BEMA 213: Character Study — Jacob, Part 2

Transcription Status

6 Sep 24 — Initial public release

21 May 24 — Transcript approved for release

Character Study — Jacob, Part 2

Brent Billings: This is the BEMA Podcast with Marty Solomon. I’m his co-host, Brent Billings. Today, we will finish our conversation for this particular character study of Jacob. We suggested in the last episode that God was with Jacob, even if He did not approve of his actions, why does God delay justice and or punishment?

Marty Solomon: Yes, I want to pick up right where we left off in our last conversation and I want to rest with that. We said, essentially, that God was staying with Jacob. He had a promise he wanted to fulfill. It wasn’t necessarily that he approved of how Jacob was walking the path. It’s not necessarily to prove how he got to that spot, but he was in that spot and God was still with him, maybe in spite of himself.

Let’s unpack these two ideas. Why does God not step in? Why does he delay punishment? Why does he delay judgment? Obviously, if Jacob is in the wrong, why is God just hanging out, passively acting like that’s okay, it seems like? Why is God delaying justice?

Esau is far from squeaky clean. We’ve already looked at that. He’s got his own stuff. Esau is a human being as well. But Esau has definitely been wronged and so why is God delaying justice for Esau and punishment for Jacob? All those things had always made me in 2017, Brent, so bothered by this narrative. Why is God not acting more readily here? We’re going to pick up, we left off at the end of Genesis 28 last time. Let’s pick up at the beginning of Genesis 29.

Brent: We’re looking for mishpat or diyn in this case, or both?

Marty: Great question. Throw back there to Session 2. I like that. Yes, I think we’re looking for both here and wondering why is God delaying mishpat for Esau? It’s a great example. I think we said that sometimes mishpat requires or involves diyn. It feels like this would be one of those times where we should see that. God should have some judgment, some diyn for Jacob in order to give Esau mishpat. That’s a great way to phrase that question, Brent. I like that.

Brent: I guess it would require that because both have the blessing of the first born. Right?

Marty: Dang, Brent. That is a good stinking question. The more I think about that, the more I love it. Yes, you nailed it with that. That is absolutely correct because that’s what we’re going to see here in this story, is really truly how it is that God—I don’t want this to be too judgmental—but how our perspective is so limited and finite.

When you are in the business of being God, when you’re in the business of being the Lord, and you truly care about mishpat, what does it take to truly restore, to repair, to pursue mishpat? We’re going to see that dynamic here. That’s such a good question to ask and such a great way to ask it, because it seems so easy on the surface.

It seems like, “Hey, we’re just going to do this and this, and it’s going to be great. There you go and mishpat.” Yet, we’re going to see through the story that if God truly does want mishpat, He’s letting this story play out some. Let’s figure out why.

Brent: Okay. Genesis 29, Then Yaakov continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. There he saw a well in the open country with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

Yaakov asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?” “We are from Harran,” they replied. He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?” “Yes, we know him,” they answered. Then Yaakov asked them, “Is he well?” “Yes, he is,” they said. Here comes his daughter Rachel”—is that how you say that?

Marty: Yes. Rachel.

Brent: “—Rachel with the sheep.” “Look,” he said, “the sun is still high. It is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.” “We can’t,” they replied. “Until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been ruled away from the mouth of the well, then we will water the sheep.” While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd.

When Yaakov saw Rachel, daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. Then, Yaakov kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and the son of Rebekah. She ran and told her father.

As soon as Laban heard the news about Yaakov, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home and there Yaakov told him all these things. Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.”

Marty: Here we have this story of where Jacob meets Rachel for the first time and the rabbinical conversation almost hinges on not the verse out of all these verses that you would typically think to look at it, swirls around the idea of verse 11, “Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.” Now, when you read that, why do you assume he’s weeping, Brent? Let’s see your assumption, probably the same assumption I always made for years, but it’s not what the rabbis said.

Brent: I think I would assume he’s just wandering around trying to find his relatives, and finds out that these shepherds are here from Harran and he is like, “Oh, man, do you know Laban?” Then the fact that they do and then Rachel just happens to be coming at that moment and he meets her and he’s just overcome with this relief that he found what he’s looking for.

