Seder 39: Gen 43-44---Another Test for Joseph's Brothers

 Joseph's brothers were apprehensive when they arrived in Egypt the second time.  Would the official who was holding Simeon in custody accuse them of being thieves as well as spies?  What further things would they suffer for their treatment of Joseph 22 years before?

The Egyptian official treated them kindly, hosting a special dinner for them.  At the dinner, he seated them according to their birth order.  How did he know so much about them?  (One midrash proposes that Joseph pretended to use his special divining cup to determine the seating arrangement, as a way to explain his knowledge of their ages and heighten their awe of the powerful official.)

Things went surprisingly well for the brothers, and they headed home with more grain.  Then disaster struck.  The Egyptian official's steward stopped them and accused them of stealing the official's silver divining cup.  

This situation may have reminded the brothers of a traumatic episode from their childhood.  When their family was escaping from their great uncle Laban, Laban had pursued them, accusing them of stealing his household gods (Gen 31:25-30).  An ugly argument ensued, with their father asserting his innocence and promising death for the thief.  (Jacob had not realized at the time that Rachel had stolen the items---vv 31-32).  

This time it was the brothers who insisted on their innocence and said that whoever had the cup should die (Gen 44:9).  Then the cup was found in the sack of Benjamin (v 12).  When the brothers saw this, they tore their clothes as their father had when he had seen Joseph's bloody coat (v 13; Gen 37:34).

The Egyptian official did not suggest the death penalty for Benjamin.  He proposed that Benjamin become his slave and the others go free.  Here was a final test for the brothers.  Would they abandon Benjamin as they had Joseph?  

Judah, the one who had proposed years earlier that Joseph be sold (Gen 37:25-28), took the lead in negotiating with the Egyptian official.  The stage was set for the climax of the Joseph narrative.

Seder 35: Gen 38---Who Did Jacob's Sons Marry?

 For Abraham, it was very important that Isaac marry a woman in Abraham's clan (Gen 24).  For Isaac and his wife Rebekah, it was important that her son Jacob marry someone from that same clan (Gen 28:1-2).  

But the book of Genesis never raises the subject of who Jacob's twelve sons were supposed to marry.   There are at least a couple of reasons why this apparently ceased to be an issue.  For one thing, Jacob and his father-in-law Laban had parted on less-than-amicable terms (Gen 31:51-54), so Jacob would not have been likely to send any of his sons back to Haran in search of wives.  

Also, by this point the identity of the covenant family may have become well enough established that assimilation into the surrounding Canaanite culture was no longer such a danger---at least after the destruction of Shechem.  Jacob's family was not absorbed into Shechem, but it's possible that some of the women captured from Shechem (Gen 34:29) married sons of Jacob.

We are given information about the wives of three of those sons.  Judah married the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua (Gen 38:2).  We are not told her name, and she is referred to in 1 Chron 2:3 simply as Bath-shua ("daughter of Shua").  Simeon also married a Canaanite (Gen 46:10), and Joseph married Asenath, the daughter of an Egyptian priest (Gen 41:45). 

Ancient readers of Genesis were curious and concerned about the lack of information given on this subject.  Some sought to fill in the gaps.  For example, the book of Jubilees (second century BC) lists names of wives of Jacob's sons in verses 20-21 of chapter 34:

"And after Joseph perished, the sons of Jacob took unto themselves wives. The name of Reuben's wife is 'Ada; and the name of Simeon's wife is 'Adlba'a, a Canaanite; and the name of Levi's wife is Melka, of the daughters of Aram, of the seed of the sons of Terah; and the name of Judah's wife, Betasu'el, a Canaanite; and the name of Issachar's wife, Hezaqa: and the name of Zabulon's wife, Ni'iman; and the name of Dan's wife, 'Egla; and the name of Naphtali's wife, Rasu'u, of Mesopotamia; and the name of Gad's wife, Maka; and the name of Asher's wife, 'Ijona; and the name of Joseph's wife, Asenath, the Egyptian; and the name of Benjamin's wife, 'Ijasaka.  And Simeon repented, and took a second wife from Mesopotamia as his brothers."

Notice that Jubilees, in its desire for Jacob's sons not to have mixed too much with the Canannites, has some of them going back to Haran to marry women from Abraham's clan.  

Seder 30: Gen 31---Jacob's Exodus from Haran

 As Jacob continued to prosper, the attitude of Laban's family toward him soured.  They were jealous of his success.  God let Jacob know that it was time to return home to Canaan (Gen 31:3,13).  

Jacob made the case to Leah and Rachel that is was time for them to go.  Apparently Laban had also cheated them, and they wholeheartedly agreed with Jacob (vv 4-16).  

Jacob felt that the only way he would ever be extricate himself from Laban would be to just leave, without telling his father-in-law.  Like the Pharaoh of the Exodus, Laban always had a way to put off Jacob's departure a little longer.  

When Jacob and his family left Haran, Rachel took the teraphim (household gods) of Laban.  We don't know the precise appearance or significance of these objects, but they probably represented Laban's ancestors, or patron gods of his ancestors, and Laban probably believed that they provided protection and promoted prosperity.  

