Portion 8 Va-Yishlah Genesis 32:4-36:43

Reconciliation with Esau
Jacob has taught his family and his servants that Esau is a violent man to be feared. Jacob’s messengers clothe Esau in their preconceived notions of him and report back to Jacob that Esau is approaching with 400 men. Jacob divides his camp in fear and prays to God for deliverance.

When Jacob had the vision of the stairway at Bethel he promised God a tithe. Jacob felt justified in promising a tithe to God instead of seeking reconciliation with his brother as justice demanded. In our first signal that Jacob is changing, he now prepares a sacrificial offering to his brother Esau.

Perhaps Jacob’s wrestling with God’s messenger is symbolic of Jacob coming to terms with what God expects of him (reconciliation not ritual) or, perhaps, since the encounter is violent, Jacob is coming to terms with his own violent tendencies that he has projected onto his brother Esau.

Perhaps Jacob’s encounter with the messenger of God and his reconciliation with his brother are analogous to Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac. Abraham is tested by God to come to terms with the fact that the covenant is continued through spiritual and moral progeny which might not be the same as biological progeny. Only when Abraham accepts this is he allowed to keep his son. Jacob’s focus, up to this point, on birthright, blessing, and prosperity is analogous to Abraham’s focus on having a son, in that all of these things benefit Jacob’s biological progeny. Jacob is now prepared to give these things up and it is through this willingness to sacrifice that Jacob gains his family back. Two story elements that support this view are that Jacob separates himself from his family before his encounter with the divine and the wrenching of Jacob’s hip socket could be a veiled reference to injured sexual organs. Both episodes are followed by the purchasing of land in Canaan. Israel is to acquire land in Canaan as a result of spiritual growth and good deeds, not through conquest.

Jacob sees Esau with 400 men and they embrace and kiss. The story has the most kick to it if the question “Who are these with you?” is said by Jacob as the kiss dispels his illusions and he finally sees Esau for who he is. Esau’s answer, “The children with whom God has favored your servant,” is the punch line to the entire encounter. Esau is with his wives and children just as Jacob is. Jacob saw 400 men because Jacob deceived himself.

The rape of Dinah and Shechem
After Abraham acquires land from the Hittites (Canaanites), his racism prevents him from allowing his son to marry a Canaanite. There is nothing attributed to God that would prevent such a union. The racism continues into the next generation as Isaac is bitter that his son Esau married two Hittite women. Although it skips Esau, racism is present in Jacob and his sons, and it leads Simeon and Levi to commit idolatry, and transgress the boundaries between heaven and earth by taking vengeance into their own hands, which is reserved for God alone.

Since the Torah has just shown us that we tend to project our own tendencies for violence onto our enemies, we must question the accusation that Dinah was raped, as is beautifully done in the midrash “The Red Tent.” The story of the rape of Shechem by Simeon, Levi, and their brothers, could be an indictment of Israel’s slaughter of the men of Edom at the time of the united Kingdom.

Circumcision, which was introduced into Abraham’s family to symbolize brotherhood with his neighbors who practiced it (and it is in this way that the people of Shechem embrace it), has, in the space of two generations, turned into a rationale by Jacob’s sons for the hatred of others who don’t practice it.

The vengeance against Shechem is condemned by God and Jacob as resulting from Jacob’s family’s idolatry. It is for Jacob’s recognition that reliance on human violence instead of God is idolatry, that God grants him the name Israel and renews the covenant with him. The land that Jacob acquired around Shechem has been, at least temporarily, lost to Jacob’s family as a result of the family’s transgression.

God prevents others from taking vengeance against Jacob’s family just has he prevented others from taking vengeance against Cain.

Reuben and Bilhah
Reuben repeats Ham’s transgression. The Torah is again showing us that any tendencies towards violence or domination that Israel attributes to the Canaanites are equally present in Israel.

Portion 7 Va-Yetse Genesis 28:10-32:3

Jacob has a dream of a ladder or stairway reaching into the heavens that messengers of God are ascending and descending. The image is similar to that desired by the people of Babel, except that it is only God who has the authority to transcend the boundary between heaven and earth.

Jacob has just succeeded in deceiving his father in order to dominate his brother and has done so by conspiring with his mother. He has committed a sin similar to that of Ham against his father Noah, and his brothers.

God tells Jacob, just as he did to Abraham, that the land on which Jacob lies is the land that he is responsible for.

Jacob awakes and misunderstands. He thinks that the particular place where he had the vision is a sacred location instead of his life being a sacred vocation. He also makes a deal with God in which he promises his allegiance only if God grants him prosperity. The site of this event is at Bethel, where there will later be an Israelite site for sacrifice. Could this be an indictment of the sacrificial system in that tithing to the temple takes the place of reconciling with one’s brother? The wealthy are able to use their tithe to blind themselves to the demands of justice.

Jacob now goes to Haran and meets Rachel at the well. This meeting is the reverse of the meeting of Abraham’s servant with Rebekah. In that earlier meeting, Laban notices Abraham’s camels. Now Jacob notices Laban’s sheep. Truly Laban and Jacob are of “one bone and flesh.”

