It's Jacob!

All of us have probably been around long enough to handle that line. We can take it, can’t we? Personally, I have been around long enough to have over heard a few remarks by both men and women: Remarks that may shock some of you. I have seen the eyes of a man pop out at the sight of a physically attractive lady. My observational receivers (my eyes) have also noted the ladies responding with words that may shock a few men. The picture in my mind is this: The Garden of Eden is presented as a beauty pageant. Eden is the place where God presented His best to us. Placing the heritage of Jacob in this context is beneficial for me. Considerable detail has already been articulated, about Abraham and Isaac. The character of Jacob, or for that matter, that of our own started in the Garden of Eden. It did not begin with Abraham and Isaac. If we were to look at history in this light, we would see much more than the surface revelations of people. Most of the time when a child is born people are trying to figure out: Who in the world it looks like. People usually say: "It looks like the mother, or it looks like the father." We have all heard people say: "The child looks like the parent, or the grandparent." It is a sure bet, that a baby’s looks can be entrusted to him or her through birth. We can be sure that the traits of the parents are inbred as well. Children are not carbon copies; they develop some individual characteristics.

The point I would like to make is this: Jacob did not only get all his good and bad characteristics, from Abraham and Isaac alone. A couple of ladies, whom they knew, had some participation.

In my sometimes-allegorical account of the life of Jacob, I have dealt with issues like: Jacob before his birth, Jacob, the boy, and some of Jacob the man. Whenever I have had occasion to think about this man, the overwhelming trait that comes to mind is, Jacob the Deceiver. There are many more pieces to this puzzle than that. Some of these are, Jacob the man continued, Jacob the boyfriend, the husband, the father, the businessman, the runaway, the child of God, the brother again, the servant, the father of nations, and many more that I have not thought of as yet. In the next section of the book I will endeavour to cover many of these pieces of, Jacob the Puzzle When I consider a man like Isaac, I believe that I could write a book that has to do with being a type of Jesus Christ. If I were to negate this entity, I wouldn't have an easy time writing about Isaac. I see him as a link in a chain, but on both ends of the chain I see the driving forces: Things like a giant metal ball on each end, come to mind. When the subject of Jacob came to mind as book material, I thought to myself, "There are certainly enough facts available to cover many books." What I do in this book will not cover all that can be done with Jacob.

Jacob is a subject that really has to do with all of us, on a personal everyday level. In the closing section of this book, will we really feel like screaming out, or will we want to whisper: My Name Is Jacob. What did you say?

My Name Is Jacob. I can’t hear you!

My Name Is Jacob!

As I take you into the next section of the book, I do not want to leave you with the feeling that there are no positive scenes in this man's future. In the scope of time and eternity, I think we will be able to look at him as an artist might do. When the artist places this work in a proper position for viewing, I believe that you would have to agree with me, that the story of Jacob is a masterpiece:

A Masterpiece of the work of God!

Jacob had already thought out every conceivable angle to this whole scenario. There was nothing else to do; so he put some space between himself and everyone else. It

was at this special place that Jacob would have the greatest battle of his life. He was about to embark on:

THE BATTLE OF I'M A GETTIN! To have a battle, we are going to need an opponent. I mentioned earlier that Jacob was going to be battle scared by a more formidable enemy than he had ever faced before. Now that he was alone, he was going to face the giant head on. Have you ever watched wrestling, either in person, or on television? If you have, you will be aware that they never go on all night. One wrestler may fight for a half hour. If one wrestler fought for an hour, it would seem to me to be quite a test of endurance. Imagine for yourself, how long you could engage an opponent in a wrestling match. If you thought yourself to be really tough, you may envision a match lasting a couple of hours. Is that not a fair evaluation? Well, here we have Jacob and the Giant. No, I do not have it mixed up. It is not David and the Giant. I see it as Jacob and God. If God is not a Giant, then I do not know anybody who could qualify. According to my records, we have just begun to watch a match that is going to go on all night. Can you stay up for this kind of fight? Have you got your sights set on the scene? You are remembering the picture puzzle, onto which we are placing these events, aren't you? If you’re not, you are going to miss one great match. I would bill this one as:

A NIGHT AT THE FIGHTS.

These two combatants were both heavy weights. The funny thing was that no one seemed to know the name of the other guy they were embattled with. They fought, and fought, and fought some more. If you watched it, it likely seemed as if it were never going to end. Maybe the only thing that kept you glued to the scene, was Jacobs shouting match with his foe: "I am not going to quit, not until you guarantee me the whole winner's purse. I'm going to beat you. You might as well get that through your head."