Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Introduction to the Old Testament – Class 5

Tonight we reviewed the talk from our last class, concerning the Jewish people and their Master Story. The story of Jacob holds another key to Jewish identity. Jacob was born holding the heel of Esau as he comes out of his mother’s womb. She favored Jacob, and helped him steals Esau’s birthright through deception. Esau was furious and threatened Jacob, who ran away. Eventually Jacob marries Rachel and Leah, and years later he’s about to meet his brother again.

Jacob wants to reunite with this brother but he’s unsure about whether Esau will accept him back after what he had done. He divides his people into two camps, so that if Esau strikes one camp the other will remain, and he sends gifts to Esau hoping to appease him and earn his forgiveness. Nevertheless, for safety he moves his family across the river. At this point Jacob “was left alone” and he “wrestled with a man until the break of dawn”. This man turns out to be a messenger of the Lord in human form as Hosea suggests years later.

Notice that Jacob holds his own and will not let the “man” go until he blesses him. Jacobs name is changed to Israel or “one who wrestles with God and man”, and he names the place Penial; “because I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared”. He realizes that he has been wrestled with men, especially his brother Esau, and that now he has wrestled with God. As dawn is about to break Jacob acquires his new name, Am Yisrael, which means the People of Israel.

Esau arrives and all Jacob’s fears are unfounded as Esau kisses Jacob and weeps. There is no anger, animosity or revenge in Esau’s behavior. Jacob bows down to Esau 7 times, has each family member bow down three times, and five times he calls Jacob my Lord. Of course Esau does not accept the gifts from Jacob, saying, “I have plenty”. But Jacob insists that he accept the blessing that he offers (returns) to his brother! He repeats what he had said after the wrestling match, “To see your face is like seeing the face of God”.

Jacob spent much of his life wrestling with his identity. He did not know who he was, and how could he? Jacob wanted to be Esau, and he took all from Esau because (he thought) Esau was everything Jacob was not. He had stolen what was not his, and you cannot have a true identity through theft. You will always be something else, and as Jacob discovered, he always saw Esau in the mirror and not himself. To receive the blessing Isaac gave him, the blessing intended for him and his descendants (the Children of Israel), he did not have to dress in Esau’s clothes. He only needed to be himself.

The blessing is that we can be ourselves when we come face to face with God, and our lives will be spared. Who we really are, truly is in the “the image of God.”

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