Jacob's Family Celebrates With Him as He Jumps With Both Feet Together. Jacob Is Likely
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History repeats: The groove that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob cleave volition be for their descendants.
We will non take the fourth dimension here to go through stories of Isaac's life. What nosotros want to focus on is the patterns that are set for the residual of Jewish history, because as nosotros noted earlier, "the actions of the fathers are assigned to the children."
RE-RUNS
1 of the keen patterns nosotros see with Isaac is a re-run of a state of affairs that Abraham also confronted. The Book of Genesis (chapters twenty and 21) relates that Abraham went to the land of the Philistines and he lived amidst them for a while. Merely he had some issues -- for example, they tried to take his married woman, Sarah.
A few years later, (Genesis, chapter 26) Isaac faces the same state of affairs. He's living amongst the Philistines somewhere on the coastal area of Israel, they try to accept his wife, Rebecca. Also his servants start to have issues with the servants of Abimelech, the King of the Philistines.
And what happens eventually? The Philistines become jealous of Isaac'south success and throw him out, even though he'south done naught to deserve information technology as far as the Bible tells us. In addition, they plug upward all the wells that Isaac has dug(1) -- an illogical act given the value of h2o in the arid climate of the Centre E and the difficulty of digging wells. (This demonstrates an oft-repeated pattern of the anti-Semite who hurts himself in an effort to obliterate Jewish presence. There are numerous examples of European cities expelling the Jewish and then, realizing the loss, inviting them back again! The city of Speyer, in Germany, did so at least three times in the 15th century!)
Just then something interesting happens -- Abimelech comes after Isaac and he says, "I run into that we prospered because of you." Because once Isaac leaves, things go downhill for the Philistines. Their economic system declines. Nothing'south going well, and the Philistines come up to realize it's considering of the Jews. So the king offers a treaty and asks Isaac to return.
This is the great design of Jewish interaction with non-Jews in history. The Jews are oftentimes invited in. The country does incredibly well because of their contribution (see God'due south blessing to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3). Then for no reason -- I'1000 aware of most no instance in history of Jews ever doing anything that caused them to exist hated the way we've been hated -- the country decides to throw the Jews out, undermining its ain economy in the procedure. So the Jews are thrown out, the country suffers. This is what's going to happen over and over again. It'southward and then irrational nonetheless such an ofttimes repeated pattern. It's probably the greatest love/hate relationship in history where the non-Jewish earth vacillates between "tin can't live with 'em and can't alive without 'em."
THE TWINS
Isaac is married to Rebecca. Rebecca is pregnant with twins, and the twins are fighting in the womb already -- it's a difficult pregnancy for Rebecca. When they're born there is a rivalry between them. And what are the twins' names? Jacob and Esau.
Although they are twins, Jacob and Esau have totally different personalities and they are also physically very different. The Bible describes Esau as hairy and Jacob as smooth-skinned. Esau is a hunter, a man of action. Jacob is a scholar; he's more a man of thought than of action.
It'due south also clear from the narrative that Isaac is favoring Esau who is the first-born of the twins. He's a couple of minutes older merely that's pregnant when information technology comes to who volition be the one to inherit the family mantle. Isaac probably realizes that Esau is a human being of action-a practise-er and to change the globe requires such a personality. Jacob, on the other hand, is described as being pure and spiritual. Much less a man of action and much more than an intellectual.
Rebecca is clearly favoring Jacob. The Bible says that women accept binah yeserah, an added intuitive intelligence. She no doubt loves Esau, but also sees that at that place is something off in his personality. Esau may accept "the gift of the gab" (he'southward a smashing talker) and may be able to fool his male parent, but his mother sees through his smooth talking. (2)
If we bound ahead in the narrative we come to the story of when Isaac is old and blind, he decides to requite each of his sons a blessing, and, of course, he wants to give an extra-special blessing to the starting time-born, Esau.
When a great spiritually connected person like an Isaac gives someone a blessing, that approving has tremendous ability of potentiality that can have a huge affect not only on the recipient of the approving but also on history itself.
Although Esau doesn't really want the position of the commencement-built-in with all the responsibility to carry on his father's mission, he does desire the blessing of wealth and power which goes along with it. But Rebecca realizes that the approval has to go to Jacob equally he is the one who is willing and able to modify the world in the manner of Abraham.
So while Esau is off hunting to catch something for his father's dinner so he'll bless him, what does Rebecca do? She covers Jacob's arms with a goat pare so they will feel hairy like Esau'southward. And Isaac, who is blind, is fooled.
THE SYMBOLS
Information technology'southward a mistake to read the Bible stories only on a simplistic, first-class Sunday schoolhouse level. This is not merely the story of some old, blind homo who'south confused by his wife and son. At that place are very profound things going on here.
When Isaac encounters Jacob pretending to be Esau, he remarks:
"The voice is Jacob's voice, simply the hands are the easily of Esau." (Genesis 27:22)
What does "the vocalization" symbolize? Speech is ly human. Animals may communicate, but they cannot speak or communicate abstruse ideas. Speech is therefore representative of spirituality and intellect. Afterwards in our story, Jacob will have his name changed to State of israel (Genesis 32:29) and his children will create e the Jewish nation. The vox is therefore symbolic of the real power of the Jewish people-their spirituality and intellect.