Marty: Yes, relief and you’re getting closer to the rabbis than I was. Just overwhelmed with joy. I always pictured—like obviously, the rest of the story, we’re told that he just loves Rachel so deeply. Like love at first sight. I always assumed it was this joyous, positive, weeping aloud. Yet the rabbis pointed out that the phrase to weep aloud, when it’s used, is not a joyous weeping. The rabbis had a conversation about that.

Fohrman points it out in his book, again, we’re going to link his Genesis: A Parsha Companion in the show notes and Aleph Beta, and all the goodies. He’s talked about this for years, but loved how he packaged it in this more recent book of his. He quotes from Genesis Rabbah, Bereishit Rabbah. He says in his footnotes to also see Devarim Rabbah. You can find all that on sefaria.org. We’re going to link Sefaria in the show notes there, if you want to go find it yourself. It’s also in his book and he gives the quotations there.

He quotes Rashi in Genesis. All Rashi’s commentary surrounding this one verse, Genesis 29:11, and Rashi actually gives two separate Midrashic interpretations, which is weird. Usually, a rabbi doesn’t have two separate interpretations. A rabbi only has one interpretation. That’s the whole point of interpreting, and yet Rashi says there’s two Midrashic interpretations to this verse.

Number one refers to Jacob, “He cried because,” is what Rashi says—I’m quoting Rashi—“He cried because he had a prophetic premonition that Rachel would not be buried with him.” Rashi says he cried because he had a prophetic premonition that she would not—he sees her for the first time and he has this futuristic, prophetic premonition—this is her, this is the woman, and yet she won’t be buried with me. Now, we’re going to put that prophetic premonition aside for just a moment and jump to a second interpretation.

Brent: Maybe before we jump there, if you could explain like, what is the significance of being buried together? That’s a really big deal.

Marty: Great point. You would assume that you would always be buried together. If you’re not buried together, it’s going to mean that whatever narrative arc your story takes, there’s going to be some tragedy where you are not settled in the same place. You are on the move. Something went wrong. You are not around your family’s tomb. Remember Jacob and his descendants are married in the cave at Machpelah. That’s where Sarah’s buried.

Something went wrong if you don’t get to be buried with your family and with your fathers. Now, that’s a bigger deal for men than it is for women. In essence, one of the things they’re saying is, he meets her and he realizes, “our stories don’t end together,” is another way to phrase it. We don’t get buried next to each other. Something’s going to happen that’s tragic and he won’t be buried with her. That’s the implication of what’s being said.

Brent: Makes sense. Then you said that Rashi has two different interpretations, so does that mean that these two interpretations are both true at the same time? I feel like both of these interpretations are good and I’m not quite sure which one I land on.

Marty: In this case and it’s totally ambiguous in the midrash, which is what Fohrman’s going to toy with—and I won’t even get to his conclusions here in our conversation today. In this case, there are two different interpretations and Fohrman is going to say they work together. It seems they’re two totally different interpretations that aren’t even related. Fohrman is going to say, “Actually, I think they’re completely related,” and he’s going to pull them together. He thinks he has two simultaneous interpretations that are really you could say, one gigantic interpretation.

Brent: When was Rashi active and doing his thing?

Marty: Rashi is going to be later. Rashi is going to be somewhere around 1000 AD. Do a quick Wikipedia search on that.

Brent: Yes, it looks like he died in 1105. In any case, these two opposing/conjoined ideas have been part of the conversation for 1000 years at this point.

Marty: Exactly. A part of Jesus’s conversation? Absolutely not, no way. But a part of the evolving Jewish consciousness that is looking at the same things in the Text. Here’s what Rashi has pulled out from those that he is going to be talking about. If you’re working with Genesis Rabbah, you are working with contributions to that conversation that are much older than Rashi. Rashi is just packaging it and articulating it in the way that ends up sticking for what we’re going to call canon for the Jews.

Brent: Perfect. Okay. With all of that context in mind, give me the other side of this commentary.

