Jacob

Jacob is an important figure in all three Abrahamic religions. He was a patriarch of the Jews, as told in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Koran. He was the ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his sons. He had 13 children, consisting of 12 sons and one daughter.

Jacob had an older brother, Esau. His mother was named Rebecca and his father Isaac. According to the Talmud, when Abraham died, Jacob prepared a lentil stew as a traditional mourner's meal for his father. Esau, who was very hungry, begged Jacob to give him some of the stew. Jacob said, "If you give me your birthright I will give you some stew." Esau agreed. Soon, Issac became almost blind. Rebecca, who favored her younger and less masculine son Jacob over his older

brother Esau, tricked her husband Issac into giving Jacob Isaac's fatherly blessing. When Esau found out about this, he was very angry, so Jacob fled to escape his brother's wrath.

Over the next almost two decades, Jacob worked for his uncle Laban in exchange for being able to marry his uncle's daughter Rachel. However, just as he and his mom had tricked Isaac years before, Jacob is tricked by his uncle into marrying Leah, Rachel's older sister. However, after another seven years working for his treacherous uncle, Jacob was finally able to marry his desired bride, Rachel. He had children with both women, as well as with two concubines.

Jacob let his love for Rachel continue into how much love he showed his children. The eldest of the two sons Rachel provided him, Joseph, was his obvious favorite. This led to extreme jealousy among Jacob's other sons, who became so upset that they eventually sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt. Years after, during a famine in the land of Canaan, Jacob moves to Egypt, where he later died before being buried in the land of Canaan.