Section 1 - Jacob Establishes his Family
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CHAPTER 1 - GOD SHARES THE PAIN
CHAPTER 2 - GOD IS THERE - IN A BARGAIN AND A TANGLED WEB
CHAPTER 3 - THE TANGLED WEB OF DECEIT RETURNS
CHAPTER 4 - PREPARATION FOR THE GREAT MEETING WITH ESAU
CHAPTER 5 - ESAU MEETS JACOB WITH PLEASURE
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Most historians today have dated the strivings of Jacob to have been around the 1900’s BC, and there are a number of extra Biblical customs seen to retain their pertinence as historical references to pinpoint their claim. Our introduction to Jacob begins with his flight to Haran, where he immediately becomes enmeshed in the cultural identity of his relations there. There is so much detail about Jacob that there is no significant need to establish the historicity of his story and the great family that he became.
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CHAPTER 1
GOD SHARES THE PAIN
“I am with thee ... and will keep thee ... and will bring thee again to this land”, Genesis 28:15.
FOCUS:
The intent of this chapter is to follow Jacob on his lonely journey to Haran where he begins to relate to God. This does not stave off dysfunction but strengthens him to sustain the blows that come upon him, Genesis 28:10-22.
Before moving on with Jacob in his walk with God to Haran, it is necessary to confront the evil details of the story of Jacob’s 77 years, for this lays the backdrop for his changed life circumstances.
1. CHARACTER IMPERFECTIONS TRANSFERRED TO JACOB’S SONS
Jacob had gone over the brink into the great deception, when he positively answered his father’s question, replying, “Yes, it is me, Esau”. He was 77 years old -
The supplanter,
The over reacher,
The out doer,
A grasper of the heel
(of his rival brother).
Tough words, but that's what his name indicated, when Esau named him well. He had become “profane” like his brother in this deceit, for he acted out that which he was not. He came to be other things in his maturity, and was “perfected” in his character as he grew towards God in his latter days. He was called “plain” or “complete” and so he was in personality compared with his brother Esau, whose imperfections rendered him unacceptable to God. Jacob was the perfect man for the fulfilment of God’s wondrous plan and God’s choice was borne out as best for this position.
Jacob had been deceitful in accepting the birthright sold to him by this twin brother, Esau. It was sold to him for food. Their father, had he been involved in such a transaction, would have refused to condone it, and it would not have proceeded. No one wants to equivocate about Isaac, so it ought to be said, that Isaac would have surely thought of a better way to exchange the birthright, if he had known God’s predilection, and that the brothers had devalued it to such and extent. But as we know it was a transaction advantageous to both parties, in a most unholy setting. We have already considered the question of why food was being bought and sold within the family.
Suffice it to say Esau had not been taught the value of the birthright for he despised it, and did not esteem it of any great value, Genesis 25:31-32.
Esau led a hard outdoor life, and made the most of the present. He was not tuned to the future and the future implications of “owning” a birthright, which would normally be the elder son’s right, he being the elder. It had God fearing responsibilities. Esau (as many are today) was very willing to sell the birthright, giving up the awesome responsibilities of knowing and fulfilling God’s purpose.
A “profane” person, certainly in this sense, Esau gave up the right to be the family priest (and all that it entailed) and his double inheritance. Jacob, especially in the second half of his life showed he was better equipped to deal with these responsibilities than Esau, but it is significant that here Esau, himself, readily gave it up, it wasn’t taken from him. He sold it. And, Jacob was eager to buy it, making Esau ratify that deal with an oath.
Of course the “icing on the cake” of this sordidly made deal, was the mighty, Godly Abrahamic Covenant. Jacob’s ambition for this, especially this, led him from waiting patiently for a Godly intervention down to a ghastly path of lies and deceit. It seems that God’s arbitrament will is expressed through Jacob’s apparent complicit trickery, but God “allowed” this action so that His plan for Jacob, since his birth, would be fulfilled. He would not condone it, or the unholy row that followed.
It was by God’s appointment that Jacob received the birthright and the blessing, not Jacob’s, nor Rebekah’s wit. “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” It seems God “allowed” family dysfunction, (and indeed, “accommodated” Himself to the circumstances that prevailed), of rival siblings and competing parents, to extend His purpose. The family circumstance was not His ideal.
It is refreshingly majestic when we see an outworking of God’s grace to do the seemingly impossible. Sometimes He works this way and we marvel and never forget the golden thread thrown between us and our Creator. Mostly, though, He does not work that way, especially when we work how we think is best, without including Him in our reckoning, as in this incident.
The deceitful blessing incident, many years after the despised birthright incident, involved much more intrigue, with Rebekah answering Jacob’s anxiety (about being found out) - “Let the curse (of this deceit) fall on me”. Again God “allowed” this action so that the second part of the supplanting (the Abrahamic Covenant) could also be Jacob’s, and not Esau’s blessing. Jacob’s and Rebekah’s gamble paid off, and now Esau was without the birthright and without the blessing, when he had thought he could have been restored to favour.
Esau’s lack of understanding, brought about by his parents’ apparent inability to prepare him for God’s intention, is now heard as his pathetic cry: “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob; he has deceived me these two times; haven’t you reserved any blessing for me? Bless me too my father”, turns to bitter tears, angry rage and murderous intent. He knows his blessing is second best.
Now Rebekah has to continue the deceit by suggesting to Isaac that Jacob goes to Haran to find a wife more suitable than the two Hittite women Esau has married 30 years ago. This second deceit now must follow the first, for they probably did not tell Isaac of Esau’s vow of murder, on account of his precarious health. So deceit piles upon deceit, and has no end, yet.
Comment:
Traumas and desperate situations can be often avoided when parents look ahead and anticipate what may happen and plan to avoid confrontation. An ideal outcome in a family event is achieved when everyone shows up in their best and godly light. Never encourage a child to come with subtlety and deceit. Honesty, especially in the little things, appear as big honest steps to children, and are worth every effort.
When the result of dishonesty and deceit is known, the screaming and angry words and tears and crying and whispering and shouting, all add to the ungodly. Deceit and subtlety may appear to be clever for a short while, but deceit breeds deceit, and the trauma continues. It is unbearable for some families, when it leads in the end to vandalism, to abuse and then to crime.
The anguish, and sadness, and not being able to take back what is done, overcomes one's whole life which is now shaped in remorse, and forever clouded by the shadow of sin. Punishment may not continue, and forgiveness may be won, but the consequences follow. For example, David’s sin causes men to blaspheme even today. “God loved David. David a sinner, adulterer and murderer. God loves murderers and adulterers, ha, ha.” We have heard the scorn when open air preaching.
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2. JACOB’S LONELY JOURNEY
Now Jacob confronting these evil details begins his lonely journey, and it begins with a parting from the mother he was never to see again. Certainly Esau from now on “lived by his sword”. His people, the Edomites, were subject to Jacob’s people, as the blessing specified, until Israel’s ongoing corruption led to their own downfall and the roles of these two peoples were reversed. Vengeance and bloodshed has been part of their history, and the blood not spilt this day at Beersheba, has indeed stained the garments of both families for millennia.
Jacob takes only his staff (Genesis 32:10) with him (to comfort him - Psalm 23) and travelling about 80 kilometres, he comes to Bethel, which means “House of God”. (Bethel is often called by its older name, Luz, though there is a little confusion between the two towns). Perhaps it is his second or third night of the journey, but it is not even a quarter of the way.
Consider:
* Did he feel the enormity of what he had done, what he had allowed his mother to do for him?
* Did he feel remorse for his twin brother?
* Or for the stress he had caused his father?
* Would he ever see them again?
* Was it the evil peak of his life?
* He’d never been alone in his 77 years. Could he survive?
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This family group should have been a loving unit of Godly behaviour, a sacred witness to all around of God’s intent for His creation, missioning for God’s glory, as Abraham had been so anxious to do. Instead there were decades of sly, deceitful behaviour.
When Jacob reaches Bethel as the sun is setting, he glances behind him once more and is assured that no evil, (Esau), is following him. He decides to sleep outside the little town and makes no attempt to go inside as he watches the gateman close the single gate. His father and his father before him had never availed themselves of the hospitality of towns or cities, believing and trusting in God for their safety. Jacob finds a spot to sleep the night and wrapped himself in his cloak. People were used to firm head rests (in Egypt they were made of metal), so he places one of the stones under his head. He was exhausted and was soon asleep. He needed to rest to prepare himself for the morrow’s long journey. His imagination of a vengeful, murderous brother and his representatives, following him as he travelled, was the stuff of fearful dreams. But it was not his brother that he met.
Here the language of God intervenes and a dream is the setting for the great confrontation with God in this place.
This is God’s first revelation to Jacob,
It is unexpected,
It is undeserved,
But also it is unreserved in its blessing.
The description in verses 12 and 13 resemble a typical Babylonian temple tower, the ziggurat. But unlike the pagan version, on which the deity descends and man ascends, angels use the stairway, and God stands at the top of the stairway. There is also another suggestion, but whether or not the high surrounding local rock formation appearing like a ladder, lay behind the dream imagination is irrelevant. Whatever it was, to Jacob the ladder was vividly there.
The discovery of God in this place - Bethel - is unlikely, and probably very surprising for Jacob, except that he knew of the altar that his grandfather, Abram, had made there for God, Genesis 12:8, 13:3 and 4, when he had called upon Him. Perhaps Isaac had told Jacob to go there on his way. Whatever, he has only just left home, and it is appropriate that God should speak to him here, on this night.
From the lush hills of Beersheba (we tend to think of good and abundance in lush places), Jacob looks out over the bleakness and barrenness of the terrain ahead. It is a valley of death, the valley of the shadow of death. Amazingly, God is there in the valley, and here with him, and Jacob is provoked to see Him in a dream. Love and care and promises pour upon him. He, who has come from a family incident of great evil, is roused to acknowledge the presence of God. This is a great mystery to us also, for when we think we are far away from God, He actually is very near to us, also. We cannot escape from him, but we can choose to ignore Him, to our peril. Fear can so often be replaced by security, if we allow it. The Son of God is our “ladder” between heaven and earth.
Our thoughts turn for just a moment to Jacob’s parents who would be anxious and saddened by the recent events. We would hope that Isaac and Rebekah also had a divine intervention to restore the Divine connection, for this present incident is a holy reconnection for Jacob. We may assume, because of the unholy family behaviour, that the priestly functions were suspended, or only partially performed during this period. Isaac’s presumed resumption, and revival, then, of the priestly duties, may have formed the basis for a message from God which is not recorded.
3. A MIGHTY INCIDENT - A GIFT FOR JACOB
But expecting, or not - Jacob dreamed a dream. Angels of God were climbing up and down a ladder or staircase, to and from heaven - there at the top was the LORD, and the LORD spoke to Jacob - Genesis 28:13-15.
It is useful to compare this medium of revelation to other mediums, dreams in different forms, some with no words of, or from YHWH, burning but not burning bushes, great words from YHWH from the heavens accompanied by trumpets, YHWH speaking in smoke, asses speaking, angels as men, fleeces unexpectedly dry or wet, and many, many more.
As he lay bathed in the light of this heavenly message, he realised that the angels had been with him through all the toiling, planning, and deceiving, and that they were protecting him in the crooked ways of his own making. They had been with him in his flight from home, and after “ascending to report to their Master” they returned to go with him further on his way. They were going up and down, down and up, ascending and descending. In other words, if the angels ascend first, then they must have been with Jacob to begin with, thus emphasising the point that Godly men are accompanied by angels, in their work for Him. This humiliating recognition by Jacob, about the angels’ continuing comforting envelopment, and the sign of its renewal, ignites in Jacob a desire to stay close to God. In “Fathers of the Covenant” page 71, we are reminded by H. L. Ellison that John 1: 51 preserves the unusual ‘ascending and descending’ ”, (upon the Son of man) which you might expect from God’s messengers if they are co travellers, until at last “Glory Himself” speaks from the top of the ladder. And Jacob is now prepared for God to speak. What a wondrous way for God to ready Jacob for His voice!
The same argument is used by Paul in Ephesians 4:9, 10, of Christ’s ascension, but he adds a qualifying factor that at first, in God’s plan, Christ had descended from God to the earth, at his birth, but when His work was complete Christ had ascended even far above the heavens.
Thus we see a terrestrial order of things (in nature, what goes up from the earth, will return down to the earth) is reversed to a celestial order of things (in the divine, what comes down to the earth from the Father will return up to Him). Jacob’s angels had indeed first come to Jacob from the Father, but were now in ascending and then descending order.
Jacob hears the promises made to his fathers and what a relief he feels. Such gracious words they are - what a balm to his troubled soul. This is positive reinforcement at its best. Maybe Jacob had thought that God could only be accessed through the shrine at Beersheba, where the family had resided for so long. The sanctity of this spot at Bethel may have earlier escaped him. The lesson for him, and for us, is that God is available to all of us, wherever we may be.
