The Genesis of Justice 7. Jacob [Yaakov] Deceives - and Gets Deceived Schocken Bible Translation Contemporary English Version   Genesis 25: here: The text speaks from the point of view of the onlookers, not of Rivka, who is perfectly aware that she has twins. 24 When her days were fulfilled for bearing, here: twins were in her body! Esav: Trad. English “Esau.” Rough-One: A conjectural interpretation from Arabic Õathaya. 25 The first one came out ruddy, like a hairy mantle all over, so they called his name: Esav/Rough-One. Yaakov: Trad. English “Jacob.” Heel-Holder: A popular reinterpretation of the name Yaakov, which may have meant originally “May (God) protect.” 26 After that his brother came out, his hand grasping Esav’s heel, so they called his name: Yaakov/Heel-Holder. Yitzhak was sixty years old when she bore them. plain: Hebrew unclear. Others use “simple.” 27 The lads grew up: Esav became a man who knew the hunt, a man of the field, but Yaakov was a plain man, staying among the tents. (he brought) hunted-game: Hebrew difficult. 28 Yitzhak grew to love Esav, for (he brought) hunted-game for his mouth, but Rivka loved Yaakov. boiling boiled-stew: This phrase may connote plotting, as in our English “cook up,” “brew,” “concoct,” or “stir up” trouble. Other forms of the Hebrew denote “insolence” or “intentional evil.” 29 Once Yaakov was boiling boiled-stew, when Esav came in from the field, and he was weary. 30 Esav said to Yaakov: Pray give me a gulp of the red-stuff, that red-stuff, for I am so weary! Therefore they called his name: Edom/Red-One. here-and-now: Others use “at once”; apparently a legal term. 31 Yaakov said: Sell me your firstborn-right here-and-now. 32 Esav said: Here, I am on my way to dying, so what good to me is a firstborn-right? 33 Yaakov said: Swear to me here-and-now. He swore to him and sold his firstborn-right to Yaakov. he ate…: Esav’s impulsive personality is brilliantly portrayed by the use of four rapid-fire verbs. despise: Others use “belittle.” 34 Yaakov gave Esav bread and boiled lentils; he ate and drank and arose and went off. Thus did Esav despise the firstborn-right.   Genesis 27: 1 Now when Yitzhak was old and his eyes had become too dim for seeing, he called Esav, his elder son, and said to him: My son! He said to him: Here I am. 2 He said: Now here, I have grown old, and do not know the day of my death. 3 So now, pray pick up your weapons—your hanging-quiver and your bow, go out into the field and hunt me down some hunted-game, delicacy: See 25:28. Yitzhak is tied to the senses, a trait that he prizes in Esav. my own blessing: Or “my special blessing.” Heb. nefesh frequently means “self” or “personality.” 4 and make me a delicacy, such as I love; bring it to me, and I will eat it, that I may give you my own blessing before I die. 5 Now Rivka was listening as Yitzhak spoke to Esav his son, and so when Esav went off into the fields to hunt down hunted-game to bring (to him), 6 Rivka said to Yaakov her son, saying: Here, I was listening as your father spoke to Esav your brother, saying: before YHWH: Note that Rivka adds these words to her husband’s. 7 Bring me some hunted-game and make me a delicacy, I will eat it and give you blessing before YHWH, before my death. 8 So now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I command you: take: Fetch (see also vv.13, 14, 45). 9 Pray go to the flock and take me two fine goat kids from there, I will make them into a delicacy for your father, such as he loves; 10 you bring it to your father, and he will eat, so that he may give you blessing before his death. 11 Yaakov said to Rivka his mother: Here, Esav my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man, 12 perhaps my father will feel me—then I will be like a trickster in his eyes, and I will bring a curse and not a blessing on myself! Let your curse be on me: Ominously, Rivka disappears from the narrative after v.46. 13 His mother said to him: Let your curse be on me, my son! Only: listen to my voice and go, take them for me. 14 He went and took and brought them to his mother, and his mother made a delicacy, such as his father loved. 15 Rivka then took the garments of Esav, her elder son, the choicest ones that were with her in the house, 16 and clothed Yaakov, her younger son; and with the skins of the goat kids, she clothed his hands and the smooth-parts of his neck. 17 Then she placed the delicacy and the bread that she had made in the hand of Yaakov her son. Which one are you: Three times—here, in v.21, and in v.24—the father asks for assurances about the son’s identity. my son: This phrase reverberates throughout the story, underlining the confusion over the identity of the sons. 18 He came to his father and said: Father! He said: Here I am. Which one are you, my son? Esav, your firstborn: From the first word the lie is blatant; contrast Esav’s tension-filled reply to the same question in v.32. 