and for his incestuous act Reuben lost the firstborn’s birthright.—Gen. 35:21-26; 49:3, 4; Deut. 27:20; 1 Chron. 5:1.

Perhaps it was prior to his son Joseph’s being sold into Egyptian slavery that Jacob moved his residence down to Hebron, where his aging father Isaac was still living, but the date of this move is not certain.—Gen. 35:27.

One day Jacob sent Joseph (now seventeen years old) out to see bow his brothers were getting along tending their father’s flocks. When he finally located them at Dothan some sixty-five miles (c. 105 kilometers) N of Hebron, they seized him and sold him to a caravan of traders headed for Egypt. This was in 1750 B.C.E. They then led their father to believe that Joseph had been killed by a wild beast. For many days Jacob sorrowed over the loss, refusing to be comforted, and saying: “I shall go down mourning to my son into Sheol!” (Gen. 37:2, 3, 12-36) The death of his father Isaac in 1738 B.C.E. only added to his grief.—Gen. 35:28, 29.

THE MOVE TO EGYPT

About ten years later an extensive famine forced Jacob to send ten of his sons down to Egypt for cereals. Benjamin remained behind. Pharaoh’s food administrator, Joseph, recognized his brothers and demanded that they bring their younger brother Benjamin back with them to Egypt. (Gen. 41:57; 42:1-20) However, when told of the demand, Jacob at first refused to let him go, fearing harm might befall this beloved son of his old age; Benjamin at the time was at least twenty-two years old. (Gen. 42:29-38) Only when the food obtained in Egypt had all been eaten did Jacob finally consent to let Benjamin go.—Gen. 43:1-14; Acts 7:12.

With the reconciliation of Joseph and his brothers came the invitation for Jacob and his whole household, together with all their livestock and belongings, to move down to the fertile land of Goshen in Egypt’s delta country, for the great famine was destined to last another five years. Pharaoh even provided wagons and food provisions for their assistance. (Gen. 45:9-24) On the way down, Jehovah assured Jacob that this move had his blessing and approval. (Gen. 46:1-4) All the souls counted as belonging to Jacob’s household, including Manasseh, Ephraim and others that may have been born in Egypt before Jacob died, were seventy in number. (Gen. 46:5-27; Ex. 1:5; Deut. 10:22) This number did not include Leah, who had died in the Promised Land (Gen. 49:31), or his unnamed daughters, or the wives of his sons.—Gen. 46:26; compare Genesis 37:35.

Soon after arriving in Egypt in 1728 B.C.E. Jacob was brought to Pharaoh’s court and there he greeted the king with a blessing. Jacob described himself as an alien resident (the same as Abraham and Isaac, for like them he too had not inherited the God-promised land). Asked about his age, Jacob replied that he was 130 but that, compared with those of his forefathers, his days had been “few and distressing.”—Gen. 47:7-10.

Shortly before his death, Jacob blessed his grandsons, Joseph’s sons, and, by divine guidance, put the younger Ephraim ahead of the older Manasseh. Then to Joseph, who would receive the firstborn’s double portion of the inheritance, Jacob declared: “I do give you one shoulder of land more than to your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorites by my sword and by my bow.” (Gen. 48:1-22; 1 Chron. 5:1) Since Jacob had peaceably purchased the plot of ground near Shechem from the sons of Hamor (Gen. 33:19, 20), it seems that this promise to Joseph was an expression of Jacob’s faith, in which he prophetically spoke of the future conquest of Canaan by his descendants as if already accomplished by his own sword and bow. (See AMORITE.) Joseph’s double portion of that conquered land in effect was the two allotments given to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

Before he died, Jacob summoned up enough strength to bless his twelve sons individually. (Gen. 49:1-28) He showed faith in the outworking of Jehovah’s purposes. (Heb. 11:21) Because of his faith and because Jehovah specifically confirmed to him the Abrahamic covenant of blessing, the Scriptures often refer to Jehovah as the God, not only of Abraham and Isaac, but also of Jacob.—Ex. 3:6; 1 Chron. 29:18; Matt. 22:32.

Finally, in 1711 B.C.E., after seventeen years of residence in Egypt, Jacob died at the age of 147. (Gen. 47:27, 28) Thus that period of history from the birth of Jacob to his death ended, a history that occupies more than half the pages of the book of Genesis. (Chaps. 25 to 50) In accordance with Jacob’s wish to be buried in Canaanland, Joseph first had the Egyptian physicians embalm his father’s body in preparation for the trip. A great funeral train, in keeping with the prominence of his son Joseph, then set out from Egypt. When it came into the region of the Jordan, there were seven days of mourning rites, after which Jacob’s sons buried their father in the cave of Machpelah where Abraham and Isaac had been interred.—Gen. 49:29-33; 50:1-14.

The prophets often used “Jacob” in a figurative sense, with reference to the nation descended from the patriarch. (Isa. 9:8; 27:9; Jer. 10:25; Ezek. 39:25; Amos 6:8; Mic. 1:5; Rom. 11:26) Jesus, on one occasion, used the name Jacob figuratively when speaking of those who would be “in the kingdom of the heavens.”—Matt. 8:11.

2. The father of Joseph the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus.—Matt. 1:15, 16.

JACOB’S FOUNTAIN

The “well” or “fountain” where Jesus Christ, while resting, conversed with a Samaritan woman. (John 4:5-30) It is considered to be Bir Yaʽqub, situated about a mile and a half (2.4 kilometers) SE of Nablus (Shechem). Jacob’s fountain is a deep well, the water level of which never rises to the top. Measurements made in the last century indicate the well’s depth to be about seventy-five feet (c. 23 meters). It is approximately eight feet (2.4 meters) wide, although narrowing at the top. The circumstance that the well is usually dry from about the end of May until the autumn rains has given rise to the view that its water is derived from rain and percolation. But others believe that the well is also spring fed and therefore could also be called a “fountain.”

The Bible does not directly state that Jacob dug the well. However, it does indicate that Jacob had property in this vicinity. (Gen. 33:18-20; Josh. 24:32; John 4:5) And the Samaritan woman told Jesus that “Jacob . . . gave us the well and [he] . . . together with his sons and his cattle drank out of it.” (John 4:12) So Jacob likely dug it or had it dug, perhaps to provide water for his large household and flocks, thereby preventing trouble with his neighbors, who doubtless already owned the other water sources in the region. Or, he may have needed a better and more permanent supply of water when other wells in the area dried up.

[Caption on page 864]

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A woman draws water from the Bir Yaʽqub, thought to represent Jacob’s fountain. (The well is depicted here as it appeared before being glamorized as a shrine)

JADA

(Jaʹda) [the knowing, shrewd one].

A descendant of Judah through Jerahmeel. Jada is listed as a son of Onam and father of Jether and Jonathan.—1 Chron. 2:3, 25, 26, 28, 32.

JADDAI

(Jadʹdai) [beloved, loving].

A son of Nebo; one of those who took non-Israelite wives but sent them away at the urging of Ezra. (Ezra 10:43, 44) Some translations read “Iddo” instead of “Jaddai.”—AS, AT, Mo, Ro.

JADDUA

(Jadʹdu·a) [known].

1. One of the headmen of Israel whose descendant, if not himself, sealed the resolution of faithfulness