First, there is a repeat of the promise given to Abraham, passed to Isaac, and given to Jacob by his father, just a short time before. The “your father” link with Abraham is a declaration, not that Abraham has priority as his “father”, but that Isaac has not compromised Jacob in the misunderstanding of the blessing incident. So, if Jacob did deliberately go to Bethel, because he had heard of it, from his father, it would be because he desperately needed confirmation from God that the blessing from Isaac was in place, even despite the deceit that had produced it. “The land whereon thou liest” (literally, for he had taken a stone for a pillow) “to thee will I give it, and thy seed”. Now he knows that he stands firm before God and that the promised blessing is in place. A point to think about then is whether the Bethel night stop over was a chance location, or design.
And then, God’s grace is bestowed upon him personally, “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring you again to this land.” Oh, what joy to hear such a thing! Jacob must have been overcome with God’s mercy (in winking His eye at the transgressions), and on waking, grateful for the far reaching promise and the assurance of immediate personal guidance and protection for what he thought would be a short time away from “this land”.
After the dream, the silence and darkness descended and left Jacob awed and inspired. It wakened him, and so he lay there awake until the dawn, and then arose, not fearful of Esau’s murderous intent, but trembling that he was in “the house of God” and that this place was at “the gate of heaven”. Jacob turned his pillow stone on end and set it for a pillar. It became Bethel or “God’s house”, and he poured oil on it, as an act of consecration. This was a reminder for the future, that in this place a theophany had taken place. It is clear that the inhabitants of Bethel understood that it was a place of divine revelation, for centuries later, after the conquest of the land Israel was able to claim the site as one of its chief sanctuaries. Ellison reminds us that the polytheists would not mind a small portion of earth claimed by the monotheists, but the fact that it was claimed by the Israelites shows that God’s own people realised that this was sanctified ground and that they were rendered holy because of it.
It is invigorating to realise that Jacob’s sin and disobedience, with the burden of guilt and failure, did not prevent -
His response to God
Him renewing his relationship with God
Him rebuilding his faith and confidence in God’s promises.
4. JACOB’S AWAKENING THOUGHTS
Sin is, of course, not recommended, (we may not continue in sin to allow God to show His grace), but sin, in its aftermath, with its own process of rededication to God is not a preventative to the inheriting of God's promise. Jacob displayed all of the process, and so God accepted his rededication. It is so for us.
Passing through this pagan countryside
From one oasis to another,
Jacob is escaping from his brother
Not, of necessity, from God.
Into the unknown darkness
Jacob is bathed in a heavenly searchlight.
A heap of stones
A holy meeting place.
Beersheba to Bethel
God is everywhere, no escape
Trembling, holy fear,
Rejoicing, resolution, vows.
In a monument of stones,
Jacob meets God.
Jacob was so grateful for this meeting that he vowed a vow (the first recorded) that if God would feed and clothe him on this journey so that he could return to the family home - in peace - then he would forever worship Him. As well, he would return one tenth of it all to Him. He offers a tenth of the wealth that he asks God to bestow upon him, - a tithe. This is not a bargain with God, as it appears to be, it is more a pledge, following his awe and homage to God, rather a giving back to Him. He is happy to make the promise and act upon it, “if ... if ... if”. This means that from now on Jacob will render worship to God hand in hand with worshipful dedications towards the furtherance of God’s purpose. He would regard his tangible blessings as God’s gifts.
Consider:
* How did Jacob dedicate a tenth of all his wealth to the service of the Lord?
* To whom, or to what, could Jacob render it?
* Was his return from Haran in wealth, recognition of God’s gracious blessing, and so a placing of this promised tithe, in the land of Promise, so that God’s purpose would be extended?
* Can we be certain that Jacob did not render his tithe in Haran?
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Comment:
Would that we would realise that our gifts to God, that is, our worshipful “memorial” donations, are really tithes, not in the sense of a tenth portion, but in the greater sense that they further God’s glory and His purpose. We may call them pledges. Tithes/pledges were originally gifts to help the poor, like the grains left in Boaz’ field. Or they were to help some purpose that needs a benevolent gift. For, like for Cornelius in Acts 10:4, “they come up as a memorial”. It is interesting to remember that Cornelius was as yet unbaptised. In our day, they are extended to further God’s purpose, in a way that we can relate to. Still the stricture is the same as in the days of Ananias and Sapphira; we cannot dedicate a gift to some cause in God’s name, and then direct it elsewhere.
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Jacob is criticised by some for his vow that he is a schemer and tries to bargain with God, and so people show superiority over his method, but we forget that our prayers are sometimes on the same level. With such a criticism we would also forget -
1. That tithes or pledges to God are useless, for all our wealth is His, and
2. We can’t buy God’s favour by offering our wealth, but we can offer God back His blessings.
We also need to recognise Jacob’s patriarchal position, that he was only fifteen when Abraham died, and had not had much guidance comparatively, in patriarchal matters from the retiring Isaac, as Isaac had from his father. Abraham could have advised Jacob about vows and tithes, (which blessings are discussed in “Kith and Kin”, Book 1, and how Abraham and Melchizedek formed a Godly relationship).
Jacob eventually realises that his wealth is bound up with God, and he worships God and “pays his tithe”, most likely when he returns from Haran. He is a witness to God in the land of Canaan, though his sons cause him no little trouble in this desire of his. However the doubt and fear never really leave him until the end of his life, and we can trace it throughout all his life until then. We are so like Jacob ourselves that we should beware of criticising him. His terror assails him again, later in Peniel
a. When he returns and faces Esau,
b. When, once more, he lies down to sleep, and
c. When God speaks to him, giving him courage.
Only God knew how long this journey to and from Haran would be, however, there was peace when he returned - the anger of Esau had been spent, and he was able to lay his tithe in the land, and because of it he prospered more, (despite the behaviour of his sons), and still the blessings were even more fulfilled, and God’s work was extended.
What an awesome place this is, God’s place, Bethel - now Jacob’s place, as well.
God is in charge, as always, yet we often do not think it so. If only Jacob had realised that it had been God’s birthright, God’s blessing and God’s land and not to be bargained for between brother and brother, and that God will dispose of His birthrights, His blessings, and His land as He will. God has the prerogative in all our ways, if only we will remember it. It was not necessary for Jacob to conquer his brother, his father’s love for his brother, or (in the future), his uncle/father in law to obtain the promises from God.
God is able to defend His will and His way, without us.
This Bethel incident is a mighty incident.
It is enough to change
One’s life,
One’s demeanour,
One’s direction.
- if we will change
May God grant us a Bethel incident, also.
5. MODERN HYMNS ABOUT BETHEL BRING US CLOSE TO JACOB
We remember the hymn of the nineteenth century “Nearer my God to Thee” by Sarah Fowler Adams, and recognise the words as referring to this incident in Jacob’s life, for after all the ladder, or “cross”, raised him closer to God, and Jacob had access to God, and God became nearer to Jacob, as a result. In “the sun gone down”, and the “darkness” coming over Jacob, and his “rest, a stone”, Jacob is lonely, yet in his “dreams” he is “Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee”.
“Then, all my waking thoughts
Bright with Thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs
Bethel I'll raise;
...
Nearer, my God, to Thee”.
and another,
“O God of Bethel, by whose hand
Thy people now are fed,
Who through this weary pilgrimage
Hast all the fathers led”.
So, as He does us, God guided Jacob’s “wandering footsteps”, and spread His “covering wings around”, till this “wandering ceased” and he reached Haran.
However there is plenty of trouble ahead for Jacob, and much deceit.
And so Jacob’s new life, struggling in his need to keep God in his sights, almost overwhelms him, until God speaks to him again - 20 years later.
CONCLUSION:
Jacob is now walking with God, (and we would wish him ease of heart and soul), but he still has not fully submitted to God. Jacob’s footprints are beside those of God, but Jacob has not asked God to carry him yet.
CHAPTER 2
GOD IS THERE - IN A BARGAIN AND A TANGLED WEB
“If ... if ... if you will ... so that ... I will …”, Genesis 28: 20-22.
FOCUS:
With the events of Genesis 29:1-35 to 30:1-24, about to unfold, Jacob makes a bargain with God, but he cannot erase the consequences of the deceit dysfunction, as we shall see.
1. GOD IS WITH JACOB ON THE ROAD TO HARAN
It was such a long way, and such an alien land. The foreigners he passed looked curiously at him, and the wilderness was full of strange sounds and shadows. It was really a journey of fear.
Now Jacob says of Bethel: “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not”. Jacob will turn this fear into a veneration of his God. He has not heard a word of condemnation from God, but knows in his heart that God would condemn. He is awed by the experience with God, and strikes a bargain with Him, Isaac's God, “if..., if..., if you will, so that..., I will …”.
This grand vision rose and fell in its lustre through Jacob’s life until he stood in Egypt with Joseph (at the end of his life) and spoke of the wonder of the Godly covenant that he received here in Bethel. May our vision rise, and continue its rising, to the end of our life, as we feel the wonder of that Godly covenant for us.
Comment:
With all the travel ease and comforts of today, a journey over the same route is still full of fear. Many of us have indeed journeyed on parts of this road passing through check points into unfriendly countryside, needing plenty of food and water, and safely planned hotels for the night, changing a flat tyre, uneasily worried about the perceptive stares of the gowned Arabs (Muslims) passing by, having stones thrown at us, being misdirected to towns on purpose, overcharged on purchases, almost run over the edge, to the rocky chasms below, when travelling the passes between Jericho and Shiloh, on the outside lane of a gravel road, where not one blade of grass, or shrub, or tree will grow and only the occasional black Bedouin tents betray any life at all. This fear for us is because the Palestinians are protesting (in this present age of demarcation) at the loss of their land rights and properties before 1948.
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Camel trains were popular transport, then, and Jacob was on the caravan route. Perhaps he caught a camel train. We remember, 97 years earlier, that Abraham’s servant had taken ten camels to Haran on a wife securing journey. On the night of the Bethel dreams he had come only a fraction of the journey, that is, about 80 kilometres.
Jacob
Walked a long way that day
Maybe easy walking
But ever onward north
He had left home and so he
Lies down troubled to sleep
Hard and cold for body and soul
No comfort or warmth, exhausted
Speaks with the Lord
Messengers from God
Up and down
Is exalted
Jacob
Goes another 640 kilometres,
Over the Jordan,
North east to Haran,
Walking with God
Is now blessed
Not until Jacob’s return from Haran does he talk of my Lord, rather he speaks of “your Lord” to Isaac at the deceitful blessing incident. Jacob waits until God keeps His bargain: “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God”.
On his peaceful return, full of blessings and care from God, Jacob erected again his altar to God at Bethel, and paid his tithes, as he had promised, for he had now formally acknowledged his God (Genesis 35:7).
2. JACOB WONDERS WHETHER GOD IS AT HARAN
However he travelled, there was a change in his step for he “lifted up his feet” (AV Margin), we suspect, with renewed vigour, “and came to the land of the people of the east”. Certainly his demeanour changed and expectation shone.
Haran was at the crossroads of the great caravan routes between the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. He, at once, saw the black tents of his relatives on the outskirts of the town and behind these were the beehive shaped mud brick huts of the settled inhabitants. Beyond these were the gates of the city itself. Abram had been there and seen it, for he and Lot came from there. Abraham’s servant, Eliezer, and friend of his father, Isaac, had seen it.
Jacob welcomed the sight of the well and the sheep and the brethren at Haran. “He looked and behold” a new life, a wife “please God” awaited him, to comfort him after the loss of his mother, as Isaac did, at Sarah’s death, to “be with me”.
The people at the well, as usual, waited to water their flocks until all had assembled. It seems that Rachel had certain privileges, for she was the last to come, and everyone was waiting for her.
At last Rachel came with the sheep. “When Jacob kissed her, he lifted up his voice and wept”. There is impressive scriptural language here. We are meant to see the end of the fearful journey, the relief at finding the family so soon, the remembrances of his mother, who had left this place nearly 100 years ago, so warm in the family’s mind. At once Jacob is a strong protector with a soft vulnerability - quite understandable, in his present emotional state. We think of Eliezer’s positive experiences so long ago, here at this well. We do so want it to be positive for Jacob. We, with Jacob, can lift up our voices and weep as well, for we can identify so well with -
The depression and the elation of our lives,
The earthly “Yin” and heavenly “Yang” of life,
The “black and the white” (stones),
The “no” and the “yes” from God.
It is close to Him we wish to be, and yet accepting of the evil and the good that He allows to come upon us.
When Jacob manfully unrolled the large stone covering of the well to water the sheep, he unrolled his own emotion, in that kiss and in that cry, for his relief and gratitude to God for His care. The other shepherds must have been astonished, and impressed with the traveller. They did not know of the ache in his heart for his mother, and the torment of the family situation, that he had left in Beersheba. But Rachel, full of hope, took Jacob home. We can only imagine what Rachel was hopeful about. The text about Rachel’s death day is the antithesis of this emotional kiss and cry, and the stone rolling. “And Jacob set a pillar on her grave”, Genesis 35:20.