Golda Meir once said that she was aroused at God for making the Jews wander in the desert for forty years and then bringing them to only identify in the Middle Eastward with no oil. That is precisely the point-the Land of Israel is weak in natural resources. The people of Israel are its greatest natural resource. Their intellect, drive and spirituality have given them an border that not just enabled them to outlast the greatest empires in history, merely to touch the world far out of proportion to the smallness of their number. Jacob's phonation represents the spiritual power of the Jewish people.
The hand symbolizes the ability of action, of might and of sword. (Information technology'due south interesting to note that the man paw is also . Other primates do not accept the aforementioned kind of thumb and therefore lack human dexterity.)
Esau, who embodies the power of might and sword, will, through his descendants, give rise to the Roman Empire or "Edom" every bit the Bible calls information technology. The power of Rome clearly lays in its ability to conquer, dominate, and build an Empire. Even after the pass up and autumn of the Roman Empire, the spirit and power of Rome will perpetuate itself through the rise of the West and the Empires of Europe. And, of course, it is the Romans (every bit in Roman Catholic Church) that converted the world to Christianity, the other bang-up monotheistic organized religion.
So, in Esau, we meet yet another example of an adjunct of the children of Abraham, who, like Ishmael, does not deport on the mission, yet becomes a great power, both physically and spiritually.
Equally intense as the rivalry is betwixt Isaac and Ishmael (the Jews and the Arabs) they are only half brothers. Jacob and Esau are twins with the same genetic material. This rivalry (Israel and Rome/The West) is understood to exist the ultimate rivalry in history. This is naught less than a cosmic struggle. These two -- Jacob and Esau -- started fighting in utero, and they're going to be fighting throughout history. The battle continues until today and does not cease until the concluding showdown during the messianic era. It'south not an even battle ever. Esau volition e'er be stronger in the physical sense, simply the Jewish people have inner strengths, resources and a destiny that will ultimately atomic number 82 to their triumph and humanity'south return to God.
AMALEK
The descendants of Abraham can't help but be great; even if they don't become Jews they go people who have a huge impact on the world. Indeed, the greatest enemies of the Jews come from inside the family unit.
Who is the ultimate enemy of the Jewish people in history? The nation of Amalek. This is the people that epitomize evil and rebellion against God. There is a commandment in the Bible to wipe them off the face up of the earth. With Amalek in that location is no compromise. Information technology's a fight to the finish. This is a nation whose pathological hatred for Jews is so great that they volition show no mercy. Given the have a chance they volition wipe the Jews off the face of the earth.
Amalek is Esau's grandson through his son Eliphaz. (See Genesis 36:1-15) From this individual named Amalek will ultimately sally the Amalekite nation-the arch-nemesis of the Jewish people. (Nosotros will talk virtually Amalek many more times in this book equally his descendants emerge throughout history to practice battle with the Jews)
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who wrote the chief piece of work of the Kabbalah, the Zohar, some 2,000 years, said that "It's a know law that Esau hates Jacob(3)." These are the spiritual laws of reality, then to speak, that depict the interaction between the Jews and descendants of Esau. This deep-seated hatred is deeply embedded in the collective censor of the descendants of Esau and peculiarly full-bodied in the descendants of Amalek. As we will encounter later, the nation of Amalek is no longer identifiable, but his spirit lives on. To understand the relationship and rivalry between Jacob and Esau is understand the deeply-rooted anti-Semitism of those nations that emerged from Rome. No matter what happens, the descendants of Esau are going to hate the Jews.(4)
Then we take a confrontation between Esau and Jacob. Jacob steals the blessing and then Esau shows up and finds out what happened. And patriarch Isaac realizes that he'due south been tricked. He's not angry, withal, considering he sees at present that Jacob is capable of activeness and can carry on the mission.
Now Rebecca, overhearing that Esau's plans to kill his brother, sends Jacob away. She tells him to quickly go to her brother, who lives in Haran. (today located in Turkey)
MR. WHITE
In Haran lives Laban -- Lavan, in Hebrew, meaning "white" -- Rebecca's ne'er-practice-well brother. Never trust anyone named Mr White every bit he turns out to be anything but -- Mr. White is one of the biggest crooks in the Bible. The beginning member of his family that he encounters is his cousin and from his first encounter with her he realizes that she is his soul mate. Next He wants to marry Rachel but he has arrived penniless on his uncle's doorstep. Jacob offers to work seven years for her hand. At the cease of the vii years, Laban substitutes Rachel's older sister Leah and demands Jacob work another seven years to become Rachel. In the end, Jacob winds up with iv wives -- Leah, Rachel, and their handmaidens Zilpah and Bilhah. From these women will come 13 children, 12 sons and 1 girl.
Unlike previous generations where a child went off in a different management and did not follow in the pes steps of Abraham, all of Jacob'southward sons are going to be totally defended to the mission. They are the core grouping -- an extended family that is going to brand the nation that is going to modify the world.
