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 16th 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.
