Tag: Jacob

Deferring to Esau

Posted on by jovial_cynic

He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now.
Genesis 32:4 (NIV)

Why does Jacob defer to Esau here in Genesis 32? Is it merely fear, or is there a pattern being set that we are meant to notice?

Obviously, part of scripture-study is about the narrative itself. Jacob *is* afraid. Verse 7 and 11 spell this out quite clearly.

In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well.
Genesis 32:7 (NIV)
Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
Genesis 32:11 (NIV)

But there’s a hidden little gem here that points to one the 10 Commandments: “You shall honor your father and mother.” The “AND” in Hebrew is doing something unusual in this commandment. You can’t see it in English, but in Hebrew, there’s something… extra.

The hebrew of “Honor your Father and Mother” is “כַּבֵּד אֶת אָבִיךָ וְאֶת אִמֶּךָ,” and it literally (word for word) is this:
honor (כַּבֵּד)
[object marker; not a word] (אֶת)
father (אָבִיךָ)
and + [object marker; not a word] (וְאֶת) <— weird.
mother (אִמֶּךָ)

In hebrew, the second object marker isn’t necessary. It’s already obvious in the text that both father and mother are the objects in question.

It’s something like this:
Honor (now I’m talking about the next object ->) father and (now I’m talking about the next object ->) mother.
But it could have (and should have?) been like this:
Honor (now I’m talking about the objects) [father and mother].

The rabbis say that this is important. Torah is telling us something, and we should wonder what it means. Their conclusion is this: Torah has given us extra room in the commandment, and we should fill that extra room.
They fill it with this: “…and also honor your oldest brother.”

Therefore, when Jacob lowers himself before Esau, referring to himself as “servant” and to Esau as “lord,” he is not merely being humble. He’s not merely acting out of fear. The text is also teaching us that the fuller meaning of the Commandment is to honor those in a position of authority over you. Hence the “long life” promise.

This also fits quite nicely in my personal view that the command to honor your father and mother is really a command to forgive them. Older siblings, too.

Guardian Angels

Posted on by jovial_cynic

ויירא יעקב מאד (upon hearing this) “Yaakov was very much afraid;” you may well ask that after Yaakov had been met by angels, as we read at the end of the last portion, and these angels were clearly meant to protect him, what did he have to worry about? This obvious question is answered by our sages by explaining that one of these angels was Michael, Yaakov’s protective angel, whereas the second one was Samael, Esau’s angel. Knowing this, Yaakov had no way of knowing which of these two angels was more powerful.
Chizkuni on Genesis 32:8

There is a fascinating interpretation in the rabbinical texts that suggest that the messengers involved aren’t merely angels, but are two specific angels:
Michael – the guardian angel of Jacob, and Samael – the guardian angel of Esau.

The place of Laban

Posted on by jovial_cynic

וַיַּשְׁכֵּ֨ם לָבָ֜ן בַּבֹּ֗קֶר וַיְנַשֵּׁ֧ק לְבָנָ֛יו וְלִבְנוֹתָ֖יו וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אֶתְהֶ֑ם וַיֵּ֛לֶךְ וַיָּ֥שׇׁב לָבָ֖ן לִמְקֹמֽוֹ׃

Early in the morning, Laban kissed his sons and daughters and bade them good-by; then Laban left on his journey homeward.
Genesis 32:1 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

Note: In the Hebrew bibles, Genesis 32:1 is the same as Genesis 31:55 in English bibles.

In this passage, the commentators point out that the phrase at the end is a little unusual. Laban didn’t just “go home.” He “returned to his place.” And this phrase, according to the Haamek Davar, this “… foreshadowed the ascendance and subsequent decline of all the nations that hosted and then expelled the Jewish people.”

In the interpretation that views Laban as a symbol of wickedness, likening him to Egypt and other conquering nations, Laban appears to slink back into the depths, as though he is brought up for this purpose, and then returns to his right place of lowness.

This concept of “place” is very interesting, because it makes me think of the Jewish teaching about God calling to Adam. When God says “Ayeka,” (where are you?), God is not asking a question. God is making a declaration, stating that Adam is not where he is supposed to be; he is not where God placed him. This can be viewed as a statement about the relationship, not Adam’s specific GPS coordinates.

This tells me that there *IS* a place where we are meant to be in our relationship to God. If God walks through the garden, we are meant to walk with God, and not hide in the bushes.

But Laban? And the empires that enslave God’s people, rooted back to the original hissing trickster that enticed and enslaved us all? Perhaps “returned to his place” describes a place of outer darkness, where one day he will remain separated from us forever.

It’s after Laban “returns to his place” that Jacob goes on his way, and is met by God, and where Jacob declares, “This is God’s camp.”
Here, perhaps we see a glimpse into the Kingdom, where our lived reality and heavenly truth come together in a living parable.

Two Camps, Two Camps

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.[a]
Genesis 32:1-2 (NIV)

When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,[b] and the flocks and herds and camels as well.
Genesis 32:6-7 (NIV)

[a] Mahanaim means two camps.
[b] Or camps

Two camps, two camps.
What do we learn from this?

