Forefather Forefather Jacob (Israel)

Righteous Jacob (Israel) is the third of the great Old Testament patriarchs, the younger of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah (c. 1800s BC). Even before birth it was foretold that the elder would serve the younger. With his mother's help, Jacob obtained by deception the firstborn's blessing meant for Esau, and, fleeing his brother's wrath, journeyed to Mesopotamia to his kinsman Laban.

Along the way, sleeping at Bethel, he saw in a dream a ladder joining earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending, and heard the promise given to Abraham and Isaac renewed. Jacob served Laban fourteen years for Leah and Rachel and became father to twelve sons, the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. Returning home, he wrestled all night with a mysterious Man at the ford of Jabbok and received a new name, Israel.

He reconciled with Esau, endured the death of his beloved wife Rachel and the supposed death of his favorite son Joseph. He spent his last seventeen years in Egypt with Joseph, blessed his sons before death, and asked to be buried in Canaan. Like Isaac, Jacob has no individual fixed date; he is commemorated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers and the Sunday of the Holy Fathers.