Laban heard the family history and although there was no outward sign of wealth about Jacob, he would remember that display of gifts from Abraham 100 years before. This fugitive, Jacob, came empty handed. Laban, remembering the bargain contracted so long ago with Eliezer, considers his present advantage over this nephew, son of Isaac. He determines this time to make decisions more advantageous to the Haran family. So Laban allowed Jacob to stay, and after a blissful month, recovering and learning about his new family, Jacob struck a bargain with Laban.
Jacob loved Rachel and offered to work seven years for her to be his wife. H. A. Whittaker in “Wrestling Jacob”, page 41, tells us that the Nuzi Tablets (found near Haran) give evidence that it was not uncommon for a man to work for his bride thus providing a dowry, often given with the bride in other circumstances.
Laban, her father, had “bargained” with Abraham’s servant for gifts. Now another sort of bargain is struck for another patriarchal wife. Laban, now deceitful, deceives the unsuspecting Jacob. Jacob who had schemed and deceived to obtain the benefits of the first born (when he was not) now has against his wishes, the first born thrust upon him.
The all covering veil and the darkness of the wedding night, together with Jacob being affected by the wine at the feast, concealed the identity of his new wife. The light of day revealed it all next morning. Ah, terrible disappointment, that would not have been veiled. Laban can hardly be excused that Jacob did not name the wife that he hoped would be his.
Disappointment was rewarded (probably a week later), for Jacob was then given Rachel also.
Laban is so smug - now in control. Jacob “forgot to read the fine print”, says Whittaker, page 41. Jacob is desperate with his inability to control the situation, as he had learned to do in his own beginnings. His marriage by “hire purchase” was not what he paid for.
Laban explains, so generously, “it is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one”. Yet he knew of Jacob’s continuing love for Rachel.
There are some possible motives for Laban to pass off Leah as Rachel. In the terrible deceit and disappointment for Jacob, we hardly think about Leah. Her name meant “weary”, which might have been an indication of a difficult birth for her mother. Certainly, she may have been shy and awkward and easily embarrassed, altogether a difficult personality. She may just have wearied everyone she came in contact with, or she may have been the one, weary of life, and discontented, but we really don’t know how or when the name description applied. The whole compound would know of the deceit played upon Jacob, and would have viewed the reluctant honeymoon humiliation and shame, with behind hand humour. Jacob was redeemed when he was given Rachel, but Leah’s pain went on, for she laboured after affection and security, and recognition, with her hopes always disappointed. She was emotionally abused all her life. In “Women of the Bible” there is an excellent chapter on Leah, by Joan Williams, page 37, and she concludes by using the verses from Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me all ye (weary) that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”, for in that sense we are all Leahs striving for the “rest” in the Lord, like the saints He has asked us to be.
Leah could hardly have been innocent goods traded by her father, but that does not give reason or compensate for her lifetime of weariness. Her final recognition in her burial, at the Patriarchal tomb, and not her sister, Rachel, may not have been known to her, so her pain seems endless. The resurrection morn will at last bring her joy and she will know of her after death blessing, when Jacob/God blessed her son Judah, giving his name to the Jewish nation.
From then on Laban and Jacob had a deceiver’s contest that lasted the 20 years that they were together each trying to outlast the other. Deceit now controlled Jacob, surely a weapon he had forged, and now God turned it, and uses it to punish him - it made it no easier to bear. Weapons of deceit and trickery bring their own bitter fruit in families, and in communities. We need to learn from turbulent church history, where great volumes of history record justified deceit present in the church. They are not pretty stories. Conversely, we find, practising with the instruments of love and understanding that they bring forth sweet fruit - and there are many saved in His name. Sadly, sometimes, even untiring efforts, when tinged with the human frailties of others often cause many to leave the way of the Lord, looking for better paths. God is with us, as He was with Jacob, so we need to let Him work His way when deceit comes.
3. JACOB’S WIVES IN THE TANGLED WEB OF DECEIT
Leah loved Jacob, Jacob loved Rachel. If Leah knew of the deception and played her part in the plan, her anguish at the result would have been her punishment. Jacob may have accepted it as part of God’s plan for him, and he, being flattered, may have played no little part in the scenario. However, once first married, he did not wish to reject the marriage, and to achieve his loved Rachel, he had to practise polygamy. Some love who they marry, and Leah hoped for that. Alas it did not happen. Some marry who they love, and in this case, Rachel accepted Jacob as second hand goods as better than nothing. So neither wife, nor Jacob enjoyed the ideal marriage of Genesis 2.
Sex is the gift of expressing love that God gave to married couples each to enjoy, and is not for despising. That kind of gift should never be shared. A well balanced faithful marriage is the basis for good parenting, and parenting is a preliminary introduction to His grace, where grace from God is for us a balance of love and limits, Ephesians 2:8-9. Parenting is also a balance as well, between love and limits. What we learn about God’s grace, we reflect in our parenting. All this can never be achieved in the state of polygamy, and there follows then, such families find difficulty in parenting well.
Jacob’s father did not practice polygamy, but Jacob would know of the life and family of Abraham. Esau his brother had brought multiple wives to his father’s house. Jacob then would not be unaware of the terrible consequences.
There may have been several circumspect reasons for pursuing the path of having multiple wives, and their handmaids rather than divorcing the unwanted one.
1. A quick breeding family, - Jacob was decades behind his brother in that.
2. Jacob had discerned how this family, under Laban functioned, so he knew he had to quickly gain strength of numbers.
3. There was plenty of work to be done if Jacob was to build up a business of his own, so all the labour he could get would help his plan.
4. If Jacob was caring for two of Laban’s daughters, Laban would have to give more help to Jacob. Laban would be lending or giving servants, especially as his grandchildren were being born, and nurtured, in the Jacob family.
5. The larger Jacob’s property and compounds grew the more privacy he ensured himself, away from Laban.
The multiplying of wives ensured many advantages to help Jacob work out his plan to go south once more to the Promised Land. It ensured God’s numerical plan for this family as well.
So the deceiver for the firstborn right in Isaac’s family now receives a firstborn for his wife against his will.
Laban married off two daughters at once, and gave each daughter a handmaid.
So that Jacob was suddenly responsible for four women, at least.
We can understand the anguish, when Jacob wanted only Rachel (and perhaps her handmaid), that he could not accept Leah as his God provided wife, and could not love the helpmeet that Laban provided. He wanted to marry whom he loved. In a sense, the unloved Leah was the God provided wife.
Marrying for love is a western concept, and scorned by Hindus, Muslims and other cultures, even in our day. To marry for love is a shame in some families. It seems Jacob acted differently, in his affection for Rachel, from the usual custom, which seemed to serve his mother well. It appears that he is punished by Laban’s deception, for desiring otherwise.
God recognised Jacob’s love for Rachel for his greatest son was born to her. Yet Leah was the God blessed wife, in that she lived much longer, and was buried with Jacob, in the patriarchal tomb.
Leah did forge a relationship with God, when her prime relationship with Jacob failed, and we see her melancholy tinged with fervent piety, and observe her comfort in His Name, for she praises God, and gives simple thanksgiving hymns for the blessings of her sons, for there is no recorded human affection, or thanks from Jacob. We hope that she was comforted when she knew that God loved her.
Nine months later, at the birth of Reuben, and the naming of him, as her misery, there is a parallel to the birth of Ishmael, in Hagar’s misery. Leah soon knew her hopes for Jacob’s love, were futile, for they did not bring about her desire. Her later birthing and naming experiences show her desperation, and are pitiful cries.
At Reuben’s birth
“The Lord has looked upon my affliction”,
(that Jacob did not love her),
“Now therefore my husband will love me”.
And again at Simeon’s birth,
“Because the Lord has seen that I am hated,
he has given me another son”,
but still she remains unloved.
And again at Levi’s birth,
“Now my husband might love me”.
Her disappointment must be despair by now.
At Judah’s birth her despair is turned
To “praise of the Lord”.
So she turns to give God a blessing.
This is a loving example to us all.
Her fifth and sixth sons, Issachar and Zebulun
she believed endowed her
with a Godly and goodly “dowry”,
and so she hoped that this blessing from God,
would bind Jacob to her,
even though he did not love her.
Her daughter Dinah is mentioned, and, at least,
she was bound to Leah for life,
as her story yet untold,
renders her ineligible for marriage.
Many strange complexities and confusing relationships were in this tangled web of deceit. They are woven into this unholy incident and produce another dysfunctional family, for jealousy is paramount amongst the women. During their child bearing years (the 20 years in Haran) every child born of the four women is associated with that emotion and expressed in their names. Because of the pathos and tension between the two wives, and their concubines, revealed in the names of their babies, it is possible for us to sense the atmosphere in this “house of God”. Perhaps it is not too much different from the jealousies manifest in the former “house of God”, Isaac’s tents, or Abraham’s tents.
Rachel, manifesting impatience, and fearing rejection, seeks from Jacob, what only could be given by God. She says to her husband, “Give me children, or else I die”. Jacob’s angry and justified remonstrance with her should have directed her to pray to God about the matter, as the Giver of all things.
There is an Oriental proverb that “a childless person is as good as dead”, and in a sense that is true, for the name, the progeny, stops dead. This is probably what she meant. Rachel was very young or immature, but her petulance and peevishness, indicates that she was spoilt by Jacob, though, for all of her qualities, he loved her as long as she lived.
Comment:
Perhaps the reason for not approaching the righteous Melchisedec of Salem, who could have supplied wives, was that marriages were endogamous, that is within one’s own tribe. If he was actually Shem or Enoch, as previously suggested, it would have realistically been of the same tribe. It seems that the Haran family conformed more to the need for a closer family tribe resource, so Leah and Rachel submitted to the cultural custom, and shared one husband.
The lines of descent were patrilineal, so the blood line was not a concern among these four women. However, the concerns of property and prosperity were not inconsiderable, and there would have been the extra expectation of the patriarchal blessing on any of the sons born to either wife. They did not know, as yet, which one was to be the blessed one.
The custom of giving a handmaid to obtain a child, excluded any religious hope, surely the lesson of Sarah told Rachel that, if she had heard of it. Hagar’s child did not inherit the blessings. But Rachel was vexatious and jealous of her sister, Leah, and although the sharing of Jacob was distasteful to her, to both women really, perhaps she felt there was merit in her action of offering a handmaiden, and that she would be counted as generous.
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So Rachel offered Bilhah, and Rachel accepted Bilhah’s children Dan and Naphtali, as her own, for the time being. God did remember Rachel much later, and so Joseph was born to her. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun were all born to Leah, and a daughter Dinah. Jacob may have had other daughters, but Dinah only is noted, because of her relationship to the incident of the forfeiting of Simeon’s and Levi’s birthright at Shechem. Leah thought, at one time, that she was losing her hold on Jacob, so she followed Rachel’s example of giving him her handmaid, so that Gad and Asher were born to her handmaid, Zilpah. This is all contained in Genesis 29:31 to Genesis 30:24. Sixteen descendants of Zilpah were among the seventy people who went down into Egypt later in the Joseph story, a not inconsiderable proportion, considering her status. The births may not be in order in these chapters, the only order certain is that of the birthing mothers, Leah, then Bilpah, (for Rachel), then Zilpah, (for Leah), and Leah again and at last Rachel. Child education would have been transferred to the men when the child reached the age of eight, but until then a small army of women servants would have been principally engaged in -
Conception and fertility advice,
(Magic, as well as normal advice),
Pre natal education,
Midwife duties,
Nursing,
Wet nursing
Nurse maiding, and
Nannying duties, and of course
Child care.
In the long course of time, Rachel, with great joy, had her child - Jehoseph (Joseph) - the first use of the name of God in a personal name in the Bible. Now Jacob can make no complaint for compensation on Laban, for Rachel’s stigma of barrenness is removed.
Consider:
* Was neglect of prayer, and a relationship with God, one of Rachel’s big problems, considering that she had a predilection for her father’s idols?
* Does blame for this fall upon Jacob?
* Was her barrenness Divine disfavour?
* Did she come to think that her plight was Divine disfavour?
* Was the naming of her children only a token recognition of God in her life?
* Did she ever have a close relationship with God?
* Was it necessary for Jacob to deal more wisely with it?
* Could it have been otherwise?
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This awaited for event might have been the impetus for Jacob to consider returning to his own country.
1. Now Rachel had a son to make up her own longed for family.
2. The Laban family was too idolatrous, and exerted too much influence over Jacob’s family.
3. Esau may feel less murderous now.
4. No more pregnant wives or little babies, which would be disadvantaged by such a long journey.
It must be said that Benjamin, born on the death bed of Rachel, was born to her after they left Haran, (on a journey from Bethel to Bethlehem) and fulfilled Rachel’s cry to Jacob, “else I die”. It was a tragically prophetic cry for she did have “children”, (more than one child), one more son, but her second child was the cause of her death.
These men are the forerunners of the mighty children of Israel; the twelve tribes of Israel.
Each born out of the conflict,
Each mother striving for love of Jacob,
Each mother struggling with the other,
Some of them commissioning mothers,
Some of them surrogate mothers,
Born of this tangle of emotions of two wives and two concubines and four women,
God worked out His purpose.