Marty: Okay, here’s the second quote, I’m quoting Rashi: “Another interpretation as to why Jacob cried, is because he came to meet her with empty hands.” He came to meet her with empty hands. I’m going to quote Fohrman here. I’m going to read some Fohrman here. This is from his Genesis: A Parsha Companion:

“Here Rashi cites a second Midrashic interpretation for Jacob’s tears. At first glance, the second interpretation has nothing to do with the first. The new interpretation asserts that Jacob cries because he realizes that he has shown up in Harran empty-handed. Here he is seeking to marry this woman before him, Rachel, and he has nothing of value to give her.

“In the story the midrash tells, Jacob contemplates this and says to himself”—and he goes back to Rashi, here’s Forhman quoting Rashi—“When Eliezar, my grandfather’s servant, sought my mother’s hand in marriage, he came with all sorts of bracelets, rings, and jewels, and me, I have nothing.”

The midrash continues, Fohrman says, explaining why Jacob has nothing with him. Here’s the Midrashic tale that Rashi makes up. We’ve learned about midrash before and I know it’s tricky, but Rashi tells this tale about the story here: “After Jacob deceived Esau, Eliphaz son of Esau pursued him at the behest of his father, seeking to kill him. Eliphaz caught up with Jacob, but because Eliphaz had been brought up on Isaac’s lap, he pulled back his hand at the last moment.”

Eliphaz is Esau’s son. He goes off to avenge his father’s injustice. “Because he was raised on Isaac, his grandfather’s lap, because he was raised by that family, because he understands the promise of God, at the last moment, he decides not to kill Jacob.” Eliphaz spares Jacob, the fact that he spares Jacob leaves him in a little bit of a tricky spot because now he’s got to go back to who?

Brent: Now, he goes back to his father. You said Esau encouraged him to go do this.

Marty: Let’s see here. What does Rashi say, “At the behest of his father.” Is that what behest means?

Brent: Yes.

Marty: Okay. “At the behest of his father,” Rashi says, “seeking to kill Jacob”—and revenge finally catches up with Jacob, decides not to kill him, but now he has to go back to his dad because he was sent off to kill Jacob. This is Rashi:

“Eliphaz said to Jacob, ‘But what shall I do about my father’s command?’ Jacob answered him, ‘Take my possessions,’ the money and the jewels in this case, ‘take the money and the jewels in my hands and I will be a poor man. A poor person is as good as dead. You can justifiably tell your father you’ve done away with me.’” Okay, that’s Rashi telling the tale.

In essence, you have the story. Well, let me just see how Fohrman closes up this little section here. I’ll read you Fohrman. This is Fohrman. “What a strange story this midrash tells. It feels almost fantastical woven out of thin air. Why tell us all this? Was it important for us to hear Jacobs’ thoughts on the equivalence of death and poverty? Why do we care about how many bracelets Jacob had with him or didn’t have with him, or why he lost them? It’s all very entertaining. Where’s this midrash getting it from? Why, moreover, does Rashi feel a need to cite for us two wildly different interpretations as to why Jacob cried? Jacob intuited that he wouldn’t be buried with Rachel. Or, was he sorry that he came penniless? Two explanations couldn’t be further apart. What is the reader to make of them?”

He goes on to talk about some other connections that are connected to the story of Esther of all books of the Bible, Brent Billings. Fohrman’s work on Esther is just fantastic. I’m not even going to touch on that for this episode today. If you want to read that stuff, you have to get his book and check it out. It’s fantastic. I love it when Fohrman talks Esther. Fohrman will make the point that in the midrash, they say Eliphaz, which was—let’s just keep our mind on all the characters here. Who is Eliphaz, Brent?

Brent: Eliphaz is Esau’s son.

Marty: Esau’s son. He has a son. This should be Esau’s grandson, Isaac’s great-grandson. He has a son named Agag. Well, in your book of Esther, Haman is an Agagite. He’s the descendant of Agag. This all ends up coming back in the book of Esther, if you want to see all the connections, they’re absolutely brilliant like words that are only used. Fohrman has all these words that are only used in the story about Jacob and Esau, and the book of Esther. It’s phenomenal. Check that out.

I digress. I want to go back to Jacob and Esau. Why is the midrash trying to tell us all about Jacob’s lack of what he has to bring to the table? I’m going to summarize Fohrman’s thoughts by saying it seems to be that one of the reasons why God has stayed His hand of judgment, stayed His condemnation, stayed the punishment, is because Jacob has now made this bed that he now has to sleep in.

