Jacob: Sheep, Water, and Today’s News (The Genesis Series, Part 44)

If I reside in the Word of God and do His commandments, I will have a good understanding.  Psalm 111:10:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

If it is settled in my heart that God’s Word is true and righteous altogether, then I will have:

1. A clear and peaceful mind—versus a confused and frustrated one. 

2. Correct answers to all of my questions—versus answers, but wrong, unfulfilling ones. 

3. The certainty of knowing the end from the beginning—versus not knowing down from up or good from evil. 

4. A life full of promise and purpose—versus a life of no good promises and no purpose. 

5. A written guarantee of everlasting life—versus …what, exactly?  A whole lot of nothing.

6. An ever-present help in times of trouble (and there will be trouble)—versus troubles stacked upon troubles with no help at all. 

7. An ever-expanding revelation and excitement—versus a collapsing and empty foolishness. 

Today, all over the globe, choices are being made.  Dear visitor, have you yet to make your peace with God?  Have you been BORN AGAIN as Jesus describes in John 3:3?

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

In just a moment, I will invite you to follow me in a simple prompt, and if you follow from your heart, you will begin to participate in the greatest miracle man can know.  Today, you will be born a most literal second time, but this time of the Spirit of God.  Today, all your sin and shame will washed away by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  You will be spotlessly clean.  Today, all of Satan’s bondages in your life will be broken.  You will be free.  Today, your good Holy Ghost understanding begins.  You are in the valley of decision.  Choose life and live.

Here is the prompt I promised: Click onto Further with Jesus for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 32:26-29:

26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

GOD SAID: Genesis 49:29-33:

29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

GOD SAID, John 4:5-13:

5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 Now Jacob''s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

MAN SAID: How could a book written by mere men with a God fetish have any relevance on or insight into an enlightened, digital world?  What’s that you say? That’s the point, that it was authored by God and penned by holy men? I’m going to have to think about that. 

Now THE RECORD: Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 1264 that will once again certify the inerrancy of God’s supernatural, glorious, and beautiful Book, the Holy Bible.  All of these edifying features are archived here in text and streaming audio for the building-up of the Kingdom of God and for the empowerment of the saints.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one. 

Thank you for visiting.  Strength and power to you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, the King of Glory.

You have arrived at the GodSaidManSaid “Genesis Series;” this is Part 44.  Each of these features begins with the following information from the first feature:

According to a 2006 issue of Discover magazine concerning the deceased Carl Sagan: “Sagan approaches religion like any phenomenon.  He isn’t on a quest for life’s meaning, for a comforting philosophy, or even a guide to how we should treat the neighbors.  Sagan seeks truth of a demonstrable kind.  As a puckish example, he wonders why the book of Genesis didn’t include God-inspired truths…” [End of quote]

I recently reviewed an advertisement from a magazine called Free Inquiry that also has a problem with the God of Creation and the first book of the Bible, called Genesis.  Under the heading “Is God Big Enough for the Universe,” Free Inquiry writes:

The authors of Genesis proclaim that God made the heavens and earth in less than a week.  This feat must have amazed these Bronze Age authors, even though they thought the heavens extended only so far as the sky above them.  Of course, they did not know what stars, planets, or galaxies were.  We now know that the universe is so much bigger and so much more complex. [End of quote]

The BORN AGAIN scratch their heads in bewilderment.  Did these folks actually read the book of Genesis? I suppose they did, but God’s revelation is only revealed to the humbled hearts of the children of faith.  This GodSaidManSaid series will be called “The Genesis Series.”  It is our intention to travel through the entire book of Genesis and publish one major God-inspired truth after another.  We will be pulling from previous GodSaidManSaid features and adding the latest information as we go.

The proofs of God and His inerrant Word are ubiquitous.  Everywhere you look testifies.  Psalm 19:1-3:

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.

2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.

3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

God is the light of life. 

🕇 I John 1:5: This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

🕇 John 1:9: That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

God is the breath of life. 

🕇 Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

🕇 Job 27:3: All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

God is the light that we see and the breath that we breathe, yet Biblical critics grudge and run around the city and bark like dogs (Psalm 59:6-7), but only to their own confusion of face.  Their unbelief is only to their own shame.  Romans 3:3-4:

3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Blind eyes just can’t see. 

Jacob, the twin brother of Esau, son of Isaac and Rebeccah, and grandson of Abraham, is the focus of this week’s feature.

Was there a Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, as the Bible repeatedly asserts?  After all, Jacob is mentioned 371 times in the Scriptures, and his namesake Israel is found 2,415 times.  Genesis speaks of Jacob wrestling with the angel of God, recording this exchange where the angel speaks in Genesis 32:26-29:

26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

His name is in the news daily, and has, since May 14, 1948, once again been emblazoned upon the world’s globe, yet critics will still challenge.  Unfortunately for the critic’s camp, Jacob has left a very deep record.  This feature will review just five points of Jacob’s legacy.

1. JACOB’S SHEEP: 

Genesis 30:31-43:   

31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock.

32 I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.

33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.

34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.