Comment:
From the beginning “it was not so” planned for man and woman He created them “and they shall be one flesh”, Of Jacob making these four unions and the resulting jealousies we can say that Jacob did not know the joy of “one flesh” with a loving wife, as he first expected he would. He chose second best in the tangle of Laban’s deceit over his daughters, and lost the ideal. It happens for many of us, but that does not nullify the ideal to which we would all aspire. Certainly Bilhah and Zilpah were being manipulated by Rachel and Leah into out performing in a field of emotional play that should never exist in any relationship.
Later in Scripture, Hannah talks of her “rival” for she shared Elkanah with Peninnah. She wept in disappointment, for she was barren. Rivals they were, for the favours of a husband they both loved, 1 Samuel 1 and 2.
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Here, in this story, bitterness reigns-
One was pregnant and one was barren.
There was love and hate.
There was anger and despair.
There was conception and wombs shut up.
There was vindication and jealousy.
There was triumph and disappointment.
There was power and defeat.
There was struggle won and struggle lost.
There was a husband's favour and,
a husband hired for mandrakes,
There was joy and distress.
There were births and death,
plenty of rewards and so much disgrace.
4. THE EMOTIONAL TOLL OF POLYGAMY THEN AND NOW
Polygamy was the custom amongst the Jews until 1,000 years after our Lord Jesus Christ, though Christ had emphasised to the emerging Christians the joy of one man, one wife when he spoke against divorce. “In the beginning it was not so.”
Perhaps because these patriarchal days and customs are so far off, our perception of how life was lived in these households, is blunted. But it is difficult to understand how the worship of God could proceed, in the family of Jacob, in an ideal atmosphere when so much effort was tied up in the emotional stress that this family had around them. No little stress is caused by the practice of polygamy, or multiple wives, in all its forms.
(See end chapter note Digression)
Comment:
It is no good excusing the practice of polygamy - “It was the custom, the women would have known no other, they would be used to it”. If polygamy can cause so much trouble, heartache and harm in 1750 BC as it did in China in AD 1920, and as it does in Muslim, and Hindu, and other culture’s households today, and as it does in blended, defacto, mistress, divorce relationships in the western world, no one can say women would/should be used to the custom.
God in His creation wisdom, and our Lord Jesus Christ in his monogamous advice of Mark 10, recognised that power given to men over women would so emotionally damage them both that there could be no true worship under such circumstances. Mutually decided headship in marriage is not a license for power of husbands over wives. The picture is emerging, during the discussion in these articles on family dysfunction amongst the patriarchs, that contention in families - most stemming from weak husband/wife, father/mother relationships causes too much harm in God’s family. We do well to heed the message of unity in family, by complementary roles in service. No one has power over another. God asks us all to submit one to another, and to love one another, Ephesians 5. They are not separate roles.
Polygamy causes so much trouble in these God loved families, the prime cause of the family dysfunction, that it has a special place in the summing up and conclusion of the text about Jacob’s death, in Book 5, so there is more about the subject there.
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5. THERE ARE TWO AREAS OF CONCERN FOR JACOB
The narrative then moves on in two separate, but parallel paths:
1. God's mercy and providential care, and
2. Jacob’s moral responsibility for his family and goods,
(linked with turmoil within the family - consequences of the sin of deceit).
6. JACOB AND FAMILY STRIFE
Jacob the home lover is forced away from his father’s house as a consequence of his actions. He is ruthlessly exploited for years, and tormented by family tensions. Certainly his mother obtained the blessing for her favourite son, and saved him from the anger of Esau. With the purchased birthright and the deceitful blessing, he flew from his beloved home. But he does not soon return, as he and his mother planned, and she died without ever seeing him again. They are buried in the same sepulchre, Rebekah and Jacob, united again, but now only in death.
CONCLUSION:
God reaffirmed the covenant He had made with Abraham and Isaac, and gave specific promises to Jacob at Bethel. This must have comforted him, as he faced his tormentors, through whom his spiritual maturity began to emerge. He must have felt embattled, and it was a hard and difficult way to learn about the blessings of God. But he had to endure it, and he did with fortitude.
Digression:
Released in Australia, in 1992, was a film (English subtitles) “Raise the Red Lantern” directed by the famous Chinese film maker Zhang Yimou, from the book by Su Tong. It tells a story of 1920’s China, when a rich man did have four wives, as was the custom. They were kept in pampered imprisonment, where each woman was no more than an ornament. Each one’s desire to have a son is overwhelming. Male domination supported by millenniums of custom and practice divides and conquers each one, encouraging them to play a terrible power game - no one can flower and develop, in this intrigue and deceit. “The old men who run China”, says October 1992, Time Magazine’s reviewer, Richard Corliss, stifled this message, because they see clearly that pictures about rebellious young people, crushed by unfeeling old men, “abound in political implications”, and there is a danger that they will inflame the educated classes to rebel. To their discredit they deprived their nation of examining historical perspectives and learning from them. The film was banned in China, for some time. No violence or sex is portrayed in the film, but a tour of an exotic land and its customs - polygamy.
If you view the film, and the ceremony of the raising of the red lantern each evening outside the house of the wife who is to receive the master’s favour that night, you will be able to see worked out chapters 29 and 30 of Genesis, and how it must have been in the tents of Jacob in Haran, when Jacob had four “wives”.
CHAPTER 3
THE TANGLED WEB OF DECEIT RETURNS
“And Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels ... and all his goods ... for to go to Isaac”, Genesis 31:17, 18.
FOCUS:
Strife continued for Jacob, more now from within his own family, though Laban continued to be a thorn in his side as well. So Jacob’s long term plan to return to the Promised Land began to take shape, Genesis 30:25-43 to 31:1-55.
The man, who purchased a birthright from his brother, is now bargained for by his wives. The matter of the mandrakes, Genesis 30:14-16, (thought to induce fertility), are brought into the daily, unsavoury bargain discussion over who would sleep with Jacob that night. What degradation there is in this family, yet not uncommon in that time, nor even today! It is the realised necessary domestic argument between the two sisters, not detailed in Scripture which brings out the distaste in the practice of polygamy. The traumatic eternal triangle works its poison.
1. THE WIVES’ ARTFUL COMPETITION FOR JACOB’S FAVOUR
The comments of each wife as her child is born, graphically details the jealousies within each wife, and the enormous effort that each employed to obtain Jacob’s favour. At one stage Leah’s son, Reuben, brings his mother some fleshly roots, mandrakes, from the field (they are easily pinched into a human lower body shape and, then, superstitiously thought to induce pregnancy, when eaten). Rachel, childless, wanted the mandrakes and “graciously” allowed Leah to sleep with Jacob that night if Leah would give her the mandrakes. So, Jacob is hired from one wife for the other, for the price of a plant! Leah went to meet Jacob and told him of the bargain. Little wonder that he was angry with his loved Rachel, if she entered into such practices.
Comment:
The mandrake plant mentioned in Genesis 30:14 still has the reputation of being an aphrodisiac. It is considered the same plant as the ginseng of Korea. The fruit is red and sticky, and the root can be eaten, though the fruit can be slightly poisonous, inducing exhilaration and stimulation, even to temporary insanity. If the wrinkled leaves and flowers are removed, the top can be pinched to resemble the human form. The forked root can resemble the lower human torso and legs. A good plant takes six years to grow, and so it is expensive, and has become a lucrative export from Korea. It is used as a flavour in tea, chewing gum, shampoo, among other things, and is credited with recovering lost youth, and a general feeling of well being and clear headedness.
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It is interesting to note that God intervened in this magic scenario in Jacob’s family to accomplish His mission, rather like He did with the witch at Endor, 1 Samuel 28:7-25. One of the patriarchal sons, Issachar, was born to Leah, and she conceived him when she bargained with Rachel for the right to sleep with Jacob that night. To note the story is to understand the tawdry behaviour linked with wicked practices that prevailed in this family.
All of this turmoil led Jacob to become unsettled in Haran, especially when he saw Laban’s sons jealously watching his prosperity, imagining that they were being deprived. He could see his wives infected with the idolatry of their father (a later charge Ezekiel brought upon Israel, Ezekiel 20:24) and corrupting the minds of the children.
2. JACOB SEES THE NECESSITY TO LEAVE HARAN
So there was conflict in the Laban compound, not only in the Jacob compound. The Jacob and Laban conflict worsened. Both men are convinced that they have good reason to be right.
Consider:
* What reasons could they each give for defending their actions?
* What suggestions could we make for resolving this conflict?
* Is it possible to see Laban’s point of view favourably?
* How can we better train ourselves to see the other person’s point of view when controversy rises, so that we can better deal with conflict?
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Jacob approached Laban to ask permission to leave Haran. Strange to us that he asked permission. Laban pleaded with him to stay, saying that he had learned by supernatural means (divination - a pagan practice), that God was with Jacob, and had therefore blessed Jacob, and in turn, himself as well. No wonder the children would be corrupted with such confused signals coming from the adults about God’s loving care. So Jacob agreed to stay on, refusing Laban’s offer to make him rich (as Abraham had refused the king of Sodom), for God had promised that. However, Jacob did become rich in cattle, no credit to Laban’s cunning scheme, and not because of the tricks used showing the cattle, white streaked branches at their watering hole, but because God willed it. It is interesting to note that the Septuagint does not mention “every speckled and spotted sheep” of verse 32, and so it was probably added in, in later texts.
Consider:
* Is this a deficiency in the LXX?
* Or was the matter deemed, then, not to be authentic?
* Or inconsequential?
* Or was that piece of record lost, and later found?
* Or was it added to other texts for some external reason?
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Comment:
We need to keep in mind that our available (English) texts are inspired (except for “errors of transcription or translation” - words present in Faith Statements), and contain what God wants and needs us to have for our salvation. Then we have no need to be anxious about differing texts.
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Laban's action in verse 35 seems to confirm that Jacob's share consisted of the black sheep and the speckled or spotted goats. The procedure with striped rods at breeding time was based on the mistaken belief that a vivid sight during conception leaves its mark on the embryo. We now know that a mother’s continued stress can cause unborn babies stress as well, so that they are born with “failure to thrive”. Perhaps something of this was recognised at the time in animals, as well as in human gestation. However, the plan for this phenomenon was deliberately orchestrated by the shepherds.
Jacob also used selective breeding, and a limited knowledge of genetics - a slow process as Laban doubtless knew. So the explanation for Jacob’s increased flocks, in such a short time, can only be God’s miraculous power, Genesis 31:10-12.
The sisters’ status, once they were married, changed to one of exploitation, as far as Laban was concerned. Contemporary documents and codes confirm this status, - of daughters being wedded, with a bride price paid after the marriage. Instead of money, Jacob negotiated labour. Since Laban did not put away the equivalent money, or else he used it for himself, the sisters now say, in verses 14 and 15, that there is not even an inheritance for them. Inheritance could only have come through Jacob in any case, especially if they stayed in the family compound. But Rachel determines to have something of value to her, as we shall see.
Laban’s sons resented the good stock management practices and husbandry skills of Jacob, (which Jacob had observed from the management of the Isaac compound so long ago). “Jacob kept sheep for a wife”, Hosea 12:12, and was now an Esau, outdoor type. Laban’s attitude had changed towards Jacob in the six extra years he stayed. The resolution to stay so long had strengths and weaknesses. It certainly gave Jacob some skills about mending strained and fractured relationships, though they continued to multiply around him.
3. JACOB’S MESSAGE FROM GOD
Jacob must have been mightily relieved to have another message from the God of Bethel asking him to go back to his native land. Without hesitation he calls a conference in his sheep field, Genesis 31:4, (probably so he would not be overheard), with Rachel and Leah. He tells them that their father is looking menacingly at him. He outlines what has been happening in the flocks and assures them that his flocks are numerous, and healthy. He also assures them that it has been suggested by God that he leave Haran. In reality he is giving them a choice of whether they go or stay. They respond wholeheartedly to the suggestion that they go, and take all they can with them. As “the God of Bethel” had spoken with Jacob, they probably expected to go back to the scene of the anointing of the pillar, and the vow to God, to Bethel.
Laban had sold his daughters (to Jacob), and used up all that was paid for them (Jacob’s labour). Jacob did suggest the terms in the beginning, but, no doubt, the seemingly unregistered dialogue document was blurred over the years. In today’s terms in Australian dollars, $30,000 a year for 14 years - that is nearly half a million dollars. Jacob did overpay Laban for his wives, according to The Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian legal code of 18th century BC, in force at the time. A man need work no longer than three years for a “possession”. As well, Jacob had worked another 6 years, perhaps in this time, building up his own herds, without debt to Laban. He lived three days journey from Laban, Genesis 30:36, so they must have had enormous flocks between them, so there would, no doubt, have been strife, like with Abraham and Lot. This distance would help Jacob prepare for moving his huge family and all his wealth, in secret.
