city in 1867, and re-chartered in 1887. The majority of the early settlers came from the southern and border states, principally from Missouri and Kentucky; but subsequently there was a large immigration of New England and Eastern people, and these elements were stronger in the population of Jacksonville than in any other city of southern Illinois. The city was a station of the “Underground Railroad.”
JACOB (Hebrew yăʽăqōb, derived, according to Gen. xxv. 26,
xxvii. 36, from a root meaning “to seize the heel” or “supplant”),
son of Isaac and Rebekah in the Biblical narrative, and
the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob and his twin
brother Esau are the eponyms of the Israelites and Edomites.
It was said of them that they would be two nations, and that the
elder would serve the younger. Esau was born first, but lost
his superiority by relinquishing his birthright, and Jacob by an
act of deceit gained the paternal blessing intended for Esau
(Gen. xxvii., J and E).[1] The popular view regarding Israel and
Edom is expressed when the story makes Jacob a tent-dweller,
and Esau a hunter, a man of the field. But whilst Esau married
among the Canaanite “daughters of the land” (P in xxvi. 34;
xxviii. 8 seq.), Jacob was sent, or (according to a variant tradition)
fled from Beer-sheba, to take a wife from among his Syrian
kinsfolk at Haran. On the way he received a revelation at
Bethel (“house of God”) promising to him and to his descendants
the whole extent of the land. The beautiful story of
Jacob’s fortunes at Haran is among the best examples of Hebrew
narrative: how he served seven years for Rachel, “and they
seemed a few days for the love he had to her,” and was tricked
by receiving the elder sister Leah, and how he served yet another
seven years, and at last won his love. The patriarch’s increasing
wealth caused him to incur the jealousy of his father-in-law,
Laban, and he was forced to flee in secret with his family. They
were overtaken at Gilead,[2] whose name (interpreted “heap of
witness”) is explained by the covenant into which Jacob and
Laban entered (xxxi. 47 sqq.). Passing Mahanaim (“camps”),
where he saw the camps of God, Jacob sent to Esau with friendly
overtures. At the Jabbok he wrestled with a divine being and
prevailed (cf. Hos. xii. 3 sqq.), hence he called the place Peniel
or Penuel (“the face of God”), and received the new name
Israel. He then effected an unexpected reconciliation with
Esau, passed to Succoth, where he built “booths” for his cattle
(hence its name), and reached Shechem. Here he purchased
ground from the clan Hamor (cf. Judg. ix. 28), and erected an
altar to “God (El) the God of Israel.” This was the scene of the
rape of Dinah and of the attack of Simeon and Levi which led
to their ruin (xxxiv.; see Dan, Levites, Simeon). Thence
Jacob went down south to Bethel, where he received a divine
revelation (P), similar to that recorded by the earlier narrator
(J), and was called Israel (xxxv. 9–13, 15). Here Deborah,
Rebekah’s nurse, died, on the way to Ephrath. Rachel died in
giving birth to Benjamin (q.v.), and further south Reuben was
guilty of a grave offence (cf. xlix. 4). According to P, Jacob
came to Hebron, and it was at this juncture that Jacob and Esau
separated (a second time) and the latter removed to Mount Seir
(xxxvi. 6 sqq.; cf. the parallel in xiii. 5 sqq.). Compelled by
circumstances, described with much fullness and vividness,
Jacob ultimately migrated to Egypt, receiving on the way the
promise that God would make of him a great nation, which
should come again out of Egypt (see Joseph). After an interview
with the Pharaoh (recorded only by P, xlvii. 5–11), he
dwelt with his sons in the land of Goshen, and as his death drew
near pronounced a formal benediction upon the two sons of
Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim), intentionally exalting the
younger. Then he summoned all the “sons” to gather round
his bed, and told them “what shall befall in the latter days”
(xlix.). He died at the age of 147 (so P), and permission was
given to carry his body to Canaan to be buried.
