HeyJaredCharacter Study: The Bible for Real
Just like real life, the Bible is full of wild characters. Join pastor David Tieche and journalist Jon Fortt, friends since college, as they explore scripture.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 8
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- Sep 27, 2026
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- Aug 2, 2026
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Esau: The Brother Who Ran to Forgive (opens the original)
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Jon Fortt and David Tieche close the Jacob cycle with Esau — the hairy, hot-headed hunter Jacob cheated out of a birthright and a blessing — and the reunion that turns out to be the whole season's defining moment. It's a rare kind of Bible story, they note: no clean villain and hero, but two brothers who each change messily. Since the womb (Genesis 25) they've struggled — "the older will serve the younger" — Esau born red and hairy, Jacob grabbing his heel. Isaac favored Esau, the man's-man who
Jacob: The Night He Wrestled an Angel and Became Israel (opens the original)
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Jon Fortt and David Tieche come back to Jacob himself — the heel-grabber, caught between the uncle he just escaped and the brother he cheated — for the night he wrestles an angel and walks away with a new name. The circle is nearly complete. Jacob has spent half his life running: he grabbed Esau's heel in the womb, stole the blessing meant for his brother, fled for his life, and met his match in his uncle Laban. Now, in Genesis 31, God says go home: "Return to the land of your fathers, and I wil
Laban: The Trickster Who Finally Met His Match (opens the original)
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Jon Fortt and David Tieche stay in the Jacob cycle with Laban — Jacob's uncle and father-in-law, the con man of Haran, and the rare Genesis villain who beats the hero at his own game. The first villain in Genesis isn't a dragon or a Goliath but the snake — not strong, just the craftiest animal in the garden, its weapon the lie. Laban is that craftiness loose inside Abraham's own family, and he isn't Jacob's opposite but his mirror: the trickster who stole a birthright has met the king of tricks
Leah: Unloved, Unchosen, and the God Who Saw Her (opens the original)
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Jon Fortt and David Tieche continue Season 2 with Leah — Jacob's first wife, the older sister nobody chose, whose story runs from a wedding-night deception to a blessing spoken over brides for generations. They start where the text starts, with one loaded, untranslatable description: Leah had "weak eyes," while her sister Rachel "had a lovely figure and was beautiful." Nobody is sure what the idiom means — droopy and bleary, weepy and melancholy, or simply doe-eyed. Jon and Dave walk through the
Rachel: Beauty, Barrenness, and the God Who Remembered Her (opens the original)
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Jon Fortt and David Tieche continue Season 2 with Rachel — Jacob's beloved wife, the beautiful younger sister whose story runs from a well in Haran to a grave outside Bethlehem. They start with the detail the Bible refuses to skip: Rachel was "lovely in form and beautiful." Like Sarah and Rebekah before her, her beauty is placed front and center — while her older sister Leah is remembered for "weak eyes." Jon and Dave sit with the discomfort of that: what does it mean that Scripture keeps naming
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