Jacob provoked Ben on purpose..

[natego]

Jacob def has some loophole, if not Christian. There's no way he'd step right up to Ben unless he wanted to be killed, which is what I believe. He purposefully provoked Ben to kill him so he could pursue his loophole, perhaps to fool his rival. He's got some plan up his sleeve.

[MrEchoLives]

After rewatching the scene- I agree

[Whom]

I disagree, actually. I think Jacob was hoping that Ben would make the correct choice and NOT kill him, but in order to do that honorably he needed to NOT plead for his life. It had to be BEN's decision whereby he weighed the pros and cons -- the emotional satisfaction he would get by killing Jacob versus the act of putting the knife down -- without Jacob's interference.

[jessejames]

Maybe that's what they meant when they said frank could be a candiate ?

[Jeremy]

^^I think that they meant that the same thing that has happened to Locke could have also happened to Frank. He would be the "host" for this guy I will call Easu until we learn more about him.

Anyway, I think that Jacob doesn't have much of a plan. He seems to be a pretty laid back guy who doesn't really care what happens to him. I suppose you could say that he was building an army against Easu, but really I think he just worried about doing the right thing, an act of kidness, for these people.

[losttime]

^^I think that they meant that the same thing that has happened to Locke could have also happened to Frank. He would be the "host" for this guy I will call Easu until we learn more about him.

Anyway, I think that Jacob doesn't have much of a plan. He seems to be a pretty laid back guy who doesn't really care what happens to him. I suppose you could say that he was building an army against Easu, but really I think he just worried about doing the right thing, an act of kidness, for these people.

He doesnt care what happens to himself? he went back to all their childhoods and intereacted with them and appears to have broght Locke back to life when he touched him on the shoulder and Locke took somewhat of a deep breath and looked up at him

[KailuaLost]

I agree withe the OP. I think Jacob had a plan B in case his apparent nemesis found a "loophole". He was way too calm and he seems to have the entire situation under control. Plus, good always triumphs over evil. Especially on TV. :D

[natego]

I disagree, actually. I think Jacob was hoping that Ben would make the correct choice and NOT kill him, but in order to do that honorably he needed to NOT plead for his life. It had to be BEN's decision whereby he weighed the pros and cons -- the emotional satisfaction he would get by killing Jacob versus the act of putting the knife down -- without Jacob's interference.

If that were true, why would he get up in Ben's face and say "What about you?" to him in a way that said, "who cares about you. You're worthless"??

[abcd1234]

I think he was proving bens point, would you go to God or Jesus or whomevers face and whine "what about me?" and expect a real answer?

[DeathMag84]

Jacob def has some loophole, if not Christian. There's no way he'd step right up to Ben unless he wanted to be killed, which is what I believe. He purposefully provoked Ben to kill him so he could pursue his loophole, perhaps to fool his rival. He's got some plan up his sleeve.
I agree also with this theory. They didn't show us alot of Jacob in this episode for no reason. He does have a plan B or a loophole himself without a doubt.

[caboosification]

I definitely think Jacob provoked Ben on purpose, i mean its quite obvious how much the guy has sacrificed in favor of the island. Even though Ben is flawed in many ways, he is definitely not worthless to Jacob, so i think Jacob wanted to get stabbed right there for some reason.

My bet is Jacob wants BEN to kill him, instead of Anti-Jacob. I don't understand why anti jacob said "you know how badly i want to kill you right now" and then let's Ben do the dirty work when the time comes ?

Also, it's important to note that Christian is always wearing white when he is shown on the island, just like Jacob ( im pretty sure thats true, cant remember him wearing any other color on the island). So maybe he is plan b ? the backup savior of the island ?

[BradleyB420]

Christian doesn't wear only white on the show. I was watching a re-run of an early season 1 episode where Jack first starts seeing him on the island. I noticed he was still wearing the dark suit he was buried in - but he was wearing white sneakers. I'm not sure what side Christian is on. Maybe Jacob knew what was gonna happen, and he inhabited Christians body to utilize as a loophole to counter anti-Jacob. Maybe he will use Christians body to kill the anti-Jacob in Lockes body. What are the odds of two dead bodies plane crashing onto the island, then being resurrected(or utilized as vessels) and running around on the island doing weird, creepy, all-knowing stuff? Beats me, but who knows?

[New Age Messiah]

If that were true, why would he get up in Ben's face and say "What about you?" to him in a way that said, "who cares about you. You're worthless"??Actually, it's like I said about Ben, he can't tolerate someone else being chosen or whatever, it's all about me, to Ben. NO ONE else matters at all, not even Alex.

It's due to his extremely dark early childhood, love gets cut off, (almost) completely.

The soul lives in darkness, deceit, hate, evil; it's the prototype Satan, just like I said.

And Jacob is the messiah, he gave himself up as a sacrifice. He knew eventually (island scene with Black Rock in background) that someone would find a loophole, and the angst he had was knowing he'd be killed in that event.

And Jesus was not too happy about getting killed, but "not my will but thine."

[tpbaxter]

My bet is Jacob wants BEN to kill him, instead of Anti-Jacob. I don't understand why anti jacob said "you know how badly i want to kill you right now" and then let's Ben do the dirty work when the time comes ?

so it seems like there is some kind of rule that anti-jacob cannot kill jacob for some reason. the loophole anti-jacob found was to have Benjamin Linus do it for him?

also, whatever the reason, Ben was presented with a choice: kill or not kill. Ben chose murder. I am interested to see how people will still try to portray Ben as a "good guy".

EDIT: Also as New Age Messiah said, Ben ultimately did not kill Jacob because anti-locke or smokie told him to do so. he did it because of anger about being ignored and unloved.

[pup_ajax]

I'm beginning to wonder if Jacob inhabited Christian's body first, knowing it might work as a loophole in the same way that DeadLocke inhabited Lockes body. Just a thought i've been musing on ...