Just a thought:
The lists the others had were actually lists of people who Jacob (perhaps not a person but an acronym) knew to not actually be special at all, for Jacob is waiting for someone and he (or they) knows this someone will need to do something special to demonstrate this ability. So, the lists are the known people to not be special, and need to be taken out of the equation so that the chosen special one can demonstrate his/her ability so Jacob can identify him/her for Jacob’s purpose.