Trying to Cross a Burnt Bridge
When we last left Jacob and his household he had just made peace with his uncle Laban while traveling home toward Canaan. Having put the trouble of his uncle behind him, Jacob's worries now turn toward the west and his scorned brother Esau. Chapter 32 opens with an isolated meeting with angels, seemingly just to give Jacob an excuse to name another location (32:1-2), but then properly begins with the Yahwist describing Jacob's overtures toward Esau so as to find his favor upon his return home. Addressing Esau as "my lord" and lowering himself to the role of servant, Jacob hopes to placate his brother's wrath with an offering of livestock and slaves (32:3-5). But when his messengers return, Jacob is terrified to learn that Esau is coming to meet him, accompanied by four hundred men (32:6)Understandably concerned, Jacob splits his caravan into two groups in the hopes that if Esau destroys one the other will survive (32:7-8), then goes about beseeching Yahweh for his protection. Jacob gives thanks for all Yahweh has provided him, but then also reminds Yahweh of his promise to make him the father of multitudes (32:9-12). Jacob is nothing if not manipulative. Jacob's strategy for appeasing his brother differs only slightly in the E passage of verses 13-21, which suddenly sees Jacob again preparing an offering with no mention of Esau's approaching contingent nor any indication that Esau would even know who the presents are from (32:17-18). Jacob spends the night in that place (Manahaim?) twice. Once at the end of the J passage in verse 13, and again in verse 21. But there is little rest for the weary, as he decides to cross the Jabbok river in the middle of the night (32:22-23). It is here after everyone and everything else has crossed the river that one of the most strange and intriguing events of Genesis occurs.
Out of Nowhere: Divine Wrestling Match
While Jacob is alone, separated from the rest of his household by the river, he is suddenly accosted by a mysterious figure with whom he wrestles until daybreak. When the mysterious attacker finds he cannot overcome Jacob, he dislocates his hip. Yet still, Jacob persists in grappling with the stranger (32:24-25).
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel by Leon Bonnat, 1876 CE
Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed."And so like his grandfather Abram before him, Jacob is blessed with a new name from the divine. It isn't clear from the text exactly who the strange attacker is. Is it God? (El? Yahweh?) An angel? Another divine being? Does this mysterious wrestler intend to do him harm? If it is God, then why? Is he testing Jacob? Is it another deity who is jealous of Jacob? Jacob seems to think he has wrestled with God, which makes sense of his new name. He names the place Peniel/Penuel, both of which mean "face of God" and as the sun rises limps back to his people (32:29-31).
- Genesis 32:26-28
What a story though, right? It's quite bizarre. I can hardly even speculate as to what the intent of this story is or how much allegory it might be imbued with. Is it simply an etiology for the name Israel? Or is it meant to demonstrate Jacob's strength and determination? Or maybe a commentary on the patriarchs' unique relationships with divinity? Or just a horribly contrived explanation for why Israelites didn't eat thigh muscle from the hip socket? (32:32) Perhaps it is all of these things. Whatever the case, it is weird. I like weird. Weird is fun.
Brothers Gotta Hug
With the mystifying moonlight melee behind us, chapter 33 resumes Jacob's predicament with Esau. Seeing Esau coming with his retinue four hundred strong Jacob pragmatically lines up his family from least to most loved, so that his concubines and their children will be the first to die (33:1-2). How thoughtful. Jacob then goes ahead of his family to meet his fate at the hands of his brother (33:3). But Esau is not thirsting for his brother's blood as he was when we last saw him, instead he embraces and kisses him (33:4-7).
The Meeting of Esau and Jacob by James Tissot, ca. 1896-1902 CE
Esau's characterization differs greatly between the sources, and so maybe his change of heart should not come as a surprise. Friedman admits that the sources in this section (33:1-17) are notoriously difficult to parse, but references to various source narratives appear throughout it. Whatever the narrative seams may be, Jacob asks Esau to accept his gifts and blessings (perhaps as repayment for stealing his birthright & blessing?). Esau is at first reluctant, as he has prospered despite his past dealings with his brother, but he eventually acquiesces to Jacob's pressing (33:8-11).
Esau offers to join Jacob on his journey, but Jacob is not so quick to trust his brother and accept his company. I find it unsurprising that someone as deceitful as Jacob is slow to trust others. We all tend to project our own psyche onto others, and so Jacob of course perceives a world of treachery. Jacob tells Esau he will meet him in Seir, but instead travels to Succoth and then Schechem (33:12-18). Upon arriving in Schechem he purchases land near the city and erects an alter to El, the god of Israel (33:19-20). Yes, that is El, the high god of the Canaanite pantheon, NOT Yahweh. In the literary tradition outside of J Yahweh's name is not known until the time of Moses. The syncretic history is so ridiculously obvious it's dumbfounding that anyone who has read the bible can't see it.
Sounds Like an Episode of Game of Thrones
Princes are used to getting what they want. With power comes privilege, and thousands of years ago privilege meant doing whatever (or whoever) you damn well please. Now that Jacob's family is camped at Schechem, the prince of Schechem (creatively named Schechem) wants Jacob's daughter Dinah, so he rapes her (34:2).
