[It just doesn’t add up,  “1+2+2=11+1+1”— it was not meant to, just wanted to get your attention and actually, what equation does represent is Yaakov, 2 wives, 2 concubines, 11 sons when he sets out for his return trip, a youngest son born to beloved wife Rahel, and a daughter Dinah.  Does it figure?

 Continuing the Yaakov series “Becoming Israel,” here are more points form Sinaite’s discussions of these chapters. Translation is Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses. —Admin 1.]

The condensed form of Chapters 29-30: 

• Yaakov meets Rachel at the well
• Yaakov meets Laban, Rachel’s father
• Yaakov agrees to work for Laban 7 years so he could marry Rachel
• Yaakov is deceived by Laban and substitutes Leah the older sister
• Yaakov puts in another 7 years to marry Rachel
• Yaakov bears children not only with Leah and Rachel, but with their maidservants Bilhah and Zilpah as well

Sibling rivalry, this time between the sister-wives Leah and Rachel, keeps Ya’aqob busy fulfilling the divine mandate to “be fruitful and multiply.”

For the period of time he’s committed to serving Laban, he manages to sire11 sons and a daughter from 4 women, all consensual. The culture of the times not only allowed polygamy, but also surrogate mothers (maidservants) when wives could not bear children. Notice how the wives claim the children born from their maidservants as though these were their own.

Rachel on Bilhah’s sons [30:4-8]:

Leah on Zilpah’s sons [vs 9-12]

We never hear a peep out of Bilhah and Zilpah; evidently they are culturally and socially conditioned to produce for their mistresses and allow themselves to be as concubines for their master.

Image from www.pinterest.com

Left on their own, humankind make up their own rules, marginalizing genders, races, the young and the old, slaves/servants, those who have no voice and therefore have no rights. YHWH’s Torah will later address these inequalities with its commandments to care for the orphans, widows, servants, the stranger among you. But until that time, the Genesis narratives simply follow the progression of the divine plan to form a people who will be separate and different and be His light-bearer and model community to the nations; stories without critical commentary on how it should not be, but simply that it was so.  For exactly, that is how narratives tell it,  and so it was.

So let’s get the children of Ya’aqob in their natural order from eldest to youngest, all born while still in Haran:

• Leah
  • Son# 1  Re’uven. . . . (29:32)
  • 31 Now when YHVH saw that Lea was hated, 
    he opened her womb, 
    while Rahel was barren.
    32 So Lea became pregnant and bore a son; 
    she called his name: Re’uven/See, a Son! 
    for she said: 
    Indeed, YHVH has seen my being afflicted, 
    indeed, now my husband will love me!
  • Son #2  Shim’on. . . (29:33)
  • 33 She became pregnant again and bore a son, 
    and said: 
    Indeed, YHVH has heard that I am hated, 
    so he has given me this one as well! 
    And she called his name: Shim’on/Hearing.
  • Son #3  Levi . . . . (29:34)
  • 34 She became pregnant again and bore a son, 
    and said: 
    Now this time my husband will be joined to me, 
    for I have borne him three sons! 
    Therefore they called his name: Levi/Joining.
  • Son #4  Yehuda . . . . (29:35)
  • 35 She became pregnant again and bore a son, 
    and said:
    This time I will give thanks to YHVH! 
    Therefore she called his name: Yehuda/Giving-thanks. 
    Then she stopped giving birth.

• Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant
  • Son #5  Dan . . . . (30:6)
  • 6 Rahel said: 
    God has done-me-justice; yes, he has heard my voice! 
    He has given me a son! 
    Therefore she called his name: Dan/He-has-done-justice.
  • Son #6  Naftali. . . . (30:7-8)
  • 7 And Bilha, Rahel’s maid, became pregnant again and bore a second son to Yaakov. 8 Rahel said:  A struggle of God have I struggled with my sister; yes, I have prevailed!  So she called his name: Naftali/My Struggle.
• Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant
  • Son #7  Gad . . . (30:9-11)
  • 9 Now when Lea saw that she had stopped giving birth,  she took Zilpa her maid and gave her to Yaakov as a wife. 10 Zilpa, Lea’s maid, bore Yaakov a son. 11 Lea said:  What fortune!  So she called his name: Gad/Fortune.
  • Son #8  Asher. . . . (30:12-13)
  • 12 And Zilpa, Lea’s maid, bore a second son to Yaakov. 13 Lea said:  What happiness!  For women will deem me happy.  So she called his name: Asher/Happiness.
• Leah
  • Son #9  Yissakhar . . . . (30:17-18)
    
    17 And God hearkened to Lea, 
     
    so that she became pregnant and bore Yaakov a fifth son.
     
    18 Lea said: 
     
    God has given me my hired-wages, 
     
    because I gave my maid to my husband! 
     
    So she called his name: Yissakhar/There-is-hire.
  • Son #10  Zevulun. . . .(30:19-20)
  • 19 Once again Lea became pregnant, and she bore a sixth son to Yaakov.
    20 Lea said: 
    God has presented me with a good present, 
    this time my husband will prize me- 
    for I have borne him six sons! 
    So she called his name: Zevulun/Prince.
    

    Dinah by Faela Elana, Image from deviantart.com

• • Daughter . . . 
• • 21 Afterward
  • she bore
  • a daughter,
  • and called
  • her name
  • Dina.

• Rachel
  • Son #11  Yosef, . . .
  • 22 But God kept Rahel in mind, 
    God hearkened to her and opened her womb,
    23 so that she became pregnant and bore a son. 
    She said: 
    God has removed/asaf 
    my reproach!
    24 So she called his name: Yosef, 
    saying: 
    May YHVH add/yosef 
    another son to me!

After the birth of Yosef, Yaakov asks Lavan permission to go back to homeland. This brings about the episode about the partition of flocks tended by Yaakov between him and his uncle, with God overruling all the conniving of Lavan as well as Yaakov.  Just like Avraham and Yitzhak, Yaakov keeps getting prosperous despite the setbacks he faces on Lavan’s turf:  

Image from e-blast.org

43 The man burst-forth-with-wealth exceedingly, yes, exceedingly, he came to have many flock-animals and maids and servants, and camels and donkeys.

Doesn’t our head count of Ya’aqob’s sons fall short of 12?  Yes, the youngest son Binyamiyn will be born from Rachel on the journey back to Canaan.

Genesis/Bereshith 35: 

[Just like the series Journey of Faith, ‘Becoming Israel’ is the Sinaite’s reading of the chapters that focus on the life of the third patriarch, Yaakov/Jacob who is later renamed “Israel”. The intent is to share our discussions and insights as introduction to subsequent posts that feature the three commentaries. Translation is Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]

Image from www.rgbstock.com

There is not much to comment about Yaakov’s quest for a bride except for the fact that he ends up with—not one but two—brides who are sisters, plus two maidservant/concubines.  Out of these four women are born 12 sons and a daughter. Most bible students who never read Genesis carefully miss such details that come as a shock in cultures where monogamy is the the rule for marital relations.  It is easy to follow the narrative; it is not easy to relate to the culture of multiple wives and concubines for the formation of the chosen people; that’s just the way it was then, and so be it. Surely this has been used to justify polygamy in some religious sects but let us understand this:  God worked His Will and Way within the mores of those times as He does these post-Sinai-revelation times. They had an excuse for living according to practices of their times, much has changed since then. Continuing with the 3rd stage of the patriarchal narratives, let’s scrutinize the text since we really need to get the details straight this time around: 28:3-4  Yitzhak repeats the blessing he had unknowingly given his supplanter son earlier; why the repetition? Ponder the following:

• Because earlier he thought he was giving it to Esau;
• this time even if he discovered he had been deceived, yet he still gives it to Ya’aqob instead of correcting the “wrong”;
• Does that indicate that a blessing wrongly or rather, given to the wrong recipient is irrevocable?
• Perhaps it is the custom of the times (word of honor);  OR,
• perhaps Yitschaq knew all along what God had planned for his sons, just like Rebekah did before the twins were born;
• If Yitschaq did know all along, then he would have known he was violating the Divine Will if he had proceeded to give it to his favored firstborn Esau, to whom he really and originally wanted to give it;
• Is it possible he knew he was being deceived by Yaakov after all, and played along?
• Why?  So he would have a good excuse to tell the son he favored that he could not give him what God had not willed for him; remember, Yitschaq is a passive type, he simply lets things happen.
• But — this is all speculation.

