Genesis 36

This chapter is mostly genealogy, so I’d like to take a moment to look at the different ways Judaism views the story of Jacob, a story which will take us to the end of Bereishit (Genesis). Kabbalistic traditions are definitely in the minority amongst Jews, but I found the Kabbalah perspective interesting, and included it here.

From the point of view of the Jewish tradition, it is not the historical Jacob (if there is one) that matters most, but Jacob as he appears in Genesis as the progenitor of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is believed to be a moot point whether or not the narrator(s) of Genesis approve of Jacob’s actions and behavior. There is certainly much Jewish commentary that disapproves of Jacob’s deceptions, and his claim to birthright. However, in rabbinic literature, Jacob is made to represent the Jewish people as a whole, and the conflict between Jacob and Esau has been interpreted as the love-hate relationship between Rome and the Jews. Later in history, this relationship is seen as a symbol of the relationship between Christianity (Esau) and Judaism (Jacob).

In Kabbalistic doctrine of the Sefirot, and the Zohar text, each of the patriarchs represent one of the ten Sefirot. Abraham is the “pillar of loving-kindness”; Isaac, “the pillar of judgement”; and Jacob the “pillar of truth”, since truth is arrived at when apparently contradictory principles are reconciled.

The Kabbalah Sefirot.

Biblical Geneaology

Going back to the genealogy, we find that Esau’s wives don’t match up with previous chapters. In Genesis 26, Esau marries Judith and Basemath. In Genesis 28 he marries Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath.

Now, in Genesis 36, the order of the names of the wives is Adah, Aholibamah, and Basemath. Basemath is stated to be the daughter of Ishmael, whereas in Genesis 28, Basemath was a Hittite, and Mahalath was a daughter of Ishmael.

Confused? Yep, me too.

Many Christian commentators hold the view that yes, there are variations that are not easily accounted for, but they are not important enough to waste time thinking about. In other words, just sweep these inconsistencies under the rug and forget about it.

One aspect of the genealogy that stands out is Amalek, one of the chiefs of Edom descended from Eliphaz, firstborn son of Esau. If we recall, back in Genesis 14, the Amalekites were destroyed back during the time of Abraham. But here, turns out the founder of the Amalekites is Abraham’s great-grandson, who was not alive all those years ago! Quite a conundrum.

Esau and Jacob are reunited....and there is no bloodshed

Genesis 33

Jacob prepares for a violent meeting with his brother Esau, but is pleasantly surprised.

Gensis 33: 4-5, NIV But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children.

Esau is genuinely happy to see his brother, and does not hold on to any bitterness or resentment. He forgives Jacob, and it really makes you wonder why Esau is the one that God (and Rebekah) loathes.

From there, Esau goes back to Seir, and Jacob settles in Succoth, also in Canaan, in what turns out to only be a surface reconciliation on Jacob’s part. Jacob continued to mistrust Esau, and did not want Esau to accompany him, nor did he want Esau to leave some of his men for protection. Jacob let his brother think he was on his way to Esau’s home in Seir, but then turned north to Succoth as soon as Esau was out of sight.

Why does Jacob continue to be God’s favorite when Esau is clearly the better guy?

Here is an answer to that question according to the commentary in my NIV Student Bible:

“God couldn’t choose everyone—moreover, those individuals God did choose were not always the ones we admire. God makes his own judgments, Paul says, and God’s people must bow before him even when they do not understand.”

Blind faith.

Genesis 32

Fords of the Jabbok, the supposed location of Mahanaim and Peniel/Penuel.
From bibleplaces.com 

Genesis 32

Genesis 32: 3, NIV Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to Seir, the country of Edom.

It seems as if Esau has moved to a new home in the time that Jacob has been gone. Seir refers to the mountain range that covered most of Edom. In the biblical record, Esau’s descendants settle on this land after displacing the Horites. Archaeological references have the earliest settlements appearing in the Iron Age, and date to the 9^th century BCE, and that Edom did not become a complex society and kingdom until the 8^th century BCE.

We find Jacob praying to God in this chapter, after he hears that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 men. We don’t see Jacob praying in many other instances, and now he is praying for selfish reasons; he believes Esau is coming to kill him. Jacob wants God to save him from his brother, the same brother he deceived, tricked, and cheated multiple times.

Jacob fights with an angel of God, and wins. It is interesting when you compare this interaction with Abraham and Lot, who immediately fall down on their faces when in the presence of an angel.

After this wrestling match, God renames Jacob Israel, which means “he struggles with God”. Oddly, skimming ahead, he is still called Jacob in later chapters of the Bible, unlike his grandfather Abraham after his name change.

Commandment 3/613 Laws in the Torah (Gen. 32:33) Not to eat the sinew of the thigh. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon [by God].

