The Heel Catcher

The name Jacob comes from the Hebrew word for “heel” and he was so named after catching hold of his twin brother Esau’s heel in the womb. If you think about a heel it’s the part of your foot that bends around and so Jacob is connected with the idea of being crooked – and that’s exactly the character of Jacob.

When Esau despised his birthright, selling it for a bowl of stew, Jacob was no better. He could have done the brotherly thing and just given Esau some of his stew when he saw how hungry he was. But no, instead of doing the kind thing, he took full advantage of a man in a vulnerable position and basically stole the birthright from his brother.

Jacob, full of guile and deceit, probably guessed how Esau would react to the offer to exchange his birthright for a bowl of stew. But he didn’t end there. Again, taking advantage of a man in a vulnerable state he went on to steal the blessing from Esau too. This time he deceived their dad, Isaac, who was blind. Imagine taking advantage of someone with a disability like that! There’s nothing good that can be said about Jacob’s actions – he lied, cheated, and stole the blessing that Isaac had reserved for Esau.

Esau’s reaction was to bemoan what his brother had done with the words, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” (Gen. 27:36). The word Esau uses translated “cheated” is a play on words with the name Jacob. And Esau was right – Jacob was a cheat and a deceitful man. Jeremiah uses the same word to describe Jacob’s descendants of his day – “put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver” (Jer. 9:4). There is nothing good that can be said about what Jacob did against his brother.

And yet despite all this God says, “I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated” (Mal. 1:2-3). Esau wanted to kill Jacob for he had done so he had to flee into exile, just like the nation that came to bear his name. But God told Jacob, despite what he had done, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land” (Gen. 28:15). The same is true for the nation that took after their forefather and committed iniquity during Jeremiah’s day. Despite their immorality God told the people, “For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it” (Jer. 30:3).

God loves his children, you and me, despite how crooked we can sometimes be. The message of the life of Jacob, and the nation of Israel, is that God will continue to work with us. It means he needs to refine and test us (Jer. 9:7) but he is committed to us and when sin takes us into spiritual exile, he will make sure we come home.