Jacob now has consequences to his actions. He didn’t have to get here in this way. He didn’t have to show up to Rachel penniless. I don’t know if the Midrashic story is true. If Eliphaz really showed up and took—the way I read this story, Brent, I feel like he had to leave his father’s house without any wealth. He had to leave. He had to run for his life. I don’t see him running from his father’s house with all this wealth.

Obviously, his father and mother sent him to Paddan Aram. It’s not like he had to leave under the cover of darkness. We’re not told that he left with a whole bunch of wealth. Either way, the midrash is trying to point out to us, “when he gets to Rachel, he has nothing”. He’s now not able to build the life he would want to build and so now he’s stuck.

Jacob’s going to have to go through this whole—you know the story of his life—this whole circus of deception, of shrewd, tricking, and he has to go through this whole charade because of how he’s chosen to live his life. He didn’t have to live it this way. He is and God is simply saying, “I’m going to be with you. I’m going to help you get where you’re going. This isn’t going to be an easy road.”

Brent: I’m looking back on this text. Jacob comes to the land of the Eastern people. “There he saw a well in the open country.” That’s his brother’s territory, the open country. He doesn’t feel comfortable in the open country.

Marty: Oh, sure. Great point.

Brent: He doesn’t know where he is. He sees these shepherds, finds out they’re from Harran, finds out they know Laban. Then, is trying to do some recon, like, “Is he well? What’s going on?” “Oh, yes. He’s well, and here comes his daughter right now.” He’s completely caught off guard.

Marty: Right.

Brent: Even though he didn’t leave his own home with any riches that he could share at this moment. He doesn’t even have a chance to go try to find where he is because he doesn’t know where he is. He’s not in a comfortable place. All of a sudden, boom, there she is. He’s completely unprepared.

Marty: He’s completely penniless. Absolutely. 110%. Okay, before we finish that train of thought, let’s go back to the other story. What about the delayed justice for Esau? Well, let’s skip some chapters. We said we’re doing a deep character study here. We never said it was going to be exhaustive. We’re going to actually skip some content because I haven’t learned anything amazing about that yet.

When I learned more amazing stuff about some of those chapters we’re going to skip—we’re going to come back to those, maybe do another character study. For now, I want one single stream of consciousness from the last episode through this one. I’m not trying to be exhaustive. I’m trying to be instructive. Let’s jump ahead to Chapter 33. After his time at Laban, after all the deception and the flocks, and the this and the that, and now he’s on the run again. [chuckles] Again from Laban. He might have a whole lot more wealth at this point, but his life is still in shambles. He now ends up having to confront Esau, he has no idea what’s going to happen with Esau. Let’s go to Genesis 33.

Brent: Jacob looked up and there was Esau coming with his 400 men. He divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

Marty: Okay. Let’s remind ourselves what just happened just before this story. A really big story. What happened just before this, Brent?

Brent: Well, this is right after his wrestling with God.

Marty: Wrestling with God and his name change. Jacob’s life has been full of moments. He’s learning lessons the hard way. He’s growing and he’s developing, but this has not been an easy road. He’s just had his wrestling with God moment, where for the first time he’s wrestled with that we’re told in the Text who he truly is. He’s coming to grips with his own identity, his own name, his own story, and how he’s gotten into this mess right before he sees Esau, which seems like really great timing. Let’s not forget that in the context of this. Go ahead.

Brent: He bows down to the ground as he approaches his brother just to make it super clear like, “I’m not here to fight you because my hip is still a little sore from the last thing I did”.

Marty: [laughs] Maybe. He’s definitely putting himself in a—he knows he’s hung out to dry here. If Esau wants it, he’s a dead man, and so he’s just really throwing himself at the mercy of his brother here.

Brent: Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him. He threw his arms around his neck and kissed him and they wept. Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” He asked. Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.” Then, the female servants and their children approached and bowed down. Next to Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.

Esau asked, “What’s the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?” “To find favor in your eyes, my Lord,” he said. Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.” “No, please,” said Jacob. “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God. Now that you have received me favorably, please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” Because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.