New words:

Mahanaim – (“This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.) Mahanaim is mentioned 13 times in the Old Testament (but no where else), and means “two camps”. It is believed to lie about ten miles east of the Jordan River. In this area there are two large tells that face each other with the Jabbok river flowing between them. The tells are now named Tall adh-Dhahab East and Tall adh-Dhahab West. Some biblical scholars believe them to be Mahanaim and Penuel. While this has never been proven, there is an archaeological site at Tall adh-Dhahab West, since 2006, when building remains from the Hellenistic and Roman era were found, believed to be part of a monumental building of Herod the Great (73-4 BCE).

This map is really showing Abraham's early journey, but you can see how Jacob is
back-tracking on a similar path, leaving Canaan to go to Paddan Aarm, near Haran.

Genesis 28

After Jacob’s deceit, Esau is not happy, and at the end of the last chapter he threatens to kill Jacob, just as soon as their father dies. Rebekah asks Isaac to send Jacob away, to keep him alive as well as out of the hands of a Hittite wife (remember the disdain for Esau’s Hittite wives).

Genesis 28: 6-9, NIV Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,” and Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Issac; so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ismael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.

Poor Esau. He doesn’t seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed. He only now realizes that his family did not want him to marry Canaanite women? It strikes me that this is a concept that Rebekah would have drilled into him growing up. Interesting to note, that back in chapter 25, Mahalath is not mentioned in Ishmael’s geneaoloy, presumably because she is a daughter and not a son.

Some rabbis believe that Esau’s marriage to Mahalath reflected his desire to repent of his wayward deeds and act in accordance with Isaac and Rebekah’s wishes. Another view would be that Esau married the daughter of Ishmael, and conspired with his father-in-law (another jilted son in the clan of Abraham) to kill Isaac. This theory is based on the fact that Esau does not divorce his two Hittite wives when he marries Mahalath.

Jacob's Irreverence

Genesis 28:10-12, NIV Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

I found the note to accompany Gen. 28:12 in my NIV Student Bible interesting, and will include it here:

28:12 A Stairway to Heaven

God’s grace: this is what Jacob found while traveling alone in the desert. Through his own greedy scheming he had won the family birthright and then, ironically, had had to run away from the family. Yet God came to him full of promises, not the reproaches he deserved. Jacob had not looked for God, but God looked for him. Jacob’s vision of a stairway to heaven looked forward to Jesus, who himself is the bridge between heaven and earth.

I find it interesting how so many aspects of the Old Testament are tied in to Jesus. And in my opinion, this verse is more a sign that the author held to the belief that the sky was solid, and Heaven was directly above the earth.

I have a hazy recollection of the Jacob and Esau storyline from childhood, and I truly thought that when God appeared, at the very least he would chastise Jacob for his deceptions. But there is no punishment, no mention of his behavior. In fact, he is rewarded. Compare that to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and particularly Lot’s wife, who made one tiny mistake. I can’t quite understand the reasoning for this story, as a myth or as “truth”.

At the end of the chapter Jacob anoints a rock (yes, you heard that right) with oil, and proclaims its future purpose as a pillar of God’s house. I’m curious to see if this rock makes a reappearance in future stories.

I will end with one of the craziest verses in an overall crazy chapter.

Genesis 28:20-22, NIV Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

I honestly don’t see how you can take this seriously. Jacob is essentially bribing God. Well, I will only follow you if you give me everything I want. It’s ridiculous and laughable. Jacob sets out requirements that have to be met before he will follow God, but Christians are expected to follow on blind faith?

New Words:

Paddan Aram – an early Aramean kingdom in Mesopotamia. In Aramaic, it means the field of Aram. I could not find any information about Paddan Aram outside of the Bible.

Genesis 27

Jacob lives up to his name as the deceiver in this chapter. With the help of his mother, Rebekah—who plays a pivotal role, Jacob is guaranteed his father’s blessing and inheritance.

We know that Jacob was Rebekah’s favorite, and that she did not love her other son, Esau. But in this chapter she stoops so low as to dupe her husband, Isaac, who becomes an innocent victim in this charade to make Jacob the chosen one.

Brothers do not fare well in Genesis: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau. The women are either nameless or conniving and cruel. And so far, the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob earn God’s approval despite the schemes, deceptions, and lies. I guess God has a twisted sense of humor! These early stories in the biblical canon contain very little examples of anyone doing something out of the kindness of their heart. There always seem to be hidden motives and second-guessing. The stories and tales of the patriarchs seem to be the equivalent of the modern day soap opera!

As one of the founding fathers of Judaism, is Jacob supposed to be looked up to and admired? Why does stealing seem to be advocated in almost every chapter? Abraham steals from the Pharoah and Abimelech. All of Abraham’s people will eventually be told to steal from all the non-Jews that live in the Promised Land. Jacob steals from his own brother.