I cant even begin to speculate on who Jacob is(Degroot?), but on wikipedia, the info on Jacob's Ladder in biblical terms seems relevant to what is going on here....thoughts?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_Ladder_%28Bible%29

Yes...the names seem to be significant. In the bible, Jacob was married to Rachel...who was his second, but favorite wife. Rachel was supposedly very beautiful. Benjamin was the second son born to Rachel and Jacob (Joseph was the 1st). Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. Jacob's other children were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Napthali, Gad, Asher, Isschar, Zebulon and his only daughter, Dinah.

Yes...the names seem to be significant. In the bible, Jacob was married to Rachel...who was his second, but favorite wife. Rachel was supposedly very beautiful. Benjamin was the second son born to Rachel and Jacob (Joseph was the 1st). Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. Jacob's other children were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Napthali, Gad, Asher, Isschar, Zebulon and his only daughter, Dinah.

Rachel was also believed to be barren because Jacob loved her best. Meanwhile, Leah, who was Jacob's first wife, was given the gift of fertility since she was loved second.

But Im also referring to the parallel between our island society and the concept of Jacob's Ladder to heaven. On that link, part of the text states that at the end of days(Valenzetti Equation) some of the angels who have ascended the ladder will still fall, and those who are righteous will be able to go to heaven. *

*I am not a theologist, nor do I claim to be one, so please correct me if I am way off base. Thanks!

"Shepard wasn't even on Jacob's list"

- Pickett

Symbolism....Jack could represent one of the angels who fall off the ladder when the End of Days arrives....

Could it also be a reference to the Adrian Lyne film, "Jacob's Ladder," (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/) where a group of US soldiers in Vietnam are subjected to LSD-like drugs and ultra-violent conditioning, to turn them into "super-soldiers?"

Could it also be a reference to the Adrian Lyne film, "Jacob's Ladder," (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/) where a group of US soldiers in Vietnam are subjected to LSD-like drugs and ultra-violent conditioning, to turn them into "super-soldiers?"

Hmmmmm, the thought had crossed my mind. You could use both references to draw parallels though. Either way its interesting stuff....

stafanie bean might have something. I vaguely remeber the film Jacobs Ladder becasue I didn't really understand it. But get this. when I checked out reviews onon Amazon, it said "It ( the film) owes much to Ambrose Bierce's haunting and more straightforward short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1860920063/${0}). Written by Bruce Joel Rubin,..
and weren't we asll looking for stuff on Owl creek in series 2?

I cant remember. But do you have any info on the book itself?

I'm a newbie to the forum, but I just wanted to throw around some theories on Jacob.

After watching Not In Portland, and seeing the phrase "God loves you as he loved Jacob", I did a little research. I checked out Jacob on wikipedia, and there were some pretty relevant things.

This caught my eye, as it seemed to be linked to the themes of duality on the show, of the struggle between science and faith:

"During Rebekah's pregnancy, "the children struggled together within her" (Genesis 25:22). According to Rashi, whenever Rebeccah passed a house of study, Jacob would struggle to get out; whenever she passed a temple of idolatry, Esau would struggle to get out. Fearful of the excessive movement, Rebeccah questioned God about the tumult and learned that she was to give birth to two children, who would become the respective founders of two very different nations. They would always be in competition, and eventually, the elder would serve the younger."

There's plenty more which I won't get into, I'll let you check it out yourselves:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob

Any thoughts?

Perhaps this means that whoever "Jacob" is, he has an opposite working against him?

Anyhoo, that's my first post!

Thats good. The Jacob reference reeks of duality, which has been everpresent on Lost. Maybe Benry's opposite "other" is the guy with the eye-patch.

While the "Jacob's Ladder" film parallels fit in eerily well with the brainwashing video seen in "Not in Portland," I think the phrase "God loves you as he had loved Jacob" tends to associate our Lost-Jacob more with the Jacob of the Bible/Torah.
Though Jacob, the son of Isaac, did many seemingly detestable things, (taking his brother Esau's birthright (Gen 25) and stealing Esau's blessing from their father (Gen 27)) God still found favor in him. It is through Jacob's sons that the twelve tribes of Israel were born, thus further fulfilling God's covenant with Jacob's grandfather, Abraham. Of Jacob's sons, the one that stands out with Lost-relevance is his youngest son, Benjamin. On Jacob's death bed, he gave Benjamin this rather solemn blessing:
Benjamin is a ravening wolf, in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he snatches a share of the spoil. (Gen 49:27)
[/URL]More talk of Jacob on this board: [url]http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?t=68389&highlight=jacob (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob)

Some of the Psalms in the Bible talk about obeying the God of Jacob, and loving the God of Jacob, It says that specificly in the Bible. Check it out.

"Shepard wasn't even on Jacob's list"

- Pickett

Which would make Jacob either Ethan or someone else who made a list from the main group from Oceanic 815.