Genesis Vayeitzei

Vayeitzei
Genesis 28:10−32:3

I. Summary

A. Vayeitzei = (And Jacob) “left” (Beersheeba and set out for Haran)

B. On his way from Canaan to Haran (where Rebekah told him to go for protection from Esau), Jacob dreams of angels (his first encounter with God) going up and down (v. down and up) a ladder/ramp. God blesses Jacob, promising to protect him and his descendants (confirmation of Isaac’s blessing of Jacob in 28:3). Using stone pillow as a pillar/monument (idolatry?), Jacob makes his devotion to God conditional on God taking care of him (Jacob’s faith is conditional … he is not yet the man he will be after he wrestles with angel in 32:25). (28:10-22)

C. Jacob is overpowered emotionally when meeting Rachael [he moved very heavy stone cover off well (reminiscent of his mother’s feat of carrying water for ten thirsty camels at 24:20 in course of her meeting Isaac), kissed Rachael and cried in a loud voice all before telling her who he is]. Laban. Jacob offers to work for Laban for seven years in exchange for Rachel’s hand in marriage. After the seven years, Laban tricks Jacob into marrying Rachel's older “weak-eyed” sister, Leah. Laban agrees to let Jacob marry Rachael but only after Jacob works for Laban for another seven years. Jacob works the additional seven years and marries Rachael. (29:16-30)

D. Jacob has twelve sons with four women. Leah has four sons with Jacob (Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah). Barren Rachael offers her maid, Bilhah, to Jacob. They have two sons (Dan and Naphtali). Now barren Leah offers her maid Zilpah to Jacob. They have two sons (Gad, and Asher). Leah has two more sons (Issachar and Zebulun) and one daughter (Dinah who is barely recognized in Torah … why?). Rachael has one more son, Joseph. (29:31-30:24)

E. Jacob requests release from Laban for himself, his wives and their children. After agreeing to Jacob’s suggested wage of the spotted and dark kids/goats from Laban’s flock, Laban gives all such animals to his sons thereby cheating Jacob out of those animals. Jacob outsmarts Laban by then breeding the rest of Laban’s non-spotted flock to produce hardy, spotted animals for himself and weak, unspotted animals for Laban. (30:25-43)

F. Seeing Laban’s unfavorable attitude towards Jacob (result of Jacob leaving? taking Laban’s daughters? outsmarting Laban?), Jacob and his family leave Laban's household in Haran (with great wealth). God tells Jacob to return to Canaan. Jacob persuades Rachael and Leah that God approved of Jacob’s deception of Laban and that Laban’s actions were responsible for daughter’s loss of inheritance (another deception by Jacob?). Before leaving, Rachael steals Laban’s “household gods” but does not tell Jacob (gods = idolatry? Why did she take them?). Laban goes after Jacob and is warned by God to be careful in his coming conversation with Jacob. (31:1-24)

G. Laban catches up to Jacob and confronts Jacob. Rachael sits atop stolen goods and deceives her father re: household gods. Not knowing Rachael has stolen gods, Jacob makes oath that one who has Laban’s gods shall not live (foretells Rachael’s death at birth of her next son, Benjamin … 35:18). Jacob berates Laban. Jacob and Laban make peace over stone mound as a monument (v. stone pillow used for Jacob’s “ladder” dream at 28:11). Jacob and Laban part company. (31:25-32:3)

II. Commentary (Plaut, various websites and prior Hevreh discussions)

A. Overwhelming motif of deceit in Jacob story - 1) Jacob re: stolen birthright, 2) Laban re: substituting Leah for Rachael, 3) Rachael’s attempt to talk Leah out of aphrodisiacs/mandrakes (found by Leah’s son in order to use to get pregnant by Jacob), 4) Laban trying to cheat Jacob out of goats, 5) Jacob “out-cheating” Laban re: goats, 6) Jacob using questionable facts to turn Rachael and Leah against their father, Laban, 7) Rachael stealing household goods and not telling Jacob and 8) Rachael lying to her father about her not having his household gods. Deceit = combination of divine inspiration (God making things happen for divine purposes) and personal responsibility of deceiver.

B. Payback - Victim of deceit = payback for victim carrying out earlier deceit, e.g. Jacob’s deceit of Esau (birthright) followed by Laban’s deceit of Jacob (Jacob working for two seven year periods and Laban giving Leah to Jacob in lieu of Rachel) and Laban’s deceit of Jacob followed by Jacob’s deceit of Laban (goat herd breeding).

C. Evolution of Jacob reflected in stone “monuments” - Jacob using stone pillow as monument (Gen 28:18) defines unevolved Jacob couched in fear v. Jacob raising stone as monument at time of peace-making with Laban (Gen 31:45) defines more matured Jacob (but not totally a man of faith as when he wrestles angel at Gen 32:25).

D. Naming by Mothers - Each of Jacob's sons are given names not by God (or Jacob) but by their mother reflecting emotions of mother at the moment of birth.

E. Dinah – Barely mentioned. Why? Only (?) future reference in context of her rape at hands of local prince, Shechem (Gen 34:2).

F. Relationship between Leah and Rachel - As rival sisters, Leah and Rachel could have devoted their time and energies to destroying each other in their quest to gain Jacob's favor. Instead, they chose to channel their feelings into a blessing for all generations. Each sister embodied different dimensions of beauty and love: Leah's was inward, as reflected by her depth and devotion, while Rachel's was outwardly visible, as denoted by her physical attraction and raw emotion. Ultimately, the sisters combined their forces to nurture and sustain a nation.

G. Numbers game: reconciling 12 tribes with various descendants of Jacob – Rachel produces Benjamin and Joseph but Joseph does not become a tribe at all. Instead, his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, take his place. When we drop Joseph from the twelve and put his two sons in his stead, we end up with thirteen rather than twelve tribes. In order to adjust, Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, is sometimes excluded from those defined as heirs (Reuben “defiled his father’s bed,” by seducing Bilhah, Jacob’s (former) concubine at 35:22). But the numbers still do not work perfectly. The Book of Joshua insists that land assignments were by lot, which implies that no region was intrinsically associated with any historical tribal entity. The Levites, as priests, receive no land at all, so without them and without Reuben, we are back down to eleven (though later on in the Book of Joshua (18:7), Reuben’s descendants reappear as possessors of land. The authors of this narrative are playing havoc with birth imagery and the notion of tribal unity along simple birth lines. Our interpretive dilemma emerges as a result of a clash between the redactor’s agenda and the story’s original literary setting, i.e. the goals of the story’s original author, who wrote for some setting now lost to us, were not exactly those of the person who placed this narrative in Genesis.

(Revised 11/29/09)