Reading the Bible: Genesis, Episode 8
Jacob becomes Israel.
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the ambassadors
So Yaakov arrives back home. Izhak is still alive, surprisingly… Although. he was very sick when Yaakov left 20+ years ago. As we remember he ran away from his brother Esav. So before returning, he decides to send ambassadors to his brother. Although many commentators are surprised by this act, I believe this is quite a standard thing to do in the middle ages. Sending a few ambassadors to investigate the field: either it goes in the direction of a fight or peace.
The ambassadors return with bad news. They say that Esav is coming towards you, but with 400 people. Obviously meaning, he is coming for a fight…
Yaakov feels afraid and divides his camp into two parts in order to make sure that either will survive if there will be an attack. Some actually don't understand why Yaakov is afraid, since God is with him. But: 1. I find that Yaakov is quite different than Avraham and Izhak in terms of his belief. 2. It is quite normal to be afraid of a fight. Even when God is with you. You can win a battle, but you will still have injuries.
Yaakov complains to God about this situation, and says: “I am dwarfed by your good deeds to me so far. I crossed the Jordan river with only a wooden stick a few years ago, and now I am back with a huge tribe. Please save me from Esav, since I am afraid he will kill us all”. (Genesis, 32:11).
An Israeli musician, Yonatan Razel, sings this exact stressed verse (32:11).
Sending goods
Yaakov sends a lot of cattle as presents to Esav, hoping he will get better.
Passing the River and fighting the angel
Eventually, after all the cattle passed, Yaakov starts to pass the river with all his family at night. But for some unexplained reason (some say he forgot something), Yaakov gets to wrestle someone by himself. In the end of a long fight, the other fighter realises he cannot take Yaakov down, and he touches the ankle of Yaakov, and hurt it badly.
The unknown wrestler asks to be released. Yaakov says he will only if he will bless him (this is where it is hinted that Yaakov actually knew it is an angel). The angel responds that from now on his name will be “Israel” since he “stayed with God as well as with people” (“Sarita” in Hebrew means “you stayed, and it is similar to “israel” — sarita with “El”, God).
Meeing Esav. Not so bad as expected
The next day, Esav arrives with his men. Yaakov, seeing them arrive, arranges his people with the servants in the front, Lea and then last Rachel. You can realize the order of importance he gave to his wives…
But Esav surprises all, and simply runs to hug and kiss his brother. Once he realizes that all the cattle and people belongs to Yaakov, he is even more happy. But he refuses to receive the presents. At least until Yaakov insists.
Many commentators dsecribe Esav as the evil one (as well as Lavan). But I really cant see it yet. He acts kindly, with forgiveness, he refuses presents even when he certainly deserves them.
Anyway, in the conversation between the brothers, Yaakov sends Esav back home with the presents. He says that he must make this walk slower, in order to make sure the cattle survives. Some commentators consider that Yaakov lived for another year and a half before he actually saw Esav and Izhak again (Genesis, 33:17). This is actually the first time that the word Suka is reminded (“Tent” in Hebrew, and we also have a famous holiday “Sukot”). But it says nothing of this, and I don't understand where it comes from. Building tents is the way of travelers. So its quite reasonable to me, if Yaakov used tents as temporary stay, on his way to Nablus (Shchem).
Terrifying story of the massacre in Nablus (Shchem) and Dina
Dina, the only daughter of Yaakov, leaves the tent, and gets kidnapped by a local prince. He sleeps with her and tortures her (some say that only the fact that they had sex for the first time was torture, and it was not more than that, but others say it was rape).
The prince actually falls in love with her and wishes to marry her. It says that she falls for him as well (which means that perhaps the translation of a rape was incorrect).
The prince and the king arrive to ask Yaakov to marry the girl. They offer a lot of money in return, and in a way, they are being very generous. They speak with true love. The king also offers peace and prosperity for both nations. They express the will to live in co-existence on the land.
The brothers are told to be very sad. But Yaakov is silent (Genesis, 34:5). Is it because he was sad? is it because he was praying for God to forgive him for a sin? is it because he was considering this to be a repayment for something he did? was he just angry with the girl? it is not clear.
Cheating the Nablus king
The brothers make the negotiation with the king, rather than Yaakov. They say that it is not possible for Dina to marry a guy like this, and that it will only be possible if they will all circumcized, but the entire city, not just the family.
The king actually accepts this condition, and they go back to their city and ask the entire nation, to make this process as a means to live in co-existence with the new-comers, and welcome them into the region. They all agree to do good and make the prince happy, with his new love.
3 days after the circumcision, two brothers, Shimon and Levi, march with an army into the city, and slaughter the entire city men. They use their weakness in order to “cleanse” the evil. This was done without the approval of Yaakov (but its quite weird for me how this can be). I really disapprove of this act… I feel bad that this was their choice of action.
Anyway, they leave the city with rescued Dina, and with a lot of new hostages (women and children as slaves) as well as gold and property they steal.
Yaakov was angry about them and said that now the entire land will know us as enemies rather than people who come in peace. But Shimon and Levi insisted on the purity of their actions, and explained: “They treated our sister as a whore” (Genesis, 34:31).
Commentators said that Dina’s torture and violation were done because Yaakov was hiding her in a box when he crossed the river to meet Esav. His fear was bigger than his confidence in God, and this is said to be the punishment (he was afraid that Esav will want to marry Dina, being his only daughter…).
More on that story here (in Hebrew).
Rachel dies
Now Yaakov has to travel, running away from other nations who might chase them for revenge. On the way to Izhak, Rachel gets pregnant again. But her birth gets difficult, and she calls the boy “son of my pain” (“Ben Oni”, in Hebrew, Genesis, 35:18). But then she dies, and Yaakov calls him “Binyamin”, which sounds similar but has a completely different meaning…
Izhak dies
Finally Yaakov arrives to see Izhak. Weirdly, the book says nothing about their meeting again. It only says that he passes away 180 years old. Izhak is weird character to me, since his only part of the story is when Avraham nearly butchered him, and when he gave the blessing to Yaakov and Esav. Other than that, the bible doesn't have a special story about him.
Esav leaving
The ending of this chapter then explains how Esav let Yaakov to stay in that land, and he took all his tribe and left to live in another place. Then the book explains with great details the dynasty of Esav’s family and how we arrive to various nations, like Amalek for example, who became a huge enemy of the Israel people later.
read the chapter in hebrew.
