Sibling rivalry: Esau vs Jacob

Chapter 25. In which Abraham remarries and dies, and his and Ishmael’s descendants are listed. The births of Esau and Jacob are recounted.

Abraham marries a woman called Keturah (“incense”), and has six sons with her. According to the Notes the sons’ names are those of Arabian places and tribes. One of the sons, Jokshan, will become the father of Sheba, the queen later visited by Solomon. Abraham gives all that he has to Isaac, but he bestows gifts on the sons of all his concubines. These sons do get sent away from Isaac however, to the east. Isaac is to continue the patriarchal line, and Abraham clearly wants to avoid any territorial disputes.

At the age of 175 Abraham dies and is buried in the family tomb already containing the remains of Sarah.

The chapter also outlines the descendants of the other line of Abraham’s family, that fathered by Ishmael. Ishmael, who dies at 137, has 12 sons, all princes. His descendants fulfil the promise God made to his mother in Genesis 16. According to the Notes

the genealogical split between the children of Hagar and the children of Keturah distinguishes the Arabs of the Syrian and Sinai deserts (the Ishmaelites), who were primarily pastoralists, from the peoples of the Arabian peninsula, in whose southern regions were settled nations wealthy from trade in incense, spices and gold.

Isaac married the Aramean Rebekah when he was 40, but his children are only born when he is 60. Like Sarah, she turns out to be barren, but Isaac prays to God and she conceives. Ominously, “the children struggled together within her”. In answer to her questions God says to her:

Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the elder shall serve the younger.

The boys are born with the second child holding on to heel of his brother. Esau, the first-born, was red, and “all his body like a hairy mantle”. His name refers to “red” in Hebrew. The younger brother, Jacob, gets his name from the word “heel” in Hebrew. Jacob’s birth already points to his eventual usurpation of the rights and privileges of his brother.

Esau is his father’s son. A man of the field, a skillful hunter, he is the favourite of Isaac who loves eating game. Jacob is his mother’s favourite, a quiet man who “lives in tents”. The Notes point out that they personify predatory wildness and culture respectively. In their relations with each other Jacob is clearly the intellectual superior of his instinct-led brother.

After coming home from a failed hunt Esau comes upon Jacob cooking stew. His hunger for “some of that red stuff” (emphasising his inarticulateness) drives him to agree to sell his birthright for a portion of it. Jacob gets him to swear to his selling the birthright, which makes the transaction legally binding. The wild man Esau is intent only on having his immediate need sated – he says that he is “about to die” of hunger – and pays no attention to the future, to the consequences of his actions.

Notes

• Sheba was a “wealthy southern Arabian kingdom”. (Notes)
• The theme of the ascent of the younger son (Isaac, Jacob) is a repeated one in Genesis. (Notes)
• In chapter 10 “Joktan” is listed as son of Eber (descendant of Shem) and father of Sheba (among others).

Esau Sells his Birthright to Jacob, by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606 – 1669)

Rebekah, the comfort of Isaac

Genesis 24. In which the aging Abraham sends his oldest servant to find a wife for Isaac. A wife, that is, who is not a Canaanite, and who is willing to leave her country and family to join another.

Abraham’s conversation with his servant includes a very odd detail – in an apparent ritualistic exchange he requests of the servant: “Put your hand under my thigh”. According to the Notes this “seems to signify Abraham’s reproductive organ [...], an appropriate source of authority for the patriarch”.

To ensure that the right woman is chosen the Lord’s angel goes before the servant. At the well outside the city of Nahor the servant asks God that the woman who offers him and the ten camels water be the one. The woman who does this is Rebekah; her hospitality, like Abraham’s to God and the angels in an earlier chapter, consists of doing things quickly, and running instead of walking. (Pointedly, her brother Laban only becomes hospitable when he sees the expensive gifts the servant has bestowed on his sister.) Also, she is Abraham’s kin – daughter of Bethuel and Nahor, Abraham’s second cousin on his father’s side. They give the servant and his animals shelter, and he relates to them the reason he is there.

Recognising that he is on a mission from God, Laban and Bethuel agree to let Rebekah and her maids return to Abraham and Isaac in Canaan. Rebekah is installed in Sarah’s tent and loved by Isaac and so, we are told, was Isaac comforted after his mother’s death.

Notes

• The Notes point out that in Middle Eastern tribal societies a well was one of the few places that a man could meet unmarried women.
• Genesis 24 is the longest chapter in this book.

Image: Rebecca at the Source, by Antonio Bellucci (1654 – 1726)

Death of a matriarch

Genesis 23. In which Sarah dies and a burial ground is purchased.

Sarah dies at the age of 127. Her death is rather overshadowed by the account of Abraham’s purchase of land for the family tomb. The Hittites, whose land he lives in, drives a hard bargain, and Abraham eventually pays 400 shekels – which the Notes call an “exorbitant” price – for a field of Ephron in Machpelah with a cave, to the east of Mamre (Hebron). All of this is in Canaan. Abraham doesn’t haggle with the Hittites – the solemnity of the occasion probably makes this inappropriate.

