Garden91季刊 │玉溪有容教育基金會發行

雅各（猶太人的祖先，族長）攻於心計，曾經為了家族繼承權，而兩次設計謀奪長兄的名份。雅各的性格矛盾糾結，他一方面心存上帝，嚮往神的祝福；卻又不能抑制自私自利，不能擺脫自我中心，做一個順服天意的人。雅各後來得名以色列，意思是神與之或為之摔角，隱喻雅各與其後代，在自我與天命中擺盪、掙扎不休的性格與命運。

Jacob, (the Father of the 12 tribes of Israel) was once a shrewd and deceitful man who tricked his brother Esau into surrendering his birth right. He was a man of internal conflicts. He wanted to be blessed by God, yet he couldn’t control his self-centric personality and put away his selfish desires to be a man of God. Later, Jacob was renamed Israel, which means “he who struggles with God” to imply that the descendants of Israel will be destined to a life of constant wrestling between their God given traits and their selfish urges.