Thou Fakest Until Makest

Fig. 10 Fake it until you make it. This is a business philosophy / strategy often employed in the tech startup ecosystem. The idea suggests that by imitating confidence, competence, and success, a startup can become successful. The strategy is based on some level of deception and dishonesty. Either being dishonest to the customer, or in the case of startups, to the early investors. Source: Entrepreneurpost.com

The Trickster’s Venture: Jacob and the Alchemy of Deception

The story of Jacob is one of audacity, subversion, and transformation. It is a narrative woven with threads of familial trickery, where deceit acts not as mere sin but as the catalyst for the creation of something enduring: Israel itself. In Jacob’s world, misinformation is not a breach of trust but a tool wielded by those seeking to collapse improbable odds into transformative realities.

Rebecca’s Vision: A Mother’s Transformative Bet

Rebecca, the mastermind behind Jacob’s initial deception, understood something fundamental that Isaac did not. The promise of Israel could not rest on Esau, the hunter, the man of the field. Esau was a creature of the present, a man whose strength lay in his immediacy, not his vision. Jacob, on the other hand, was a man of strategy, capable of playing the long game, of turning the tables when the odds seemed insurmountable.

Isaac, blind in both sight and foresight, intended to bless Esau, the elder son. But Rebecca, the true architect of Israel, intervened. She saw that the blessing, that intangible yet transformative currency, belonged to Jacob. To secure it, she orchestrated an audacious deception: Jacob, cloaked in goat skins to mimic Esau’s roughness, presented himself to his father and claimed the blessing as his own.

This was no ordinary trickery. It was a gamble against divine odds, a subversion of the natural order to reveal a higher truth. In this act, Rebecca and Jacob were not merely stealing; they were collapsing the odds, ensuring that the blessing passed to the son who could transform it into a nation.

Jacob’s Venture in Exile

But transformative ventures often demand exile. Having stolen the blessing, Jacob fled to his uncle Laban, entering a world where deception reigned supreme. Here, the tables turned. Laban, the master trickster, exploited Jacob’s desperation. Promising Rachel, Laban instead gave Leah, forcing Jacob into fourteen years of labor for the love he desired.

This was a masterstroke of irony: the trickster tricked, the deceiver deceived. But Jacob, ever the strategist, adapted. He manipulated Laban’s flocks, breeding speckled and spotted sheep to ensure his own prosperity. What began as a venture born of desperation became an empire of ingenuity.

The Transformation of Jacob into Israel

These deceptions—Rebecca’s, Jacob’s, and even Laban’s—were not ends in themselves. They were the crucible in which Jacob was forged. By the time he wrestled with the angel, Jacob had become something more than a man; he had become Israel. The name itself—“he who wrestles with God”—is a testament to his transformative journey.

Jacob’s life is a case study in the alchemy of trickery. Each act of deceit, from stealing the blessing to manipulating the flocks, was a means of buying time, of proving worth in a world where worth was not readily given.

Esau’s Role: The Contrast of the Immediate

Esau, for all his strength, lacked the transformative vision of his brother. He sold his birthright for a bowl of stew, an act that encapsulates his fatal flaw: an inability to see beyond the immediate. Jacob’s deception, in contrast, was rooted in the future. It was not merely about taking what was Esau’s but about creating something greater, something enduring.

Trickery as Divine Endorsement

It is tempting to dismiss these acts as moral failings, but that would miss the point. In the world of Genesis, trickery is not merely tolerated—it is sanctified. It is the vehicle through which divine promises are fulfilled. Without Rebecca’s deception, Jacob would not have received the blessing. Without Laban’s trickery, Jacob would not have been transformed. Without Jacob’s manipulation of the flocks, he would not have secured the wealth needed to return to Canaan and fulfill his destiny.

Israel: A Nation Born of Trickery

Jacob’s journey, riddled with deceit, is the blueprint for Israel itself. The nation, like its patriarch, has survived through ingenuity, resilience, and a willingness to wrestle with both God and man. From its inception, Israel has been a transformative venture, one that turns the improbable into the inevitable.

In Jacob’s story, we see the power of misinformation—not as a force of destruction but as a tool of creation. His life reminds us that transformative ventures often begin with trickery, not as an end but as a means to collapse the odds, to buy time, and to prove worth in a world that demands proof. Jacob was not just stealing a blessing; he was building a legacy.