Most are familiar with the literal story of Jacob and Esau, the twin brothers who were born to Isaac and Rebekah.    However, are there hidden meanings behind the literal that we tend to miss?  What do we know besides what seems to be a historical event of someone to which we often claim lineage (the house of Israel)?

    In many ways, the life of Jacob (Israel) is all about each of us.  It is about our life and our life's journey.   That journey is aimed at realizing  (real I) the reality (Israel) within us.  Carnal man often misses the deeper meanings because he is so rooted in the surface things that he knows no other existence.   He does not know himself.   In this usage, the term "self" does not apply to the outward (lower) false self, but rather to the true (inner) self that is often hidden deep within us.  We sometimes call this the (light of) Christ, the mind of God, or the part of man that is God.  This true self is often placed rearward in a place of dishonor in the earth (body) of natural (carnal) man who judges the world exclusively through the physical senses and caters to their demands.   Carnal man lives by the outward senses and knows little of the true self (God) that lives within.  His life's journey is to come to a realization of this inner being and to manifest it in this physical world by casting off the usurper (carnal self) that sits in the (body) temple and proclaims itself God.  In realization of the true self (God within), he becomes one with God.  He is said to "know" God.   This is what Jesus meant when he said that the Kingdom of Heaven "cometh not by observation, but is within" and that eternal life is to "know God".

     As in all parables, this allegory of Jacob's life and that of his twin, Esau,  has multiple levels of understanding.   In one sense, Jacob and Esau are represented within each of us.  In another sense, we are represented in them.   In one particular level of understanding, Jacob's life story is an allegory that is meant to be a pattern of our own.  It is meant to teach us about where we were, where we are now, and where we should be (going).   But, it is really more than that.  It is to teach us about what we should BE (right now) in the eternal present.

    Early in the lives of Jacob and Esau, the brothers are at odds with each other.  Jacob evens stoops to deception to deprive Esau of his (rightful) blessing.   Many tend to ignore or try to justify Jacob's actions towards his brother (Esau) because they think that he is "approved of God".   Our own views of the story tend to be influenced by our (continual) eating from the tree of knowledge, which causes the tendency to see things in the duality of good and bad.   We think that Esau is "bad", therefore Jacob must be "good".  We think that since the scriptures tell us that God hates Esau and loves Jacob, it certainly must be so.

    In order to realize the deeper meanings of the allegory, perhaps we should be stilling our (surface) minds and opening them up to the true self.  Ironically, this is the very message that the allegory is meant to teach.  The outwardness of carnal man always has him at war with his brother, of whom he takes advantage.  Self-realized man (Israel) unites with his brother in the bonds of love (charity), which love is only real when it is unconditional.  This charity is that which heals all wounds, binds up that which was broken, and seals all things into one.  But, until we find it (our true selves), we remain as the lost tribes of the House of Israel.   Self-realization brings us out of the warring (tribal) mind and unites us under one roof (the House of Israel).   Then we are no longer divided (into tribes), but are ONE, being united under one Father.

    Each of us should ask how we see ourselves in this allegory.  At one point, Esau is willing to sell his birthright for a mess of pottage.   Like Esau, each man is born into the world with a birthright which he often despises in favor of catering to the external world that he takes as the important one.  Catering to the demands of the flesh (represented by physical hunger) is his priority.  As a natural (carnal) man, it is his very nature.  His birthright is to be a son of God, even the very Son of Man.   But, it is a birthright that he despises because he knows it not.

    Jacob, on the other hand, is quick to take advantage of his brother's unfortunate circumstance.  When Esau is hungry, Jacob does not give to him freely.  One might ask who has not heard the charge to feed the hungry and clothe the naked?  Rather than do so, Jacob sees himself at an advantage that can be exploited for his own gain.  He obtains from Esau the birthright, again, one that Esau despises more than his haunting (physical) hunger.

    Do we see ourselves in these allegories of circumstance?  Like Esau, how often do we sell ourselves (our very birthright) for naught?  Like the twin brother Jacob, how often do we exploit our brother for personal gain?  Aren’t the wicked also described as a gainsaying people?  Do not these two brothers live within us?

    At another juncture, Jacob and his mother conspire to deprive Esau of his blessing and successfully do so.  Upon learning of what happened, Esau rhetorically asks his father  "… Is not he rightly named Jacob?  for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing."   (Genesis 27:36)  Esau was remarking about the appropriateness of Jacob's name, which means supplanter.  Such a name is rightfully ours too.   Perhaps we should ask ourselves whether we often do the same as Jacob.

    But, it is not over yet.   Esau is so angered that he vows to take the life of Jacob.  But, Jacob flees and travels east, eventually ending up with Laban who takes advantage of Jacob and visa versa.   Dear reader, are you seeing a pattern here?  There is deep symbolism in each aspect of Jacobs journey, but to cover it all would be too cumbersome and beyond the purpose of this essay.  The purpose of this essay is to get one started searching on one's own by seeing that the deeper levels are there for the uncovering.

    After Jacob is forced to flee (again) from  Laban, a very important event occurs.  Jacob is in the company of angels whom visit him and teach him.  So, he is not left alone by God, but always looked after and cared for, just as are each of us.   Upon leaving Laban's employ, Jacob sends his servants to Esau with gifts in return for his favor (forgiveness).   Jacob is still revealing his carnal self in this apparent buy-off, but becomes extremely distressed in hearing that Laban is coming with a large company of men, one which is much larger than his own.   Jacob certainly remembers Esau's vow to kill him.  In his fear, Jacob divides his band as a defense and resigns himself to certain destruction.   Jacob is at the end of his rope, so to speak.  His fear drives him into what is called the "dark night of the soul".

    One should take care to notice particular passages of scripture that are used to describe this important event in Jacob's life.  Verse 23 (Genesis 32), for example, states that Jacob sent over all that he had.  Jacob is a broken man and is finally willing to relinquish all of the earthly things.   He wrestles in the dark night of the soul with an angel and prevails not until dawn.   At dawn, there emerges a new man.  The old Jacob is dead and Israel is born.

    Carnal man is ultimately faced with his own mortality and his own walking in error. At some point he becomes willing to give in sacrifice all that he once thought was important to him.  Emerging from the dark night of the soul, he rises in the dawn of the new day and prevails.  The experience hobbles him and he no longer walks the way that he did before.   He is a new man.  The carnal man is gone, the spiritual man uncovered.   In his wrestling in the dark night of the soul, he finds God, the true self that is within him.   He sees with new eyes and understands differently

    In this great change that has taken place, Jacob meets Esau.  The latter runs to meet Jacob and the reunion that takes place between the brothers is moving.  They fall on each other's necks, kiss each other, and weep.   It is obvious that Esau, too, is a changed man.  Like his brother Jacob, he has wrestled in the dark night and prevailed.  In an important way, he (Esau) is Israel too.  The brothers are again twins.

    Again, there are many levels of truth in this story.   Jacob and Esau are present in each of us as well as we in them.  That is, their lives are a reflection of our own and are meant to teach us about ourselves.   The life of Jacob and Esau portend our own life paths, our struggle in carnality, our eventual realization of the inadequacy of carnal living, the sacrifice of all of the former things, the descent into the dark night of the soul, and the emergence of the new being.

    As a different author has pointed out, the word "Israel" has many meanings.  It is not only a place, but it also is a religion and a people.   In the deeper meanings, it refers to all of those who have wrestled in the darkness and prevailed.  It is the destiny of all men to ultimately travel this path.  We are all Israel.