The next 4 chapters are useful
for developing a general understanding of life in Canaan
The meeting up of Esau and Jacob was not at all what Jacob expected. It
says something about Esau and what he really perceived about the blessing that
Jacob took from him. He seemed undeterred by it all. It was all out of his
system or certainly it seemed to be that way.
I have known people hold grudges for far longer than 20 years and Esau
was hardly a spiritual man, so it is out of character, but maybe in having
achieved an independent status, the value he once perceived in that blessing,
namely his father’s estate, had lost any value to him.
What is also revealed is that Jacob was a caring man, choosing to plod
along slowly for the sake of his wives and children, while Esau went on ahead.
Anyway he then moved to Shechem, where he dug a well and pitched his
tent. Unfortunately, the son of Shechem took advantage of Jacob’s only
daughter. A simple calculation confirms she was underage and so the violation
was serious, notwithstanding the perpetrator’s apparent love for her.
Jacob did not want to alienate the natives of that land, but his sons
were appalled by the matter. They got Shechem to circumcise his household to
satisfy their own customs and then, when they were sore enough, they moved in
and killed everyone.
It gives us some sense of justice in that time. It was unorganized and
crude, which gives some context to many of the less palatable moments of
scripture.
I won’t dwell on the matter. Jacob feared retribution from all over, but
God set fear in the hearts of neighboring communities to ensure his safe
passage to Bethel.
The pillar at Bethel confirmed an
important spiritual principle
God confirmed Jacob as Israel and the name then came into use. There is
a spiritual principle there. God rarely just says a thing is so. Time and again
things are established by confirming words, a principle that later informed the
judicial requirement for two or three witnesses.
With it came the confirmation that all of Canaan would be his perpetual
inheritance. Israel dignified that with the pillar of Bethel. Interestingly,
and without being told to do so, Esau later relocated from Canaan and conceded
the rights of way to his brother.
In US military doctrine, battles are decided in the air before being
engaged on the ground. Well, what God spoke was more in the air, but it changed
things on the ground for Jacob.
The words spoken by God carry that kind of authority and once spoken, a
blessing is assured by Him. As such, we also know that boundary stones are not
easily moved.
What hope that gives to souls who fight for their place in God, secure
it, draw lines over their families, and then secure God’s seal on it all. Fight
for that, as a boundary not easily moved relates to ground you win, which, once
moved in your favor, will not readily move again.
A time of weeping
Shortly after these events Deborah, Rachel’s maid died and was buried in
“the place of weepings”. I suspect it was a plural name, because Rachel soon
followed.
She died in childbirth, but in her passing named her last son “Benoni”,
meaning ‘son of sorrow’. Israel (Jacob), then confirmed an earlier point that
the naming of children in that era was a father’s prerogative. He thus renamed
him “Benjamin” or son of consolation.
He was saddened by her death but consoled by the birth of his last son.
That son would have a special future and later align with Judah against the
northern kingdom.
Rachel was not buried at Machpelah, probably for practical reasons. In
truth though, her ongoing association with other gods and an unremarkable life may
have been the real reason.
It was the role of mothers to provide foundational instruction to their
children and is still true in Jewish households. Thus children adopt the faith
of their mothers. Hence I see a correlation between Israel’s unrefined children
and the witness of their mothers.
Shortly after those tragedies Isaac also died, unremarkably. He was simply buried. However, Jacob later reburied him with Leah at Machpelah (49:31). There was an unspoken shift in favor of Leah, not just because she was fruitful. She was also the mother of Judah.
Esau walks his own path
The last section deals with the descendants of Esau.
Because of his reddish skin he was called Edom and his descendants were
called Edomites.
They dwelt south of the dead sea and established a system of kings long
before Israel contemplated such an idea. Sadly, they walked in the ways of Isaac
and deserted the faith of Abraham to serve pagan gods.
The Jews were forbidden to wrong Jacob’s brother, but the Edomites were
a perpetual thorn in the flesh for the Jews right into the era of Saul and
beyond, until the rise of nations.
To conclude
This was a time of transition prior to the next big step towards the
establishment of the Jews as the nation once promised to Abraham.
(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com
