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.
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.
posted by ross at 9:12 PM
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