The Bethel promise of God had been kept, despite Jacob’s faith slips along the way. God’s continuing presence is working in this man a pilgrimage of faith, which becomes more God directed, as he ages towards his declining Egypt years, when the “plain” man, (translated “perfect” for Job) of Genesis 25:27, may indeed be described as the alternately rendered “upright”, His Esau like profanity had left him now, for he has no more tricks and deceit, except for his necessary God directed escape from Laban, Genesis 31:3.
4. WHERE ARE LABAN’S TITLE DEEDS?
Jacob was easily able to prepare for his journey, for his cattle were on an outreach station south, and he could have easily sent them on ahead. Four of his sons probably would have been working the southern property, but the rest of the family would have been waiting quietly until Laban went off in the opposite direction, when Jacob would send for them.
It is difficult to decide whether the assembled and multiplying herd was Jacob’s Bethel promised tithe for God, or did the family itself, (multiple wives and children), fit this promise. Perhaps it was all the tithe blessings from God which, in turn, became a divine gift from Jacob to God, treasures for God, blessings for God, that is, for use in His service.
So for the second time Jacob stole away from his home, this time without proper negotiation with those left behind, about the people, the animals, or the goods.
But Laban pursued the family. It took him seven days to catch them, for he started out three days after their departure. The animals were already three days in advance. Ten days to travel 560 kilometres to Gilead with an enormous caravan of people and goods and animals - 56 kilometres a day. A good authority says that this distance is quite reasonable, though a long day, for such a herd. Jacob was escaping, and so they needed to ride hard.
Laban did have a long way to come, and also had to travel hard to catch them. He came right into alien Canaanitish land, where later the half tribe of Manasseh had their inheritance. He was a long way from home.
Consider:
* Why did Laban pursue them?
* To say goodbye, and to make peace?
* Or was there a more sinister reason?
* Did Laban want to get back the title deeds to his property which he couldn’t find at home?
* Wasn’t it Laban’s present responsibility, to ensure that the deeds were available for his sons in the future?
* How else could Laban stop Jacob, or any future family coming north, and claiming more property, especially as Jacob had worked 20 years as a son in law, and had two of Laban’s
daughters to wife, plus (as Laban saw it) many of his own servants, and possessions as well?
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In Genesis 31:24, God spoke to Laban in a dream and advised him to speak carefully to Jacob. Laban was a Syrian and no believer in the exclusive God, YHWH. It is interesting to note that God speaks to an eclectic worshipper like Laban, who owned teraphims and practised other pagan rituals. Terah, his grandfather, had more influenced Laban’s family, than his uncle Abram had influenced him.
So Laban confronts Jacob with the robbery and preambles his charge with his hurt and concern over their swift departure, giving him no chance for gestures of love and farewell.
“But why did you steal my gods?” he asks the startled Jacob.
Why indeed, we ask ourselves also, when the Godly mission had been established in the family discussion in the field, and Jacob had told his wives about the Divine message.
Jacob, astonished, protests that he knows nothing of the gods, and tells him to search, and whoever has the gods will be put to death, a rather rash promise, that shows that he didn't suspect his favoured wife. It is thought by some that Rachel’s early death did indeed fulfil this vow. It is also an indication that the families lived under The Code of Hammurabi, for robbery warranted death, whereas in the later Law of Moses, it required double restitution. This, and the incident of Jephthah’s daughter (Judges 11:30), teaches us to be careful with vows.
However Rachel had stolen the gods!
1. She may have liked to have dual deities to pray to (God and gods) for extra protection.
2. She may have thought she could have something tangible to worship on the way.
Whatever her motive, it shows that she was not free of her pagan gods; otherwise she would not have taken them. However, land title deeds and rights of inheritance were often kept inside the teraphim (gods). So this steal, from her father, proves that deceit was bound up in her character also. The teraphim were often shrunken head skulls of favourite ancestors.
Perhaps also, Rachel grabbed the gods and the title deeds as well, enough to serve two purposes. Indeed
a. Laban (and his sons) valued the images as gods, and
b. They valued the title deeds, for property rights.
This becomes evident in the later stages of this incident. Both sisters had complained about their inheritance rights, and perhaps Rachel decided to have some possession of her father's, as well as a family god.
Archaeologists have now found a clay tablet recording the law, that if a son in law possessed the household gods of his father in law, then he was considered a real son in the inheritance - information from Barbara F. Bowen, “Strange Scriptures”, page 78. So Laban was justly worried about Jacob’s future inheritance claims.
Rachel is now the deceiver of her husband, for he would not have known of her prize, or, now, of her terror. She hears that if she is found out, she will be put to death. Rachel was indeed her father’s daughter, and had woven some more strands in the tangled web of intrigue.
Comment:
We note the terrible effect brought on by strange women amidst God’s people. Ezekiel 20:24 tells us of “eyes” lusting “after their father’s idols”, and Jeremiah 44 of strange god idol worship, and Ezra 9 of the folly of mixed marriages, and Nehemiah 13:23, 24 of the marriage alliances with strange women who have strange gods. How intolerable, that bringing with them strange languages, the resultant children could not speak Hebrew. We have already noted that Isaac’s household would have been so contaminated with Esau’s children, (if Isaac and Rebekah had not taken measures to prevent it).
It’s interesting too that the Bible tells us of the dreadful voodoo, black magic, and shameful occult practices employed by the women, but consistently avoids explicit descriptions (see NIV Study Bible, Ezekiel 13.18). Even today it is mainly women who promote these shameful practices. It is said that women, in past centuries, being so exploited by men, turned to these wicked practices where they did assume some power (over men). Reason, not excuse, and so not condoned.
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Rachel had hidden the gods in her camel furniture, which would be quite easy to do, being a seat construction with a side opening roof and curtains. She sat on her saddle bags and concealed the gods and when Laban came to search her tent, she told him she was invalided out for the time, and could not rise up, Genesis 31:35. Another point of shame that such a devious excuse could be made. Later the Law of Moses advised every menstruating woman that anything that she sat on was unclean, Leviticus 15:20. Laban is outwitted by the daughter he had, years earlier, defrauded of her rightful husband. Laban and Jacob have a conference over the daughters, menservants, maidservants and animals that have been brought from Haran.
a. Laban claims ownership.
b. Jacob claims he paid overmuch for it all.
It is difficult to understand why there is disagreement about the price of the property, as there seems to have been many previous discussions over the matter. They were all probably unregistered dialogue documents.
The agreement on the purchases had changed ten times always to Jacob’s disadvantage, and he had borne it all. Jacob’s salvation had lain in Haran, but he had fallen into the hands of cruel Laban, and salvation from that, he hoped, came nearer with every step towards home. He now had a fine tuned sense of right and wrong and he would no more be bullied by Laban.
Laban seeing Jacob was determined on his course and not finding his idols/title deeds, proposes a covenant between them. First he asks that Jacob not mistreat his daughters or take any other woman to wife. Ironically Jacob would have preferred only Rachel. Next Laban suggests a stone heap, a pillar between Jacob and himself, “a Mispah”, a boundary marker, a “watchtower”. Although Jacob had no such intention of claiming the northern lands, Laban made it quite clear, with a covenant struck, that this was the boundary between Syria and the Israelites in Canaan, and that no claim by Jacob or his family could ever be made north of this spot. He knew his title deeds were in the camp so he nullified those documents with this covenant.
Mispah - “pillar to witness, that I will not pass over it, to harm thee, nor thou harm me”, said Laban.
Laban called it in Aramaic “Jegar-sahadutha”; Jacob called it in Hebrew “Galeed”,
Both words mean “heap of witness”.
Jacob used the Hebrew language, which language was probably from the Shemites, (with remnants still in Canaan).
God was called upon to witness, as the “God of Abraham” and the “God of Nahor”,
and Jacob offered a sacrifice, and they ate a meal together, and next day, they parted cordially.
And Jacob strode on.
Comment:
The Mispah has come to mean a generous and loving “Peace be with you” farewell between God fearing people, that is, that “the Lord be between you and me while we are apart”. Because the circumstances of this parting have been the result of a troubling incident, it does not mean that we are not free to use the farewell in such a way as we tend to do. However we need to remember “This so called Mispah benediction in context is really a denunciation or curse”- NIV Study Bible comment for Genesis 31:49.
In later Israelitish history, 1 Kings 15:22, two stone and wood fortresses of Baasha were removed, and King Asa used the material to build two more at Geba and Mispah, to prevent Baasha expanding southward into Ramah. So Mispah came to be regarded as a fortress, to prevent expansion into property (as Laban used it), as did the Great Wall of China, but also conversely, like a Berlin wall, to prevent people escaping out of a designated property place. Prevention of escape was what Baasha had in mind, trying to prevent the Israelites migrating south and swelling the population and the military force of the less wicked Judah. These walls, or forts, were either inclusive or exclusive, yet we have changed the appreciation of the term, and use the term “Mispah”, as a bridge between people who are apart, as a “watch stone”.
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Seven years later, after Jacob’s and Laban’s Mispah, God asks Jacob to rid his household of strange gods and he obeys without hesitation, Genesis 35:2, but sadly it was an ineffective destruction. Jacob probably realised by then that Laban’s gods had travelled all that distance back to the Promised Land - for they were by this time well nigh “home”, his real home, and Rachel was with child (and, as we know in hindsight, so near her death).
Jacob knew that God had been with them, for the nations round about were restrained, by God’s compassionate hand, from harming Jacob, or his family, evidenced by the fact that he lived in the shadow of so many cities. He was wealthy and therefore a good trading partner, still if those cities had wished to rid themselves of Jacob and his family, it would have been easy, and would have only brought temporary discredit with their neighbours.
Comment:
Once more, after the god stealing incident, punishment did not fall upon the sinful one, (Rachel). They were preserved to work out their own realisation of unacceptable behaviour, and leaning on God for their salvation, they would realise God’s will for them was greater than His need to punish them. Still He did need them to be righteous to show forth His glory. In that sense the patriarchs were his first lasting missionaries. If God had punished them then, that is, turned His back on them, the people round about would question His fidelity to these people. In the end though, with many generations passed, God had to punish them for their wickedness and He did turn His back on them, for the nations round about would have derided God, after so much wickedness, for His tolerance, Ezekiel 36:22, 23.
“Would you, dear God”, we pray, “preserve us from punishment for our sins, may we lean on you for our salvation, and may Your will and purpose for us, never be obscured by our sin. Help us to recognise and repair our sinful deeds and to be true missioners of your will”.
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Jacob and Laban farewelled each other, no doubt, with deceitful Rachel still sitting in her canopy pretending to be indisposed. We wonder whether her father really kissed her and whether there was any love and respect in that cursory kiss. On the other hand, Rachel’s husband, Jacob, herewith closes the door on the great learning curve of his life.
CONCLUSION:
With the departure of Laban,
Went the stink of God’s chastisement,
The cheating, cheating, and cheating.
Jacob had endured ten times and more.
It came out of his nostrils,
And stung his eyes.
It pained his ears,
And burned his lips,
And swelled his tongue.
His fingers were burnt, burnt and burnt
Until hate must have been in his heart.
What is bred in the bone,
Cannot be got rid of in a day.
Still Laban went north,
And Jacob went south,
And that was the end of that.
CHAPTER 4
PREPARATION FOR THE GREAT MEETING WITH ESAU
“Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto ... the country of Edom”,
Genesis 32:3.
FOCUS:
In this Scriptural text we are awed to find that Jacob has another close encounter with God, before he meets Esau, Genesis 32.
1. JACOB HAS AN ANGELIC VISIT ONCE MORE
Two camps have now parted, but now in front another two are about to meet. Jacob had divine assurance for an escort home, but difficult as his father in law had been, the prospect of the vengeance and violence of his brother, daunted him. A wonderful vision of angels at Mahanaim met him and he felt momentarily reassured by God. “This is God's host”, he said. He knew that God’s host was camped here as well and saw that as divine assurance, that God’s host had come to escort him to Canaan, see NIV note, verse 2, about Jacob naming this place, Mahanaim. But there was much more reassurance to come. This sighting is so insignificantly told in Genesis 32:1, 2, yet it must have been a greatly significant factor in Jacob’s movement towards his brother.
2. THE NEXT ENCOUNTER IS NOT WHAT JACOB EXPECTS
Jacob then heard the report from his scouts. He had sent them ahead to tell Esau that he had large numbers of oxen and asses and sheep, and that he had been with Laban in Haran. Jacob would not be sure whether Esau knew about his twenty years history with the family in Haran.
The scouts reported to Jacob that Esau was now worthy, (a “conqueror”), in the land of Edom. Jacob is now distressed at this news and interprets the approach as a threat. His fear rises sharply again into his throat. George Orwell in “1984” has as one of his central thoughts that in every person there is some concealed fear, which if it is brought out in the open, will break him down and destroy him. In Jacob it was the fear of his brother. Now as they approach one another it rears its ugly head again, and he feels destruction is near.
Jacob’s cry to God for help and protection and care, rises above the memory of what God has promised him, and he confesses: “I am not worthy of thy mercies”, Genesis 32:10.
