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.

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.

Isaac and Abimelech

Genesis 26

This chapter in Isaac’s life holds many parallels to Abraham’s time spent in Gerar, near King Abimelech. Like his father, Isaac lies about his relationship with Rebekah, claiming her as his sister. King Abimelech finds out, and orders that no harm shall come to him, despite his lies. Isaac continues to be blessed by God, and becomes very wealthy (isn’t he already wealthy as the sole heir to Abraham’s wealth?). The Philistines once again fill in all the wells that his father’s servants had dug during the time of Abraham. Isaac is definitely walking in his father’s footsteps. The parallels and dualities are uncanny, and could imply an ancient scholar who split one mythological tale into two separate components.

This chapter mainly consists of:

·      Another famine. However, in this instance, Isaac is specifically requested by God not to go to Egypt, as his father had done during a time of famine.

·      A reiteration of the Abrahamic Covenant from God (Gen 26:3 “For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.”

·      Repetition of Abraham’s wrongdoing (Gen 26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.”

·      The Philistines fill the wells that were dug by Abraham’s servants. This also occurred in Genesis 21.

·      King Abimelech asks Isaac to move away, as he has become too powerful.

·      Isaac digs some more wells, and is opposed by other herdsman in the area.

·      Isaac receives a visit from King Abimelech at his new location, near his new well, and they sign a treaty together.

The moral of this passage seen through the eyes of religious Christians is that a person can choose to live by principle or providence. Walking by providence, as Issac did at the beginning, means a person will still arrive where God wants us to be, but without the joy of being an active participant. Living by principle, means walking joyfully, with God….to the same location.

According to the Jewish Midrash (Bereishit Rabba 64:3) this passage explains that an offering to God must stay in the temple courtyard. Thus, because Isaac was an offering to God—remember the whole sacrifice thing back in Genesis 22—he must stay within the boundaries of the Promised Land.

That still sounds quite a bit like pre-destination to me.

Is this the same King Abimelech?

The jury seems to be out on whether or not the King Abimelech in Genesis 26 is the same Abimelech found in Genesis 20 and 21. Judaism is known for its endless amount of midrash, or commentary, on the Bible and Jewish laws. In the case of Abimelech, even early scholars found the Abimelech dilemma compelling.

Esau’s Wives

At the very end of this chapter, we find out that Esau committed the sin of marrying two women. The polygamous relationship does not seem to be the focal point of his sin; rather, it is the ethnicity of his wives. They are both Hittite. And, according to Genesis 26:35, They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

We will be taking a closer look at Esau’s wives shortly.

The Death of Sarah

The Cave of Machpelah (Cave of the Patriarchs), the supposed resting place
of Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rebecca, and Leah. 

Genesis 23

Genesis 23:1-2, NIV Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.

In the last chapter, we learn that Abraham settles in Beersheba after he is tested by God. So why do the husband and wife pair live apart, with Sarah residing in Hebron? It is unclear as to if they ever reunited after Abraham took Isaac away to offer him as a sacrifice. I could definitely see how that action might result in a marital rift.

Ironically, most of this chapter is spent on the bartering that took place between Abraham and the Hittites, rather than any particular grief over Sarah’s death. Abraham negotiates to buy a tomb for her, and the sidebar in my NIV Student Bible describes the scenario aptly:

“This may be the oldest recorded business deal. The elaborate politeness sounds very much like bargaining in the Middle East today. Underneath the smooth words, shrewd negotiating is going on.”

What is interesting to note here, is the reference to Hittites. The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who established a kingdom in what is now Turkey and northern Syria, in the 18^th BCE. This would be long after Abraham is presumed to have lived, if the story is based on a real person. The very first indication of their existence in ancient texts occurs around 1900 BCE. Either the Hittites of the Torah are a different group of people, or it is another contradiction in Genesis of how Biblical stories don’t line up with the historical and archaeological record.

This chapter also contains both the first account of a burial in the Bible, and the first commercial transaction.

Herod the Great is the one to have built the large, rectangular enclosure pictured above over the caves that are presumed to be the final resting place of both Sarah and Abraham, as well as some of their descendants. 

Table of Nations

Genesis 9:22-29 and Genesis 10

Genesis 9:22-25, NIV “Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father’s nakedness.

When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said,

“Cursed by Canaan!

The lowest of slaves

Will he be to his brothers.”

What happened in the tent?

Ambiguity at its finest. A straightforward reading shows Ham witnessing his father naked, walking out, and gossiping about it to his two brothers. So why the severe reaction from Noah? There is no shortage of theories about what is really going on here.

·      Ham castrated Noah

·      Ham sodomized Noah

·      Ham actually slept with Noah’s wife, and Ham’s son Canaan was born out of that interlude.

·      Ham did not avert his eyes fast enough.

·      Ham is a major gossip, and Noah grew tired of it.

Whatever the reason may be, the end result is the Curse of Ham given by patriarch Noah. The story’s original objective was to justify the way ancient Israelites treated Canaanites. In more modern times, the Curse of Ham has also been interpreted as an explanation for black skin, and justification for the African slave trade.

I am beginning to see how easy it is to twist the Bible’s words to one’s own advantage.

The 1st century Jewish-Roman historian, Flavius Josephus was one of the first people who tried to
assign known ethnicities to the names listed in Genesis 10. The map above is his work. 

Genesis 10

Noah's Descendants, According to Genesis 10. 

Genesis 10 reads like a mythological account of the creation of many of the first civilizations, all claimed to be founded by the descendants of the sons of Noah. There are many ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia that make an appearance in this geneology.

According to the Bible, Nimrod (son of Cush, who was the son of Canaan, who was the son of Ham-the disgraced son of Noah) founded the cities of Babylon, Erech (also known as Uruk), Akkad, and Calneh. He then continued on to Assyria.

Many of the cities mentioned are found in the archaeological record. The world’s first cities were built in Mesopotamia; the land between the Tigris and Euphrates in what is now Iraq.

	Biblical Record	Archaeological and Historical Record
Uruk (Erech)	Founded by Nimrod, the mighty warrior	The first city built by the Sumerians, a group of people that arrived in Sumer around 5000 BCE. Uruk was built by the Euphrates River around 3100 BCE. This occurred at the same time as the unification of two separate kingdoms in northern Africa that formed the start of the Egyptian civilization.
Akkad	Mentioned once in Genesis 10:10, another city founded by Nimrod.	The existence of Akkad is only known from textual sources, its location has yet to be identified. It is mentioned more than 160 times in Akkadian cuneiform sources. Akkad was the capital of the Akkadian empire. In 2350 BCE, King Sargon from Akkad conquers the area of Sumer, including Uruk.
Babylon	Gen 10:10 Founded by Nimrod. However, in Gen. 10:16, the Amorites are claimed to be descended from Canaan (who would have been an uncle to Nimrod).	Babylon was founded by the Amorites, a people from Syria who moved into Mesopotamia around 1900 BCE, and Babylon became the chief city of the Amorites.
Hittites	Sons of Canaan. They make a reappearance later in the Bible.	The Hitittes flourished in central Anatolia (modern day Turkey) between 1600 and 1200 BCE. The center of their kingdom was Hattusas.
Nineveh	City built by Nimrod after he went to the land of Assyria.	City built around 883-859 BCE by the Assyrians.