35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

36 And he set three days'' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban''s flocks.

37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

38 And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted.

40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban''s cattle.

41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.

42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban''s, and the stronger Jacob''s.

43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

The following excerpts are from the GodSaidManSaid feature “Jacob Sheep:”

Franz Delitzsch, who wrote the two-volume New Commentary of Genesis in the late 1800s, stated that it is an established fact that white lambs can be guaranteed by placing a multitude of white objects about the drinking troughs. Jacob, being instructed by God, did the exact opposite. The prenatal influence of Jacob''s green poplar and of hazel and chestnut trees all of which he had peeled (pilled) to reveal white streaks (strakes) set in the gutters of the watering troughs, caused the sheeps'' offspring to be ringstraked, speckled and spotted.

The above Biblical episode has given us the concept of "the Jacob Sheep," as well as a charity in England known as The Jacob Sheep Society Limited. In 1969, Lady Araminthia Aldington, daughter of the last high commissioner of Mandatory Palestine, General Sir Alan Cunningham, founded the Jacob Sheep Society. A piece of their research discusses the origin of "Jacob''s Sheep." She writes that, "Patriarch Jacob moved his entire household and flocks and herds to Goshen in Egypt. Jacob''s sheep thus traveled from Palestine to Egypt, and so perhaps on to Spain via the coast of North Africa and Morocco." A pair of Jacob''s Sheep are now residents of the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.

According to the Autumn 1984 issue of Vogue Patterns, there is a fabric called "Jacob Wool." Jacob Wool and cloths are separate from other wools not just because of their rarity but also as a result of their unusual quality. England is the home of the majority of the world''s Jacob Sheep, mostly as the fruit of Lady Aldington''s society. [End of quote]

2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL:

Time and again, archaeologists have certified places and events recorded in the Bible, and not one Biblical event has been controverted by carnaldom’s champions, though that is not for lack of trying:

A few excerpts follow from Dr. Grant Jeffreys book, The Signature of God:

Dr. Nelson Glueck, the most outstanding Jewish archaeologist of the last century, wrote in his book Rivers in the Desert:

It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries. They form tesserae in the vast mosaic of the Bible’s almost incredibly correct historical memory.

Another respected scholar, Dr. J. O. Kinnaman, declared:

Of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts found by the archeologists, not one has ever been discovered that contradicts or denies one word, phrase, clause, or sentence of the Bible, but always confirms and verifies the facts of the biblical record.

Well-known language scholar Dr. Robert Dick Wilson, formerly professor of Semitic philology at Princeton Theological Seminary, made the following statement:

After forty-five years of scholarly research in biblical textual studies and in language study, I have come now to the conviction that no man knows enough to assail the truthfulness of the Old Testament. When there is sufficient documentary evidence to make an investigation, the statement of the Bible, in the original text, has stood the test. [End of quotes]

The following paragraphs regarding Jacob and inscribed seals discovered in archaeological excavations is from Dr. Titus Kennedy’s book, Unearthing the Bible:

Names often illuminate historical periods and chronologies, so inscribed scarab seals, primarily containing the names of kings, officials, and others in positions of power, can be extremely useful. Typically, the seal would be attached to a ring, allowing the wearer to imprint the name onto clay or wax.  These scarab seals were first made and used by the Egyptians, but the practice was later adopted by the Hyksos rulers and by people in Canaan. 

Many scarab seals discovered in both Egypt and Canaan contain the names of rulers mentioned in the Bible, and in one case a personal name of one of the patriarchs known from the narratives in Genesis.  At present, 27 scarab seals bearing the name “Yaqob” (Jacob) and the element “El” (perhaps meaning “protected by God”) have been discovered in Egypt, Canaan, and Nubia dating to around 1800-1600 BC. 

While the scarabs may not be referring to Jacob the patriarch and father of the 12 tribes, these inscriptions do attest to the usage of the name Yaqob/Jacob in Canaan and Egypt during the time of the Jacob known from Genesis around the 18^th century BC.  Further, it is significant that the name does not appear to be common either before or after that period, demonstrating that the name Jacob was primarily used at that time of the patriarchs and therefore the narratives in Genesis accurately reflect the historical usage of this name. [End of quote]

3. HEBREW POPULATION IN EGYPT:

Due to the great famine in the time of Joseph and Pharaoh, Jacob (also known as Israel), who was Joseph’s father, brought the entirety of the Hebrew people into Egypt  (where Joseph, his wife, and two sons were already residing) to sojourn in the land of Goshen. Various sources speak of a large Jewish population residing in Egypt in the time of Moses which took part in the great exodus.  From Jacob’s 70 total Hebrew people, they had grown to several million strong.  Biblical critics have long challenged the existence of a large Jewish population ever residing in slavery in Egypt, but someone apparently forgot to tell this Egyptian professor suing for reparations:

The following report is found in The International Jerusalem Post, November 28, 2003, p. 31:

The recent publicity garnered by the Egyptian professor who intends to file a lawsuit against the Jewish people and the State of Israel for the return of the gold, silver, and clothing taken by the Israelites when they left Egyptian bondage over three millennia ago caused me to think how ancient scores are never really settled—at least when they involve the Jews.  The academic who claims to be filing this class-action suit is perhaps unaware that this tactic was attempted before—in fact, it was employed over 23 centuries ago, when Alexander the Great ruled both Egypt and the Land of Israel. 