This is a beautiful prayer, simple and earnest, the first recorded in the Bible. He does not dwell upon his own death, but upon the terrible picture of a doomed mother flinging herself upon her children, trying to save them from death. When children are damaged, they are of the most pitiable miseries of war. Jacob fears for his children, for they are his Patriarchal progeny and so part of the blessings of family. We can identify so closely with Jacob and his prayer for his family, for do we not pray in exceptional circumstances, when our heart is in our mouth, “I know you know God ... but please remember ...”. We do know He knows, but we need to ask. It helps our peace of mind, and reminds us of His ever presence, and God needs to hear our heartfelt prayer.
Jacob then reminds God of His promises, that God had said, “I will surely do you good”, so he knows that God will save him in this next hour of need. Then he lays at God's feet his worry about the two camps in which he has set his entourage. He prays for himself, and for his wives and children, his “two bands”. Having set his camp in these two bands he is expecting that Esau's wrath and honour will be sated and satisfied with one bloodbath, that is, in the event of an ambush at least half would survive. Of this insurance over all his preparations, H. A. Whittaker says “Jacob in characteristic fashion trusted in God and kept his powder dry”, page 65.
Jacob had made some extraordinary preparations for the safety of himself and his loved ones, especially Rachel and Joseph, whom he placed safely, well behind the front lines, as Esau approached. He must have looked back shame faced days later, or even years later, when he had mellowed with age and experience, and felt foolish over the panic that had set in, for God had already recently reassured him. After all God had asked him to return “to thy country and thy kindred” and had promised “Peace”. That, in itself, implied that a welcome awaited him, not hostility. It hardly required the psychological effect of a soothing, and huge over compensating gift of 600 (almost) animals, which he later presented in waves as a sweetener to his brother, as well as this insurance plan.
Sure that they were tucked in safely for the night, Jacob remains on the bank of the Jabbok. He indeed, once more, despite God’s reassurances, is in need of Divine help and spends another night with the Lord. That other night he could lay down and sleep and dream on a stone - not this night.
3. GOD IN THE JABBOK
This is not just a story about two names and a clicky hip. It has much more sacredness than that. It is God’s answer to an earnest prayer. It is a repeating of the promise to care and to fulfil His will, another reassurance. It is also a lesson about the lengths, that is, occasions and circumstances, to which God will go to reassure.
Comment:
E. J. Russell in “How to Study the Scriptures”, Chapter 38, reminds us that the foreboding and terrifying atmosphere of the Jabbok was there from the start, to set the tone of the strange confrontation. There is an atmosphere that confronts a weary descendant, David, many years later, with the same demand to face the issues of life and death. This, we believe, is the very location of the “valley of the shadow of death” of Psalm 23, a landscape providing the imagery of that psalm, and also possibly that of Psalm 6. The crossing of the Jabbok ford was a task of some magnitude and toil.
Here the Jordan pursues a serpentine course through a flat bottomed river valley up to a mile wide, scarred and scored by dry channels where the twisting river has changed its course, and is choked with tangled jungle. The Arabs call this the Zor, or thicket. Nelson Gleuk, who was an archaeologist and surveyor early in the 20th century, says in “The River Jordan”, on page 63, that the narrow flood plain of the Zor, “through which the Jordan knifes its way”, is lush green and tropical, like a rain forest.
The vegetation is apparently dense and sometimes impenetrable and rank with thorns and thistles. There are thickets of oleander, cane tangled with bushes, vines, willows, poplars and twisted tamarisks.
In “The Historical Geography of the Holy Land” by G. A. Smith, page 310-312, there is a frightening description, of a place well left alone at dusk, when night is nigh.
In many parts of this area there are mounds and ridges and hills of grey marl, greasy and salty, with stretches of gravel and small stones, sand clay, and other debris like that of an old sea bottom. This area assumes the weirdest shapes, and gives a desolate and lonely aspect to the vale. But, not withstanding all this poison, vegetation is extremely rank and thick, especially in springtime. The heat is like a forcing house. Wherever water comes through, the flowers and leaves rise to the knee, and herbage, often as far as the shoulder. The drier stretches are covered by broom, or intricate thorn bush and sticks. By all the streams there are swaying brakes of cane, and oleander grows profusely.
The streams dash violently down to the Jordan, their spring floods tearing up the surface of the country, causing erosion in pockets. Flowers and grass and marl and the ruins of cane brake are heaped across the path. Swamps form in large patches, and, of course, there is much malaria. To those who look down from the hills and along any great stretch of the valley, to the Zor trails and winds below, it is like an enormous green serpent, more forbidding and frightening in its rankness, than any open water would be.
Russell, in describing, at length, the geographical features and confluence of the Jabbok, continues the argument that there are folk who react to landscape and to the moods of the sky. There can be little doubt that Jacob, as David later, would have found the atmosphere of the Jabbok daunting, confining, overwhelming, and depressing as he remained there alone, hemmed in by the dark, tall walls and the damp floor, of the Jabbok ravine, at night. Perhaps a wind arose and the weather unexpectedly deteriorated as well. There are only the stars and the sky, and he can only look up for comfort. His loved son, Joseph, was in no less a pit than this ten years later. It was at this very place when David, much later, had cried out, “My soul is sore vexed”, Psalm 6:3.
The insurmountable literal problems that H. A. Whittaker raises, in “Wrestling Jacob”, pages 69-76, concerning the incident actually happening, of someone else being there to wrestle Jacob, are resolved if we realise it happened exactly as stated, in Jacob’s dream that night at the Jabbok.
In arguing for this incident to be a dream, Russell continues that God appeared twice to Jacob in his lifetime, here, and in his dream at Bethel, Genesis 28:10-22. They are two theophanies. The stories of Jacob at Bethel and Peniel stand out in stark relief and balance one another in the overall account of his life. Jacob’s Haran life is an enclosed within two envelope structures. The dreams are the first envelope structure supporting the harrowing Haran experience.
In further expanding the structure, the dreams are in turn flanked with the second envelope structure, of Jacob’s two fearful expectations of his brother Esau. The dream episode at Bethel occurred as he was fleeing Canaan from the wrath of Esau, and this dream episode at Peniel occurred when he was returning to face Esau. So, here, from the pen of Moses, there are two Biblical envelope structures supporting Jacob’s Haran experience.
Even within these enveloping structures, other interesting structures are present.
On the first occasion, God gives Jacob the Abrahamic promises.
On the second occasion, Jacob is given a new name.
Again,
At the first incident, Jacob's sleep is nourished by a welcoming sustaining dream,
At the second incident, a vivid dream is punctuated by a seeming torment that prevents his sleep.
The dream at Peniel takes place in his fearful and feverished mind, no doubt influenced by the circumstances of his presence alone in the foreboding place, and his funk at the thought of facing the dangers of the morrow, and no doubt tinged with the stress of the Laban confrontation which had just happened.
So -
4. Fleeing Esau
3. In Jacob's dream
2. God gives Jacob promises
1. A welcoming sustaining dream
all balancing with
1. A vivid tormenting dream
2. God gives Jacob a new name
3. In Jacob's dream
4. Approaching Esau
“Are not the events of this narrative the stuff that dreams are made of?” Russell asks, and continues the argument for the absence of reality, that
1. Only in dreams do we find ourselves doing the impossible and improbable things.
2. Only in dreams might we wrestle God, and prevail to the point where “God” pleads to be let go.
3. And only in a dream could a Jacob bargain the release of God on favourable terms to himself.
That Jacob came to realise, in the course of the contest, that it was a contest with God, and not a “man”, is beyond doubt, from his immediate response that he had “seen God face to face, and my life is preserved”, and his realisation that his thigh disability had happened during the contest.
Consider:
* And how often, as we age, do we awake with a misplaced muscle and a terrible pain, because we have twisted something in the night?
* How much more, if we lay down with a troubled mind, in a damp, dank place, and fell into a deep sleep?
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Jacob spent the whole of his life until now, wrestling with God, making things so much harder than they needed to be, by doing it his own way. This night his whole life comes up before him in his fear for the worst in the morning, just as a person’s life, it is said, flows before them when death is approaching. Above this, there is the great truth in Job 33:14-18,
“God speaks to man in a dream ... in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men;
... then he opens the ear of men, and seals their wisdom ... to withdraw man from his purpose ... to keep his life from perishing”.
There is a powerful argument for Jacob's experience being a dream, but for that, it is no less a divine face to face experience.
4. JACOB BECOMES ISRAEL
We are presented in Genesis 32, with the details of the story that has no witnesses, we are dependent only on Jacob for the telling of this story. No doubt he related it to somebody, and it circulated orally until it was written down.
Jacob wrestles physically (literally), or in a dreamlike trance and figuratively (spiritually) with the Lord that night. Whittaker suggests that Jacob thought at first he was wrestling with Esau, and that's why he used so much strength. If he had known it was God, he would not have struggled so hard, nor would he have thought of a stranger (an angel) approaching him, for Esau, only, was on his mind. This is an interesting and valid point of view.
Comment:
The wrestling went on longer than any physical wrestling match should, until the adversary struck Jacob’s thigh, putting it out of joint, and disabling him. We can think back to the oath Abraham’s servant made with him over the matter of the wife for Isaac journey. The servant put his hand to Abraham’s thigh in a very solemn oath, to carry out Abraham’s wishes for the blessing of posterity. The thigh was regarded as the seat of the reproductive powers, and so in this story it is said to be representing the smiting of that descendant of Jacob who would be smitten of God, Isaiah 53:4, and by his sufferings and overcoming, justify Jacob and all God's elect, verse 11, - the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a solemn oath that God would provide salvation for sinful man.
The inevitable reference in Jacob’s experience, to the Saviour’s heel biting serpent, who bruised him, but who was in turn crushed in the head by that Saviour in Genesis 3:16, is hard to ignore. That sin serpent heel biter was at last overcome, and he whom he bruised, was raised from the dead.
On a simpler plain, Genesis 32:32 is in the nature of a footnote, and is a dietary abstention custom, not a law, and is nowhere else mentioned in the Old Testament. The dietary restriction placed on the children of Israel, was to abstain from eating this sinew, (to remind them of this event), and that restriction for them remains so today. After circumcision, it is the second special ordinance, though not a command, and is to remind them down through their own history of a great historical event, when their ancestor Jacob, became Israel.
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Jacob’s thigh slipped back into joint, presumably, but the great sinew, (and with it the great sciatic nerve), that travels the length of the leg, shrank, and, as a result, made Jacob lame. Not only his thigh, but his whole leg to his heel, is now disabled.
Jacob’s heel, as well as his thigh, had been grasped by God, as he had grasped Esau’s heel at their births. He was a heel grasper, but God shows him how He is the strongest heel grasper.
The injury is a reassurance for Jacob. In a sense Jacob would “treasure” his disability as a constant reminder of God's love and care and promises.
But this is more than that.
It is also an oath with Jacob,
That God will permanently injure him,
So that the injury will serve Jacob
As a memory of this wondrous event,
Where God promises in a name change,
Eternal blessings.
Hosea 12:3, 4 puts it well about Jacob, “In his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed”, and this endorses that the angel was a direct representative of God. This is a completely unique and exceptional circumstance, where God seems to be assuring Himself that yes, Jacob does trust Him now. He has brought Jacob's fear of Esau to light and has made him confront it and, as well, confront his lack of reality in his faith, for God knows that he is not yet transformed by His power. (The intensive wrestlings that we have with God may also bring on a physical ailment.) The out of joint thigh, and now weakened muscle showed Jacob that he had to rely and trust in God’s promise to keep them all safe from Esau, because he was now in no physical condition to save them himself.
Now, realising that he is not wrestling with a man, and that he is now carrying an injury, Jacob clings to this being, no longer struggling, but pleading for a blessing and says, “I will not let you go, except …”. This is the desperate hunger for God, where Jacob’s inhibitions for the sanctity of the moment are overridden, and we understand that. There's an unexpected response from the being -
“What is your name?”
And Jacob is surprised.
Isaac had asked Jacob his name before he left home, and he had deceitfully answered, “I am Esau”. It was a lie, and not a lie, for he was an actor. He was as profane as Esau was. Now the question is repeated and is truthfully answered. His name had been bad mouthed by Esau, not undeserved. But now when he said, “Jacob”, “plain”, “upright”, his considered and correct answer, brings an immediate blessing from God, for his name is now changed to “Israel”, Genesis 32:28. In Genesis 35:10 God later confirms the name change.
When Jacob said his name, at God’s inquiry, he knew it had meant to others “out smarter”, but this time it is different, he is helpless, and cannot outsmart anyone. He cannot even flee and leave the chaos behind him, as he had done before. So now, as a cripple, he has to trust in God to deliver him. So God’s question of whether he trusts in Him is now answered. Much later, in Hosea 1:7, God reminds Judah, through Hosea’s naming of his children, that He will save them, and that they will not be saved by bow, or sword or battle. The message has not changed.
