Jacob's Chutes and Ladders

Jacob and Esau

Jacob and his twin brother, Esau, were born to Isaac and Rebecca. During her double pregnancy, Rebecca was extremely uncomfortable and went to inquire of God why she was suffering so. Whenever she would pass a house of Torah study, Jacob would struggle to come out; whenever she would pass a house of idolatry, Esau would agitate to come out.

She received the prophecy that twins were fighting in her womb and would continue to fight all their lives, even after they became two separate nations. The prophecy also said that the older would serve the younger; its statement "one people will be stronger than the other" has been taken to mean that the two nations would never gain power simultaneously: when one fell, the other would rise, and vice versa.

When the time came for Rebecca to give birth, the first to come out emerged red and hairy all over, with his heel grasped by the hand of the second to come out. Onlookers named the first Esau. The second is named Jacob, meaning "heel-catcher", "supplanter", "leg-puller", "he who follows upon the heels of one.”

The boys displayed very different natures as they matured. "Esau became a hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a simple man, a dweller in tents" (Genesis 25:27). Jacob asks his dark-clothed compatriot if he’d like some fish, to which he replies, “I already ate.” Perhaps this is Esau, who in the guise of John Locke, presents Richard Alpert and the Others with a bore.

Immediately after Abraham died, Jacob prepared a lentil stew as a traditional mourner's meal for his father, Isaac. The Hebrew Bible states that Esau, returning famished from the fields, begged Jacob to give him some of the stew. Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright (the right to be recognized as firstborn), and Esau agrees; the Talmudic dating indicates both men were 15 at the time.

Isaac became blind in his old age and decided to bestow the blessing of the firstborn upon Esau. Uncertain of death, he sent Esau out to the fields to trap and cook a piece of savory game for him, so that he could eat it and bless Esau.

Rebecca overheard this conversation and realized prophetically that Isaac's blessings would go to Jacob, since she was told before the twins' birth that the older son would serve the younger. She therefore ordered Jacob to bring her two goats from the flock, which she cooked in the way Isaac loved, and had him bring them to his father in place of Esau.

When Jacob protested that his father would recognize the deception and curse him as soon as he felt him, since Esau was hairy and Jacob smooth-skinned, Rebecca said that the curse would be on her instead. Before she sent Jacob to his father, she dressed him in Esau's garments and laid goatskins on his arms and neck to simulate hairy skin.

Jacob had scarcely left the room when Esau returned from the hunt to prepare his game and receive the blessing. The realization that he has been deceived shocks Isaac, yet he acknowledges that Jacob had received the blessings as sworn, by adding, "Indeed, he will be [or remain] blessed!" (27:33).

Esau was heartbroken by the deception, and begged for his own blessing. Having made Jacob a ruler over his brother, Isaac could only promise, "By your sword you shall live, but your brother you shall serve; yet it shall be that when you are aggrieved, you may cast off his yoke from upon your neck" (27:39-40).

Esau was filled with hatred toward Jacob for taking away both his birthright and his blessing. He vowed to himself to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac dies.

My thoughts:

At the beginning of “The Incident,” Jacob is wearing white – his nemesis, who we’ll call Esau, is wearing black. Esau is bearded and visibly older (signifying that he may, at one point, had the birthright if they are indeed brothers).

Do you have any idea how much I want to kill you?" Esau asks Jacob. Jacob coolly responds, “yes,” and Esau promises that he would one day find a "loophole" allowing him to do so.

I have a feeling Jacob’s nemesis is what we have come to know as The Smoke Monster. Its loophole is in taking the form of dead people and trying to manipulate others to do its will.

When Benjamin Linus goes to be judged by the Monster, Locke conveniently disappears for a while. The Monster appears before Ben and then takes the form of Alex, threatening Ben to listen to every word Locke speaks or else she would find him and "destroy" him.

So, disguised as John Locke, the Smoke Monster successfully manipulates Benjamin into killing Jacob, thus finding his loophole and taking back his birthright.

A Game Amongst Gods

"Two players. Two sides. One is light, one is dark." ("Pilot, Part 2")

Locke told Walt that Backgammon was older than Checkers, dating back 5,000 years. ("Pilot, Part 2"). Locke was referring to the Mesopotamian Royal Game of Ur, which is also related to the Egyptian game of Senet.

“One by one, you build the trap - shoe, bucket, tub - piece by piece it all comes together. And then you wait 'til your opponent lands here on the old cheese wheel. And then if you set it up just right, you spring the trap." -- John Locke explaining the game Mouse Trap.

The idea of playing games has been prevalent throughout Lost’s five seasons. Whether it’s Risk or Axis and Allies, Connect Four or Ping Pong, Chess or Backgammon, the Losties are always taking part in some sort of gaming activity.

It seems that Benjamin Linus and Charles Widmore are also playing a game. Though we don’t know the specifics of this game, there are rules. When Ben comes to visit Widmore in "The Shape of Things to Come,” Widmore assumes that Ben has come to kill him, but Ben replied, "We both know I can't do that."

By hiring a mercenary named Keamy to kill Benjamin’s daughter, Alex, Widmore had broken the rules. Ben stated that he would kill Widmore's daughter, Penelope, in retribution to make Widmore sorry he "changed the rules."

In “The Incident,” it seems another game is being played – or at least some kind of experiement. “Esau” claimed Jacob had brought the ship (The Black Rock) to the Island, saying that this would only end in fighting, destruction and corruption as it always had, a view with which Jacob disagreed. “It always ends the same.”

Jacob’s nemesis claims that Jacob is trying to “prove him wrong.” “It only ends once, everything else before that is just progress.”

Sounds like the island is a gaming board and Jacob is creating obstacles and mazes – puzzles for our Losties to solve and overcome. Every cycle before them was absolutely crucial in creating their experience on the Island.

Without the Black Rock, they would not have Dynamite to blow open the hatch. Without Rousseau’s shipwreck, there never would have been a trap to catch Benjamin Linus in. Without Henry Gale’s balloon, there would have been alias for Ben and no subsequent mystery to unravel about his identity. Without the Nigerian drug plane there never would have been Charlie’s test of willpower against the drugs, nor the discovery of the Pearl.

Everything is placed strategically on the island for Jack and his fellow castaways to discover and unravel – even the Dharma Initiative. There is no coincidence, nothing is left to chance. Jacob has orchestrated the ultimate game of Mouse Trap in an effort to prove his nemesis wrong, that people are essentially good - that a handful of people with broken souls and shattered dreams can come overcome anything.

Thanks to Wikipedia, Lostpedia and the creators of Lost for blowing my mind on a weekly basis.