Ya’aqob leaves his father’s house [in Beer-sheba] for 2 reasons:

• to seek for himself a bride from among his kin in Haran [where Terah died, where Abraham left];
•  at his mother’s instigation to save him from Esau’s declared threat to kill him—-

Kinship language tends to get confusing so let’s get the relationships right:

• Bethuel is—the Aramean [who probably spoke Aramaic, Terah’s son who remained behind inPaddan-aram]
  • Abraham’s brother
  • Rebekah’s father
  • Ya’aqob’s grandfather

• Laban is —
  • the son of Bethuel
  • Rebekah’s brother
  • Ya’aqob’s maternal uncle
• Rachel and Leah areYa’aqob’s cousins, daughters ofLaban
  • Bilhah and Zilpah are the maidservants of the sisters

28:10-22 Ya’aqob’s journey turns out to be—-

• not simply a quest for a bride
• but a personal exile from his parents home
• and it also turns out to be his own spiritual encounter with the God of Abraham and Yitschaq Who will now be his personal God as well:
• vs. 11 —  http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/geo/Moriah.htmlconnect “the place” where Jacob spent the night and dreamt about theladder with the following biblical events:
  • In the course of time the mountain had acquired an aura of sanctity and he subject of many traditions. Indeed, its sacred status may date back to the early Canaanite period, when it perhaps was the cultic center of “El Elyon,” god of Melchizedek, king of Salem: “And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High [=El Elyon]. He blessed him, saying, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, creator of heaven and earth” (Genesis 14:18).
  • The best-known tradition related to Mount Moriah is the Binding of Isaac for sacrifice by his father Abraham, related in Genesis 22.
  • The tradition of “Jacob’s Dream” is also identified with Mount Moriah: “He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it. And the Lord was standing beside him… Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, … “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God and that is the gateway to heaven” (Genesis 28:10-18).

This is perhaps the most colorful representation of the essential nature of the site which some would later claim was the “navel of the world”. At the summit of Mount Moriah, traditionally, is the “Foundation Stone,” the symbolic fundament of the world’s creation, and reputedly the site of the Temple’s Holy of Holies, the supreme embodiment of the relationship between God and the people of Israel.

• • Upon the completion of King Solomon’s Temple, famed for its sumptuous splendor, the Ark of the Covenant was placed within its confines. The sanctity of the site is reflected in the graphic description provided by the Book of Kings: “the priests came out of the sanctuary for the cloud had filled the House of the Lord and the priests were not able to remain and perform the service because of the cloud, for the Presence of the Lord filled the House of the Lord…” (1 Kings 8:11).

• vs. 12-15 — Ya’aqob had a dream.  During the dream,Yaakov encounters God whopersonalizes for this third generation patriarch the same promises He had given Abraham andYitschaq:
  •  a “ladder”
  • slanted “eastward”
  • with its top reaching “heavenward”
  • angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
  • Significance?
    • Artscroll note:  “The dreams mentioned in Scripture are vehicles of prophecy. Jacob’s dream symbolized the future of the Jewish people and man’s ability to connect himself to God’s master plan.”
    • Other Jewish interpretations:
    • For the curious, we add the Christian interpretation:  predictably, the ladder is who else, Jesus Christ.
      • Prayer
      • Spiritual journey is a step-by-step ascent toward God
      • God’s provisions for mankind to reach Him just as He reaches down to mankind

Genesis Bereshith 28

Take note that:

• “the place” was still within the land of Canaan, the future site of the Temple, “the house of God.”
• Ya’aqob is still named Ya’aqob and is travelling towards the land of idol-worshippers, the surviving family of Terah.
• At this time, the land is still Canaan, populated by idolaters themselves who indulged in abominable practices.
• This 3rd generation from Abraham who will be the progenitor of the people of Israel is a gentile, just as Abraham and Yitschaq were gentiles.
• He is being prepared to be the progenitor of the chosen people,  yet-to-be formed from the sons who would descend from him.
• Despite human machination to influence events for their desired self-serving results, God’s plan to create a people proceeds as divinely willed.

[This series “Journey of Faith” reflect the Sinaite perspective on specific characters who figure prominently in the narratives that trace the beginnings of the nation of Israel. It also presents scriptural text uninterrupted by commentary. Translation by Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1..]

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His name means “heel.”  What’s with this name for a would-be patriarch? 

• Imagine missing out on being the firstborn just because his twin was positioned in his mother’s womb to exit first, thereby missing out on primogeniture, the inheritance rights bestowed on the eldest son. 
• Imagine, just because as a full-term fetus who’s ready to burst out of his mother’s confining but nurturing womb, his hand instinctively grasped at something that would help propel his grand entrance into the world which just happened to be his twin’s foot! 
• So he came to be named “heel” or “holder of the heel” thereafter because of that accident of birth.  
• As if that weren’t disappointing enough, all the nativity excitement was not about him but about the one who opened the womb and got out first, 
• and that would figure into what he would end up doing later as a “supplanter,” the younger who would replace the elder in more ways than inheritance rights. 

Genesis/Bereshith 25

Father Yitzak was excited about the firstborn redhead but mother Rivka favored the younger. Having been barren just like the first matriarch Sarah, her conception and pregnancy was answered prayer enough, but YHWH decides to be even more generous by granting her twins; that second born was like a bonus!

Since husband Yitzak’s attention was on the heir on whom he anticipated bestowing all that is due a firstborn son, Rivka favors the neglected son, a mama’s boy.  Between reactive Yitzak and proactive and industrious Rivka, we can guess which son will eventually get ahead, but let us not forget that despite human machinations to influence results, there is the divine plan that has already ordained it without interfering with individual free will.  That is the mystique in divine providence we have yet to understand. 

How many of us, upon reading “heel” in this article’s title, did not associate the word with human anatomy but with its unsavory connotation –“an inconsiderate or untrustworthy person” because of the often-told story of how this “heel” supplanted his twin in blessing and inheritance by conniving with his mother to deceive his father?

 Yet 25:27 states that Yaakov was a plain man, staying among the tents.. If Yaakov progressed from ‘heel to heel,’ he did live up to his name later. Does name really define character and then become destiny?  It appears so but only within the biblical context and only in connection with the chosen people’s history. Hebrew names have meaning unlike names we bear today which are simply names for identity.

There are two separate occasions recorded where Yaakov takes advantage of Esau; casual readers tend to fuse the two into one:

Chapter 27:1-42  is another kind of deception altogether, hatched in a doting mother’s heart with mama’s boy fully complicit with its execution; after all, they shared the same ambition. 

Rivka concocts both a plot and a meal to deceive her husband, and Yaakov obeys his mother.

Notice the extent to which Ribqah goes to ensure their success–aside from cooking her husband’s favorite delectable venison delicacy, she prepares Yaakov’s disguise: clothes that has hunter Esau’s smell, and kid goats’ skin to cover his arms and neck.  

What did they think, Yitzak would fall for such a trick?  Yet, strangely and incredibly, he does.

Image from kolhaadam.wordpress.com

As a messianic teacher commented, “that must be some soup!!, wonder what’s in it?”  Well, it’s not what’s in the soup that’s the problem, it’s what is in humans that IS the problem . . . both parents and both twins, if we haven’t gotten the point already,

it’s the Eve syndrome: “I, me, my wants” and the serpent, the evil instinct is aroused.

Fortunately for mother and son, their scheme happened to work out the divine scheme, but not without consequences that hurt father and twin brother. This would haunt Ya’aqob for a good while and he would find himself the object of his sons’ deceptions later on.  

The secular minded have a saying “what goes around comes around,” while the Hindu/Buddhist term is ‘karma.’