Now Jacob knows not only with whom he wrested, but what was the wrestle purpose, as well. The wrestle is really a blessing because in it, Jacob was so willing to recognise God, His justice and mercy, and continuing care. His hunger for God had been realised. Now the confession of his name, Jacob, that is, not only “supplanter” and all the other negative meanings of his name that Esau put upon it, but his evening confession of unworthiness, is a plea that God will see in his name, a man who is worthy and upright at last.
But surprisingly Jacob now gets a new name and a new destiny - Israel. It means “He who strives with God”, or more perfectly “God strives”, for the latter implicitly encompasses the former. God had chosen Jacob, and would not release him until He accomplishes His purpose. Jacob had struggled with God and with men and had overcome. H. L. Ellison in “The Message of the Old Testament”, page 29, rightly remarks, that Jacob could not be regarded as an attractive man, but then a man who determines to do God’s will “by his own strength and wisdom, never is”. Jacob’s own verdict was “few and evil have been the days of my life”, Genesis 47:9. Now Jacob has a reason (a faith expressed in him by God) to change.
Jacob asks the name of the being who changed his name, but when there is no response from this Godly messenger, and as Jacob relaxes his grip, the being is gone.
Ellison asks us in “Fathers of the Covenant”, page 77, to understand that people at the time thought that knowing the name of a god would somehow bring control over the god and ensure his help in time of need. This may have been in Jacob’s mind, but he knew the magic of those named gods was no match for the God of his fathers, and that He required weakness, trust and dependence. Jacob really knows the name of God, and what God is about.
“I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved”,
and he calls the name of that place Peniel, (which means “the face of God”). Years after when Joseph brings his two sons to visit their grandfather, Jacob, on his deathbed, in Egypt, he says: “The angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.” By the time the old man recounts this story he is familiar with the blessings of God and is comfortable being close to Him. But he does pin point some definite personal experience from his memory. It can be no other experience than this one at Peniel, for indeed it was a crisis, a turning point, once more, in Jacob’s life conversion.
Consider:
* Do we long for a Peniel experience, where God could reveal Himself to us, with such a positive message?
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Jacob vindicated God’s investment in him, when his meanness and cunning were eschewed for a far worthier noble life, a plain, upright man. What a mighty episode, was this Peniel night! Wrestling had been part of Jacob’s life strategy - Esau, and then Laban - now left alone, and crippled, Jacob could wrestle no one - certainly not Esau any more.
The story deserves a place in Scripture because it is about life and death, and struggle and recognition of sin, and confession and forgiveness, and going forward in faith. These Old Testament stories are about the ultimate questions, they are concerned much less with men and women, but rather with the language of God, who is everywhere. He really is the subject, the inner core. People are never important for their own sakes, but always as objects of the divine activity within their lifelong stories. Whether they affirm or deny Him, He is always the inner and most important story. It is His mission that is important, and men and women can be part of that, only if they wish to show by their baptism and then their lives, that they are also committed friends of God, so that His glory is on show, and His mission mandate is being fulfilled.
5. MORNING AT LAST
Shuffling over the brook, parting the swaying canes of the Jabbok, not only disabled, but now running late, Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, Esau was already coming, (Genesis 33:1).
Consider:
* Who will out perform who?
* How goes sibling rivalry now?
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CONCLUSION
The preparation by God of Jacob, for the task ahead has been inspirational. Now we wait to see if the terrible dysfunction that has caused him so much angst until now, has abated.
CHAPTER 5
ESAU MEETS JACOB WITH PLEASURE
“And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and, looked, and behold, Esau came”, Genesis 33:1.
FOCUS:
In Genesis 33 there is a tiny slice of family history that records joy and delight between two brothers, twins, who, it appears, have genuinely missed each other.
1. JACOB GETS A GOOD RESULT AT LAST
It is a relief to read the meeting between Esau and Jacob, wedged as it is, between such emotive and action packed chapters. Having recently moved from one confrontation, which Jacob solved peacefully, he is now confronted with another, which is solved with equanimity also. He uses planning and praying, to help him get the best result for this second confrontation.
The struggle to redress wrongs is often difficult, and mostly needs to accommodate fear, humility, a sense of vulnerability, and hope, and in the end gratitude, for what has been accomplished.
This significant incident represents a spiritual shift of emphasis from the individual, to the national identity. The incident occurs on the border of what will become the boundary of Israel, as it is the site of the first victory over the kings of the Promised Land, as they emerge from the wilderness. Jacob/Israel is the father of the emerging nation. The prayer for help in this confronting situation is a model for us all, when we are fearful, Genesis 32:9-12.
Consider:
* How was Jacob stronger and weaker, for his utter and complete surrender to the power of God in his time of need?
* Does it happen that we get both strength and weakness as a result of prayer?
* God gives us the strength to overcome, but do we view submission to others, as He asks of us, as a weakness?
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With the change of name from Jacob to Israel, the tone of our narrative changes. Jacob, as we shall see, retains vestiges of his old character that mar the family's God like progress through the land, but, in all, the story now portrays wisdom, and maturity, and a character, moving towards that ideal, uprightness, which is in the name Jacob.
It is noteworthy that as he moves towards the ideal in his name, Jacob has a name change. We need to be careful here for it is not a changed name, but an additional name. Saul’s name, (Acts 13:9), was not changed, he kept his Hebrew name, but he was thereafter known by the Greek, Paul. Abram and Sarai had their names changed to Abraham and Sarah, and those names were subsequently used. Mostly Jacob is called by his original name, but his new name, Israel, is used at times of great consequence. Later, in Genesis 35:10, after God endorses the name change/addition, both names are used. In Genesis 48:2 both names are used: “when Jacob was told ..., Israel rallied his strength” but the Scripture is speaking about the same person. Moses, under inspiration, uses both.
God wanted to underline His message that the great nation He had predicted was now in its embryo - so He uses a name change for that purpose.
2. PEACE WITH ESAU
Now Jacob had told the men who were leading with gifts for Esau to address (through a messenger) Esau as “lord” - “I am your servant”, that is, (“I am reformed”). He wishes to find grace in Esau's sight.
He does find grace and peace - the peace that God had promised, when He spoke to Jacob, at Bethel 20 years ago, of his return to this land.
Jacob had stolen Esau’s birthright and blessing, and made himself chief, now he assumes the manner of a servant, and he and his family prepare to bow down to Esau, recognising the chieftainship of his brother. Jacob bowed seven times. His fear has been diluted by exile and other troubles, but it now wells within him again. His old distress and guilt multiplies more fear, especially when his messenger returns to tell him that Esau has 400 men with him.
Distress and guilt should never simmer. If evil actions make guilt, we need to recognise the guilt and retrace, and undo the deed as best we can, striving for forgiveness. Simmering guilt never enhances a Godly character. Now, here in this story, we see the result of simmering guilt.
Esau, himself grown wealthy, independent of the family, and also blessed by God, as Isaac had promised him, stands before Jacob. The waves of animals that have passed in front of Esau awed him, as Jacob had intended it should. Jacob's double insurance (for God had reassured him at the Brook Jabbok) of a gift for Esau of such magnitude would have also impressed Esau's 400 men. Jacob placed his secondary wives and children in front, and next Leah and her children, and then “hindermost” his favourite and beloved Rachel and Joseph. Jacob then approached Esau. We need to remember this incident, later, when Joseph talks of “bowings down”, for he is watching this performance. Jacob must have been mightily relieved, as he raised himself from his seventh bow, to see that Esau was running to meet him, and embraced him. Indeed the whole Jacob company must have been relieved, but especially this small seven year old child, who must have picked up some of the feelings of fear that Jacob felt, and noted the preparations that went into impressing this uncle of his. He had lived and fled, with his family, from under the subjugation of his great uncle Laban's leadership, and here it seems they have met more humiliation.
Jacob’s plan, of the parading show and the enormous gift, seems inconsistent with his prayer, until we realise that God does not expect us to sit back and do nothing. Still we need to hedge our efforts with sensitivity. It could be argued, as Esau did, that Jacob’s show was over the top of sensitivity, but Jacob had other considerations in mind.
Esau ran to meet Jacob and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept. Oh, what joy at last! This little boy Joseph, now had this scene, as well, etched in his memory, for, many years later, when he was Prime Minister of Egypt, he also fell on the neck of his long lost estranged brethren, as these brothers did. The sons of Jacob bowed to Joseph many times, as his dreams predicted they would, in a reversal of this humiliating incident.
But tradition has spoiled the beauty of this story and added spite instead. We hope it is more than naivety that hopes the following story is pure fiction. Spite seems entirely out of order.
Comment:
Firstly
- H. L. Ellison, in “Fathers of the Covenant”, page 77, tells us of a row of four little dots over the one word in Hebrew for “and he kissed him”. Jewish tradition explains these as the four teeth marks of Esau as he actually bit Jacob. While we may wish to ignore this piece of Rabbinic fancy, and dismiss it as untrue, and wish to have no further discussion on the point, we may accept the implied judgment on Esau’s former unsavoury behaviour, and that this incident is an extension of it. Added to this there is no suggestion in Scripture that his character had really changed.
The most likely explanation, that we may favour, is that God had spoken to Esau, as He had to Laban, and had warned him against any violent action towards Jacob and to any of his family. We cannot really ignore the implications of four hundred men who followed Esau, as his entourage.
Ellison feels that it is tragic that the whole story lives on in Jewish memory, not as an indication of what God expects of His people Israel, (which may be an inditement upon them), but rather as something that affects their diet, even to this very day. Hindquarters’ meat has to be “porged”, that is, have the sinew removed, a difficult process. This means that in many countries, the orthodox Jew does not eat hindquarters’ meat. The Israelites did not eat the sinew as a reminder of how their ancestor became Israel; if this fact is forgotten, the prohibition becomes a mere bit of ritualism, and of no meaning to them.
Secondly
- There is a tradition amongst Muslims, in THE KORAN addendum, of (CXIV.) SURA V. - THE TABLE MEDINA. - at 65, “ ‘The hand of God’, says the Jews, ‘is chained up’. Their own hands shall be chained up - and for that which they have said shall they be accursed. Nay! Outstretched are both His hands!” They take this to mean, that in Paradise the Jews will have their right hand stuck to the left hand side of their neck. That would almost completely immobilise them. This Muslim tradition claims that God’s hands are outstretched only to them. A spiteful belief. No less an incident of spite as the notion of the bite of Esau on Jacob, in the first comment, that is, Jews against Muslims.
From these points, we can understand that there is no effort from either side, in giving the glory for the incident to God.
1. In the tradition of a bite from Esau and not a kiss, the lesson of God working in Jacob’s life, and how he came to trust in Him is lost, while the emphasis is on a spiteful act of an enemy.
2. As well, the meaning of the thigh injury is forgotten, in the useless focus on things fanciful and unnecessary.
This is indeed a disappointment.
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The important thing to stress then here, in “Kith and Kin”, is, that God had solved Jacob’s pressing problem with Esau, (restraining, or retraining Esau somehow), in a Godly way. We are not told how He did so, or how long the affection for Jacob lasted. But God’s solving of the pressing problem, did not allow Jacob to escape from it. This time he had to confront it, and God brought him to face his problem in a weakness, dependant on God's strength.
“Who are those with you?” asks Esau, and is introduced to Jacob’s family - “God’s gracious gift”, Jacob calls his family, (indeed they are, tithes, or pledges, for God, that is, blessings from God for God, to be used in His service). They all bow down to Esau. Note that Joseph now has his forehead to the earth as well and his eyes downcast.
3. ESAU - AND JACOB’S TITHES FOR GOD
- The past cannot be forgotten, but
- The offence can be forgiven only if there is repentance, and
- Then the hurt is no longer held accountable by God, or by the offended.
- The matter of restitution to God and the offended is no small consideration.
There are many unanswered questions here, about blessings and tithes and pledges and forgiveness and restitution. It may be as well to pause and consider the great human tendencies and truths being worked out here in the text, as the two brothers meet. Here are the four considerations.
Consider:
1. About - BLESSINGS:
Esau asks Jacob
“What meanest thou by all this drove?”
“Why have you sent me all these presents?”
(the presents that Jacob had sent on ahead).
* Can we put aside our surety of mind that these gifts were the result of simmering guilt, and an insurance, and look for a higher motive for Jacob’s inappropriate gift?
* Has Jacob realised that to have blessings, is to know that blessings are to be rendered back to God?
* Does Jacob know that rendering our blessings back to God results in a wealth of blessings?
As noble gestures have often been born of the ignoble, we can assume that Jacob is at last a blessing to God. What a pleasing thing that was for God. Jacob calls his princely gift “my blessing”, (his tithe), because he considered it good fortune that Esau, after all the protestations, received it.
2. About - TITHES:
We have considered that these blessings might have been the tithes or pledges, which Jacob promised at Bethel, before Haran.
* If Jacob has no information about the tithes, is this how God wants Jacob to “render” his tithes to Him?
* If not, and if Jacob, as well, is unsure in the matter of his promised tithes to God at Bethel, how else would God like them to be “rendered”?
* Is this a further recognition of Abraham’s example of the tithing gift to Melchisedec, a recognition that “giving” or “pledging” is a worship principle?