19 Yaakov said to his father: I am Esav, your firstborn. I have done as you spoke to me: Pray arise, sit and eat from my hunted-game, that you may give me your own blessing. made it happen: An appropriate expression to use with Yitzhak; see 24:12. 20 Yitzhak said to his son: How did you find it so hastily, my son? He said: Indeed, YHWH your God made it happen for me. 21 Yitzhak said to Yaakov: Pray come closer, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esav or not. 22 Yaakov moved closer to Yitzhak his father. He felt him and said: The voice is Yaakov’s voice, the hands are Esav’s hands— hairy: In the end Yitzhak relies more on the sense of touch than on his hearing. Yet the latter is usually regarded as the source of truth in the Bible (see Deut. 4:12, for example). 23 but he did not recognize him, for his hands were like the hands of Esav his brother, hairy. Now he was about to bless him, 24 when he said: Are you he, my son Esav? He said: I am.   Genesis 29: Lea: Or “Le’a,” trad. English “Leah.” The name means “wild cow.” 16 Now Lavan had two daughters: the name of the elder was Lea, the name of the younger was Rahel. delicate: Others use “weak.” Either the term is meant negatively or else Lea is being praised for one attribute but Rahel for total beauty. 17 Lea’s eyes were delicate, but Rahel was fair of form and fair to look at. seven: Aside from forty, this is the other schematic number found often in Genesis and elsewhere (for instance, as the basic number of the biblical calendar, in days, months, and years). 18 And Yaakov fell in love with Rahel. He said: I will serve you seven years for Rahel, your younger daughter. with me: Or “in my service,” “under me.” 19 Lavan said: My giving her to you is better than my giving her to another man; stay with me. 20 So Yaakov served seven years for Rahel, yet they were in his eyes as but a few days, because of his love for her. fulfilled: I.e., over, completed. 21 Then Yaakov said to Lavan: Come-now, (give me) my wife, for my days-of-labor have been fulfilled, so that I may come in to her. 22 Lavan gathered all the people of the place together and made a drinking-feast. 23 Now in the evening he took Lea his daughter and brought her to him, and he came in to her. 24 Lavan also gave her Zilpa his maid, for Lea his daughter as a maid. 25 Now in the morning: here, she was Lea! He said to Lavan: What is this that you have done to me! Was it not for Rahel that I served you? Why have you deceived me? 26 Lavan said: Such is not done in our place, giving away the younger before the firstborn; 27 just fill out the bridal-week for this one, then we shall give you that one also, for the service which you will serve me for yet another seven years. 28 Yaakov did so—he fulfilled the bridal-week for this one, and then he gave him Rahel his daughter as a wife. 29 Lavan also gave Rahel his daughter Bilha his maid, for her as a maid. 30 So he came in to Rahel also, and he loved Rahel also, more than Lea. Then he served him for yet another seven years.   Genesis 37: 23 So it was, when Yosef came to his brothers, that they stripped Yosef of his coat, the ornamented coat that he had on, 24 and took him and cast him into the pit. Now the pit was empty—no water in it. bread: Or “food.” 25 And they sat down to eat bread. They lifted up their eyes and saw: there was a caravan of Yishmaelites coming from Gil’ad, their camels carrying balm, balsam, and ladanum, traveling to take them down to Egypt. 26 Now Yehuda said to his brothers: What gain is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Yishmaelites— but let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our flesh! And his brothers listened to him. 28 Meanwhile, some Midyanite men, merchants, passed by; they hauled up Yosef from the pit and sold Yosef to the Yishmaelites, for twenty pieces-of-silver. They brought Yosef to Egypt. rent his garments: The tearing of clothing was a customary sign of mourning. 29 When Re’uven returned to the pit: here, Yosef was no more in the pit! He rent his garments And I…: Heb. va-ani, ana ani va. The sound expresses the emotions. where am I to go: I.e., what will become of me? 30 and returned to his brothers and said: The child is no more! And I—where am I to go? 31 But they took Yosef’s coat, they slew a hairy goat and dipped the coat in the blood. pray recognize: See 27:23, where Yitzhak did not “recognize” Yaakov. Yaakov’s youth returns to haunt him, in a sense. 32 They had the ornamented coat sent out and had it brought to their father and said: We found this; pray recognize whether it is your son’s coat or not! My son’s coat: With the omission of “It is,” the shock is conveyed more dramatically. Some ancient versions, however, include the phrase. An illtempered beast… torn-to-pieces: The Hebrew breaks into verse structure, with three word-beats per line: haya raÕa akhalatÕhu/ tarof toraf Yosef (Alter 1981). 33 He recognized it and said: My son’s coat! An ill-tempered beast has devoured him! Yosef is torn, torn-to-pieces! Fox, Everett, The Five Books of Moses, (New York: Schocken Books Inc.) © 1995. The Schochen Bible The Genesis of Justice