Primogeniture, parental favoritism, sibling rivalry all played into accomplishing the Divine Will.

For us, the heart-wrenching words come from Esau: 

Chapter 27

[This Journey of Faith series give the Sinaite’s perspective on the major players in the Genesis narratives showing the interaction mostly on the horizontal level.  These are insights shared from our group discussions.  This also allows for straight reading of scripture without interruption from commentary. Translation is by Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.–Admin1.]

——————————————————

Isaac means “he laughs” or “will laugh,” and sure enough, you will be amused when you google the name, whether in Hebrew or its anglicized version.  

• Google “Yitschak” and you get everyone else today bearing that name, sampling 5 on the long list:
  • Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, a Russian rabbi
  • Yitzchak Kaduri,  a renowned Mizrahi Haredi rabbi and kabbalist
  • Yitzchak Berkovits, a Haredi Jewish rabbi
  • Yitzchak Ginsburg,  an American-born Israeli rabbi.
  • Levi Yitzchak Schneerson,  a Chabad Hasidic rabbi in Yekatrinoslav, Ukraine.
• Google “Isaac” and before you hit the biblical patriarch, the menu takes you to other “Isaacs” first such as —
  • The International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC)
  • ISAAC, The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood
  •  The Isaac Story: Isaac was formed in 2001 as a technical developer of carbon-composite forks and components. Our name – and our inspiration – comes from one of the most transformational figures in modern science: Sir ISAAC Newton.
  • ISAAC – Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera. ISAAC 

Way before the first Isaac/Yitzhak was even conceived, his own advanced-in-age father and past-childbearing mother were already laughing at the thought, in fact the promise of an heir in their old age; nevertheless it must have made Abraham and Sarah happy, joyful, and laughing all the way to Isaac’s birth.  Everyone else who heard must have had a good laugh as well. But who are they laughing at, or what are they laughing about, certainly not Isaac but the centenarian Abraham and the nonagenarian Sarah. In a previous article, we had already noted how IsaacYitzhak was someone to whom life happens instead of one who actively influences events in his life.  Compared to Abraham and Jacob, the bible relates fewer incidents in his life.  

• He was the longest lived patriarch [Abraham died at 175, Isaac at 180, Jacob at 147].  
• He was the only patriarch whose name did not change; name changes often indicate character change or change in destiny. 
• He was the only patriarch who never left Canaan.
• He was a “late bloomer,” 
  • aged 37 when his faith [as sacrificial lamb] was tested;  
  • married at 40,
  • a father at 60,
  • age 75 he moved to Beer-lai-roi after Abraham’s death.

His wife Rebekah was barren like Sarah; one thing that did move Isaac was to pray for her. God graciously answered, she conceived twins and birthed Esau and Jacob.  We learn from Isaac and Rebecca that it is not wise to  show  favoritism to children—Isaac toward the firstborn Esau, Rebekah toward second-born Jacob. The rest of his life is better told in Genesis/Bereshith 25-27.

Chapter 25

19 Now these are the begettings of Yitzhak, son of Avraham. Avraham begot Yitzhak.

20 Yitzhak was forty years old when he took Rivka daughter of Betuel the Aramean, from the country of Aram, sister of Lavan the Aramean, for himself as a wife.

21  Yitzhak entreated YHWH on behalf of his wife, for she was barren:

and YHWH granted-his-entreaty:

 Rivka his wife became pregnant.

22 But the children almost crushed one another inside her,

so she said:

If this be so,

why do I exist?

And she went to inquire of YHVH.

23 YHVH said to her:

Two nations are in your body,

two tribes from your belly shall be divided; tribe shall be mightier than tribe,

elder shall be servant to younger!

24 When her days were fulfilled for bearing, here: twins were in her body! 25 The first one came out ruddy, like a hairy mantle all over,

so they called his name: Esav/Rough-one. 

 

 

26 After that his brother came out, his hand grasping Esav’s heel,

so they called his name: Yaakov/Heel-holder.

Yitzhak was sixty years old when she bore them.

27 The lads grew up:

Esav became a man who knew the hunt, a man of the field,

but Yaakov was a plain man, staying among the tents.

28 Yitzhak grew to love Esav, for (he brought) hunted-game for his mouth,

but Rivka loved Yaakov.

29 Once Yaakov was boiling boiled-stew,

when Esav came in from the field, and he was weary.

30 Esav said to Yaakov:

Pray give me a gulp of the red-stuff, that red-stuff,

for I am so weary! 

Therefore they called his name: Edom/Red-one.

31 Yaakov said:

Sell me your firstborn-right here-and-now.

32 Esav said:

Here, I am on my way to dying, so what good to me is a firstborn-right?

Image from www.ellenwhite.info

33 Yaakov said:

Swear to me here-and-now.

He swore to him and sold his firstborn-right to Yaakov.

34 Yaakov gave Esav bread and boiled lentils;

he ate and drank and arose and went off.

Thus did Esav despise the firstborn-right.

 

Would it be presumptuous to say that Esau did not really “despise the firstborn-right” even if that is what the text says.  Put yourself in Esau’s sandals: you know that simply by being firstborn, you have the right of primogeniture; then here’s your younger brother making a deal with something that is tradition and cultural and tribal practice, no way you would lose your right as firstborn!  So he indulges Jacob/Yaakov for now, knowing that right would never be given to the second born, and knowing that  he is his father’s favorite!  The possibility of losing his birthright is remote.  ‘So hey, give me the soup, for now you can have my right’;  it’s all verbal anyway and not etch in stone, just a matter of sibling rivalry, all talk.  And perhaps this is why even Jacob/Yaakov himself had to resort to deception later to actually get the blessing from Yitzhak since this casual bargain of soup for birthright is not taken seriously by Esau. Chapter 26

1 Now there was a famine in the land, aside from the former famine which there had been in the days of Avraham,

so Yitzhak went to Avimelekh, king of the Philistines, to Gerar. 

2 And YHVH was seen by him and said:

Do not go down to Egypt;

continue to dwell in the land that I tell you of, 

3 sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will give you blessing—

for to you and to your seed I give all these lands

and will fulfill the sworn-oath that I swore to Avraham your father 

4 I will make your seed many, like the stars of the heavens,

and to your seed I will give all these lands;

all the nations of the earth shall enjoy blessing through your seed-

5 in consequence of Avraham’s hearkening to my voice

and keeping my charge: my commandments, my laws, and my instructions. 

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From here on, Isaac/Yitzhak becomes more proactive. The next story is strangely reminiscent of Abraham’s deception of the pharaoh and Abimelech, King of Gerar who, is still the same king deceived but this time by Isaac. Evidently this king didn’t learn his lesson the first time. Perhaps Isaac learned this trick from Abraham; if it worked for father, it will work for son. This made it on the critics’ list of reasons-to-doubt-the-TNK-is-divinely-sourced.  

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6 So Yitzhak stayed in Gerar. 

7 Now when the men of the place asked about his wife, he said: She is my sister,

for he was afraid to say: my wife—

(thinking): Otherwise the people of the place will  kill me on account of Rivka, for she is beautiful to look at. 

8 But it was, when he had been there a long time,

that Avimelekh, king of the Philistines, looked out through a window

and saw: there was Yitzhak laughing-and-loving with Rivka his wife! 

9 Avimelekh had Yitzhak called and said:

But here, she must be your wife!

Now how could  you say: She is my sister?

Yitzhak said to him: Indeed, I said to myself: Otherwise

I will die on account of her!  

10 Avimelekh said:

What is this that you have done to us!

One of the people might well  have lain with your wife,

and then you would have brought guilt upon us!

11 Avimelekh commanded the entire people, saying: 

Whoever touches this man or his wife must be put to death, yes, death! 

12 Yitzhak sowed in that land, and reaped in that year a hundred measures;

thus did YHVH bless him.

13 The man became great, and went on, went on becoming greater, 

 until he was exceedingly great: 

14 he had herds of sheep and herds of oxen and a large retinue-of-servants, 

and the Philistines envied him. 

