| | Here God renames (or re-renames) Jacob as Israel; Rachel, Isaac, and a nurse of Rebekah's all die in separate incidents; and Reuben (son of Jacob) has sex with his dad's concubine.
Who was that (un)masked man that wrestled with Jacob back in Genesis 32? If it was God, which isn't clear but which we're led to believe, then God is forgetful. After the wrestling match, the being that Jacob defeated told Jacob he would now named Israel. The Bible still continues to call him Jacob, though. In chapter 35, this time we're flat out told God is renaming him Israel. And just 4 verses later, the Bible starts intermittently calling him Jacob again! Get your names straight. Even the artist-once-again-known-as-Prince was less confusing than this.
In any case, Jacob-Israel and the gang are fleeing after his sons Levi and Simeon killed an entire city as revenge for one man rapes their sister. God speaks to Jacob, telling him to build him an altar. Jacob tells his family to get rid of all their gods (Yahweh was apparently being uncharacteristically lenient if they had gods and he didn't show him some of that good ol' wrath he's known for) and off they go.
Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, dies (from what, or why this death is noteworthy, is left untold). God again promises to Jacob that his descendants will be fruitful and will get the land his dad and granddad were already promised. Maybe Jacob should have asked God for a timeframe on this recurrent promise.
Rachel, who's pregnant with yet another child, has difficulty in childbirth and passes away. God didn't want to save her, I guess. She names the son Ben-Oni, which the NIV tells us means "son of my trouble." Jacob renames his dearly-departed wife's son Benjamin (or, I assume, Ben-Jamin), which means "son of my right hand." I don't know whether to be upset that Rachel would give her son such a sad name, or to be upset at Jacob for undoing his wife's dying act of naming her son. Rachel, on her deathbed, can probably be forgiven for her reaction. And let's be generous and just assume that Jacob wasn't being disrespectful of his wife, but just didn't want to say "Hi, son of my trouble!" all the time.
Jacob-Israel finds out that his firstborn son has slept with his concubine. Unless we find out later, we don't hear how God or Jacob-Israel deal with Reuben for this, or what God thinks of Jacob-Israel, in addition to having two wives and sleeping with their slaves, also having at least one concubine. How many women does one man really need? Sure, I can understand wanting to be fruitful and multiply, but come one! We get a listing of Jacob-Israel's offspring, or rather just the 12 boys he has with his two wives and their two slaves. We know he had at least one daughter (Dinah), but she's not mentioned here. Did he have any others? Did he have any sons or daughters with his concubine(s)?? The Bible doesn't say.
In other news, Isaac lives to a ripe old age of 180 before passing away, and Jacob (who we thought was now Israel) and Esau reunite again to bury their father. Did Esau ask Jacob why he didn't meet up with him in Seir as he'd said he would? The Bible doesn't say, unless it comes up sometime later (it's not in the next chapter, at least).
So we're getting bits and pieces of stories that don't really seem to tell us anything (other than it's apparently okay for men to have sex with as many women as they want, that daughters aren't important enough to mention in a list of descendants, and that renaming was apparently a big thing back then). Why is all this in a holy book again?
PS Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved. |
| | Posted 3/13/2009 6:05 PM - 45 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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