Jacob-el in the Land of Esau and the Roots of Biblical Religion

Abstract

The name Jacob-el is to be found in topographical list of Ramesses ii, i.e. in the 13th century bc. Unlike to common view, this toponym should not be located in the north, since it is surrounded by toponyms with the prefix “Qos”. These toponyms were rightly connected by scholars to the worship of the Edomite god Qaus. Hence, it is suggested, that a clan related to an eponym named Jacob-el, settled in mount Seir or Edom in the 13th century bc. This assumption might shed a new light on the brotherhood and animosity between Jacob and Esau in the narrative of Genesis. It might also explain the transmission of the cult of yhwh from Seir-Edom to early Israel.