Examination of Genesis 27

This is the paper I intend to hand in tomorrow for my Hebrew Scriptures class - it's kind of short (not really) but I am proud of it and I'd say it's the best paper I've done to date (maybe?)  This is my intellectual property and I mean it to contribute to the current discussion about the story in Genesis 27. This is not intended for someone to steal it and hand it in as their own work, and I do not condone that behavior. With that said, enjoy:

Perhaps the text most infamous for confusing its readers is the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament.  Thousands of individuals have devoted their lives to understanding its intricacies.  In fact, one can squeeze an enormous amount of information out of a single verse.  A perfect example of this phenomenon arises when one reads Genesis 27.  In this chapter, Jacob, prompted by his mother, employs trickery in order to receive the blessing Isaac intends to give to the elder son.  There are many questions and issues raised by the events in this passage, and there are exponentially more hypothesized answers to these questions—only some of these possible answers, however, will be explored and discussed here. 

            The most obvious question, as Joseph Rackman points out in his 2001 article Was Isaac Decieved?, is “whether a blessing can be stolen”.  Rackman raises this point in the opening of his article, but then never answers it definitively.  He compares it to a hypothetical scenario in which Jacob steals sheep from his father, “by law, the sheep would not have belonged to Jacob.” he asks whether a blessing ought to function the same way.  But that seems to be all the answer that Rackman can give.  The text itself gives a reply—in the eyes of the characters in this story, it is clear that yes, a blessing can be stolen.  Neither Rebekah nor Jacob take into consideration before undertaking their ploy, that the blessing may not be effective—their only concern is being discovered before the blessing is given.  Isaac himself says to Esau, “you brother has come deceitfully and he has taken away your blessing” (Gen 27:35).  There really seems to be no contest as to the idea that a stolen blessing is as good as one given properly. 

            In their 1985 article, Jacob the Trickster and Heir of the Covenant: A Literary Interpretation, Victor H. Matthews and Frances Mims explore how the character of Jacob relates to the motif of the “trickster figure”.  The trickster is a “universal literary character” according to Mims and Matthews, and they cite such mythological figures as the Greek hero Odysseus and the Norse god Loki to support this statement.  Mims and Matthews also present a number of various trickster roles ranging from the fool, to the evil trickster, to the hero.  Jacob can fit into a number of these roles at various points in the narrative, and during the same event, depending on how his actions are viewed.  By tricking Isaac into giving him the blessing for the eldest son—the superior blessing—Jacob can be seen as an evil trickster, for playing his elderly and blind father, and also for cheating his brother out of the blessing that was due to him. 

            But at the same time, Isaac’s intent to bless Esau could be interpreted as a threat to Jacob’s success in life—and therefore, the will of God, because God had said “the elder [Esau] shall serve the younger [Jacob]” (Gen 25:23).  He could be viewed as a hero because he prevents something that could threaten the fulfillment of the divine wish.  This idea of trickery for the greater good not only applies to Jacob, but to his mother as well—for she was the one who suggested the whole plot to reverse the detrimental effects of Isaac’s misplaced blessing

The notion of Isaac making a mistake with his choice of blessings is supported by those who favorably interpret Rebekah’s actions in this story.  It is stated in Genesis 25:23 that the destiny of the twins was revealed only to Rebekah; “And the Lord said to her,” (emphasis added).  There is no explicit mention of Isaac ever knowing God’s intention for his sons.  Rebekah, according to Mary Donovan Turner’s article Rebekah: Ancestor of Faith, “early Jewish interpreters” said Rebekah was “a courageous woman who wished to keep her husband from the detestable act of blessing the wrong son.”  Turner says the same of the “early Christian interpreters” who “sensed in Rebekah’s actions a faith and loyalty that should be emulated.”  This favorable view of Rebekah continued into the time of the Protestant Reformation of the 16^th century.  Turner says that even Martin Luther saw her in a good light.  Very clearly, by going against her husband’s wishes, Rebekah had done the right thing—perpetuating God’s will.  Rebekah is characterized as brave when she says to her son that she will bear the burden if their plan is discovered; ‘Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my word’ (Gen 27:13).  In order to realize the plan that God has, she is willing to be persecuted as a dishonorable cheat.  