15 And all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Avraham his father, the Philistines stopped up and filled with earth. 

16 Avimelekh said to Yitzhak:

Go away from us, for you have become exceedingly  more mighty (in number) than we! 

17 So Yitzhak went from there, he encamped in the wadi of Gerar

and settled there. 

18 Yitzhak again dug up the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Avraham his 

father, the Philistines having stopped them up after Avraham’s death,

and he called them by the names, the same names, by which his father had called them.

19 Yitzhak’s servants also dug in the wadi, and found there a well of living water. 

20 Now the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with the shepherds of Yitzhak, saying: The water is ours!

So he called the name of the well: Esek/Bickering, because they had bickered with him. 

21 They dug another well, and quarreled also over it, 

so he called its name: Sitna/Animosity. 

22 He moved on from there and dug another well, but they did not quarrel over it,

so he called its name: Rehovot/Space,

and said: Indeed, now YHVH has made space for us, so that we may bear fruit in the land! 

23 He went up from there to Be’er-sheva. 

24 Now YHVH was seen by him on that night and said: 

I am the God of Avraham your father. 

Do not be afraid, for I am with you,

I will bless you and will make your seed many, for the sake of Avraham my servant. 

25 He built a slaughter-site there

and called out the name of YHVH. 

He spread his tent there, and Yitzhak’s servants excavated a well there. 

26 Now Avimelekh went to him from Gerar, along with Ahuzzat  his aide and Pikhol commander of his army.

27 Yitzhak said to them:

Why have you come to me?

For you hate me and have sent me  away from you! 

28 They said:

We have seen, yes, seen that YHVH has been with you, 

so we say: Pray let there be an oath-curse between us, between us and you,

we want to cut  a covenant with you: 

29 If ever you should deal badly with us . . . ! Just as we have not harmed you and just as we have only dealt well with you and have sent you away in peace- you are now blessed by YHVH! 

30 He made them a drinking-feast, and they ate and drank. 

31 Early in the morning they swore (an oath) to one another; 

then Yitzhak sent them off,and they went from him in peace. 

32 Now it was on that same day

that Yitzhak’s servants came and told him about the well that they had been digging, they said to him:

We have found water! 

33 So he called it: Shiv’a/Swearing-seven;

therefore the name of the city is Be’er-sheva until this day. 

34 When Esav was forty years old, he took to wife Yehudit daughter of B’eri the Hittite and 

Ba’semat daughter of Elon the Hittite. 

35 And they were a bitterness of spirit to Yitzhak and Rivka. 

 

Chapter 27

1 Now when Yitzhak was old and his eyes had become too dim for seeing,

he called Esav, his elder son, and said to him:

My son!

He said to him:

Here I am. 

2 He said:

Now here, I have grown old, and do not know the day of my death

3 So now, pray pick up your weapons-your hanging-quiver and your bow, 

go out into the  field and hunt me down some hunted-game, 

4 and make me a delicacy, such as I love;

bring it to me, and I will eat it,

that I may give you  my own blessing before I die. 

5 Now Rivka was listening as Yitzhak spoke to Esav his son,

and so when Esav went off into the fields to hunt down hunted-game to bring (to him), 

6 Rivka said to Yaakov her son, saying:

Here, I was listening as your father spoke to Esav your brother, saying: 

7 Bring me some hunted-game and make me a delicacy, I will eat it

and give you blessing before YHWH, before my death.

8 So now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I command you:

9 Pray go to the flock and take me two fine goat kids from there,

I will make them into a delicacy for your father, such as he loves; 

10 you bring it to your father, and he will eat,

so that he may give you blessing before his death. 

11 Yaakov said to Rivka his mother:

Here, Esav my brother is a hairy man, and I am a  Very smooth man, 

12 perhaps my father will feel me-then I will be like a trickster in his eyes,

and I will bring a curse and not a blessing on myself! 

13 His mother said to him:

Let your curse be on me, my son!

Only: listen to my voice and go, take them for me.

14 He went and took and brought them to his mother, and his mother made a delicacy, such  as his father loved. 

15 Rivka then took the garments of Esav, her elder son, the choicest ones that were with her  in the house, 

16 and clothed Yaakov, her younger son;

and with the skins of the goat kids, she clothed his hands and the smooth-parts of his neck. 

17 Then she placed the delicacy and the bread that she had made in the hand of Yaakov her  son. 

18 He came to his father and said:

Father!

He said: Here I am. Which one are you, my son? 

19 Yaakov said to his father:

I am Esav, your firstborn.

I have done as you spoke to me:

Pray arise, sit and eat from my hunted-game,

that you may give me your own blessing. 

20 Yitzhak said to his son:

How did you find it so hastily, my son? He said: Indeed, 

YHVH your God made it happen for me.

21 Yitzhak said to Yaakov:

Pray come closer, that I may feel you, my son,

whether you are 

really my son Esav or not. 

22 Yaakov moved closer to Yitzhak his father.

He felt him and said: The voice is Yaakov’s 

voice, the hands are Esav’s hands- 

23 but he did not recognize him, for his hands were like the hands of

 Esav his brother,hairy. 

Now he was about to bless him, 

24 when he said:

Are you he, my son Esav?

He said:

I am. 

25 So he said: Bring it close to me, and I will eat from the hunted-game of my son,

in order that I may give you my own blessing.

He put it close to him and he ate,

he brought him wine and he drank.  

26 Then Yitzhak his father said to him:

Pray come close and kiss me, my son. 

27 He came close and kissed him.

Now he smelled the smell of his garments

and blessed him and said:

See, the smell of my son

is like the smell of a field

that YHVH has blessed. 

28 So may God give you

from the dew of the heavens,

from the fat of the earth,

(along with) much grain and new-wine! 

29 May peoples serve you,

may tribes

bow down to you;

be master to your brothers,

may your mother’s sons bow down to you!

Those who damn you, damned!

Those who bless you, blessed! 

30 Now it was, when Yitzhak had finished blessing Yaakov,

yes it was—Yaakov had just gone out, out from the presence of Yitzhak his father—

that Esav his brother came back from his hunting.

31 He too made a delicacy and brought it to his father.

He said to his father:

Let my father arise and eat from the hunted-game of his son,

that you may give me your own blessing. 

32 Yitzhak his father said to him:

Which one are you? He said: 

I am your son, your firstborn, Esav. 

33 Yitzhak trembled with very great trembling

and said:

Who then was he

that hunted down 

hunted-game and brought it to me-I ate it all before you came

and I gave him my blessing!

Now blessed he must remain! 

34 When Esav heard the words of his father,

he cried out with a very great and bitter cry, and 

said to his father:

Bless me, me also, father! 

35 He said:

Your brother came with deceit and took away your blessing. 

36 He said:

Is that why his name was called Yaakov/Heel-sneak? For he has now sneaked against me twice:

My firstborn-right he took, and now he has taken my blessing!

And he said:

Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me? 

37 Yitzhak answered, saying to Esav:

Here, I have made him master to you,

and all his  brothers I have given him as servants,

with grain and new-wine I have invested him—

so for you, what then can I do, my son? 

38 Esav said to his father:

Have you only a single blessing, father? 

Bless me, me also, father! 

And Esav lifted up his voice and wept. 

39 Then Yitzhak his father answered, saying to him:

Behold, from the fat of the earth

must be your dwelling-place,

from the dew of the heavens above. 

40 You will live by your sword,

you will serve your brother.

But it will be

that when you brandish it,

you will tear his yoke from your neck. 

So Yitzhak, duped by his younger son in connivance with his wife, inadvertently fulfills the prophecy.  Human machination overturns tradition and culture, and YHWH’s will is still done! But how duped, truly, was Yitzhak?  He used logic thinking how fast did Esau carry out his request; his sense of touch and smell supposedly confirmed ‘hairy hunter’ Esau and yet he had to ask not once, but twice if it was really Esau.  A commentator said that the prophecy about Yaakov was told to Rebecca/Rivka and not to Yitzhak but family dynamics as they work in reality, Yitzhak favored firstborn Esau, Rebecca favored secondborn Yaakov. Parental favoritism as it did in the story of Joseph, causes problems for the whole family.

