Jacob was “a plain man” (Genesis 26:27) and his brother Esau was a cunning hunter. His name meant “deceiver,” and it didn’t take him long to live up to it. First he tricked his brother into giving up his rights as eldest son, and then their mother Rebekah helped Jacob to fool his father so [...]
Posted on May 7, 2009, 8:00 am, by Philip Hanson, under
Onomaticon.
Shiloh When the patriarch Jacob realized that he was going to die soon, he gathered his sons together and blessed them — or more accurately, he foretold what each tribe of Israel would become. Judah was favored, but there is an unfamiliar phrase in the middle of his blessing: “The sceptre shall not depart from [...]
