Homeward Bound

Genesis of Ethics: Homeward Bound

THE GENESIS OF ETHICS by Burton Visotzky Genesis 32: 2 As Yaakov went on his way,
messengers of God encountered him.

                 3      Yaakov said when he saw them:
        This is a camp of God!
        And he called the name of that place: Mahanayim/Double-Camp.
4      Now Yaakov sent messengers on ahead of him to Esav his brother in the land of Se’ir,
        in the territory of Edom,
5      and commanded them, saying:
        Thus say to my lord, to Esav:
        Thus says your servant Yaakov:
        I have sojourned with Lavan and have tarried until now.
6      Ox and donkey, sheep and servant and maid have become mine.
        I have sent to tell my lord, to find favor in your eyes.
7       The messengers returned to Yaakov, saying:
        We came to your brother, to Esav—
        but he is already coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him!
8      Yaakov became exceedingly afraid and was distressed.
        He divided the people that were with him and the sheep and the oxen and the camels into two camps,
9      saying to himself:
        Should Esav come against the one camp and strike it, the camp that is left will escape.
10     Then Yaakov said:
         God of my father Avraham,
         God of my father Yitzhak,
         O Yhwh,
         who said to me: Return to your land, to your kindred, and I will deal well with you!—
11      Too small am I for all the faithfulness and trust that you have shown your servant.
          For with only my rod did I cross this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
12      Pray save me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav!
          For I am in fear of him,
          lest he come and strike me down, mothers and children alike!
13      But you, you have said:
          I will deal well, well with you,
          I will make your seed like the sand of the sea, which is too much to count!
14      Spending the night there that night,
          he took a gift from what was at hand, for Esav his brother:
15      she-goats, two hundred, and kids, twenty,
          ewes, two hundred, and rams, twenty,
16      nursing camels and their young, thirty,
          cows, forty, and bulls, ten,
          she-asses, twenty, and colts, ten;
17      he handed them over to his servants, herd by herd separately,
          and said to his servants:
          Cross on ahead of me, and leave room between herd and herd.
18       He charged the first group, saying:
           When Esav my brother meets you
           and asks you, saying: To whom do you belong, where are you going, and to whom
           do these ahead of you belong?
19      Then say:
          —to your servant, to Yaakov, it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esav,
          and here, he himself is also behind us.
20      Thus he charged the second, and thus the third, and thus all that were walking behind the herds, saying:
          According to this word shall you speak to Esav when you come upon him:
21      You shall say: Also—here, your servant Yaakov is behind us.
          For he said to himself:
          I will wipe (the anger from) his face
          with the gift that goes ahead of my face;
          afterward, when I see his face,
          perhaps he will lift up my face!
22      The gift crossed over ahead of his face,
          but he spent the night on that night in the camp.
23      He arose during that night,
          took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children
          to cross the Yabbok crossing.
24       He took them and brought them across the river; he brought across what belonged to him.
25      And Yaakov was left alone—
           Now a man wrestled with him until the coming up of dawn.
26      When he saw that he could not prevail against him,
          he touched the socket of his thigh;
          the socket of Yaakov’s thigh had been dislocated as he wrestled with him.
27      Then he said:
          Let me go,
          for dawn has come up!
          But he said:
          I will not let you go
          unless you bless me.
28      He said to him:
          What is your name?
          And he said: Yaakov.
29      Then he said:
          Not as Yaakov/Heel-Sneak shall your name be henceforth uttered,
          but rather as Yisrael/God-Fighter,
          for you have fought with God and men
          and have prevailed.
30      Then Yaakov asked and said:
          Pray tell me your name!
          But he said:
          Now why do you ask after my name?
          And he gave him farewell-blessing there.
31      Yaakov called the name of the place: Peniel/Face of God,
          for: I have seen God,
          face to face,
          and my life has been saved.
32      The sun rose on him as he crossed by Penuel,
          and he was limping on his thigh.

Part 2

                  Genesis 33: 1   Yaakov lifted up his eyes and saw:
           there was Esav coming, and with him, four hundred men!
           He divided the children among Lea, Rahel, and the two maids:
2         he put the maids and their children first,
           Lea and her children behind them,
           and Rahel and Yosef behind them,
3         while he himself advanced ahead of them.
           And he bowed low to the ground seven times, until he had come close to him, to his brother.
4         Esav ran to meet him,
           he embraced him, flung himself upon his neck, and kissed him.
           And they wept.
5         Then he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said:
           What are these to you?
           He said:
           —the children with whom God has favored your servant.
6         Then the maids came close, they and their children, and bowed low.
7         Then Lea and her children came close and bowed low.
           Afterward Yosef and Rahel came close and bowed low.
8         He said:
           What to you is all this camp that I have met?
           He said:
           —to find favor in my lord’s eyes.
9         Esav said:
           I have plenty, my brother, let what is yours remain yours.
10      Yaakov said:
           No, I pray!
           Pray, if I have found favor in your eyes,
           then take this gift from my hand.
           For I have, after all, seen your face, as one sees the face of God,
           and you have been gracious to me.
11       Pray take my token-of-blessing that is brought to you,
           for God has shown me favor—for I have everything.
           And he pressed him, so he took it.
12       Then he said:
           Let us travel on, and I will go on at your side.
13        But he said to him:
           My lord knows
           that the children are frail,
           and the sheep and the oxen are suckling in my care;
           if we were to push them for a single day, all the animals would die!
14       Pray let my lord cross on ahead of his servant,
           while as for me, I will travel slowly,
           at the pace of the gear ahead of me and at the pace of the children,
           until I come to my lord, at Se’ir.
15      Esav said:
           Pray let me leave with you some of the people who are mine.
           But he said:
           For what reason?
           May I only find favor in my lord’s eyes!
16        So Esav started back that same day on his journey to Se’ir,
17       while Yaakov traveled to Succot.
           He built himself a house there, and for his livestock he made sheds.
           Therefore they called the name of the place: Succot/Sheds.
18       Yaakov came home in peace to the city of Shekhem, which is in the land of Canaan,
           on his homecoming from the country of Aram,
           and he encamped facing the city.
19         And he acquired the piece of territory where he had spread out his tent,
            from the Sons of Hamor, Shekhem’s father, for a hundred lambs’-worth.

The Schochen Bible
The Genesis of Ethics