3. About - FORGIVENESS:
“For therefore I have seen thy face”, meaning (as “the face of God”), says Jacob of Esau.
* Does this indicate Jacob’s fear, and so he flatters his brother?
* Is it just Oriental hyperbole?
* Or does he really mean that Esau presents a face as gracious and good, as the face of God,
which he has just seen at Peniel?
* Or does it mean that the blessing of the love between Jacob and Esau, where a vengeful Esau does not contend with him now, is forgiveness, and a continuation of the love that God has shown to him (Jacob)?
* Or are Esau’s memory and moral nature only obscured by the overwhelming presents that Jacob brings to the meeting as an appeasement (which he accepts, after Jacob presses him to do so)?
* Can we recognise in Esau’s initial refusal, that he has selectively forgotten his murderous intent and his anger at Jacob’s deception?
* If Esau seemed disinclined to murder his brother after all, what was he feeling and thinking?
* In any case how can we tell about forgiveness, where others are concerned?
If Esau no longer has a murderous intent that would mean that the gift or tithe rendering has achieved that aim, at least. So -
* Is Esau repentant of the murderous intent?
* Is Esau now forgiven, like Cain, for his murderous intent, and as his nephews will be in Egypt far into the future?
Forgiveness from God, for such an intent would be another blessing on both these brothers.
* Did Esau now, like Cain, stand marked, but in a state of forgiveness, which he, or his tribes people, may later have cancelled?
4. About - RESTITUTION:
Jacob did not know that God had blessed Esau with wealth as well, and that Esau does not need Jacob’s presents, so Jacob may indeed have intended his gift as a paying back,
or restitution, or a “memorial” to Esau. However because of Esau's wealth, Jacob’s gift could not be a “memorial” (like Cornelius’ gifts to the poor), Acts 10:4.
* Is this a gesture by Jacob to give back the blessing to Esau, for he now knows that it is God who gives blessings?
* Although this blessing does not make up for the blessings lost under Isaac’s hand, and are the best that Jacob can now do, does Jacob’s gesture repair the breach?
* Surprise is another factor - did the display surprise Esau?
* Or had Esau planned forgiveness, and so he was ready to accept the idea of restitution when it was offered?
* Or did Esau still not understand?
* Has Esau’s wealth now made up for the wealth that he lost from Isaac, at the blessing time, when he thought he would be doubly blessed?
* Again, perhaps Esau did not really value the Abrahamic Covenant that accompanied Isaac’s blessings to Jacob, so, with better understanding, is he now more content.
Well Jacob now has a painful, ungainly limp and seems to be at a disadvantage against a warrior's swagger.
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Esau had sought Isaac to change his mind over the blessing incident. He had never learned (been taught) to value it, and is later described in Hebrews 12:16 as “godless”, and “profane”. Later, when the children of Israel were travelling to the Promised Land, God asks that they respect His gift of land to the Edomites (the descendants of Esau, Genesis 36.1), as also His gift to the Ammonites and Moabites (the descendants of Lot) just as He gave Israel the territories east of Jordan (Deuteronomy 2). The Israelites were not to provoke these peoples (their relations) and God asked them to pay their way with silver, to pay for food and water that they may consume on the journey. However, history records that the Edomites arrogantly rebuffed the peaceful negotiations of Moses, and refused permission for them to travel through Edom (Numbers 20:14-21).
So the hurt is -
Remembered or forgotten?
There is now
Spite, anger, vengeance,
Or remorse and contrition
We shall see.
It’s not for us to say.
But there’s more.
4. ESAU’S TRIBES PEOPLE - THE EDOMITES
There are some Old Testament references to the destruction of Edom for their uncompromising attitude towards Israel. So there is retribution from God on them.
“Because you harboured an ancient hostility (to Israel) ... I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you”, Ezekiel 25:12-14.
The hostility between Jacob and Esau is here noted. So it was not forgotten.
Biographical novelists, after research, record history and within it create their own impressions. Thomas Mann, the German novelist, in his mighty work “Joseph and His Brothers - The Tales of Jacob”, early this century, writes some wonderful stories from small incidents. He weaves a pattern of Jacob’s attitude to his brother, and about Jacob’s hard inner thoughts about Esau - hardly our generally accepted view of Jacob’s humility and graciousness and generosity, and the loving attitude of each brother. We may have only assumed that perspective to suit our sensibilities. It is interesting to note Mann’s point of view and expression of Jacob’s inner thoughts as “empty”, “idle”, “of feeble wit”, “a fool, is this brother of mine”, “for that which happened between us will not be buried”. Mann builds a case for Jacob despising Esau, page 128-131, and glad to get the meeting over and done with and that Jacob understands that the incident can never be forgiven or forgotten, and that he knows also that this is all play acting.
On the other hand H. A. Whittaker asks: “How could Esau carry on a vendetta against a brother who was now in such a parlous, physical condition?” page 78.
It would be easy, to destroy Jacob, as he is now disabled, if Esau really was still full of hatred. It seems he had now turned from hatred and willingness to destroy his brother. We cannot tell whether it was his own noble idea, or whether God had encouraged him to do so.
5. POST SIN TRAUMA FOR JACOB, FOR ESAU, FOR US
The conversation that follows is not difficult to understand. There are such niceties and courtesies recorded on both sides - no anger, no criticism and no pathos - only courtesy. We wonder whether it is false courtesy. However that is a legitimate way to re establish fractured relationships, because it can lead on to healing, and eventually the falseness of it fades.
Comment:
The birthright/blessing incidents are not covered over.
David’s sin was forgiven by God, but not forgotten by God, or by the nation, or by David himself. No one can ever forget, it is part of our brain and we cannot deny it. We can only “forget”, in the sense that a hurt is not deliberately remembered or counted any more.
David, before it was recorded in The Canon of Scripture, sent his Psalm 51 to the musicians to sing about his sin and its consequence, and its plea for forgiveness. We read about it, and sing about it in hymns. If we had been left to form the Canon maybe we would have left that incident out. It did cause the enemies of God to blaspheme, but it is there for all to see.
Sin, when we become anti Christ or anti God, can never be covered over. Damage control, and dealing with the consequences is the only way out. Post sin trauma it is called.
Spiritual communities, families, spouses need continually to repair marred relationships. Like cracked glass, we can never return to the pure state, except by God’s grace. We need to practise re inventing relationships, replenishing, repolishing relationships continually. Wise eldership will ensure that renewal is part of worshipping management. If sin - bad behaviour, omissions, crack plastering (pretending the crack isn’t there) - is ignored, it will fester. Managing imperfection helps renew relationships. Learning about sin, how we sin, and its management, can be a growing experience. God would be pleased that we took the time and trouble, for it is the sin, not the sinner, He abhors.
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In any case, Jacob should not expect, or ask of Esau, more than he is able to give in this relationship, since Esau’s learning experiences within the family towards a point of growth, were limited. Jacob has changed. God wrought that change with the experiences He gave him. Esau, not having God’s special care towards the development of the great nation of Israel, as Jacob had, will be deficient - all in God’s plan. We cannot expect more of a dog, than a dog is able to give - however dogs are trainable in a limited way. We should never stop training, or learning, about sin and what we can do about it.
Jacob declines Esau’s offer of help for the journey and Esau, assuming Jacob will follow him to Seir, as Jacob stated he would in Genesis 33:14, departs. Jacob went to Succoth. Surely Jacob is not the deceiver again. Esau would feel slighted when Jacob does not appear, and he hears of him at Succoth, unless Jacob sent a message of regret. Perhaps Esau was anxious to show Jacob his family and home.
H. A. Whittaker in “Wrestling Jacob”, page 80 and 81, graciously extends Jacob an excuse for not following, giving an explanation of the reply of Jacob: “Just let me find favour in the eyes of my lord”, infers, “let me settle here”. We hope that Jacob does not have the same old problem of not being able to state his intention.
Esau is once again confused. Jacob keeps up the patronising “my lord”, through the conversation, all the time determining his own course without telling Esau. Still, they had too many possessions to live together, Genesis 36:6, 7, although Jacob had now transferred many of his to Esau, and was less wealthy.
Another point of view suggests Jacob was not strong enough to travel with Esau, and went to Succoth to recover from his thigh injury. Hopefully, Jacob sent the explanation message to Esau, indicating his intentions and reasons for the change of plan. These are all points to consider
Esau married the daughter of Ishmael, Mahalath, his third wife, after he left Isaac’s house. So he went south to Egypt, when Jacob went north to Haran. The children of Ishmael therefore multiplied through Esau, (Arabs, who later mostly accepted the Muslim faith). There is no doubt that Abraham is their “father”, and their claims of covenantal relationship are substantial.
6. SHECHEM - A SECURE POSSESSION
Jacob, at Succoth, built a place for himself and family and shelters for his livestock. This place is probably at the junction of the Jabbok and the Jordan River. He built a more substantial dwelling than before and his flocks were watered and well fed there. He needed protection to rest to regain his strength from the stress of the two confrontations and the physical injury that he had suffered. He was disabled, and in this place God cared for him and sustained him, and at last enabled him again. We know ourselves that such an injury would take many months to heal, and the resultant inflammation would cause great pain. As well, arthritis would set in, and Jacob could quite possibly have a permanent, or re occurring limp. After some time, probably over a year, when he was refreshed, he crossed the Jordan River.
Jacob then came to Shalem in the city of Shechem in Canaan intending to settle - another stage in the fulfilment of the Bethel promise. If he came peacefully and safely (“Shalom” in some versions), Jacob must have been cured of his injury, though not of the consequences. This Shechem is where Abraham first came, in his early days (Genesis 12:6, 7, Canaanites’ land then, and now - a span of 185 years.
But the big question we want to ask Jacob is:
“Why, oh why, didn't you go on to Bethel, for it was the ‘God of Bethel’ who spoke to you in Haran? It was where you had your first dream, your dream place, and where God promised you peace and security?”
Logically, Bethel was the most obvious destination, but Hebron where Isaac probably still lived, or even Beersheba, would be understandable. However, it’s useless to speculate, why Jacob did not go to Bethel, as his wives expected, when the Bible is silent.
Jacob bought (from the sons of Hamor, Hivites, the father of Shechem, after whom the town was later named), a plot of ground for his dwelling, and the altar he wished to build to his God. It was here at this altar that Jacob first calls his Lord “My Lord”. Perhaps Jacob desperately wanted to imitate his grandfather, Abraham, in his stop at Shechem.
Consider:
* Why did Jacob later tell Joseph (Genesis 48:22) that he “took the land with sword and bow”?
Joseph was present with Jacob here, as a nine year old boy. Perhaps the conversation between Joseph and Jacob referred to the Dinah incident, just about to happen, and the property take over at that point in history, recorded just after the purchase of the land in Shechem. Better to purchase it legally, for an altar in the middle of the Canaanites, like Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah.
* Was the Machpelah cave always available?
* How big was the cave?
* Why was Joseph buried here, in Shechem, Joshua 24:32?
* And his brothers?
* Did they need another burial place and this purchase in Shechem fulfilled that extra need?
Certainly title deeds were important family documents.
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The ownership of land may have been difficult to enforce in absentia, or when enemies overran small plots of ground, in alien lands. Laban was worried that Jacob, or his descendants may return to Haran, and claim ownership - that’s why he wanted his title deeds returned (if indeed title deeds were in the teraphim). He never got them from Rachel, but Jacob never intended to cross the covenant line (the Mispah), and never claimed the Haran land.
However, this Shechem plot of land, remarkably, remained a secure possession even when they were away in Egypt for 285 years. The documents retained their validity through all the changing historical circumstances, for later Joseph was buried in Shechem. This does always happen for us even today. It is not a fulfilment of the land promise for it is not inherited from God. This Shechem plot was purchased.
7. SAD CONSEQUENCES - AFTER A GREAT BEGINNING IN THE NEW LAND
Perhaps the Esau meeting incident was so fraught with fear for Jacob that its passing brought neglect, or forgetting, of the vows he had uttered so fervently when his future was precarious. How often it happens to us - how earnestly we pray when life’s pathway is rugged, yet how we lapse, when all seems well. Yet we know the admonition: “Pray without ceasing”. That means - constantly, without ceasing, be in touch with God.
However, out of this torpor, Jacob rudely awakes. His softness for family and family guidance (rather like Isaac) is rewarded with his children behaving in a way, which made the family's name a shame among the people around them. It is doubly shameful, as Jacob had here constructed an altar to worship God, who required not only prescribed worship, but lawful behaviour and respect, as an outward sign of the faith in YHWH. So the incident shamed God as well. Jacob is punished with consequences for his lack of guidance, by the usual law of family disaster, of the most painful kind, for indeed family dysfunction was operating.
CONCLUSION:
If Jacob had gone to Bethel, the next terrible chapter, Genesis 34, telling of a great shame, need not have recorded such a disgraceful incident. The name of God appears immediately before and after the chapter, but not in the chapter itself. God was left out of the picture, where He is so much in the picture in the chapter we have just considered. Little wonder God immediately after the incident commands Jacob to go to Bethel.