Jacob’s Pillars

Posted on by jovial_cynic

וַיִּקַּ֥ח יַעֲקֹ֖ב אָ֑בֶן וַיְרִימֶ֖הָ מַצֵּבָֽה׃
Thereupon Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
Genesis 31:45 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

As I finally round out Genesis 31 (it’s been over a month, phew!), I can’t help but notice how many times Jacob takes big rocks and sets them up on end as a way to remember. He did it when he first saw the stairs to heaven. He did it when when he makes a covenant with Laban. Again when he encounters God in Genesis 35. And again in Genesis 35 when Rachel dies.

Nobody else does this. Just Jacob.

Laban’s Profanity

Posted on by jovial_cynic

אֱלֹהֵ֨י אַבְרָהָ֜ם וֵֽאלֹהֵ֤י נָחוֹר֙ יִשְׁפְּט֣וּ בֵינֵ֔ינוּ אֱלֹהֵ֖י אֲבִיהֶ֑ם וַיִּשָּׁבַ֣ע יַעֲקֹ֔ב בְּפַ֖חַד אָבִ֥יו יִצְחָֽק׃
May the God of Abraham’s [house] and the god of Nahor’s [house]”—their ancestral deities—“judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac’s [house].
Genesis 31:53 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

In Genesis 31:53, Laban presents a covenant with Isaac, calling upon a god that does not exist: “The god of Nahor.”

Laban, an idolator, the son of an idolator, doesn’t know that the God of Abraham is not merely an idol to manipulate, so he profanes the title of God (אלוהי) by making it level with his own idols.

It’s such a profanity that Jewish commentaries state “אלוהי אביהם: here too the word “elohey” is profane and may be erased from a Torah scroll if the occasion demands it.”

The Fear of Isaac

Posted on by jovial_cynic

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.
Genesis 31:42 (NIV)

In Genesis 31, Jacob describes God in a way that is not fully understood:

The God of my father
The God of Abraham
The Fear of Isaac

For starters, Isaac is Jacob’s father, so it first seems redundant. Therefore, it’s assumed that “The God of my father” means “The God of my father’s house.” Like “family.”

“The God of Abraham” makes sense; the beginning of the people of God starts with Abraham.

But why “the Fear of Isaac?” Why not “the God of Isaac?”

One rabbinical view is that Isaac is still alive, and it is inappropriate to refer to God as “the God of so-and-so” if that person is still alive. Who knows if that person turns away from God, and then besmirches God’s name? Only the righteous dead (such as Abraham) are granted this relationship.

However, God actually took on the title of “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac” back in Genesis 28:13.

I wonder if Jacob holds God’s words in tension with his relationship with his own father. Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob – this is clear in the text, and Esau is associated with wickedness. So rather than referring to God as “the God of Isaac,” Jacob uses a slight diminuative: God is “the one Isaac fears.”

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.

An Arrangement of Tents

Posted on by jovial_cynic

וַיָּבֹ֨א לָבָ֜ן בְּאֹ֥הֶל יַעֲקֹ֣ב ׀ וּבְאֹ֣הֶל לֵאָ֗ה וּבְאֹ֛הֶל שְׁתֵּ֥י הָאֲמָהֹ֖ת וְלֹ֣א מָצָ֑א וַיֵּצֵא֙ מֵאֹ֣הֶל לֵאָ֔ה וַיָּבֹ֖א בְּאֹ֥הֶל רָחֵֽל׃
So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and Leah’s tent and the tents of the two maidservants; but he did not find them. Leaving Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent.
Genesis 31:33 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

Using Genesis 31:33, try to diagram the arrangement of the tents, or parse out the order of events and see if you can make sense of it.

How are the tents arranged? It is a mystery.

Rachel’s Curse

Posted on by jovial_cynic

עִ֠ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר תִּמְצָ֣א אֶת־אֱלֹהֶ֘יךָ֮ לֹ֣א יִֽחְיֶה֒ נֶ֣גֶד אַחֵ֧ינוּ הַֽכֶּר־לְךָ֛ מָ֥ה עִמָּדִ֖י וְקַֽח־לָ֑ךְ וְלֹֽא־יָדַ֣ע יַעֲקֹ֔ב כִּ֥י רָחֵ֖ל גְּנָבָֽתַם׃
But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not remain alive! In the presence of our kin, point out what I have of yours and take it.” Jacob, of course, did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
Genesis 31:32 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

There is a view among the Rabbis that Genesis 31:32 is the cause of Rachel’s death in chapter 35. Because she did possess the idols/teraphim in question, she fell under Jacob’s curse and was doomed to die.

I disagree.

I think we are meant to understand that Jacob believed this to be true, but the astute reader should recognize the careful wording.

Look at the condition of Jacob’s curse: “anyone WITH WHOM YOU FIND your gods…”

Was Rachel FOUND with the idols? Did Laben recover them? The answer is no, and therefore, the curse is not triggered.