This family tomb will be the final resting place of Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah. And, according to the Notes, the “purchase of the family tomb is the first step in the fulfilment of [the] promise [of the land of Canaan to Abraham's descendants] and marks the land with a prominent memorial to the dead ancestors”. The promise of Abraham’s lineage becoming a great nation has already had its first step – the existence of Isaac.

Abraham’s story is now almost done, and the spotlight moves onto Isaac in the following chapters.

Lamb to the slaughter

Genesis 22. In which God tests Abraham. Abraham is told:

… take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering.

We are made fully aware that Isaac is Abraham’s only son and heir, and hence of the magnitude of the act required from him. (Although we are also aware that Abraham has by now been promised that he will give rise to a great nation multiple times …) Abraham obediently and unquestioningly sets off. Along the way Isaac wonders where the lamb they will sacrifice is, and Abraham tells him that God will provide. Of course this poignant interchange is ironic, since Isaac was an unexpected gift from God himself.

Once they arrive at the appointed place Abraham binds Isaac, and takes out his knife to kill him. The angel of the Lord appears and orders Abraham to desist. Abraham passes the test: “now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me”, God informs him. And God does provide – Abraham looks up and beholds a ram caught in a thicket (as Hagar looked up in the desert and saw the life-saving water), and sacrifices the animal in his son’s stead. Once again, in an interpolation from the E text the Notes say, Abraham is promised that his offspring will be as multitudinous as the stars and grains of sand.

The story illustrates Abraham’s complete trust in God, and his complete loyalty. Each time God calls on him in this chapter his answer is a simple “here I am” – ready and willing to do whatever God commands. (Compare his haggling with God over the destruction of Sodom.)The Notes say that “the practice of child sacrifice is known from the West Semitic world, usually only in times of crisis”. So it would not have been unheard of. Of course, in this case, the God in question stops the sacrifice, thereby distinguishing himself from the others.

The chapter ends with the offspring of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife Milcah. The daughter of Nahor’s son, Bethuel, is Rebekah, who will become the wife of Isaac.

Notes

• The “traditional Jewish designation of [the] near-sacrifice [is] Aqedah, or Binding of Isaac”. (Notes)
• The Muslims believe the one Abraham almost sacrificed was Ishmael.

See also the Wikipedia Binding of Isaac entry.

Image: The Sacrifice of Isaac, by Giovan Battista Tiepolo (1696 – 1770)

Sibling rivalry: Isaac vs Ishmael

After Isaac is born he is circumcised. As the Notes say, the birth of the heir is the first step in the fulfilment of God’s promises. When Sarah sees the 17-year-old Ishmael playing with her weaned son she becomes concerned about Ishmael inheriting along with Isaac on Abraham’s death. Sarah tells her husband to cast out Hagar and her son.

In stark contrast to Genesis 16, in which Abraham callously told Sarah that she could do with the pregnant Hagar as she pleased, Abraham now experiences distress at the thought of casting out Hagar and his son. He also provides them with bread and water. God reassures Abraham, telling him that he will make nations of both Isaac and Ishmael, since both are Abraham’s offspring.

Nevertheless, Hagar still ends up “wander[ing] about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba”, in dire straits. She leaves Ishmael, now a small boy again, under a bush, so as not to witness him dying. God hears Ishmael’s crying, and speaks to Hagar, telling her that he will make a great nation of Ishmael. Hagar now sees a well of water, and their plight is over. When he grows up Ishmael becomes a bowman, and takes an Egyptian wife his mother finds for him.

In this chapter Hagar and her child are banished, whereas in Genesis 16 Hagar was banished while pregnant. In both she gets a divine message promising that her son will be a great nation. Ishmael’s name means “God heard” – in both stories God (or his angel) “hears” and acts. At least Abraham behaves compassionately in this version of the story, although he still banishes them.

Back home trouble raises its head when Abraham’s and King Abimelech’s servants clash about a well. Abraham complains to the King about the seizure of the well. A compromise is reached: Abraham gives the King some livestock, and a covenant is made between them. Abraham swears that he will never deal falsely with Abimelech, his offspring and his posterity. Abraham gives Abimelech seven ewe lambs so that the King can be a witness that the well was dug by Abraham. The well is dubbed Beer-sheba, “well of the seven” or “well of the oath”. Afterwards Abimelech returns to the land of the Philistines, where Abraham resides for many years as an alien.

Notes:

• Different sources must be used in the telling of the tale of Ishmael and Hagar’s banishment – Ishmael changes from teenager to small child in the space of a few lines.
• Abraham has already dealt falsely with Abimelech of course. See Genesis 20.

Image: Abraham Casting Out Hagar and Ishmael, by Il Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) (1591 – 1666)