Jacob and Esau

The opening of “The Incident,” the recent Season 5 finale of Lost, may go down as the best as well as the most important scene in Lost history. A show that has had struggles that have included losties against the others, the others against the freighter, and Ben against Widmore, it may be the battle between Jacob and his unnamed nemesis, we will call him Esau, that is central to the Lost universe.

In the bible, the twins Esau and Jacob were born to Isaac and Rebecca. Isaac was the son of Abraham who is considered to be the patriarch of the Israelites. Esau came out of Rebecca’s womb first, like webmaster Herb, and Jacob followed holding onto Esau’s heel. I cannot confirm whether Dave held Herb’s heel twenty odd years ago. Doesn’t the four-toed statue look like a great big heel? Fellow contributor Jay contends that Jughead being detonated caused the statue to breakdown to a foot. But did Jughead detonate? Does the statue/heel have a greater significance? As the biblical Jacob and Esau grew up, God began to favor Jacob over his “older” brother. Esau eventually sold his birthright to his brother, and Jacob was recognized as Isaac’s firstborn son. Not much else is known about the biblical Esau other than that he was rebellious while the family’s of Jacob’s twelve sons would eventually form into the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob’s youngest son was named Benjamin.

In Lost, Jacob wears white and is very kind to everybody like the biblical Jacob or Jesus. His nemesis is depicted in black and is hairy and can be compared to the biblical Esau or Satan himself. In the opening scene, Esau is angry that Jacob has presumably brought the black rock to the island. In flashbacks, Jacob visits pre-island losties and either has a hand in getting them to the island or back to the island. Esau does not want individuals coming to the island claiming it will only lead to fighting and war. Since it seems that Jacob’s wants human progress on the island, why does Ben tell Locke that Jacob does not like technology when they visit the cabin is Season 3? Perhaps it is Esau that doesn’t like technology, as it is a form of progress. Does Jacob order the purge of the Dharma Initiative? Or does Esau trick Ben to do it, perhaps in the form of his mother. It seems safe to assume that Jacob lives/lived in the statue. What about the cabin? Jacob’s? Is Esau trapped inside? Jacob and Esau are so different that they are almost similar. Lines seem clear, but they could be blurred. What are Jacob’s motives? Good? Or Bad? Satan in fact was a fallen angel. In the Bible, Jacob wrestled with an angel.

What do we know? It seems clear that Esau can inhabit dead people. Locke is dead and Esau inhabited his body, hence finding the “loophole” to kill his nemesis. It also may be likely that he inhabited Christian Shepard’s body as well. It could be a long orchestrated plan to trick Locke through Christian. Move the island, you must die, etc. Jacob’s last words of “they’re coming,” referring to the losties, brought Esau over the edge kicking Jacob into the fire. Why was Esau outraged? Will Jacob be resurrected, a la Jesus, in the form of one of the losties? Jack? Will he have to die first? Lost must obviously angle for the Locke Jack death match. We may get it through the ghosts of Esau and Jacob. Buckle up for Season 6.