Read Genesis chapter 24.
Sarah dies. Notice that Abraham is very careful to offer money to the tribe occupying that territory for the spot where he will bury Sarah—Machpelah. This will come up again at future points.
It is from this point that you begin to notice an ever-increasing delineation of tribal lines. Abraham sends Isaac’s servant to find him a wife, but not from the tribe of the Canaanites (Remember “Cursed be Canaan”? Noah cursed his grandson Canaan a few generations prior in Genesis 9:24–27). There obviously was some cultural tension between Abraham’s descendants and Canaan’s. Be looking for it. And notice Isaac is marrying his first cousin. That is how important it was at this point to marry within one’s own culture.
Isaac’s servant will choose a woman who not only offers him water but also offers water to his camels. It is a practical sign more than a mystical sign. He wants a woman who will help Isaac take care of his tribal responsibilities. You will see in future stories that going to the water well at the end of the day was a good time to meet the women of the tribe. Women were sent to the well at twilight to get enough water to last the evening. Back then, you went to the well to “meet girls.”
Note: When making a covenant, they grasp under the thigh. Why? The most likely answer is this was a way of showing submission to one who had authority over you.
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
1. Families sometimes have unspoken rules about who you are allowed to marry. Sometimes those attitudes are not unspoken. Do you sense there are rules about that in your extended family? You might even pose the question to people in your family? Often these restrictions are soft (present but not overtly expressed), things like religion, ethnicity, geography, socioeconomic background, vocation. Sometimes it is even an assiciation with a sports team. To what degree are these distinctions important when choosing a spouse?
Jacob, Esau, and Tribal Leadership
Read Genesis chapters 25, 26, and 27.
After Sarah dies, Abraham married Keturah and has numerous children with her. Toward the end of his life, he gives his entire inheritance to Isaac and gives gifts to his other children and sends them away toward the east. When Abraham dies, Isaac and Ishmael together bury him in the cave at Machpelah with Sarah. Ishmael’s tribe grows through twelve of his princely offspring. This becomes important later as Abraham’s grandson Esau will marry one of Ishmael’s daughters.
Isaac and Rebekah have trouble conceiving, a repeat of Sarah’s difficulty. Isaac pleads with God, and she conceives, but it comes with an unusual prediction. The twins will fight with each other in her womb, and this will be a foreshadowing of the conflict between these two brothers and their offspring. The younger infant will usurp the older one. Do you see the pattern that is forming? Either the story is predicting the tribal conflict, or it is trying to explain it. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Regardless, usurping will be a repeated theme through much of the Hebrew Bible.
Notice there is a third account of someone lying about their wife being their sister, except this time it is Isaac. This repeats the theme of that undulating up-and-down trust in God’s provision and protection.
Rebekah finally has a baby, but from the beginning it is a contentious event. I love all of the undercurrents of the story of Jacob and Esau. Esau is strong, good at hunting, but anyone who would sell his inheritance and birthright (his position as the tribal head) for a bowl of lentil stew would be a weak leader. It’s the subtext of the story. There was the divine premonition Rebekah had during her pregnancy, “the older will serve the younger.” What ensues is a mother manipulating her son to do something to bring that to fruition.
Moms manipulating their children? That has never happened before!
Jacob steals his brother’s familial blessing by deceiving his blind father Isaac. I wonder if Jacob and Rebekah had simply been patient and let circumstances unfold naturally, would God have arranged the transition to Jacob’s tribal headship more smoothly? Does God use unethical or deceptive methods to achieve a greater good? The story never says one way or the other. It only suggests this was predicted by God while the babies were in the womb, and so it came to fruition.
Esau swears he will kill him in retaliation. Jacob flees and soon becomes associated with his act of betrayal. His name, Jacob, means “grasps the heel” but comes to be associated with usurper and deceiver or a thief and a liar. Jacob will be the tribal head, but his moral authority has been compromised. Is this what God wanted? There is a quote attributed to Napoleon that goes something like: “To obtain power one must be absolutely petty, but to exercise power, one must be absolutely great. Rarely do these two qualities ever coexist within the same person.”
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
1. Who would make a better tribal chieftain, Esau or Jacob? Why?
2. If you were in a situation where you knew you would make a better leader than the one put in charge, would you trust God to make the opportunity for you or would you be more inclined to try and trick and maneuver your way into that position?
Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah
Read Genesis chapters 28, 29, and 30.
Notice how chapter 27 ends and chapter 28 begins. Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick and tired of these local Hittite women! I would rather die than see Jacob marry one of them.” It is that tribal mentality again, but with a strongly xenophobic (fear of people who are different) tone. Because of this, Jacob will marry cousins within their immediate tribe, and Esau will marry descendants of Ishmael (a Canaanite woman), further deepening the cultural division between the brothers. There is some sad irony later in chapter 28. His parents send Jacob off to find a wife, but they implore him to not marry a Canaanite. To ensure he does not, they send him to his Uncle Laban’s house to marry someone within his tribe.
On the way to his Uncle Laban’s land, Jacob has a dream where he sees a ladder from heaven (aka Jacob’s Ladder), with angels ascending and descending. The promise to his grandparents is repeated to him in a dream: “And all people will be blessed through you.” How can you dislike Canaanites and at the same time be charged with blessing all the people of the earth? It is setting up one of the big tensions in the entire Bible. It is a tension that I believe is eventually resolved, but not at this point.
Jacob arrives in Padam Arran and falls in love at first sight with his cousin Rachel (he weeps after their first kiss), but he is deceived by his Uncle Laban, a polytheist (many gods), into working for him double-time to marry both of his cousins: Rachel and Leah. There are some tense family dynamics between Jacob, his two cousin-wives, and their slave women. It is important to note that the only one he is truly in love with is Rachel, who has trouble conceiving children (just like her mother-in-law Rebekah and grandmother-in-law Sarah). Rachel eventually gets pregnant and gives birth to Joseph and Benjamin, who will be important in stories around the corner.
Through Rachel and Leah and their two slave women, Bilhah and Zilpah, Jacob ultimately has twelve sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin, and one daughter, Dinah. In addition, Jacob eventually adopts the two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, into the tribe, making them part of his inheritance. More on that in a later chapter.
Jacob grows incredibly