Marty: This isn’t the whole story and this isn’t where the credits roll, but what a beautiful moment where Esau somehow goes from, “I want to kill my brother,” and over the years, somehow gets to a place where he’s now ready to forgive. Now, the story isn’t just all wonderful, it’s not perfect. I mean, right after this, we talked about in Session 1, Jacob goes and he leaves and I’m not sure if there’s even weird deception and manipulation still taking place here.

He’s still got lessons that he’s learning, the next chapter is going to be about Dinah and the rape of his daughter. There’s still a lot of mess in Jacob’s life, but on Esau’s part, what a beautiful, unbelievable gesture. I mean, this is what the Prodigal Son is built off of. Like, if you remember the Prodigal Son story that Jesus tells in the Gospels, you have the son, leaves home. [chuckles]

We have grown up with the Prodigal Son story so much that we never realized it was about Jacob and Esau. Then the first time you make that connection and you see it, you’re like, “Oh my goodness, how could I have not seen that before?” The Prodigal Son is the story of Jacob and Esau, and the change happens right at this moment, because who is it in the prodigal son story that looks up and sees the son coming and embraces him and throws his arm around his neck and kisses him and weeps? Who is that in the Prodigal Son story?

Brent: That’s the father.

Marty: The father. Everybody that knows the book of Genesis knows that it’s supposed to be who, Brent?

Brent: It’s supposed to be the brother.

Marty: It’s supposed to be the brother. Who is the brother in Jesus’s context?

Brent: I don’t know if it’d be the Pharisee specifically he’s talking to.

Marty: Absolutely, it would be. Absolutely. The Pharisees are absolutely the elder brother. Jesus’s condemnation, if you remember the whole thing that set up the Prodigal Son story is that he was hanging out with sinners and the Pharisees have their arms crossed in the corner going, “Why is he thinking he can eat with sinners?”

Jesus tells that story and the condemnation is directly pointed at them like, “This is supposed to be your job. You’re Esau, you’re the ones that have always been the doer. You’ve always followed the rules. You’re Esau and you’re supposed to be running and getting your brother and reconciling with him and instead, you’re doing the exact opposite and so I had to show up to do what you guys will not.”

Why does God withhold justice for Esau? Because what’s more redemptive? Justice or forgiveness? Let me actually reword that. What’s actually more mishpat? What is more shaphat? All these words are related: shaphat: to judge, shophet, a judge, mishpat, justice. We talked about putting things back in their proper place.

What is putting things back? What truly puts the world back together? Is it God wheeling and dealing justice for Esau with Jacob two chapters ago? Or is true justice God being patient because he knows that redemption, like true justice awaits if Esau can learn how to forgive? I’m sure there’s probably no relevance for that in our world, Brent.

Brent: No, of course not.

Marty: Is it possible? I’m not making grandiose statements about every single listener and their unique situation. I know people have lived through unbelievable tragedy and abuse and destructive behavior. I get that. I’m not necessarily projecting onto that. Is there a possibility that there are listeners out there who you want and quite frankly, listen to me, you deserve justice?

Yet true Biblical justice will be even better if we can follow Jesus and the call, and the command, and the yearning invitation to forgive. Like what’s true justice? The justice of diyn as you phrased it so eloquently earlier, or is it the justice of putting things back together? What truly puts things back in place? Only forgiveness can do that. A beautiful moment, let’s wrap up Jacob.

Brent: I’ll just make a quick reference. I think the first time we talked about the concept of mishpat was Episode 48 with Amos and then we covered diyn in Episode 53 with Nahum. If you want a refresher on these two concepts, you can go back to this.

Marty: Love it. Okay, excellent. Let’s jump over to Genesis 35.

Brent: Then God said to Jacob, go up to Bethel, and settle there and build an altar there to God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau. Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then, come let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me, wherever I have gone.”

They gave Yaakov of all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears and Yaakov buried them under the oak at Shechem. Then they set out and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. Yaakov and all the people with him came to Luz, that is Bethel, in the land of Canaan. There he built an altar and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. Now, Deborah”—is that how you would say that?

Marty: Yes, Deborah.