41 Now Esav held a grudge against Yaakov because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.

Esav said in his heart:

Let the days of mourning for my father draw near

and then I will kill Yaakov my brother! 

42 Rivka was told of the words of Esav, her elder son.

She sent and called for Yaakov, her younger son,

and said to him:

Here, Esav your brother is consoling himself about you, with (the thought of) killing you. 

43 So now, my son, listen to my voice:

Arise and flee to Lavan my brother in Harran, 

44 and stay with him for some days, until your brother’s fury has turned away, 

45 until his anger turns away from you and he forgets what you did to him. 

Then I will send  and have you taken from there- —

for should I be bereaved of you both in a  single day? 

46 So Rivka said to Yitzhak:

I loathe my life because of those Hittite women;

if Yaakov should take a wife from the Hittite women—like these, from the women of the land,

 why should I have life?

 

Chapter 28

 

1 So Yitzhak called for Yaakov,

he blessed him and commanded him, saying to him:

You are not to take a wife from the women of Canaan; 2 arise, go to the country of Aram, to the house of Betuel, your mother’s father,

and take yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Lavan, your mother’s brother. 3 May God Shaddai bless you,

may he make you bear fruit and make you many,

so that you become a host of peoples. 4 And may he give you the blessing of Avraham,

to you and to your seed with you,

for you to inherit the land of your sojournings,

which God gave to Avraham. 5 So Yitzhak sent Yaakov off;

he went to the country of Aram, to Lavan son of Betuel the Aramean,

the brother of Rivka, the mother of Yaakov and Esav. 6 Now Esav saw

that Yitzhak had given Yaakov farewell-blessing and had sent him to the country of Aram, to take himself a wife from there,

(and that) when he had given him blessing, he had commanded him, saying: You are not to take a wife from the women of Canaan!

7 And Yaakov had listened to his father and his mother and had gone to the country of Aram. 8 And Esav saw

that the women of Canaan were bad in the eyes of Yitzhak his father, 9 so Esav went to Yishmael and took Mahalat daughter of Yishmael son of Avraham, sister of Nevayot, in addition to his wives as a wife.

Rebecca/Rivka seems to make crucial decisions to fulfill the prophecy told to her.  Quite strong and assertive, these wives of the Patriarchs of Israel, at least from Sarah to Rebecca, an indication that while it appears from the practice of concubinage and polygamy in the culture of those time, the women have stature unlike in other societies and cultures existing to this day, where women are marginalized if not abused.

To conclude, here’s an observation from an article in Chabad.org, based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe [http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/15573/jewish/Jacob-and-Esau.htm:] “In many respects, the Torah’s account of Isaac’s family reads like a replay of Abraham’s. Many years of childlessness are followed by the birth of two sons–the elder one “wicked” and the younger one “righteous”. Isaac favors the elder son, Esau, much as Abraham is sympathetic toward his elder son, Ishmael, while Rebecca, like Sarah, perseveres in her efforts to ensure that the younger, righteous son is recognized as the true heir of Abraham and the sole progenitor of the “great nation” which G-d promised to establish from his seed.” NSB@S6K

[Translation: EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.–Admin1.]

Photo: Isaac and Ishmael lay Abraham to rest. By Gerard Hoet (1648-1733), 1728 Figures de la Bible, courtesy of bible.org

Here ends the life and spiritual journey and witness of the ‘father of all nations’, and the progenitor of the people of Israel.  The account is brief, as it should be. It merely states his age at death, how content he was at his end of life (on earth).

 Both Isaac/Yitzchak and Ishmael/Yismael, firstborns from different mothers Sarah and Hagar, bury Abraham, a detail we’ve missed noticing for many years when as Christians, we simply swept through the “Old Testament” just so we could say we’ve read it.  

There is a phrase that might be a clue, or so we hope, is a clue, to being reconciled with our loved ones who have gone on ahead of us —vs 8 was gathered to his kinspeople. 

As far as we know, only Sarah has been buried at the cave of Makpelah, so what does the phrase mean?  

There seems to be a distinction between this phrase and descriptions of the actual burial of the physical body.  

Later, Isaac would be buried with Abraham (Genesis 49:30), and Jacob (Genesis 50:4-11), as well as the matriarchs.

Earlier in Genesis 15:15, during the cutting clean animals ratifying YHWH’s covenant with Abraham and his seed, this much is indicated: 

Here are a few more usages of “gathered to his people” or “go to his fathers”:  

• Ishmael (Genesis 25:17); 
• Isaac (Genesis 35:29); 
• Jacob (49:29, 33); 
• Aaron (Numbers 20:24, 26), 
• and Moses whose burial place was unknown (Deuteronomy 32:50), 
• David (1 Chronicles 17:11), 
• Josiah (2 Kings 22:20).

Significantly, YHWH says to Moses—-

It is a comforting thought to us, earth-bound humans who love the people in our valued circles of relationships, whether family, friends and fond acquaintances, to look forward to seeing them again in another realm of existence.  Christianity teaches that much but the Hebrew Scriptures merely hint about an afterlife; that is why Jewish teaching focuses on how to live and be fruitful and useful in the here and now, for this life we are in is all we know. Scripture is silent about the hereafter, the Eternal God simply declares:

While the context of these verses is specifically addressed to Israel before the second generation led by first generation survivors Joshua and Caleb enter the promised land, the words “choose life” are key—the original hearers were obviously already alive so what “life” were they to choose? Evidently, the “life” that is related to “loving YHWH your God by hearkening to his voice and by cleaving to him for he is your life and the length of your days”.  Surely the choice in this life has consequences in the afterlife, that is only to be expected of a just God Who blesses those who hear and heed His call to live His Way, His Torah. Whatever the Eternal God has in store for those who ‘choose life’, only He knows, we don’t worry or speculate about it, we focus on this side of eternity where our choices matter for us and for those around us.

Our Torah teacher says that when each of us have accomplished all that our God YHWH has ordained for us to do, we earn our well deserved rest in the sleep of death . . . which makes us think that we should keep ourselves as useful in all ways and opportunities that open to us until the moment we take our last breath. But what next?

There is a story, true or not,  about a rich man who had a terminal disease, the cure to which had not yet been discovered; and so he was primed about being cryogenically frozen until such time medical research would find a cure for his disease perhaps in 50 years or so.  It was not the preposterous suggestion that he scoffed at, it was the thought of being revived at a time when all his loved ones and everyone he knew would surely have died.

The generational gap of one or two generations is difficult enough to adjust to.  Indeed, where is the joy and pleasure in living among a generation of strangers in times we hardly relate to . . . in the world to come?

A nice epitaph would be:  “And he was gathered to his kinspeople.”  

May it be so for all of us, be reunited with our kinspeople.

NSB@S6K

[As we’ve explained, this Journey of Faith series reflects Sinaite’s discussion; it is usually followed by another post on the same chapter with 3 other commentaries. Translation:  Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.]

Image from www.krististephens.com

Because the account of the death of Sarah follows the account of the binding of Isaac, some Jewish commentators make the connection between the two events in the journey of Abraham. They say that the reason Sarah died so soon after was because she was heartbroken over the fact that she knew what Abraham had set out to do when he and Isaac left for Mount Moriah.  

If Sarah bore Isaac at 90 and died at age 127 and Isaac was 37, the time frame is about right so perhaps the rabbis are correct.  The question foremost in our mind is — did Sarah live long enough to know that Isaac’s life was spared? Unfortunately the narrative does not elaborate.

Genesis/Bereshith 23

Now Sara’s life was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, (thus) the years of
Sara’s life.

2 Sara died in Arba-town, that is now Hevron, in the land of Canaan. Avraham set about to
lament for Sara and to weep over her;

The end of Chapter 23 says Abraham settled in Beer-Sheba but scripture says Sarah died in Keriath-Arba, what was to be called later as Hebron in Canaan.  The wording of vs 2 suggests Abraham had to leave Beersheba to go to Hebron.