These narratives are full of much valuable evidence regarding marriage customs, pastoral life and duties, popular beliefs and traditions, and are evidently typical of what was currently retailed. Their historical value has been variously estimated. The name existed long before the traditional date of Jacob, and the Egyptian phonetic equivalent of Jacob-el (cf. Isra-el, Ishma-el) appears to be the name of a district of central Palestine (or possibly east of Jordon) about 1500 B.C. But the stories in their present form are very much later. The close relation between Jacob and Aramaeans confirms the view that some of the tribes of Israel were partly of Aramaean origin; his entrance into Palestine from beyond the Jordan is parallel to Joshua’s invasion at the head of the Israelites; and his previous journey from the south finds independent support in traditions of another distinct movement from this quarter. Consequently, it would appear that these extremely elevated and richly developed narratives of Jacob-Israel embody, among a number of other features, a recollection of two distinct traditions of migration which became fused among the Israelites. See further Genesis; Jews. (S. A. C.)
JACOB, JOHN (1812–1858), Indian soldier and administrator,
was born on the 11th of January 1812, educated at Addiscombe,
and entered the Bombay artillery in 1828. He served in the
first Afghan War under Sir John Keane, and afterwards led his
regiment with distinction at the battles of Meeanee, Shahdadpur,
and Umarkot; but it is as commandant of the Sind Horse and
political superintendent of Upper Sind that he was chiefly famous.
He was the pacificator of the Sind frontier, reducing the tribes
to quietude as much by his commanding personality as by his
ubiquitous military measures. In 1853 he foretold the Indian
Mutiny, saying: “There is more danger to our Indian empire from
the state of the Bengal army, from the feeling which there exists
between the native and the European, and thence, spreads
throughout the length and breadth of the land, than from all
other causes combined. Let government look to this; it is a
serious and most important truth”; but he was only rebuked by
Lord Dalhousie for his pains. He was a friend of Sir Charles
Napier and Sir James Outram, and resembled them in his outspoken
criticisms and independence of authority. He died at
the early age of 46 of brain fever, brought on by excessive heat
and overwork. The town of Jacobabad, which has the reputation
of being the hottest place in India, is named after him.
See A. I. Shand, General John Jacob (1900).
JACOB BEN ASHER (1280–1340), codifier of Jewish law, was
born in Germany and died in Toledo. A son of Asher ben
Yeḥiel (q.v.), Jacob helped to re-introduce the older elaborate
method of legal casuistry which had been overthrown by
Maimonides (q.v.). The Asheri family suffered great privations
but remained faithful in their devotion to the Talmud. Jacob
ben Asher is known as the Ba‘al ha-ṭurim (literally “Master of
the Rows”) from his chief work, the four Ṭurim or Rows (the
title is derived from the four Ṭurim or rows of jewels in the
High Priest’s breastplate). In this work Jacob ben Asher
codified Rabbinic law on ethics and ritual, and it remained a
standard work of reference until it was edited with a commentary
by Joseph Qaro, who afterwards simplified the code into the
more popular Shulḥan Aruch. Jacob also wrote two commentaries
on the Pentateuch.
See Graetz, History of the Jews (Eng. trans.), vol. iv. ch. iii.; Weiss, Dor dor we-dorashav, v. 118–123. (I. A.)
JACOB OF EDESSA, who ranks with Barhebraeus as the most
distinguished for scholarship among Syriac writers,[3] was born at
’Ēn-dēbhā in the province of Antioch, probably about A.D. 640.
From the trustworthy account of his life by Barhebraeus (Chron.
Eccles. i. 289) we learn that he studied first at the famous monastery
of Ken-neshrē (on the left bank of the Euphrates, opposite
Jerābis) and afterwards at Alexandria, which had of course been
- ↑ For the symbols J, E, P, as regards the sources of the book of Genesis, see Genesis; Bible: Old Test. Criticism.
- ↑ Since it is some 300 m. from Haran to Gilead it is probable that Laban’s home, only seven days’ journey distant, was nearer Gilead than the current tradition allows (Gen. xxxi. 22 sqq.).
- ↑ “In the literature of his country Jacob holds much the same place as Jerome among the Latin fathers” (Wright, Short Hist. of Syr. Lit. p. 143).
