Why do we slander Jacob?

I have thought alot about this question. It seems every preacher and bible teacher loves to denigrate Jacob's character, even though he's a hero of faith and a character that we should imitate, not denigrate. Why does it seem that this patriarch, this man of faith, yes, this Christ-figure, receives an imbalance of criticism? Oh, the intention is to show that God chooses even the sinful. But every bible character is sinful. Every human being, except Christ, is sinful. This is a poor excuse to slander a good man and to twist the scripture. I have two theories.

One, human beings are always uncomfortable with those who have the upper hand in intelligence and character, and Jacob had both. He knew the value of the birthright - spiritual intelligence - and he knew his brother Esau's character, that he despised such intangible, spiritual things. Jacob intimidates us because the blessing of God appeared upon Jacob in his ability to never knuckle under, and we want people to conform to our standard. Jacob was not a conformist, Jacob excelled.

Two, the election of Esau to rejection and the election of Jacob to inheritance scare us because not only did God elect the two to their fates but also gave them the characters that would lead them to those fates. Jacob was honorable, and the honorable face persecution by the dishonorable, which was Esau. Notice that Romans 9:11 says "the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil." In other words, Esau did evil, but that did not condemn him, and Jacob did good, but that did not commend him.

You say, "But Win, what about the deception, the cheating, the greed, etc.?" I knew you'd say that. See my future posts on these matters. These are the outright slanders of Jacob. There are so many perspectives from which to study Jacob, but I intend to begin with his relationships, like that with his father, Isaac. There are only two people that supported Jacob in his life, his mother Rebecca and his son Joseph, both persons who heard from and obeyed God. Laban also heard from God but in rebuke not as a favor. The other relationships in Jacob's life indicate that just about everyone was trying to take from him what God wanted to give him. This includes his own family, so that he is a follower of Christ, who said we must love Him more than father and mother, wife and children, even our own life. Let's learn about this prince of faith.