 Why was Isaac not with Abraham to mourn and weep for his mother? In fact he is not mentioned in the following text regarding Abraham’s purchase of a burial cave. 

3 then Avraham arose from the presence of his dead and spoke to the Sons of Het, saying:
4 I am a sojourner settled among you; give me title to a burial holding among you, so that I may
bury my dead from my presence.
5 The Sons of Het answered Avraham, saying to him:
6 Hear us, my lord! You are one exalted by God in our midst- in the choicest of our burial-sites
you may bury your dead, no man among us will deny you his burial-site for burying your dead!

Abraham’s reputation as “a prince of God among us” [AST]  or ‘the one with whom is Elohim’ has spread in the area.  Through him and his travels, the reputation of his God through his life-witness is known among the people he interacted with.

7 Avraham arose, he bowed low to the People of the Land, to the Sons of Het,
8 and spoke with them, saying: If it be then according to your wish that I bury my dead from my
presence, hear me and interpose for me to Efron son of Tzohar,
9 that he may give me title to the cave of Makhpela, that is his, that is at the edge of his field, for
the full silver-worth let him give me title in your midst for a burial holding.
10 Now Efron had a seat amidst the Sons of Het, and Efron the Hittite answered Avraham in the
ears of the Sons of Het, of all who had entry to the council-gate of his city, saying:
11 Not so, my lord, hear me! The field I give to you, and the cave that is therein, to you I give it;
before the eyes of the Sons of My People I give it to you- bury your dead!
12 Avraham bowed before the People of the Land
13 and spoke to Efron in the ears of the People of the Land, saying: But if you yourself would
only hear me out! I will give the silver-payment for the field, accept it from me, so that I may bury my
dead there.
14 Efron answered Avraham, saying to him:
15 My lord-hear me! A piece of land worth four hundred silver weight, what is that between me
and you! You may bury your dead!
16 Avraham hearkened to Efron: Avraham weighed out to Efron the silver-worth of which he
had spoken in the ears of the Sons of Het- four hundred silver weight at the going merchants’ rate there.

Abraham insists on paying for what would be the burial ground for Sarah and him.  This is the second recorded incident where he refuses a free offer, the other occasion was when he paid a visit to Melchizedek.

Genesis/Bereshith 14

21 The king of Sedom said to Avram: Give me the persons, and the property take for yourself.
22 Avram said to the king of Sedom: I raise my hand in the presence of YHVH, God Most-High,
Founder of Heaven and Earth,
23 if from a thread to a sandal-strap-if I should take from anything that is yours . . . ! So that you
should not say: I made Avram rich.
24 Nothing for me! Only what the lads have consumed, and the share of the men who went with
me-Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, let them take their share.

In the days of Abraham, perhaps it was wise not to accept charity when one was well able to afford, because a debt, or even a free gift makes one beholden somehow to the giver.

17 Thus was established the field of Efron, that is in Makhpela, that faces Mamre, the field as
well as the cave that is in it, and the trees that were in all the field, that were in all their territory round
about,
18 for Avraham as an acquisition, before the eyes of the Sons of Het, of all who had entry to the
council-gate of his city.
19 Afterward Avraham buried Sara his wife in the cave of the field of Makhpela, facing Mamre,
that is now Hevron, in the land of Canaan.
20 Thus was established the field as well as the cave that is in it for Avraham as a burial holding,
from the Sons of Het

It’s not as though Sarah died and Abraham remarried immediately.  There is a whole chapter in between about Abraham’s servant on an errand to find a wife for Isaac [Journey of Faith 9: The Servant Matchmaker].

Image from www.ngabo.org

Genesis/Bereshith 25

The Jewish commentators are split in their opinion as who Keturah was: some say she was Hagar, others don’t agree. Hagar was of Egyptian roots while Keturah’s ethnic connection is not stated in Scripture.  Those who do not think Keturah is Hagar refer to verse 3 (below) which mentions the sons of Abraham’s “concubines” [plural].

5 But Avraham gave over all that was his to Yitzhak.

Further, 1 Chronicles 1: 29-33 names Abraham’s descendants from these two women: 

• These were Abraham’s descendants by Hagar, through Ishmael: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 
• The sons born to Keturah: Zimram, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. 

The commentators say that Abraham truly fulfilled his title as “father of all nations” through the three women with whom he had descendants, although the lineage through Sarah’s son Isaac is the biblical focus.

Image from mygodlesslife.blogspot.com

 NSB@S6K

[Commentary is S6K; translation is Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]

——————–

Picking up from Bere’shith 18 where “3 men” left Abraham’s tent to head for Sodom, only 2 are mentioned in this next chapter.  

Why are there only 2 who arrived at Sodom, where is the 3rd?  The Jewish explanation is that one “malak” or angel had finished his assignment at the visit with Abraham while the Christian explanation, consistent with their belief that Jesus was one of the 3 men, he supposedly stayed behind to converse with Abraham.

What about us, how do we reconcile this with the interpretation we have chosen which is—these 3 men were really 3 angels with individual missions? We concur with the Jewish interpretation, the first angelic messenger had his mission accomplished; it was left for the remaining 2 to accomplish theirs.

Lot is just as Abraham was, the compleat host; he was at the city gate when he spots them, meets them, bows before them, invites them, even persuades them when they initially refuse, prepares them a meal and bakes for them  unleavened bread. 

Image from awgue.weebly.com

“Know” is the euphemism for intimacy.  What! Aren’t there enough “young and old” males in Sodom to sodomize each other, they still hanker after strange men?  As if that weren’t bad enough, Lot offers them his virgin daughters, what kind of a father is Lot? But let’s not judge Lot for giving an offer he knows they will refuse, that’s like serving ham to someone who’s strictly kosher; well, perhaps not the best analogy but the point is, readers are usually aghast at the extent to which Lot goes to protect his guests.

The men’s reaction betrays how poorly Lot has assimilated in the Sodom population; what happens next clearly tells us why Sodom deserved total destruction, by fire and brimstone raining no less from the CONSUMING FIRE Himself!  YHWH allows Abraham to plead for the stay of judgment of Sodom but reading this, one understands the depths of iniquity Sodom has sunk to; they deserve what is about to happen to them.   

The “they” in the following verses are the 2 men, the angelic messengers, who interfere and begin to accomplish the mission they were sent there for but not until they inform Lot first, instructing him to gather his family to escape the impending doom.

If Lot had sons-in-law-to-be, then not all Sodom males were homosexuals, unless these men were part of Lot’s original community when he chose to settle them there [Bere’shiyth 14:12-13]. What these fiancés must have felt when they heard Lot offering their virgin brides-to-be to the wicked men of Sodom! Why would they have any respect for Lot? So, as a result, they miss the boat, so to speak.  Amazing that YHWH continues to offer to rescue people from self-destructive or ignorant choices, paves the way, sends messengers, and yet just like these sons-in-law, people refuse to heed warnings.

16 When he lingered, the men seized his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hand of his two
daughters -because YHVH’S pity was upon him- and, bringing him out, they left him outside the city.

Unbelievable, Lot lingers . . . what is at Sodom to regret leaving? How many of us can relate to Lot at this point? This brings to mind a friend who, during a devastating earthquake of 7.8 magnitude which continued violently in enough length of time for her and her colleagues to get out of the hotel where they were having a meeting;  then there was a lull of about 10 seconds during which time this friend decided to run back inside the building to retrieve her purse when the second slow wave-like earthquake came. She was found dead days later in a fetal position under the conference table.

This exchange is interesting not so much because Lot bargains with the angel-messenger, but because of what the angel says which reveals some of the instructions given him. 

The divine order was to get Lot and his kin out of Sodom, the angels have accomplished that. Wherever Lot wished to go, that was his prerogative; the angel simply had to make sure he and kin were safely out of danger.