Brent: Now, Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel, so it was named Allon Bakuth. After Yaakov returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Yaakov but you’ll no longer be called Yaakov, your name will be Israel.” And He named him Israel.

God said to him, “I am God Almighty, be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you and kings will be among your descendants. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”

Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him. Yaakov set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him and he poured out a drink offering on it. He also poured oil on it. Yaakov called the place where God had talked with him, Bethel.

Then they moved on from Bethel while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty and as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.” As she breathed her last, for she was dying, she named her son Ben-Oni, but his father named him Benyamin. Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem. Over her tomb Yaakov set up a pillar and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb. Israel moved on again and pitched this tent beyond Migdal, Eder. While Israel was living in that region Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. Yaakov had 12 sons, the sons of Leah, Reuben the firstborn of Yaakov—oh, man why did I get myself into this mess?

Marty: Shimeon?

Brent: Shimeon. Levi,—I am just not even going to try—Simeon, Levi and Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Josef and Benyamin—I can handle those two—the sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali, the sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Yaakov who were born to him in Paddan Aram. Yaakov came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. Isaac lived 180 years. There he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years and his sons Esau and Yaakov buried him.

Marty: He lived quite a while, Brent, after all this stuff. After he was all blind and thought he was breathing his last and after all the 14 years of getting wives and after all the reconciliation, and then finally, Isaac lives to be 180. It’s quite a long time.

Brent: Yes. If we assume that I’m right, which I don’t know if that’s a very safe assumption. If he was 100, when the blessings happened, he had another 80 years after that. Two 40s, one for each son.

Marty: Yes. Sure. The beauty of this is that Esau and Jacob bury him together. Again, you see the reconciliation there, just so great. Yes, this is also the story of—we’ve been talking about tears and of despair. The rabbi has pointed out, when you see that phrase about Jacob when he saw Rachel, he wept aloud. The time we saw that before, no shocker here is going to be Esau when he hears that Jacob stole the blessing. He hears it from Isaac, what does he do, Brent?

Brent: When he hears the blessing is stolen, he says he’s going to kill his brother.

Marty: Yes, but what does he do? Same phrase. He weeps aloud, same Hebrew phrase.

Brent: Oh, it says that.

Marty: Yes.

Brent: Oh. Yes. Okay.

Marty: There’s a connection the rabbis made to this particular cry being a cry of loss. Esau realizes he’s lost something that was supposed to be his. He looks out and so he weeps aloud. Jacob, when he gets to Rachael realizes that he’s lost something that was supposed to be his. He should have been able to get Rachel but because of the way he’s lived his life, he wasn’t able to and so he too has lost something. Both brothers lost something that was supposed to be theirs, because of the dysfunction.

Now, he ends up getting Rachel and yet if you remember, Rashi said that he had a prophetic premonition that they would not be buried together. Now, Fohrman’s going to connect that through the Midrash to the Book of Esther. I wanted to close this character study of Jacob preparing for a character study on Joseph by looking into this story right here, because I think the prophetic premonition could be connected to this. I can’t remember, Brent, when we all talked about it in Session 1 with Jacob and Joseph, but it definitely seems to be here. Read me Genesis 35 here. Give me verses 16–20.

Brent: Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. As she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.” As she breathed her last, for she was dying, she named her son Ben-Oni, but his father named him Benyamin. Just to bring the footnotes out. Ben-Oni means…

Marty: Son of my misery, right?

Brent: Yes, son of my trouble, yes.

Marty: Okay.

Brent: Then, Benyamin, son of my right hand.

Marty: Yes, favorite son.

Brent: Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Over her tomb Yaakov set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.

Marty: Here’s the fulfillment of that premonition. Here’s that moment of tragedy, Brent, where they don’t get to be buried together because they’re on the road, they’re traveling, Rachel, his favorite wife ends up dying, and now they they won’t end up being buried together because of the circumstances and the situation, she has to be buried along the road to Bethlehem there. It says that, he ends up, that sense that he had that something was going to go all wrong.

Now, what’s interesting about this is when you get to the end of the story for Yaakov, right before he dies at the end of the book of Genesis, he’s telling Joseph, and I think we did this in Session 1 at some point, he’s telling Joseph, and I want to look at that passage again now in light of the things I’m learning from Fohrman and I want to review that. Let’s go to Genesis 48 and give me the first seven verses there of Genesis 48.

