5x16 "The Incident" Jacob's Story

I feel that Jacob's story is one intertwined with the Island. Jacob seems to be caught in an ideological struggle with the man in black, who I will refer to as Esau. Jacob believes that people from the outside need to come to the Island in order for things to progress and Esau believes that the Island is not a place for outsiders to dwell. Jacob is clearly in charge as Esau is only able to watch as Jacob time and again draws people to the Island.

Clearly Jacob is not choosing at random. He spends a considerable amount of time off the Island, choosing which people he would like to see on the Island. However, for all the talk we have seen on the show about destiny, Jacob insists that the people he appears before have a choice. They can choose to go to the Island, or they can stay where they are as in the case of his interaction with Hurley.

Is he dead? Is he alive? How is it that the only loophole Esau needed to kill Jacob was to persuade someone else to do it? I have no idea. These rules are one of many things surrounding the Island that need to be explained before the show is over. And with this, I depart, until the next episode airs..