Ambiguity in Genesis 25:23 (Part 3)

(Continued from previous post)

As the story continues, so does the irony: Jacob becomes a servant in the house of his “brother” (Gen 29:15! Could it be that this is why Gen 27:29 speaks of “brothers”?) Laban for twenty years. This is the result of Rebekah and Jacob’s desire to get the blessing for Jacob and make him master over Esau, though Jacob was not worthy of that blessing. Thus both Rebekah and Jacob have also been tricked – Jacob has the blessing and his brother is his servant, yet Jacob does not benefit from this but instead has to flee and himself serve his “brother.” The roles have thus been reversed: Jacob, the master over his brother Esau, has become the servant of his brother Laban and this brother now treats him exactly the same way Jacob treated Esau! The master becomes the servant, the deceiver the deceived. Yet it is precisely this role reversal that prepares Jacob to truly become the “greater” of Gen 25:23. For when he finally returns home and is about to meet Esau, he no longer views himself as master but rather as the servant of his brother.

Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; and I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.””(Gen 32:4-6)

And he commanded the one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’”(Gen 32:17-18)

And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, “Who are these with you” So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”(Gen 33:5)

“Please let my lord pass on before his servant; and I will proceed at my leisure, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.” (Gen 33:14)

Note how Jacob consistently refers to Esau as his lord and to himself as Esau’s servant. Through the experience of serving his brother Laban Jacob, who became lord over Esau through deceit, has come to the point where he views himself as his brother’s servant. Interestingly enough, it is at this point that Jacob also secures the blessing once more, not by lying but by admitting his true identity, which results in his name being changed. Significantly, the blessing occurs only after the name change: thus Jacob does not receive the blessing as Jacob, the younger, but as Israel. The name change is, of course, the outer symbol of an inner change: Jacob, who wanted to attain the blessing through his own shrewdness and because of this deceived his brother and father through a change of identity, in the process becoming Esau’s master, has become Israel, a man who, realizing his own helplessness, humbly asks for the blessing and because of this has his identity changed by God and who now presents himself as Esau’s servant. Thus the divine trickster has achieved his purpose for Jacob and the oracle in Gen 25:23 has been fully fulfilled: the verdict of Gen 27 still stands – the older Esau shall serve the younger Jacob. Yet the younger Jacob, who became the firstborn, as well as the greater, has now also become the servant of the lesser Esau.

Which reminds us of another greater (firstborn) who came to serve the lesser and who calls his followers to do the same:

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mk 10:43-45)

P.S.: I do realize that Gen 25:23 speaks primarily of nations, which suggests that the experience of their father Jacob was to be instructive for all Israel. This also further supports an application of the story to spiritual Israel.

Happy New Year everyone!

Ambiguity in Genesis 25:23 (Part 2)

(Continued from previous post)

It’s interesting to observe how this dynamic plays out as the story unfolds. In the very next story after the birth of the twins, Jacob gets Esau to sell him his birthright (Gen 25:29-34). Technically, Jacob has thus become the firstborn and Esau the “younger.” In Gen 27 this role reversal continues: Jacob secures the blessing for himself by presenting himself as Esau. Interestingly, the result is that he rules over his brother:

“May peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you; be master of your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.”

But Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?”

“And by your sword you shall live, and your brother [Jacob] you shall serve; but it shall come about when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck.” (Gen 27:29, 37, 40)

Thus at the end of the story in Gen 27 Jacob has become the master over Esau, but only because Isaac thought he was blessing Esau. Ironically, the oracle in Gen 25:23 may thus be fulfilled – at least in part: the older Esau becomes the servant of the younger Jacob. This is the result of Isaac’s desire to bless Esau and make him master over Jacob, though Esau was not worthy of that blessing. Thus both Isaac and Esau have been tricked – not only to give the blessing to Jacob but also to make Esau the servant of his brother.

Yet Jacob only rules over his brother because he took on his identity. Esau has already sold his birthright to Jacob and now Jacob has taken on Esau’s identity to get the blessing, raising the question: who is the older and who is the younger? At the same time it is not clear who the greater and who the lesser is. For a moment it would appear that Esau is the greater. Jacob has deceived him and become his master, thus ironically – according to the divine oracle – becoming the lesser. (Note how the author has thus also in a very subtle way presented the divine evaluation of Jacob’s deed in Gen 27!) Yet the blessing which Jacob receives as well as Esau’s attitude prior to and after the episode in Gen 27 calls into question whether he is indeed the greater. Therefore a certain ambiguity still remains whether the oracle in Gen 25:23 has truly been fulfilled.

(To be continued)

Homework

Read Gen 29 and 32-33 and note how the servant/master theme continues.

Ambiguity in Genesis 25:23 (Part 1)

Reading John Edward Anderson’s Jacob and the Divine Trickster recently brought some further insights into the Jacob cycle and the message it is trying to convey. Among other things, Anderson points out that most English Bible translations fail to bring out the ambiguity of the final statement in Gen 25:23. Most versions render the verse something like this:

And the LORD said to her [Rebekah], “Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples shall be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger.“

The problem with such a translation is that the Hebrew text does not use the terms usually employed for the “older” and the “younger” but literally speaks of the “greater” and the “lesser/smaller.” While the first term is never used as a designation for the “older” in the entire Hebrew Bible, the second term often occurs in connection with the term “firstborn” (in particular in Genesis) and in those instances clearly designates the younger child. However, the fact that Gen 25:23 does not have “firstborn” but “greater” complicates matters. Should the second term be understood as “younger” or as “lesser/smaller”? The juxtaposition with “greater” would suggest the latter, yet this would be the only instance in Genesis where the term would be used this way. The fact that everywhere else in Genesis it denotes the “younger” could, on the other hand, lead one to interpret “greater” as “older.” Thus it seems that the final statement in Gen 25:23 could be interpreted either as “…and the older shall serve the younger” or as “…and the greater shall serve the lesser” or as a combination of the two (“…the greater shall serve the younger”?).

Though one might be tempted to favor the first option as many translations have (and as Rebekah herself may very well have done), it is not entirely clear whether this is indeed the intended meaning. Instead of unambiguously predicting that Esau (the “older”) will serve Jacob (the “younger”), the statement, when translated literally, leaves the reader (and most likely the protagonists themselves) wondering what the meaning of the oracle really is. Is it about age or status or both? It almost seems that in a cycle of stories where the key protagonists are constantly playing tricks on each other in order to get ahead in the game, God is the master trickster who opens the cycle with a very ambiguous statement that keeps the protagonists (and the reader) guessing throughout and at the same time cleverly sets up a trap for them. For while they are constantly trying to get ahead of each other, the divine oracle  implies that as soon as they have achieved their goal they are actually in the position of the “lesser.”

(To be continued)

Homework

Think about how this dynamic plays out as the story unfolds in the stories following Gen 25:23.