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10. Jacob Narratives: Gen 25.19-36.43

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10. Jacob Narratives: Gen 25.19-36.43

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    1. 10. Jacob Narratives: Gen 25.19-36.43 BOT630/BHE630 Exegesis of Genesis

    3. The Paradox of the Jacob Narratives 3. It has been called the Jacob story, but one must ask if the title is correct, for Isaac would the be almost ignored in the series of narratives. Actually the number of real Isaac stories is very small. But since our block of Jacob narratives is titled these are the descendants of Isaac, and since this narrative complex ends with the report of Isaacs death (35.29), it is much better to think of the whole as an Isaac story intended by the collector. [von Rad, Genesis: Old Testament Library, 263]

    4. Contrast with the Abrahamic Narratives 1. The Abraham narratives deals with a vertical = father-to-son movement while the Jacob narratives is a struggle within his own generation; a horizontal = brother-to-brother movement. Therefore is the realistic depiction of power and family position.

    5. Contrast with the Abrahamic Narratives 2. Abraham narrative deals with the issue of promise and fulfillment, while it is the blessing that is the main point of the Jacob narratives. Westermann points out that promise is dealt with in the Jacob narratives only in: 28.3-4; 28.23-25; 35.11-12.

    6. Westermann on Jacob Narratives The blessing is central in the rivalry between the brothers both at the beginning in ch. 27 and again at the end when the brothers meet on Jacobs return (hkrb = gift). It is central too, though in a different way, in the two insets, the blessing of the cattle, chs 29-31, and of the womb, 29.31-30.24. A blessing is wrested in the struggle in one of the encounters with God (32.24-32). It plays an essential role in the conflict between Jacob and

    7. Westermann on Jacob Narratives Laban in that God has blessed Laban for Jacobs sake (30.27, 30). When Jacob and Esau meet, Jacob points to his children whom God has bestowed on him (35.5, 11). The promise of aid is close to the blessing, particularly with its formula, I will do you good (32.9, 12). [Westermann, Genesis 12-36, A Commentary, 409]

    8. Gods Presence & Promise 1. H. Gunkel takes four main blocks as his point of departure: Jacob and Esau, Jacob and Laban, divine manifestations, Jacobs children. [Westermann, Genesis 12-36, 406] (25.19-34; 27.1-45; 27.46-28.9;32.3-21;33.1-17);(28.10-22;32.1-2, 22-32); (29.1-30; 20.25-31.55); (29.31-31.55).

    9. Gods Presence & Promise 2. A de Pury regards the Jacob story in its entirety as a coherent unified narrative which has its center in the divine manifestation of Gen 28 with its promise and vow.... [Westermann, Genesis 12-36, A Commentary, 406]

    10. Gods Presence & Promise 3. Brueggemann follows closely Gunkel, but sees the center in the Births (29.31-30.24). He writes, ...at the center, is the narrative of the births which moves from barrenness (29.31) to the birth of Joseph (30.24). It is the birth of Joseph which marks a turn in the entire narrative (30.34). After that event, Jacob, looks toward the land and toward his brother Esau. [Brueggemann, Genesis: Interpretation, 211]

    11. Jacob: The Moral Issue "Jacob as a young man is not portrayed in a favorable light. First he acquires the birthright through his heartless exploitation of his own brother's misery; then he purloins the patriarchal blessing by means of crafty deception practiced upon his blind and aged father. In both instances, the outcome is legally valid and irrevocable, notwithstanding the unsavory aspects of Jacob's actions. it is

    12. Jacob: The Moral Issue evident that the successful application of shrewd opportunism was well respected in the ancient Near East as it is in contemporary society. The two incidents also appear to betray a thoroughly formalistic conception of law in which the strict outward adherence to certain practices or principles is decisive, irrespective of the true spirit of the law and in disregard of moral considerations. It is remarkable,

    13. Jacob: The Moral Issue therefore, that the biblical narrative has succeeded in weaving the stories into the larger biography of Jacob in such a way as to add up to an unqualified condemnation of Jacob's actions.

    14. Jacob: The Moral Issue . . . the function of the divine oracle that Rebekah received during her difficult pregnancy is to disengage the fact of Jacob's election by God from the improper means that he employed in his impatience to formalize his predestined, independent right to be Isaac's heir. His claim rests wholly and solely on God's revealed predetermination, and the presence of the oracle constitutes a moral judgment on Jacob's behavior.

