Assuming that the stall of Jesus’ birth was a cave:
It is already apparent that though men are said to have looked for hell under the earth, in this case it is rather heaven that is under the earth. And there follows in this strange story the idea of an upheaval of heaven. That is the paradox of the whole position; that henceforth the highest thing can only work from below. Royalty can only return to its own by a sort of rebellion. Indeed the Church from its beginnings, and perhaps especially in its beginnings, was not so much a principality as a revolution against the prince of the world. This sense that the world had been conquered by the great usurper, and was in his possession, has been much deplored or derided by those optimists who identify enlightenment with ease.
-G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, p. 181.
Jacob is the usurper, the supplanter, the heel grabber. He works from underneath:
- Genesis 25:26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob.
Jesus is bruised at the lowest level, and triumphs at the lowest level. At the lowest he is higher than the serpent:
- Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