Brent: I believe we did mention this at some point in the previous episodes.

Marty: Right. I think I’m going to do something slightly different with it, but go for it.

Brent: Some time later Yosef was told, “Your father is ill”. He took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. When Yaakov was told your son Joseph has come to you, Israel rallied his strength and set up on the bed.” Okay, well, okay, I have questions, but I’m going to get through this reading first.

Yaakov said to Yosef, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I’m going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’

“Now then your two sons born to you in Egypt, before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine, Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you after them, will be yours and the territory they inherit, they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. As I was returning from Paddan to my sorrow, Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath (that is Bethlehem).”

Marty: Okay. Jacob tells a story to Joseph about what happened to Rachel. We spoke in Session 1, I believe, about the phrase “to my sorrow.” In Hebrew, the phrase can more literally mean “because of me” or “because it’s my fault.” It’s my fault that Rachel died. Now in Session 1, we connected that idea to what? What did we say was the actual action that Jacob would have blamed himself for? There was an oath that Jacob made at some point. The way my rabbi taught me, he thought Jacob took—he thought that was the reason that Rachel died.

Brent: I don’t remember.

Marty: Okay, if you go back to the story of Laban, they ran from Laban and Rachel had stolen the gods.

Brent: Oh, yes.

Marty: Here comes Laban, he says, “You stole my gods.” Jacob doesn’t know that Rachel stole the gods. She’s put them underneath her cushion, and then said that she’s on her menstrual period so that nobody would look underneath the cushion and find the gods. Jacob literally has no idea that she’s stolen. He swears, he says, “May the person who stole your gods die, if they’ve stolen your gods.” Not realizing that, in fact, Rachel had stolen her father’s gods.

Then, everything goes on, and the story goes, and I’m assuming at some point, he found out and realized that Rachel did. Now, Ray had always told me that when he reads this, “To my sorrow,” he’s calling back to that moment, where he said, “May the person who stole those gods die,” and he says, “It’s because of my fault your mom died. It’s my fault, Joseph, your mom died when she was giving birth to your brother.” Which could absolutely be true, I don’t really take anything away from that.

In light of everything you’ve learned from Fohrman, I feel like what’s happened at the end of the book of Genesis, is that Jacob is finally coming to grips with, finally realizing, looking back on his life. We suggested that God stains his hand of punishment, Fohrman suggests I love and I’m suggesting, I think God stays his hand and punishment because there is a redemptive journey that we go on.

God knows that he didn’t have to get here this way, but getting here this way is going to be his own redemption, it’s going to be his own set. He’s finally going to become everything that God wanted him to become. We’ll look at, in the story of Joseph, and we did in Session 1 already, essentially how he saves the day. Jacob’s going to help Joseph. They’re all going to work together. The whole family’s finally going to come together.

Jacob because he’s finally going to look back and he’s going to be able to see it was because of—I do read that as to my sorrow—“Joseph, it was my fault that your mom died, it was my fault that we were in this whole mess because of how we got here, I took the hard road, I took the deceptive road, I took the road, that led to a whole lot of misery that we didn’t have to take to get here and yet here we are. Now I see it, I’m seeing the redemption of God. Your sons fill in the holes and the gaps of my own story.”

It’s finally coming full circle and he’s finally seeing the story that he was never able to see earlier in his story, he’s finally seeing it come together. It’s going to be out of this moment that Jacob’s going to be able to bless all of Joseph’s sons and propel this story forward, but we will do that in the Joseph story. You said you had a question as you were reading that.

Brent: Yes. I just keep looking at these, the names, where it’s bouncing back and forth between Yaakov and Israel. Even in the one sentence, when Yaakov was told, “Your son, Yosef has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and set up on the bed.

Marty: Yes. I’ve seen all kinds of different authors go all kinds of different ways. I’ve never seen anything super conclusive and just tightly woven that I just love. I think there has to be something there. Some have suggested you have different authors that are being redacted together. I don’t necessarily think that needs to be the case. I think the author here is doing something by bouncing back and forth to Jacob and Israel.