            Another important aspect of Rebakah’s role in this story is the part she plays in “insuring that the blessing to Abraham’s descendants is continued” (Turner).  When she first is mentioned in the narrative, she marries Isaac, so that he can have a proper wife, since then, she has served him well.  Rebekah also gives birth to the third patriarch and ultimately, the start of the Israelite nation—as Jacob’s twelve sons become the twelve tribes.  She warns her son of the danger to his life, “Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you” (Gen 27:42).  She sends her son off to save his live, but also to save “the covenantal promise, for murder would have meant exile for Esau and the elimination of the other possible heir for Isaac’s line” explains Matthews and Mims in their article about the Jacob cycle of Genesis. 

 

When Jacob flees, his mother sends him off to Laban, where he will marry within the family.  It is undesirable to marry into the local population, which is Jacob’s alternative if he remains in Isaac’s house. 

“I am weary of my life because of the Hittite women.  If Jacob marries one the Hittite women such as these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?” (Gen 27:46)

laments Rebekah to her husband, in a somewhat melodramatic fashion.  Rebekah set in motion the events that led to the creation of the Israelite nation.  Indeed, the case can be made that Rebekah is in fact the symbolic mother of the nation—Jacob, later in life, is renamed Israel.  She can be seen as both the literal and figurative mother of Israel.

In a sort of opposition to the idea of Rebekah being the one who salvaged the situation, an excellent and controversial theory is raised by Rackman.  A section of his article is titled “Isaac Intended All Along to Bless Jacob”.  He goes on to explain this theory by exploring exactly what Isaac’s various blessings entail.  This theory hinges on the blessing Jacob is given in chapter 28 when Isaac is certain that it is, in fact, the younger son with whom he is dealing.  Although this piece of text does not lie in the chapter I am examining, it is absolutely crucial to its understanding, and therefore must not be ignored. 

Rackman explains the different natures of the blessings Isaac gives.  The first two, both intended for Esau, are focused on material things, or things of the earthly world, such as ‘the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.’ (Gen 27:28), ‘let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you’ (Gen 27:29) in the first blessing.  And also in the second blessing, though Esau will no longer have material wealth, ‘away from the fatness of the earth shall your home be, and away from the dew of heaven’ and his life will be hard, ‘by your sword shall you live, and you shall serve your brother;’ he has the hope of redemption—‘but when you break loose, you shall break his yoke from your neck.’ (Gen 27:40)

The first two blessings stand in sharp contrast with the blessing that Isaac has prepared for Jacob.  The third blessing is concerned with “Isaac’s spiritual legacy from Abraham, now clearly intended for Jacob” (Rackman).  This is suggests that Jacob is to be the next patriarch, not his brother—there is no mention of carrying on the lineage and increasing in number in the Esau blessings.  ‘May he [God] give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your offspring with you’ (Gen 28:4).  This is a clear statement of Isaac’s intent to make Jacob his heir—at least the heir to the covenant between God and Abraham.  The commentary in the New Revised Standard Version says the first four lines of chapter 28 are “a Priestly parallel to the preceding story (27.27-29) where Isaac was not tricked into blessing Jacob, but intended from the outset to bless him in the process of sending him away to find a proper wife”. 

This assertion sums up the idea that Rackman was describing, though Rackman did not mention the different origin of the third blessing, which the commentary says comes from the Priestly source.  I assume that they are basing that judgment off the phrase “God Almighty” (Gen 28:3), which is, according to a footnote in that edition, “El Shaddai”, in Hebrew.  A name which, according to Michael D. Coogan’s book, A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament, is a variant of “el shadday” which is characteristic of the P source, occurring “five times in the…narrative in Genesis” of which, 28:3 is listed (p77).   

The origins of Genesis 27 in the commentary of the New Revised Standard Version are described as “non-Priestly”, thus leaving the possible source as either the Yahwist or Elohist source—since the Deuteronomic source “is found entirely, or almost entirely, in the book of Deuteronomy” (Coogan, 45).  One of the ways to determine the source is by examining the various names of God that are used (like “El Shaddai in chapter 28).  There are three different ways God is referred to in Genesis 27, they are “the Lord”, ‘the Lord your God’, and simply “God”.  These different titles are consistent with both the Elohist and Yahwist sources—“the Lord” being translated as “YHWH” and “God” as “Elohim” (Coogan, 44-45).  Coogan addresses in this section of his book, situations such as this, where the two sources are almost inseparable, saying that some scholars “prefer simply to speak of JE, recognizing that while there probably were originally distinct sources, they cannot easily be separated” (p. 44).  So, following in this line of thinking, it can be said that Genesis 27 is a JE text. 

The amount of interpretation that can be pulled from the Bible is absolutely staggering, even if it is just this small section of it.  Just one story—how Jacob received the blessing intended for his brother opens up worlds of the mind and the imagination.