The Seduction of Dinah, Daughter of Leah by James Tissot, ca. 19th C. CE
Rape is obviously universally condemned in modernity and so we conceive of rapists as monsters, but Schechem is evidently no monster as he "loved" Dinah and "spoke tenderly to her" (34:3). He loves her but rapes her... that seems odd. Well, some contend that the event in question was not meant to be a rape at all. While the Hebrew most often is translated to mean "rape" the text doesn't necessarily mean that explicitly. The word which is translated as "forcefully" or "by force" can also mean "to degrade" or "to humble". Friedman actually translates the verse thusly:
"And Schechem, son of Hamor, the Hivite, the chieftain of the land, saw her. And he took her and lay with her and degraded her. And his soul clung to Dinah, Jacob's daughter, and he loved the girl and spoke on the girl's heart."Obviously whether this was rape or consensual pre-marital sex makes all the difference in the world to us today, but we are dealing with a culture quite alien to ours. So I guess make of the event and Schechem's character what you will. Anyway, Schechem asks his father Hamor to acquire Dinah for him as a wife, so Hamor meets with Jacob to negotiate a marriage. Unfortunately for Schechem and Hamor, word has gotten around that Dinah has been "defiled" by Schechem (34:4-7). Now, even according to the Deuteronomic law code, a rape can be set right through marriage (Deuteronomy 22:28-29). Yes, the justice a woman can hope for in the case of rape is being sold off to her rapist. Score one for biblical morality! Unfortunately for Schechem, this story almost certainly predates Deuteronomy.
- Genesis 34:2-3 (Friedman translation)
For some reason Jacob chooses not to respond until his sons are present (34:5). It seems they are the ones deciding things for the family now. With treachery in their hearts they disingenuously agree to the marriage on one condition: Every male in Schechem must be circumcised as they are (34:13-17). Schechem and Hamor agree to the terms and convince the men of the city to undergo the procedure (34:18-24). It is then that the sons of Jacob live up to their father's legendary deceit:
"On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city unawares, and killed all the males. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away. And the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled. They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and made their prey."
- Genesis 34:25-29
But they said, “Should our sister be treated like a whore?”But I don't particularly care whether the original meaning of verse 2 intimated rape or not. Nothing justifies the wholesale slaughter and enslavement of an entire city. To be fair, Jacob isn't very happy about these events either. But then, it isn't the deceit, betrayal, murder, or massacre that has him upset, but rather the possible retribution of the neighboring Canaanites and Perizzites (34:30). Good ol' Jacob, always looking out for numero uno.
- Genesis 34:31
The House of El
After the Yahwist just treated us to the sort of depravity capable of making George R. R. Martin blush, we return to E as God commands Jacob to move to Bethel, where he first appeared to Jacob, and build an altar there for him (35:1). Before departing Jacob makes his entire household abandon their foreign gods, purify themselves, and change their clothes (35:2-4). This ritual cleansing is apparently necessary before visiting God in his designated place. Upon arriving back at Bethel Jacob builds an altar and names it El-Bethel (35:6-7). Once again, this is a shrine to El. This is El's house. In the E source, which likely originated in the northern kingdom of Israel, Bethel is clearly depicted as God's dwelling place on Earth. Not Sinai, not Jerusalem, not Zion, but Bethel. But Bethel isn't just important to E, as even the priestly writers of the P source, who prioritize Jerusalem over all, detail the founding of Bethel. Bethel is the only local shrine the P source lends any legitimacy to, as beginning with verse 9 the P source interjects to provide its own story of the founding of Bethel, as well as the priestly version of Jacob's renaming (35:9-15). Just as when God renamed Abram in chapter 17, he reveals himself to be "El Shaddai" and commands him to be fruitful and multiply, echoing the language of Genesis 1.So if you're keeping score at home, at this point in Genesis Jacob has founded Bethel on three separate occasions:
- In J: Genesis 28:19
- In E: Genesis 35:7
- In P: Genesis 35:15
Do you get the impression that Bethel is an important cultic site yet?
The Circle of Life
So all seems well with our patriarch and his family, except one thing is missing. The tribe of Benjamin doesn't have an eponymous founder yet! After leaving Bethel, Rachel gives birth one last time near Ephrath. But their joy is mixed with sorry, as Rachel dies during childbirth (35:16-20). As she lay dying she names her son Ben-oni, meaning "Son of my sorrow". But Jacob calls him Benjamin, or "Son of the South/the right hand", presumably because Ben-oni was utterly too depressing. Then J interjets with a context-free single sentence to tell us that Reuben had sex with his father's concubine Bilhah, mother of Dan and Naphtali (35:22). Okay thanks for the info, J. Really needed that.
The rest of chapter 35 and most of chapter 36 come from P, in which we are given a genealogical summary of Jacob's children (which directly contradicts Benjamin's place of birth from earlier in the chapter), the story of Isaac's death, and the genealogies of Esau's descendants. The Edomite genealogies appear to be an amalgamation of multiple priestly sources, as they contains numerous repetitions and contradictions.
Psalm 22
The opening line in Psalm 22 is quoted by Jesus while on the cross in Mark 15:34 and Matthew 27:46, and perhaps more famously by System of a Down. Yeah, it's another plea for deliverance. The Psalmist laments his feelings of abandonment, worthlessness, and persecution then cries out to Yahweh in desperation. After his rescue he sings the praises of Yahweh and predicts that everyone, people of all nations, the dead in Sheol, and even the uncountable unborn shall bow down to him:
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
For dominion belongs to Yahweh, and he rules over the nations.
To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.
- Psalm 22:27-31
--
In the next post we'll get to know our next main character, Joseph (of technicolor dreamcoat fame).
Comments
Post a Comment