    15. Jacob: The Moral Issue This clear, if implicit, censure is brought out all the more forcefully in the cycle of biographic tales. Scripture says of Abraham that he died at "a good ripe age, old and contented" (25.8). Isaac is similarly described as dying "in ripe old age" (35.29). But such notice is singularly and revealingly lacking in the case of Jacob. This patriarch can only report that the years of his life have been "few and hard (47.9). The reference, of course, is to the unrelieved series of trials and tribulations that dogged his footsteps form the day he deceived his father until the last years of his life.

    16. Jacob: The Moral Issue The quite, mild, home-loving Jacob, favorite of his mother, was forced into precipitous flight, to be exiled for twenty years. Indeed, the catalogue of misfortunes that befell him reads like the retributive counterpart, measure for measure, of his own offenses, Just as he exploited his brother's plight, so Laban exploits his, He took advantage of his father's permanent darkness to misrepresent himself as

    17. Jacob: The Moral Issue his elder brother, so Laban makes use of the darkness to substitute the elder sister for the younger. When Jacob admonishes Laban with the accusatory "Why did you deceive me?" (29.25), he echoes the very Hebrew stem rmh used about himself by Isaac to Esau (27.35). The perpetrator of deception is now the victim, hoist with his own petard.

    18. Jacob: The Moral Issue When Jacob finally makes his escape from Haran and sets out for home after two decades in the service of his scoundrelly uncle, he finds his erstwhile employer in hot and hostile pursuit of him (chap. 31). No sooner has this trouble passed than he feels his life to be in mortal danger once again from Esau (32.4-33.16). Arriving at last at the threshold of Canaan, he experiences the mysterious night encounter that leaves him with a strained hip (32.25-33).

    19. Jacob: The Moral Issue His worst troubles await him in the land of Canaan. His only daughter, Dinah, is violated (chap. 34); his beloved wife, Rachel, dies in childbirth (35.16-20); and the first son she bore him is kidnapped and sold into slavery by his own brothers. In perpetrating this inhuman act, the brothers use an article of his clothing in order to deceive their father (37.25-33), just as Jacob years before had used Esau's clothes to mislead Isaac.

    20. Jacob: The Moral Issue All the foregoing makes quite clear Scripture's condemnation of Jacob's early moral lapses. An explicit denunciation could hardly be more effective or more scathing than Jacob's unhappy biography. Nevertheless, expressions of outright censure of Jacob's behavior are found in prophetic literature. Hosea tells us (12.3) that the Lord once "punished Jacob for his conduct, / Requited him for his deeds." And Jeremiah warns (9.3): "beware, every man of

    21. Jacob: The Moral Issue his friend! / Trust not a brother! / For every brother takes advantage, / Every friend is base in his dealings." it can hardly be doubted that in coupling the term "brother" with an unusual phrase life (akov ya(akov, "take advantage," the prophet intends to signal to the bearer an association with Jacob's treatment of Esau, a notorious example of such base behavior.

    22. Jacob: The Moral Issue All of the above provide ample evidence that Jacob's duplicitous behavior with regard to the birthright was totally unacceptable to the biblical Narrator." [Sarna, Nahum, Genesis: The JPS Torah Commentary, 397-398]

    23. Thematic Outline 25.19-28 THE BIRTH OF ESAU AND JACOB 25.29-34 THE POT OF LENTIL SOUP AND THE BIRTHRIGHT 26.1-35 ISAAC AND ABIMELECH 27.1-45 THE FIRSTBORN CHEATED OF HIS BLESSING

    24. Thematic Outline 26.34-35; 27.46; 28.1-9 JACOBS DEPARTURE AND ESAUS WIVES 28.10-22 JACOBS DREAM AND VOW AT BETHEL 29.1-30 JACOB AND LABAN: MARRIAGE WITH LEAH AND RACHEL

    25. Thematic Outline 29-31-30.24 THE BIRTH AND NAMING OF JACOBS SONS 30.25-43 JACOB OUTWITS LABAN 31.1-54 JACOBS SEPARATION FROM LABAN 32.1-22 PREPARATION FOR THE MEETING WITH ESAU

    26. Thematic Outline 32.23-33 THE ATTACH ON JACOB AT THE JABBOK 33.1-20 THE MEETING OF THE BROTHERS 34.1-31 DINAH AND THE SHECHEMITES