Now, this phrase, “sat up on the bed,” and then later in the story, it says he knelt down at the foot of the bed or that he kneeled at the head of the bed or something. He leaned over on his staff, there are these phrases that I have heard multiple scholars, including Fohrman will say that phrase literally refers to descendants. It refers to progeny. It refers to—Jacob’s secured the line of it.

It makes sense here that when Joseph comes and he sits up—he rallied his strength and sat up in bed. What you’re seeing here is not just the character and the person of Jacob. You’re also seeing the future of Israel. Like I’m having a hard time. I’m getting better. I’m better now in 2021, than I was in 2017 communicating this. I’m still not there yet. This moment is unbelievably climactic.

It is going to be Jacob that essentially saves the narrative. I don’t know if that’s true. It’s going to be Judah and Jacob working together with Joseph that’s going to save the narrative of God’s people. This is the moment that’s going to lead into Jacob saying, “You cannot stay in Egypt. Joseph, do not bury my bones in Egypt. Do not. You have to go back to Canaan.” Because the danger is, Egypt’s pretty nice. Joseph’s second in command.

There’s not a whole lot of reason for them to go back, but Jacob says, “No, you have to understand that—”

Like this is his moment, his whole life and all the deception. All the struggle and all the family line, and all the Jacob, all the Jacob-ness, all of the favorite sons, and all of the dysfunction—all of it has led to this moment where Jacob finally has clarity. Israel rallies his strength and he sits up in bed and he says, “God is telling a story through us and you can’t forget the story. Promise me, Joseph.” Now I’m getting ahead of myself.

Brent: Well, there’s still a little bit of struggle, because when Yaakov told, “Your son Yosef had come to you,” Israel rallied to strength and set up on the bed. Then, the very next thing Yaakov said to Yosef, “God Almighty appeared to me.” After he says that, then apparently the sons come in and he sees the sons.

Marty: Yes.

Brent: When Israel saw the sons and from that point on it’s always Israel.

Marty: Just because it’s Jacob doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s not like there’s a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing going on here. I think you see the future of Israel is rallying his strength and sitting up in bed, but Jacob is still wrestling with his own story.

Brent: Yes, exactly what I was thinking.

Marty: Jacob’s going back and he’s unpacking and now he’s wrestling, and he’s wrestling, and you’re right. That struggle is there, but he’s navigating it. Then Israel sees the sons of Yosef and he asks, “Who are these?” If this were a movie, like there’d be such dramatic—these moments where all of a sudden, he gets it and he sees it, and you’re right. Then it’s going to be Israel throughout most of this. I think it goes back to Joseph maybe once or twice towards the end of this, but yes. This story is—

Brent: Definitely not to Joseph.

Marty: Yes. Excuse me, Joseph. Thank you.

Brent: I don’t know. From what I’m seeing in the rest of this chapter, at least it’s all Israel.

Marty: Yes. I think it goes back in like 49. I can’t remember. Yes. That Jacob called for his sons.

Brent: He wrestles with it to the end, basically.

Marty: He does.

Brent: He definitely gets it. You see that he’s like he finally finds himself in that role and for the most part gets it, but still struggles with it.

Marty: Absolutely. Which is so true of us. Right? So true.

Brent: Yes.

Marty: That’s it. That’s good. That’s good for our character study on Jacob, Brent.

Brent: Not bad.

Marty: Let’s keep going and dive into Joseph in the next couple episodes. How about that?

Brent: Okay. Well, in the meantime, if you want to get ahold of Marty, you can find him on Twitter at @martysolomon. I’m at @eibcb. Be sure to check out the links that we put in the show notes. Check out Sefaria—I even threw a link in there for Rashi, if you’re interested in a little bit more about him. Go to bemadiscipleship.com. You’ll find everything you need there. Thanks for joining us on the BEMA Podcast this week. We’ll talk to you again soon.

[music]

Brent: I like your response this time. Back in one of those Session 1 episodes, [chuckles] I asked you something. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but you said, “I noticed that when I was preparing and I hoped you wouldn’t ask me because I don’t have any answers.”

[laughter]

Marty: Well, this time, I loved it.