Laban deceives Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. The deception appears to involve wine. Compare the story of Lot and his two daughters. Jacob also marries Rachel so that he now has two wives, the very thing that his mother objected to about his brother Esau.

Jacob and Laban deceive each other over wages but Jacob comes out on top. Jacob attributes his prosperity to God 31:9-13, although it was acquired by deception 30:37-43.

He even attributes his desire to steal away in the night without honestly confronting Laban as God’s will 31:13.

In the confrontation with Laban that follows, they agree to go their separate ways. It is not clear if they are able to admit their own wrong doing or can only see the error of the other’s ways.

Tol’dot Genesis 25:19-28:9

Elsewhere in the Bible, Edom (Esau) is described as a country that was invaded by the United Kingdom (Jacob) whose army slaughters all of the men of Edom. Eventually Edom regains some level of autonomy or independence, and is even perhaps an ally of Judah at times. Later, when the Babylonians invade, Edom is described as taking vengeance on Judah, only to eventually be destroyed by the Babylonians as well. The prophets interpret Edom’s vengeance as the cause of its undoing. And the prophetic lesson is that vengeance should be left for God.

However, in the Torah’s telling of the conflict between Jacob and Esau, Esau never takes revenge. Perhaps this is because the story was crafted when Edom was at peace with Judah after it regained some form of autonomy or independence from Judah, but before Edom took vengeance during the Babylonian invasion (in contrast with pre-patriarch portions where I have assumed a post-exilic point of view.) The portion tells the story of a once powerful nation, that when defeated decides not to take revenge but to live in peace, at the expense of its previous prestige. If this is the case, then it is inappropriate to try to impose the post exilic view of Edom onto this story. In my interpretation I will assume that the Torah has a basically positive view of Edom, and a critical attitude towards Israel’s relations with Edom.

Rebecca is told that there are two nations in her womb. One will be mightier than the other. And the older will serve the younger. Which is mightier: to make others serve you or to have the self control to serve others?

Esau is described as a skillful hunter, reminiscent of Nimrod, who was associated with the transgression of Babel. But in Esau’s dealings with his deceitful brother Jacob (who is described as a mild man), he is ultimately forgiving and nonviolent. The message of the story is that you can not judge people by surface characteristics.

Esau and Jacob are born with Jacob holding onto his brother’s heal, an attempt to prevent Esau from being born first. In an unjust society it is always tempting for the oppressed to wish to exchange places with their oppressor instead of changing society so that there are no oppressed.

In East of Eden, John Steinbeck’s novelization of the favoritism stories of Genesis, the father projects ideal qualities onto the favored son and it is these qualities that are loved, not the real person. The one who is not loved, perceives the unfairness of the favoritism and in each rivalry story, deals with the injustice in a different way.

Esau is the favored son of his father because he is a hunter and the favored son of society because of his birth order. Jacob broods over the unfairness of this. The Torah says that he is cooking a stew, but the implication is that he is boiling and stewing over the unfairness of this situation, and is in the process of stirring up some trouble.

How would you feel if your brother withheld food from you unless you offered up your birthright? Esau values peace in his family more than his birthright and so he sells it to Jacob. Isn’t this the mighty thing to do?

Likewise, in Isaac’s dealings with Abimelech, Isaac always offers up wells when there is a dispute so as not to inflame a conflict.

Esau weds two Hittite women. The Torah says that this was a source of bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah. I believe that Isaac and Rebekah are bitter for different reasons. Isaac is bitter because Isaac has learned his fathers racism and objects to his son marrying a Hittite. Rebekah is bitter because Esau has married two women, like Lamech of the pre-flood generation.

Jacob overcomes through deception, the favoritism that his father feels towards Esau. Could there be a subtle critique of the sacrificial system here, as the haftarah portion suggests? Jacob’s deception is accomplished through the preparation of a goat. Is the sacrificial system a form of deception?

As a result of Jacob’s deception, the tables have been turned. Esau has lost the birthright and blessing and he is now the less favored. Esau’s plea to his father “Have you but one blessing father?” is a profoundly important question. Why didn’t Isaac have a blessing for his second son that he could now bestow on Esau? For the sake of family peace Esau was willing to exchange places with Jacob but he was not expecting that his father would treat the difference between first and second son so unjustly. Also, how must Esau have felt when he learns that his mother was party to the deception?

Yet, although Rebekah thinks that Esau is planning to kill his brother, there is no indication that he ever contemplates that seriously. Instead, family peace and achieving some kind of favor from his parents is always uppermost on his mind. The Torah describes Rebecah’s fears about Esau in a very curious way. In verse 41 the Torah says that Esau voices to himself his desire to kill his brother. But then in verse 42 we are told that these same words, which were not spoken to anybody, are reported to Rebekah (By whom?). Isn’t it possible, that the words that are reported to Rebekah are words that Rebekah suspects Esau must be thinking on the basis of what she might do if she was in Esau’s situation and on the basis of her low opinion of Esau, and not on the basis of anything that Esau actually said or did? Rebekah has dressed up Esau in her mind so that she can not see who he truly is.