    27. Thematic Outline 35.1-29 JACOB IN BETHEL AND HEBRON, JACOBS SONS, ISAACS DEATH 36.1-43 ESAUS DESCENDANTS

    28. Palistrophy & the Jacob Narratives 25:1934 First encounters of Jacob and Esau A 26:133 Isaac and the Philistines B 26:3428:9 Jacob cheats Esau of his blessing C 28:1022 Jacob meets God at Bethel D 29:114 Jacob arrives at Labans house E 29:1530 Jacob marries Leah and Rachel F 29:3130:24 Birth of Jacobs sons G

    29. Palistrophy & the Jacob Narratives 30:2531:1 Jacob outwits Laban F1 31:232:1 Jacob leaves Laban E1 32:23 Jacob meets angels of God at Mahanaim D1 32:433:20 Jacob returns Esaus blessing C1 34:131 Dinah and the Hivites B1 35:129 Journeys end for Jacob and Isaac A1 [Wenham, Gordon, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 2: Genesis 16-50, (Dallas, Texas: Word Books, Publisher) 1998]

    30. Marriage of Isaac & Rebekah: Gen 24 24.1-9 Abraham Commissions his Servant 24.10-14 The Servants Prayer 24.12-14: first person to in the scriptures to pray for personal guidance. 24.15-27 The Encounter with Rebekah 24.28-61 The Betrothal 24.34-39 Servants speech 24.62-67 Rebekah and Isaac

    31. BIRTH OF ESAU & JACOB: Gen 25.19-28 Purpose: . . . the introduction to chs. 25-36 that the redactor has inserted shows clearly what this part of the patriarchal story is meant to be about: rivalry, opposition, is part of the coexistence of brothers in a family. The reason for it is that there are privileges which are at the same time vulnerable. [Westermann, Claus, Genesis 12-36: A Commentary, 418]

    32. POT OF LENTIL SOUP & BIRTHRIGHT: Gen 25.29-34 "hkrb firstborns rights. The first son in the family was held in especial esteem in Israel; he was regarded as the first fruits of his fathers strength (49:3) and dedicated to God (Exod 22:28 [29]). He was in turn specially privileged during his lifetime (Gen 43:33) and when the inheritance was divided up. Deut 21:17

    33. POT OF LENTIL SOUP & BIRTHRIGHT: Gen 25.29-34 provides that the firstborn shall receive a double share, that is, twice as much as any other brother, of his fathers property. Similar customs are known in other parts of the ancient Near East, but since it was not universal practice, we cannot be sure that it is presupposed here. [Wenham, Gordon, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 2: Genesis 16-50, (Dallas, Texas: Word Books, Publisher) 1998]

    34. Firstborn Cheated of his Blessing: Gen 26.34-28.9 Structure: 26.34-35 Esaus Marriages 27.1-4 Isaac and Esau 27.5-17 Rebekah and Jacob 27.18-29 Isaac and Jacob 27.30-41 Isaac and Esau 27.42-45 Rebekah and Jacob

    35. Firstborn Cheated of his Blessing: Gen 26.34-28.9 27.46 Rebekah and Isaac 28.1-5 Isaac and Jacob 28.6-9 Esau New wife "The relevant texts about Isaac's age are 25.20, 26; 26.34; 31.38." [Sarna, Nahum, Genesis: The JPS Torah Commentary, 364] Note also 35.29!

    36. Firstborn Cheated of his Blessing: Gen 26.34-28.9 Form: "27:140 constitutes a type scene, the death-bed blessing scene. Other examples in the OT include Gen 4849; 50:2425; Deut 3134; Josh 2324; 1 Kgs 2:19; . . . . Usually when the great man knows he is about to die, he summons his nearest male relatives and blesses them. But here, as Keukens (BN 19 [1982] 4356) points out, Isaac professes to be

    37. Firstborn Cheated of his Blessing: Gen 26.34-28.9 ignorant of when he is going to die and then summons only one of his sons for blessing. The whole procedure is thus flawed from the outset." [Wenham, Gordon, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 2: Genesis 16-50, (Dallas, Texas: Word Books, Publisher) 1998]

    38. Jacob at Bethel: Gen 28.10-22 28.10-15 Dream Revelation 28.16-19 Bethel 28.20-22 The Vow

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