Did Jacob exist

Answer 1

A:If Jacoblived, then the Israelites should have sojourned in Egypt, but there is no evidence of this in the Egyptian records. Furthermore, if Moses did not live then it is unlikely that Jacob lived. For Moses to have lived, there would have to have been an Exodus from slavery in Egypt and a military conquest of the land of the Canaanites. Not only do almost all scholars say there was no biblical Exodus from Egypt and that there was no unified conquest of the Canaanites, they say that the Hebrew people were really Canaanites who left the region of the rich coastal cities to settle in the hitherto sparsely populated hinterland. If this does not prove his non-existence, we can examine the biblical evidence.

The name Abraham means 'Father of many', Isaac means 'He laughs' (a reference to Abraham laughing when told that Isaac would be born) and Jacob means 'Takes by the heel', but also seems related to the verb meaning to supplant and could thus be given as 'supplanter'. Notice how all these names relate to the stories around them, as if oral storytellers had created the names and/or events to help them remember the storylines. This militates against Jacob's existence.

Genesis 17:17 says that Isaac was exactly 60 years old when Jacob was born, just as Abraham was exactly 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old when Isaac was born. These seem improbable ages for them to have their sons, not only because of their extreme ages but because they are such nice, round numbers, easy to remember. Coincidences like this point to legend not fact.

Even Jacob's age when he died is a giveaway, as are the ages of Abraham and Isaac. Not just because they were so impossibly long, but because they point to the secret use of numerology based on the number 17:

1. Abraham lived to 175 (5 X 5 X 7)
2. Isaac lived to 180 (6 X 6 X 5)
3. Jacob lived to 147 (7 X 7 X 3)

• Each lifespan involves a perfect square (5, 6, then 7 in a numeric series),
• the third factor also forms a series (7, 5, 3)
• in each case the sum of the factors is 17.

A theme of the story of Jacob is his continuing rivalry with his twin brother Esau, whom he eventually supplants. Even before their birth. Genesis says that Jacob held on to Esau's heel in an attempt to prevent him being born first, something that would have required intelligence, awareness of the outside world and manual dexterity far beyond the capabilities of ordinary mortals. There is considerable evidence in the Book of Genesis that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were incarnations of the moon god in early belief, before the story evolved over the centuries into one in which they were mortal heroes, with Esau originally an incarnation of the sun god and therefore the rival of the moon god. This can be seen more clearly in the story of Jacob Wrestling an opponent all night.

In this story, inserted into a narrative about quarrels between Jacob and Esau, Jacob was left alone and wrestled all night with an opponent who was originally no doubt Esau, although the story as it comes down to us leaves the opponent unnamed. At the break of day, the man said he must leave (Genesis 32:24ff). Even though his leg was dislocated, Jacob refused to let his opponent go unless he blessed Jacob. That the 'man' was a god is amply demonstrated - Jacob asked for his blessing, he had the prerogative of changing Jacob's name, Jacob's new name was Israel (generally assumed to mean 'wrestled with God') and Jacob called the place Peniel ('the face of God') because he had seen God face to face. If the man who wrestled with Jacob was a god, then Jacob was also a god in the very early tradition behind this passage, as demonstrated by the fact that he was such an even match for his opponent. And if the opponent was a god, he was also a sun god - daybreak signalled the end of the contest, he had to leave Jacob before the sun could rise, then the sun rose upon Jacob. This was the daily struggle in which the sun god defeats the moon god at dawn.

There was no biblical Patriarch called Jacob, and there is evidence that the very earliest origins of the story of Jacob lie in a myth about the moon god.

Answer:

According to the God of The Bible, most certainly:

Luke 13:28New King James Version (NKJV)

28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.