When Rebekah fears that Esau will kill Jacob, she tells Jacob to flee to Haran because she does not want “to loose you both in one day.” Is this because she knows that if Esau were to kill Jacob, the psychological effects of killing will be the spiritual death of Esau as well? Or is it because she knows that Esau would also be put to death for taking his brother’s life? Or is it that Rebekah knows that Esau has learned of Rebekah’s hand in the deception and knows that she has sold off and spurned her motherly claim on Esau for a mess of stew of her own devising?

When Rebekah sends Jacob to Laban (ironically, to marry two wives, the very thing that Rebekah was so embittered about Esau), by playing upon Isaac’s racism, Esau does not follow Jacob and kill him on the road to Haran. Instead his only concern is to win some approval from his father by marrying kindred too (too much has occurred for him to be concerned about his mother’s approval). But he can’t go to Haran because his brother Jacob is going there and Esau wants to refrain from any additional conflict with his brother. So he goes to his Uncle Ishmael’s family and finds a third wife from there. We are not told how Isaac and Rebekah felt about this.

Portion 5 Hayyei Sarah Genesis 23:1-25:18

The Canaanites adopt Abraham and Sarah but Abraham rejects the Canaanites 23:1-24.4
Het is Canaan’s second son. The people that Abraham negotiates with for a burial site are the Son’s of Het. Following the biblical pattern we might expect them to possess Cannan’s birthright and blessing. The Torah refers to them as “The people of the land” indicating their superior status over other Canaanites.

Although the Canaanites show Abraham and his family the utmost respect, effectively adopting them as kin by granting Abraham the right to purchase land for burial, not to mention the kindness shown to Abraham by King Abimelech, the Priest King Melchizedek of Salem, and Abraham’s Amorite covenant allies, Abraham denies his kinship with the Canaanites and does not allow his son to marry a Canaanite woman.

The Torah shows the Canaanites being more hospitable to Abraham and his family than Abraham and his family are to them.

An alternative reading: The price that the Canaanites extract from Abraham is exorbitant and Abraham knows it. His anger at the particular Canaanites who ripped him off turns to racial hatred against all Canaanites. In this one instance of exploitation he forgets the kindness that he has been repeatedly shown by Canaanites throughout his life.

At the end of the portion Abraham marries again. Is it to a Canaanite? Does Abraham have a change of heart before he dies?

Rebekah 24:5-67
What elements of a peoples’ history and stories are lost when oral transmission and canonization are dominated by men? Could the following twice told tale be the Torah’s critique of itself?

First telling 24:5-28
Both the servant (5) and Abraham (8) acknowledge that the choice to go with the servant is the woman’s alone, not her father or another relative.

22 The servant takes out a nose ring and bracelets. But the text does not say that he places it on Rebekah. In 30 Rebekah is wearing the jewelry, leaving open the possibility that she voluntarily accepted the jewelry and put it on herself, thereby symbolically accepting the marriage proposal, even before it is asked, and without asking permission from her father or another relative.

24 Rebekah recounts her genealogy by mentioning her grandmother before her grandfather.

25 Rebekah offers the servant a place to stay without first asking permission from her father or another relative.

28 Rebekah considers her mother to be the head of the household.

Second telling 24:34-48.
38 The servant considers the father as the head of the household.

41 The servant gives the choice to Rebekah’s family instead of Rebekah herself.

47a The servant recounts Rebekah’s genealogy by mentioning her grandfather before her grandmother.

47b The servant claims to have placed the jewelry on Rebekah instead of showing them to Rebekah and allow her to voluntarily place them on herself.

The servant neglects to mention that Rebekah offered the servant a place to stay.

Laban’s Transgression
We meet Laban (Jacob’s father-in-law) for the first time where we are shown his interest in material wealth. Laban transgresses the boundary between child and parent in order to dominate his sister, just as Ham did to dominate his brothers. In 50 Laban takes his mother’s place. In 55 he takes his father’s place. The desires to hoard material wealth and to dominate others are correlated.

Rebekah’s blessing 60
When Rebekah agrees to go immediately with Abraham’s servant to marry Isaac in Canaan, she is given a blessing that parallels the blessing that Abraham received from God immediately following the Akedah. How is Rebekah’s willingness to marry Isaac comparable to Abrahm’s willingness to sacrifice his son? In both tests, the protagonists are following directives from God that jeopardizes their hope for biological progeny. Rebekah has agreed to go forth because it is God’s will that she go forth. She knows nothing about Isaac. She must be wondering why Isaac did not come himself. Is there something wrong with him? Is he malformed or mentally disturbed? What kind of father will he be to their children? Is he capable of fathering children at all? In the normal course of events, her family would have had a chance to get acquainted with the prospective husband. But this has been prevented by Abraham’s refusal to let Isaac leave Canaan. The Torah portrays Rebekah as a new Abraham. Like Abraham, Rebekah leaves the land of her kindred to go to Canaan. Like Abraham she shows hospitality to strangers. Like Abraham, she places her complete faith in God and is willing to sacrifice biological progeny to obey God’s will. The covenant is sustained and continued through Rebekah who is Abraham’s moral and spiritual progeny.