We are not told why Rachel took the teraphim.  It may be that she took them as a way to get back at her father, knowing how much he valued them.  A number of other possibilities have also been suggested by commentators:

• The objects could have included some valuable precious metals or gems.  Perhaps Rachel took them as partial payment toward the amount out of which that Laban had cheated them.
• One midrash suggests that Laban used the teraphim in divination, and Rachel took them so that he would not have extra help in determining the location of Jacob's family after they fled from him.
• Another midrash suggests that Rachel felt they might promote fertility.
• The interpretation most favorable to Rachel is one that says Rachel took the teraphim because she wanted her father to quit following false gods.

When Laban found out that Jacob had left, he set out in pursuit.  Here Laban is a precursor of the Pharaoh of the Exodus, who pursued the Israelites as they were leaving Egypt.  There are a number of ways in which Jacob's departure foreshadows the Exodus.  The Israelites left Egypt with great wealth, and Jacob left Laban with wealth.  Egypt's gods were defeated in the Exodus, and Jacob left with Laban's teraphim.  Laban overtook Jacob, as Pharaoh did the Israelites, but in both cases God provided protection.  

The subsequent confrontation between Jacob and Laban showed how much relations between them had broken down.  But they made a covenant and enjoyed a final covenant meal before parting for good.

Laban had been untrustworthy in dealing with Jacob, often deceiving the deceptive Jacob.  But God had been faithful to his promise to be with Jacob and bring him back home (Gen 28:15; 31:3).  God continued with his promise to Abraham and plan to bring blessing to the whole world through his family.

Seder 29: Gen 30---Jacob Prospers under his Agreement with Laban

 After working for his uncle Laban for 14 years, Jacob expresses to Laban his intention to head back home to Canaan.  "Send me away, " Jacob says to Laban, "that I may go to my own home and country" (Ge 30:25).  Commentator Nahum Sarna notes that the expression "send away" in this verse is the same one used when an indentured servant is freed after the agreed-upon time is finished.  Laban has treated Jacob more like a hired servant than like a family member.  

Laban, who has prospered  through Jacob's work with his flocks, hopes that Jacob will stay longer. When he asks Jacob what wages will induce him to remain, Jacob replies, "You shall not give my anything."  His response has been compared to the one that Abraham gave to the king of Sodom in Genesis 14:22-24.  Jacob does not want Laban to be able to say that he made Jacob rich.  They agree to a plan where Jacob will stay, taking as his wages all the black sheep and spotted goats born in the flock after that (verse 32).  That way it will be easy to determine which animals belong to Jacob.  

Laban immediately took away all the black sheep and spotted goats from the flock.  He wanted to minimize Jacob's share.  Jacob, meanwhile, practiced a mixture of superstition and selective breeding to try to maximize his share.  In particular, he hoped that if animals mated in front of striped sticks, they would give birth to striped goats and black sheep.  

This superstition reminds us of the supposedly fertility-promoting mandrakes and was just as far-fetched.  The important thing, though, is that is was God's will to bless Jacob.  Jacob became very properous (Ge 30:43), and unfortunately, friction with Laban and his family followed (31:1-2).  

Seder 27: Gen 29---Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

 After the ladder dream Jacob went on to Haran, repeating the journey that Abraham's servant had undertaken some 97 years before.  Like Abraham's servant, Jacob came to a well and met a young woman from the clan of Abraham.  Genesis 29 describes the meeting this way:

"Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother.  Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud.  And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman, and that he was Rebekah's son, and she ran and told her father."  (vv 10-12)

There is a rich collection of Jewish legends surrounding the events of Gen 29.  Books that discuss them include 

• Jerry Rabow's The Lost Matriarch, a book on the traditions about Leah;
• The Passions of the Matriarchs by Shera Aronoff Tuchman and Sandra Rapoport, which covers traditions on Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel. 

For example, one detail in Gen 29:12 that has raised questions is Jacob's telling Rachel that "he was her father's kinsman"---literally, her father's brother.  In what sense were Jacob and Laban brothers?  

This question led to a tradition recorded in the Talmud about the details of the conversation between Jacob and Rachel at the well:

Jacob:  Marry me.

Rachel:  Yes, but my father is a deceiver, and you will not be able to outwit him.

Jacob:   I am his brother in deceit.

Rachel:  Is a righteous man allowed to act deceitfully?

Jacob:  With the pure be pure, but with the crooked be sly.  What deceit will Laban attempt?

Rachel:  He will not let me marry before my older sister. 

And so Jacob gave Rachel a secret password that she could use to identify herself.  However, Rachel felt sorry for Leah and told Leah the password, helping to explain how Jacob was fooled on his wedding night. 

Another detail that has led to questions is in the remark about Leah's eyes in verse 17.  Leah's eyes are said to be rakhov, which has been translated in a number of ways---weak, soft, tender, gentle, sad.  One tradition says that Leah's eyes were this way because she had spent so much time crying.  People were saying that Laban's two daughters were destined to marry Rebekah's two sons, and that Leah, the older daughter, would end up marrying Esau, the older son.  Not wanting to be an addition to Esau's harem, Leah did a lot of crying.  

A third story surrounds verse 22, where Laban "gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast."  Tradition says that Laban instructed the people of the community not to tell Jacob about his plan to switch brides.  Jacob's presence was bringing prosperity to the community, and it would be to their advantage if Jacob stayed longer. The community also made sure that Jacob had plenty to drink at the wedding feast.  

In any case, Jacob the deceiver became the deceived on his wedding night, when Laban switched brides and gave him Leah rather than Rachel.  Jacob went on to marry Rachel a week later.