Tag: blood

Blood Brothers

Posted on by jovial_cynic
<blockquoוַיַּעֲנ֨וּ בְנֵֽי־יַעֲקֹ֜ב אֶת־שְׁכֶ֨ם וְאֶת־חֲמ֥וֹר אָבִ֛יו בְּמִרְמָ֖ה וַיְדַבֵּ֑רוּ אֲשֶׁ֣ר טִמֵּ֔א אֵ֖ת דִּינָ֥ה אֲחֹתָֽם׃
Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor–speaking with guile because he had defiled their sister Dinah
Genesis 34:13 (Revised JPS, 2023)

Simeon and Levi get all the blame for the whole story of the massacre of Shechem, starting with the circumcision requirement, so why does the text tell us that “Jacob’s sons answered” and not just “Simeon and Levi” answered? In what way were they all “speaking with guile,” and not just the two offending brothers?

The rabbis explain that the trickery wasn’t intended to end in bloodshed. The trickery was that the brothers presented Shechem an impossible requirement: “You and all your men in your whole city must be circumcised.”
Who would agree to this?! But if Shechem refused, he would be forced to reject his claim to Dinah and return her to her family.

This seemed like a clever enough plot that Jacob didn’t object to it.

He didn’t assume Dinah’s blood brothers would be so aptly named.

The Way of Women

Posted on by jovial_cynic

וַתֹּ֣אמֶר אֶל־אָבִ֗יהָ אַל־יִ֙חַר֙ בְּעֵינֵ֣י אֲדֹנִ֔י כִּ֣י ל֤וֹא אוּכַל֙ לָק֣וּם מִפָּנֶ֔יךָ כִּי־דֶ֥רֶךְ נָשִׁ֖ים לִ֑י וַיְחַפֵּ֕שׂ וְלֹ֥א מָצָ֖א אֶת־הַתְּרָפִֽים׃
For she said to her father, “Let not my lord take it amiss that I cannot rise before you, for I am in a womanly way.” Thus he searched, but could not find the household idols.
Genesis 31:35 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

When Rachel prevents Laban from finding her hidden transgression, she says that she’s on her period.

In Hebrew, the phrase she uses is interesting: “for the Way of Women is upon me.”

If Laban is a precursor to the Destroying Angel of Exodus, and this mentrual blood is a precursor to the blood over the doorposts in Egypt which prevented the Angel from claiming the firstborn, then perhaps there is something about the “Way of Women” that needs to be studied.

The rabbinical teachings explain that a woman on her period was “unclean.” The tradition held that she was SO unclean that even following a menstruating woman and walking in her footsteps could make you unclean. Talking to a menstrating woman would make you unclean (hence Laban saying nothing to Rachel in this story segment).

Later, Leviticus will echo this language of “unclean,” (Lev 15:19-20), and it seems shameful. Isolating. And then consider the woman who bled for 12 years. But Jesus talking to her and touching her and saying “your faith has saved you” is a jarring contrast.

Does this contradict Leviticus, or does it tell us something powerful about the “Way of Women?”

This is definitely something to chew on.

The Blood of the Passover

Posted on by jovial_cynic

וַתֹּ֣אמֶר אֶל־אָבִ֗יהָ אַל־יִ֙חַר֙ בְּעֵינֵ֣י אֲדֹנִ֔י כִּ֣י ל֤וֹא אוּכַל֙ לָק֣וּם מִפָּנֶ֔יךָ כִּי־דֶ֥רֶךְ נָשִׁ֖ים לִ֑י וַיְחַפֵּ֕שׂ וְלֹ֥א מָצָ֖א אֶת־הַתְּרָפִֽים׃
For she said to her father, “Let not my lord take it amiss that I cannot rise before you, for I am in a womanly way.” Thus he searched, but could not find the household idols.
Genesis 31:35 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

Perhaps this is a precursor to the destroying angel who passed over the homes in the Israelites in Egypt.

Maybe Rachel’s blood points to the blood on the door posts that covered the presence of sin.

Paying for the Birthright

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.”
And Esau said, “I am at the point of death, so of what use is my birthright to me?”
Genesis 25:31-32 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

Regarding Esau selling his birthright, there’s a fascinating story in Jewish tradition.

When Esau says “I am at the point of death,” we often think he’s being dramatic about being hungry. But some have suggested that something *happened* to him — perhaps an injury.

One teaching says that this may describe a hunting accident; Esau is bleeding out, linking his nickname and the soup and his blood together – all red.

In which case, Jacob isn’t swindling Esau out of his birthright. He is offering to pay a price for it, even though he would naturally obtain the birthright anyway if Esau died.

Jacob nurses Esau back to health, but maintains the birthright because he rightly paid for it.

Undoing Death

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Whoever sheds human blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made mankind.
As for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “Now behold, I Myself am establishing My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you.
Genesis 9:6-9 (NASB)

Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno in the 1500s suggests that the Covenant God makes with Noah in Gen 9 is a CONDITIONAL covenant tied to the previous verses about the shedding of blood.

Ie., “I won’t destroy the earth with a flood IF you deal rightly with murderers.”

He ties this conditional covenant to Numbers, saying that if human blood is spilled and not addressed rightly, the land will need to be wiped clean again; there is no atonement otherwise.

So you shall not defile the land in which you live; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
Numbers 35:33 (NASB)

I’ve given a lot of thought to the nature of death, and how we read clearly that God killed many people in the flood. Going back to the start, we read that God Himself positioned death in the garden by way of a certain tree. It wasn’t “IF” you eat the fruit, it was “WHEN.”

So when we read that God was “sorry” He made humanity, and that this word “sorry” has a meaning tied to a desire for comfort and repenting, the Numbers passage suddenly resonates.

An image of what the Messiah will do emerges.

It will take His blood.

So you shall not defile the land in which you live; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
Numbers 35:33 (NASB)

This is not the same as saying that God made a mistake in introducing death. It is acknowledging that despite death being here, God will undo all of it with His own blood.