February 5

Jacob (Israel), Patriarch

Jacob, the third of the three Hebrew patriarchs, was the younger of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. After wrestling with the Angel of the Lord, Jacob, whose name means “deceiver," was renamed “Israel,“ which means “he strives with God“ (Gen. 25:26; 32:28). His family life was filled with trouble, caused by his acts of deception toward his father and his brother Esau and his parental favoritism toward his son Joseph (March 31). Much of his adult life was spent grieving over the death of his beloved wife Rachel and the presumed death of Joseph, who had been appointed by the Egyptian Pharaoh to be in charge of food distribution during a time of famine in the land. Prior to Jacob's death during the blessing of his sons, God gave the promise that the Messiah would come through the line of Jacob's fourth son, Judah (Genesis 49). [From “Commemorations Biographies,“ Lutheran Service Book, LCMS Commission on Worship]

251 Saint Agatha, virgin and martyr in the Roman Catholic calendar, died.

1015 Adelheid of Vilich, abbess of Saint Maria in Cologne, died (b. ca. 970).

1555 The fifth Diet of Augsburg opened.

1597 Twenty-six Japanese Christians were martyred in Japan by being crucified for their faith. By 1640 thousands of Japanese Christians had been martyred.

1622 Martin Behm, renowned preacher and hymnist, died in Breslau (b. 16 September 1557, Lauban, Silesia).

1631 Roger Williams (1603–1684), colonial American clergyman, arrived in New England, landing at Boston.

1677 Wilhelm E. Arends, hymnist, was born near Halberstadt (d. 16 May 1721, Halberstadt). He was the son of a pastor at Langestein, near Halberstadt. In 1707 he became pastor at Crottorf, near Halberstadt, and in 1718 pastor of the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Halberstadt. [The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal, comp. W. G. Polack (Saint Louis: CPH, 1942): 475]

1705 Philipp Jakob Spener, the father of Pietism, died at Berlin (b. 13 January 1635, Rappoltsweiler, Upper Alsace).

1723 Johann D. Herrnschmidt, hymnist, died at Halle (b. 11 April 1675, Bopfingen, Swabia).

1736 John and Charles Wesley, the two English brothers who helped pioneer the Methodist movement, arrived in America at Savannah, Georgia.

1817 Joseph Gallup Cochran, missionary to Persia, was born in New York state (d. 2 November 1871, Persia).

1825 Justus H. C. Helmuth, colonial Lutheran pastor, died (b. 16 May 1745, Helmstedt, Germany).

1837 Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist, was born at Northfield, Massachusetts (d. 22 December 1899).

1858 Henry G. Appenzeller, Methodist Episcopal missionary to Korea and a theology professor there, was born in Souderton, Pennsylvania (d. 11 June 1902).

1864 Having already established herself as a poet, 44-year-old Fanny Crosby (1820–1915) wrote her first hymn.

1887 The Chicago Evangelization Society was founded by evangelist Dwight L. Moody and English-born educator Emma Dryer. This educational organization eventually grew to become the Moody Bible Institute.

1888 George Bowen, Bombay missionary, died (b. 30 April 1816, Middleburn, Vermont).

1898 William F. Moulton (b. 14 March 1835), English Bible scholar, died.

1903 Eugen Adolf Notz, Hebrew professor in the Wisconsin Synod, died (b. 7 October 1847, Haberschlacht, Württemberg).

1917 Justus Heinrich Naumann, president of the Minnesota Synod, died (b. 14 March 1865, Dresden).

1918 Following the Bolshevik Revolution, the Russian Orthodox Church was formally separated from the state in Russia.

1927 Johan Arndt Bergh, United Norwegian Lutheran church leader, died (b. 12 January 1847, Odemark, Norway).