A life's journey that started with a struggle and deception continues into adulthood. Jacob's life was full of drama--feuding with his brother Esau, wrestling with an angel, and jealousy between his wives Rachel and Leah. One beloved wife who is barren at first and one unloved wife who is blessed with sons. Fathering children who formed the twelve tribes of Israel. The Jacob story invites the reader into tensions between settling and wandering, hope and despair, trickery and fidelity, faith and doubt. These stories reflect Jacob's life and his struggles with people and God.

Regarding the Jacob stories, the question of their composition and historical value has captured the attention of Biblical scholars for centuries. Some view these accounts as myths or literary epics. So what is behind these stories? To answer these questions the author examines the patriarch's beliefs, customs, and daily life. In this book the author provides provocative and useful answers regarding who the father of the nation of Israel was.

"Professor Bar's latest work will be of extreme value to all people seriously interested in the Hebrew Bible. Bar makes available contemporary scholarship and traditional Jewish interpretation."
--S. David Sperling, Julian Morgenstern Professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Literature, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, Editor of the Bible Division of the Encyclopedia Judaica 2007


Shaul Bar is the director of the Bornblum Judaic Studies Program at the University of Memphis. He is the author of A Letter Has Not Been Read: Dreams in the Hebrew Bible (2001), I Deal Death and Give Life: Biblical Perspectives on Death (2010), God's First King: The Story of Saul (2013), and Daily Life of the Patriarchs: The Way It Was (2014).