Comparing Jacob And Jesus In The Bible

Throughout the Bible the writers have connected many stories together in the Old Testament to the New Testament, but most often they make a spiritual connection to Jesus Christ. They usually compare Jesus to someone who is from the House of Israel or an animal that is worthy to them. In the Bible there are many different links towards Jesus Christ, but the most popular are one the writers compare Him to Joseph, son of Jacob, the passover lamb, manna, and the heavenly Father. Many times in the Bible Jesus is compared to someone in the House of Israel, but he is compared most to Joseph, son of Jacob. One way Joseph and Jesus are the same is how they are both hated without a cause, and Jesus is hated by the high priests and Joseph by

his brothers.

This is elucidated in Genesis 37:4 when it says, “When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his brothers, they hated him so much that they could not say a kind word to him”, and this corresponds to Mark 15:10 saying, “For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over.” These verses show that both men are tormented and are guilty, and they both receive this criticism throughout their whole life. This is only one parallel between the two, but some others are thow they are both loved by their father, stripped of their clothing, and dreamers. Another parallel between Jesus is the Passover lamb by how their bones were both never broken, The passover lamb is the sacrifice God asked for when the plague of the firstborn was being struck down, and the lamb had to have no broken bones. This is paralleled to Jesus’ crucifixion because when prisoners were crucified the soldiers had to break their bones to kill them faster, but Jesus did not have any since he was already dead. This is shown in Exodus 12:46 when it says, “You shall not break any of its bones”, and connects to John 19:36 saying, “Not a

bone of it will be broken”. These verses elucidate that the two are similar with having no broken bones, but another parallel between the two is that Jesus is nicknamed the Lamb of God as well. Another spiritual connection is between Jesus and the manna, which is the bread God sent to the Israelites from the sky when they were in the desert. A lot of the times writers in the bible say something in the old testament that predicts something in the new. The manna coming from the sky predicts that God will send his son down from heaven as well. This is elucidated in Exodus 16:4 when it says, “I am going to rain down bread from heaven”, and it corresponds to John 6:41 saying, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” The parallel here represents the prophecy that God will send his son down to save the Israelites like he has done exactly with the manna in the desert. The last parallel of Jesus is with his own father when they both give the same description of themselves to someone. This is shown in Exodus 3:14 when it says, “God replied to Moses: I am who I am”, and it corresponds to John 18:5 saying, “He said to them, ‘I AM.’” These two verse connect Jesus and God to being the same by both of them answering someone’s question of who are you with I am. God and Jesus are alike in many ways, but this one description ties the two together because the saying has so much power within it. All in all, these are a few examples of spiritual connections between the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament, but there are many more. The writers of the Bible have many hidden connections that include Jesus, but these four are the most prominent and important parallels used.