Despite Laban's attempts to keep him dependent and working for peanuts, Jacob manages to accumulate a big fortune. Information technology is fascinating to sentinel Jacob's metamorphosis. He starts out totally straight and pure (Sort of like the worst kind of guy for a poker game). He is forced to collaborate with the most deceptive characters in the Bible. In the end, he successfully develops the skills necessary to overcome the challenges presented by both his brother and his uncle/father-in-law. This is still some other swell pattern in Jewish history. During the long Diaspora the Jew constantly found himself at a disadvantage, economically and politically marginalized, with his hands tied behind his back. In order to survive, the Jew has had to learn to be very resourceful and artistic. History has proven that despite having the odds constantly stacked against him, when given the slightest opportunity the Jews has done remarkably well, even in a very hostile environment.
Next God tells Jacob that he must return to the Land of State of israel because he has a mission. Just every bit Abraham knew that Israel was the only place where Jewish potential could be actualized, so as well Jacob realizes that this is the only place to be. Despite his lingering fright of Esau's revenge (fifty-fifty though 20 years has passed) he gathers up all his family and his holding and heads home.
REUNION
And this brings usa to some other scene which becomes a powerful pattern in Jewish history. The re-uniting of Jacob and Esau.
Every bit he makes his way home, Jacob hears that Esau is coming out to meet him with an ground forces of 400 men. In response, always using his brains, he pursues a multi-pronged strategy to protect himself against whatsoever eventuality: First, he prepares for war by dividing his family into two parts in instance ane is attacked the other half will survive. Adjacent he pursues the diplomatic track by sending elaborate gifts to his Esau. Finally, he prays realizing that ultimately the event of the coming run across is in God's hands.
We know that the Rabbis believed strongly in the concept of the deportment of the fathers are a sign to the children. Ii m years ago when they would accept to interact with Roman officials they would first study the story of Jacob's meeting with Esau. They knew that Jacob's strategy toward Esau was the key to successful Jewish interaction with Rome.
They meet. Esau doesn't try and kill Jacob although it's very clear that he even so hates him.(5) Esau invites Jacob to travel together with him, which is no uncertainty an offer to ultimately live together. (Information technology's interesting to speculate on what would have been had the spiritual/intellectual power of Jacob united with the physical power of Esau). Jacob is not interested in the offer, no dubiety aware that Esau withal harbors deep enmity toward him.
He tells Esau, "You go ahead of me. I'll catch up later." Now we know from the narrative Jacob never goes to Har Sa'ir to alive with Esau. What is the deeper significant behind the argument?
The bang-up biblical commentator Rashi (half dozen) asks " and when volition Jacob go to Esau. Rashi quotes the Prophet Ovadiah who says: "A redeemer will become along from Zion to judge the mount of Esau." This is a clear allusion to the Messianic Era when even Esau'south descendants volition return to God and recognize the Jewish people's role in history. In upshot, Jacob, representing the great intellectual, spiritual force in human history, is saying to Esau, the not bad concrete force: "I requite you permission to go on ahead and dominate human history physically. But at the end of days, when the 'king of beasts lies down with the lamb,' then we'll gather. Then the Jews volition be "on top." (vii)
This "stop of days" refers to the Messianic era when the whole globe will follow the Jewish lead and come to recognize 1 God and live with one standard of morality in peace and brotherhood. The Jewish mission will be fulfilled then, merely in the meantime, Esau is going to exist on top.
The ultimate struggle in history will be between Jewish ideas and the ideas of Esau and the culture that Esau is going to create. Jewish sources depict this equally a cosmic battle and a major theme in Jewish history. The Talmud uses the illustration of Caesaria (Roman authoritative capital of Israel, built on the coast of State of israel over ii,000 years agone by Herod the Dandy.) and Jerusalem to illustrate this rivalry:
Caesarea and Jerusalem: If someone will tell you lot, "Both are destroyed," do not believe information technology. If someone will tell yous, "Both are settled," practise not believe information technology. But if they tell you, "Caesarea is destroyed and Jerusalem is settled," or "Jerusalem is destroyed and Caesarea is settled" -- you may believe it. (Talmud, Megillah 6a)
i) The Biblical commentators allude to the deeper pregnant behind the well story. Wells and water are a symbol for Torah and spirituality. Stuffing them upward is symbolic of the celebrated Gentile rejection of the spiritual/moral mission of the Jews.
2) For a deeper agreement of this story as-well-as Isaac's perception of his two sons, see: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch's commentary on Genesis chap.27.
three) See: Rashi on Genesis 33:4
4) This of course helps the states understand why the enlightened Europe of the mid 20th century could explode into such deep and violent antisemtism during the Holocaust. This doesn't mean that everyone who comes from a Western land is an antisemite. Clearly this is not the instance. Most people today are a mish mash of many ancient races.
5) See: Rashi on Genesis 33:4
6) Run across Rashi, Genesis 33:14
7)Meet: Talmud, Avoda Zara 8b
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