The Talmud in tractate Sanhedrin relates that Egyptian representatives appeared before Alexander and asked that he demand from the Jews the return of all of the wealth taken by them when they left Egyptian slavery a millennium earlier.  Alexander sent a notice to the Jewish elders in Jerusalem asking for a representative to present the Jewish side of the dispute. 

The rabbis sent a man by the name of Gavha, who was small in stature but very clever.  His defense was that if one were to start down the slippery road of adjudicating ancient claims, then the Egyptians still owed the Jews for centuries of slave labor.  Alexander, no fool himself, realized the morass that he had placed himself in by agreeing to judge the case, and decided to dismiss the matter altogether. 

4. JACOB’S TESTIMONY:

Was there an actual Jacob whose name was changed to Israel?  Was there a Jacob who purchased his brother Esau’s birthright with a bowl of beans, who wrestled with an angel, and who sired the 12 tribes of Israel?  Did he have a testimony? 

From the GodSaidManSaid feature, “Jacob’s Well:”

There in fact is a well that is commonly known by Samaritans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike as "Jacob’s Well," the very one which Jacob dug and also the one where Jesus conversed with the Samaritan woman. Jacob’s well is located 1/2 mile south of Sychar on the high road from Jerusalem. This one very authentic site is found near Joseph’s tomb on land which his father Jacob had purchased.

The Samaritan tradition of Jacob’s Well dates back 23 centuries. It was attested to by the woman at the well who said to Jesus in John 4:12:

Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

During the 4th century, a Christian church was built at the site of Jacob’s Well. Several centuries later, the Crusaders came upon the church building and found it in ruins. They rebuilt it only to have it destroyed again during the 12th century. It lay dormant until it was unearthed again in 1838 by Robinson, who discovered the entrance to the well’s mouth. He measured the depth of Jacob’s Well at 105 feet. Later in 1881, Dr. C.A. Barclay excavated around the well. He found that because debris had fallen into the well, at that time it measured only 67 feet deep. Later it was cleaned out and restored to its original depth. Today, a Greek Christian church that had purchased the site built their church right over the well. Water from Jacob’s Well is sold in small collectors’ bottles and carried all over the world.

The well’s mouth measures 7’ 6" in circumference and the water is cool and refreshing. The well is supplied by two water sources: surface water as well as an underground source. After nearly 4,000 years, Jacob’s well continues to quench the thirst of its visitors. [End of quote]

The archeological supplement to the Thompson Chain Reference Bible provides the following additional information about Jacob’s Well:

Jacob’s Well is one-half mile south of Sychar, on the high road from Jerusalem where it curves to enter the valley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.  Situated near Joseph’s tomb, on the ground purchased by Jacob, it is one of the most authentic sites in all Bible lands.  Samaritans, Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans revere it as the very well which Jacob dug, and the one on whose curb Jesus sat when He talked to the woman of Samaria, who had come there to draw water.  Samarian tradition dates back more than 23 centuries, and was repeated by the Samaritan woman who said to Jesus, “Our father Jacob gave us the well” (John 4:12). 

The associations of the well carry us back in the world’s history to pastoral scenes and patriarchal customs, and to the beginning of Jesus’s ministry when by this wayside well, He revealed His divine self to the perplexed woman of Samaria, and spoke the profound truth that will endure through all time—“whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). [End of quotes]

5. TODAY:

Jacob is still with us today.  He is buried in the cave of Machpelah, which is found in the present-day Israeli city of Hebron.  Jacob gave Joseph very specific instructions for handling his death and body in Genesis 49:29-33:

29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

Yes, God’s record of Jacob/Israel is true as recorded—every jot and every tittle:

⬥ We can read the archaeological report;
⬥ We can wear his sheep’s wool;
⬥ We can drink water from his well;
⬥ We can visit his grave;
⬥ We hear his name in the daily news; and
⬥ We will see his signature on the world-ending battle of Armageddon.

Skeptics looking for God-inspired truths?  Are they really looking? 

GOD SAID, Genesis 32:26-29:

26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

GOD SAID: Genesis 49:29-33:

29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

GOD SAID, John 4:5-13:

5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 Now Jacob''s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

MAN SAID: How could a book written by mere men with a God fetish have any relevance on or insight into an enlightened, digital world?  What’s that you say? That’s the point, that it was authored by God and penned by holy men? I’m going to have to think about that. 

 

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

Blumner, R., Free Inquiry

GodSaidManSaid, “Jacob Sheep”

GodSaidManSaid, “Jacob’s Well”

GodSaidManSaid, “Joseph’s Famine (Minimalists Minimized)”

Kennedy, T., Unearthing the Bible, Harvest House Publishers, 2020

The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, 1988

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