24 But YHVH rained down brimstone and fire upon Sedom and Amora, coming from YHVH,
from the heavens,

Strangely, vs. 24 has been used as yet another prooftext to show that 2 of the Persons of the Trinity were at work here because of the way this verse is rendered, with YHWH being repeated.  If YHWH is One, which He certainly is according to His repeated declarations about Himself, we simply have to take His word for it.  Who, better than YHWH Himself can tell us His nature.  Why trinitarians insist on splitting YHWH into 3 because of texts like this is not because of the text but because of their religious agenda.  Vs. 24 is simple and clear, YHWH rained fire and brimstone on the 2 cities from out of the heavens.  The way it is expressed must be a Hebraism. If Jack is one person, and we say Jack poured water on earth from Jack on the roof, that’s just a way of describing what Jack did. If Hebrew says it that way, and the English transliteration merely says it as the Hebrew says it, then what is the problem? Jack is still Jack and he is one person. 

25 he overturned those cities and all of the plain, all those settled in the cities and the vegetation
of the soil.
26 Now his wife gazed behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Image from obrerofiel.com

Actually, looking back is a natural impulse, we want to see what’s happening behind us. The sight of fire and brimstone raining from heaven must have been spectacular, for sure they were hearing sounds as they were fleeing. People who have witnessed volcanic eruptions swear the spectacle made their hair stand up.  But why does Mrs. Lot look back? Curiosity, sentimentality, regret, relief, whatever . . . if the instruction is strictly “don’t,” then don’t! Why were Lot and his daughters able to obey the instruction, it isn’t difficult to obey when you’re running for your life out of the danger zone. 

Lot is the luckiest nephew to have ever lived! There’s nothing righteous about him from the time he’s introduced in this narrative, YHWH’s blessing and protection over his uncle is like an umbrella that shades him as well.  This is strange but quite encouraging to think that our loved ones somehow benefit from our relationship with YHWH, even when they are not yet believers themselves.  Think of Noah’s whole family saved in the ark.  Not only Lot but his wife and daughters are rescued from Sodom.  That’s a comforting thought, yet the grace of God surely has a limit.  Each individual related to a believer in YHWH must eventually make his/her own commitment to Him.

The virgin daughters must have thought they were the last survivors on the whole planet earth and are therefore sincerely motivated to repopulate, probably aware of the hand-me-down commandment from Eden “go and multiply.”  Why would they think this, didn’t they know only Sodom and Gomorrah suffered judgement?  Lot had bargained with the angel to be allowed to head for Tso’ar, did they not hear that exchange? Did Lot not tell them anything at all?

The text says Lot was “not aware” that each daughter had committed incest with him (really? ignorance is bliss!).  Did they violate a commandment of YHWH?  Having lived and grown up in Sodom where they would have been exposed to all kinds of abominable practices, they may not have been taught by Lot right from wrong. Did Lot even know right from wrong? Later, the prohibition against incestuous relationships would be given in Leviticus.

From Lot and his daughters spring two tribes: the Moabites  and the Ammonites. 

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[Twenty-four years have transpired since Abram left Charan; he has since —-

• journeyed to Egypt because of famine,
• split with nephew Lot and settled in the land promised to him,
• engaged in battle, rescued his nephew who seems to get in trouble a few times and is lucky to have a caring uncle like Abram,
• visited and tithed to priest-king Melchizedek,
• had a firstborn son not with wife Saray but with Egyptian servant Hagar.

The narrative picks up when he’s 99 years old.

Those who are in their senior years jokingly called the “pre-departure area,” think they have nothing left in their lives to do? Think again! YHWH our Elohim is never done with us until we have finished the work He has prepared us during the growth stages of our earthly life. Just look back and see in hindsight the hand of YHWH guiding and directing, even if we made our own choices each step of the way; right or wrong, both work to mature us but only if we’re mindful and learn particularly from our mistakes.  Our Jewish teacher in Torah — “Paul” —says, when we have done our assignment for Him, then He gives us our much deserved rest. But is work for YHWH ever done? Some of us regret having “wasted” decades on learning about the wrong god and studying the wrong scriptures, but as we have gradually realized, all of that was still preparatory for where we have arrived today in our service of YHWH, the God we have embraced and now declare. If Abraham had a Chapter 2 at age 99, so can we at any age.

As our title suggests, Abraham finally gets a name-change.  Are all biblical figures renamed by YHWH Himself? Evidently not, noticeably only those with a specific change in character, or divinely-assigned destiny.  Of Israel’s patriarchs, only Abram and Yaakov assume new names; evidently Yitzchak or Isaac was consistently the same ‘let-it-happen-to-me’ kind of guy, unlike Abram and Yaakov who yielded or struggled with divine instructions, or consequences of their own unwise choices.  David was the same God-loving character from his boyhood to old age, though he had some major lapses in life despite which, YHWH still referred to him as a ‘man after my own heart.’  

Unbracketed commentary is from Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; “EF” commentary is from our translation of choice, Everett Fox’s The Five Books of Moses, alternating with Robert Alter’s The Five Books of Moses, with commentary indicated by “RA.” Our own commentary is indicated b “S6K”.—Admin1.]

Genesis/Bereshith 17   

[EF] Ninety years and nine years: Thirteen years have elapsed since the events of the previous chapter.  Now that Yishmael is entering puberty, God can no longer conceal that he is not the promised heir.  See vv.16,18.  Shaddai:  Hebre

I am God Almighty.  Heb. El Shaddai; Exod. VI,3 “and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty.’  The derivation of the Divine Name, Shaddai, is uncertain.  The usual translation, ‘Almighty,’ is due to the Vulgate (the Latin version of the bible).  The realization of Abram’s hopes must often have appeared dim and distant to him.  Here he is reassured: nothing is impossible to God Almighty.  Shaddai has also been derived from a root meaning ‘to heap benefits’; and it would then mean ‘Dispenser of benefits’, the Friend who shepherds the Patriarchs and preserves them from all harm.

[EF] Shaddai: Heb. obscure.  Traditionally translated “Almighty”; others use “of the mountains.”  In Genesis the name is most often tied to promises of human fertility, as in v. 2.

[RA] El Shaddai. The first term, as in El Elyon (Chapter 14), means God.  Scholarship has been unable to determine the origins of precise meaning of the second term—tenuous associations have been proposed with a Semitic word meaning “mountain” and with fertility.  What is clear 9compare Exodus 6:3) is that the biblical writers considered it an archaic name for God.

wholehearted. i.e. place implicit and undivided confidence in God alone.  The Rabbis connect this exhortation with the Covenant of Circumcision, which was about to be instituted, and thus indicate the moral ideal which underlies the ritual act.

[EF] Walk . . . be wholehearted: Contrasted to Noah (6:9), Avram is a genuine religious man who lives his faith actively.

[RA] Walk in my presence.  Or ‘before me,” In verse 18, the same preposition manifestly has the idiomatic sense of “in Your favor.” The verb is the same used for Enoch’s walking with God, but there the Hebrew preposition is actually “with.”  The meaning of this idiom is “to be devoted to the service of.”

 2  I set my covenant between me and you, I will make you exceedingly, exceedingly many.

make my covenant. lit. ‘I will give (i.e. grant) My covenant.’  What follows is not a compact between God and the Patriarch, but a statement of the plans which He had designed for Abram and his descendants.

[RA] My covenant.  The articulation of the covenant in this chapter is organized in three distinct units—first the promise of progeny and land, then the commandment of circumcision as sign of the covenant, then the promise of Sarah’s maternity.  The politics of the promise is now brought to the foreground as for the first time it is stipulated that both Abraham and Sarah will be progenitors of kings.  Source critics have observed that this second covenantal episode, attributed to Priestly circles, abandons the sense of an almost equal pact between two parties of chapter 15 and gives us an Abraham who is merely a silent listener, flinging himself to the ground in fear and trembling as God makes His rather lengthy pronouncements.  But Abraham’s emphatic skepticism in verses 17-18 suggests that there is more complexity in his characterization here than such readings allow.

3 Avram fell upon his face. God spoke with him, saying: 

And Abram fell on his face.  The Oriental mode of expressing gratitude.

4 As for me, here, my covenant is with you, so that you will become the father of a throng of nations.

a multitude of nations. The Israelites; the Arabs, descended from Ishmael; and the tribes enumerated in XXV:1.

[EF] throng: The word suggests the sound of a crowd, rather than merely a large number.

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5 No longer shall your name be called Avram, rather shall your name be Avraham, for I will
make you Av Hamon Goyyim/Father of a Throng of Nations!

Abraham . . . multitude of nations.  Ab means ‘father’; and raham, the second half of the new name, is an Arabic word for ‘multitude’.  The change of name emphasizes the mission of Abraham, which is “To bring all the peoples under the wings of the Shechinah’.

[EF]  Avraham: Trad. English “Abraham.”

[RA] Abram . . . Abraham. The meaning of both versions of the name is something like “exalted father.”  The longer form is evidently no more than a dialectical variant of the shorter one.  The real point is that Abraham should undergo a name change—like a king assuming the throne, it has been proposed—as he undertakes the full burden of the covenant.  Similarly in verse 15, the only difference between Sarai and Sarah is that the former reflects an archaic feminine suffix, the latter, the normative feminine suffix: both versions of the name mean “princess.”

[S6K]  Abram goes through a name-change together with wife Sarai.  Not every biblical figure undergoes such a change; 2nd generation Isaac does not,  3rd generation Jacob does; Moses, Joshua, Saul and David don’t.    If names indicate the essence of a person, renaming makes sense specially when the new name suggests destiny.

the land of thy sojournings. The land in which Abraham dwelt only as ‘a sojourner.’

[EF] I will be God to them: Often reiterated as part of the biblical covenant (e.g. 28:21).

this is My covenant which ye shall keep. The meaning is not that the Covenant is to consist in the rite of circumcision, but that circumcision is to be the external sign of the covenant. As the following verse declares, ‘it shall be a token of a covenant,’ just as the rainbow was the token of the covenant with Noah.  And even as the rainbow had existed before noah, this rite had been practised among other peoples before Israel.  To whatever origin and purpose it might be traced—whether as a measure safeguarding cleanliness and health (Philoo), or to counteract excessive ust Maimonides), or as a sacrificial symbol—for Abraham and his descendants all these conceptions are supplanted, and the rite is the abiding symbol of the consecration of the Children of Abraham to the God of Abraham.  It is the rite of the covenant; and unbounded ahs been the loyalty and devotion with which this vital and fundamental institution of the Jewish Faith has been and is being observed. Jewish men and women have in all ages been ready to lay down their lives in its defence.  The Maccabean martyrs died for it.  The officers of King Antiochus put to death the mothers who initiated their children into the Covenant—‘and they hanged their babes about their necks’ (I Maccabees I, 61).  the same readiness for self-immolation in defense of this sacred rite we find in the times of the Hadrianic persecution, in the dread days of the Inquisition, yea, whenever and wherever tyrants undertook to uproot the Jewish Faith. Even an excommunicated semi-apostate like Benedict Spinoza declares:  ‘Such great importance do I attach to the sign of the Covenant, that I am persuaded that it is sufficient by itself to maintain the separate existence of the nation for ever.’

[RA]  every male among you must be circumcised.  Circumcision was practiced among several of the West Semitic peoples and at least in the priestly class in Egypt, as a bas-relief at Karnach makes clear in surgical detail.  To Abraham the immigrant from Mesopotamia, E.A. Speiser notes, it would have been a new procedure to adopt, as this episode indicates.  The stipulation of circumcision on the eighth day after birth dissociates it from its common function elsewhere as a puberty rite, and the notion of its use as an apotropaic measure (compare Exodus 4) is not intimated here.  A covenant sealed on the organ of generation may connect circumcision with fertility—and the threat against fertility—which is repeatedly stressed in the immediately preceding and following passages.  The contractual cutting up of animals in Chapter 15 is now followed by a cutting of human flesh.

[S6K]  The covenant sign for Noah is nothing compared to the covenant sign required of Abraham and his descendants: circumcision. All Noah had to do was to think of the covenant every time he saw a rainbow; Abraham at age 99, Ishmael at age 13 years, and Isaac at 8 days old all had to show their sign of submission to YHWH through this sign in their flesh.  Why Abraham would know what is required for circumcision could mean it has been in practice among other people groups but obviously not Abraham’s progenitors. What is significant is that it is required for Abraham’s bloodline as well as for foreigners in his household.

he that is born in the house. i.e. the child of a slave; see on XIV,14.  Slaves were regarded as part of the household.

[EF] house-born or bought with money:  i.e. slaves.  The entire household, as an extension of the man’s personality, is to be brought into the covenant.

silver.  If the language of the text reflects the realia of the Patriarchal period, the term would refer to silver weights.  If it reflects the writer’s period, it would refer to money, since by then coins had been introduced.  The weighing-out of silver by Abraham in chapter 23 argues for the likelihood of the former possibility.

cut off from his people. Either through punishment at the hands of God; or through expulsion from the community.

Sarah.  Brings out more forcibly the meaning ‘Princess’ than the archaic form Sarai. 

[EF] you shall not call her name Sarai: Significantly Sara is the only woman in the bible to have her name changed by God.

[EF] so that she becomes nations: Sara in essence shares the blessing of God.  She is not merely the biological means for its fulfillment.

and laughed.  The Targum renders ‘and rejoiced’, to imply that he laughed for joy, not from incredulity.  What follows would accordingly not be a question, but an exclamation of surprise.

[EF] laughed:  Laughter becomes the key word of most of the stories about Yitzchak.

[RA] and he laughed.  The verb yitsaq is identical with the Hebrew form of the name Isaac that will be introduced in verse 19.  The laughter here—hardly the expected response of a man flinging himself on his face—is in disbelief, perhaps edged with bitterness.  In the subsequent chapters, the narrative will ring the changes on this Hebrew verb, the meaning sof which include joyous laughter, bitter laughter, mockery, and sexual dalliance.

to a hundred year old.  Abraham’s interior monologue is represented as a line of verse that neatly illustrates the pattern of heightening or intensification from first to second verset characteristic of biblical poetry: here, unusually (but in accord with the narrative data), the numbers go down from first to second verset, but the point is that, as incredible as it would be for a hundred-year-old to father a child, it would be even more incredible for a ninety-year-old woman, decades past menopause, to become a mother.  The Abraham who has been overpowered by two successive epiphanies in this chapter is now seen as someone living within a human horizon of expectations.  In the very moment of prostration, he laughs, wondering whether god is not playing a cruel joke on him in these repeated promises of fertility as time passes and he and his wife approach fabulous old age.  He would be content, he goes on to say, to have Ishmael carry on his line with God’s blessing.

Ishmael might live.  Abraham, despairing of the possibility of having issue by Sarah, expresses the hope that Ishmael ‘might live before Thee’, in order that the promises made to Abraham might be fulfilled through him.  It is also possible to understand it as a prayer that, though Ishmael is excluded from the spiritual heritage, he may yet live under the Divine care and blessing.

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[EF] Yitzchak: Trad. English “Isaac.”

twelve princes. They are enumerated inXXV,13-16.

[EF] make him blessed . . . make him bear fruit . . . make him many:  Heb. berakhti oto ve-hifreiti oto vehirbeiti oto.  twelve princes: Thus equalling the twelve sons/tribes of Israel.

[RA] As for Ishmael, I have heard you.  Once again, the etymology of the name is highlighted.  These seven English words reflect just two Hebrew words in immediate sequence, uleyishma’el shema’tikha, with the root sh-m’ evident in both.

21 But my covenant I will establish with Yitzhak, whom Sara will bear to you at this set-time,
another year hence.

[EF] another year: Not nine months (Sara does not immediately become pregnant.  Again the events seem to take place in a realistic framework, rather than in a strictly supernatural one.

[EF] God went up from beside Abraham: Perhaps a formula used to signify the end of the conversation.

[EF] on that same day:  Underlining Avraham’s customary obedience.  as God had spoken to him:  Like Noah in 6:22,7:5, and 7:9, Avraham’s scrupulously follows God’s commands without question (so too in 21:4 and 22:3.