Genesis 32-35

Jacob now departs as well, headed for a meeting with Esau. Jacob is scared to death of the brother he had cheated and prepares to "soften him up" a bit with a stream of gifts. Interesting that in his prayer of 32:11-12, Jacob feared for not only himself, but for the mothers and children also. Yet Jacob remembers the promise God made to him. in 32:10, he remembers how much more he has than the last time he made this trip, some twenty years earlier.

The night before the big meeting, Jacob wrestles with "a man" who is later known to be God. Jacob wants to know the wrestler's name -- it is to be a hollow victory for Jacob if he could find out his opponent's name. Instead, Jacob receives a new name, Israel. Instead of being "the deceiver", he is to be known as the one who "wrestles with God". It is interesting how the narrator uses this new name sparingly for Jacob. After all, his old instincts as a deceiver continue to play out in his life.

Jacob now has a limp because of a damaged hip tendon. I wonder the significance of God doing this. The Jews saw something almost deserving of respect for this tendon in other animals as well... another weird reaction.

By chapter 33, Jacob sees Esau coming, so he divided up the family into groups with the most expendible put in the most vulnerable position. The concubines and their children were placed first. Leah and her children were behind them, then Rachel and Joseph (Jacob's greatest treasures) as far away from harm as possible. But the preparations prove unnecessary as Esau comes in friendship, accepting Jacob's gifts only at his brother's insistence.

Jacob still is deceiving Esau as he sends him back home, promising to come. Instead Jacob travels to Succoth instead of to Seir. Eventually he settles near Shechem, where he buys a plot of ground.

The story of Dinah in chapter 34 is ugly no matter how you look at it. When Shechem violates Dinah, it is considered tanamount to rape by her brothers. The Bible is silent on Dinah's willingness in all of this, but that could be nothing. In any case, Shechem falls in love with the woman he has violated and now has his father try to broker a deal for her. The brothers take after Dad and trick the men of Shechem (the city) to be circumcised. While they are still sore from the procedure, Dinah's brothers exact their revenge by killing all the men in the town and plundering all that is left. Soon, God tells Jacob to go back to Bethel, and the family left for that place. According to 35:5, God prevented anyone from the surrounding towns to go after Jacob's family because of the whole affair with Dinah and Shechem.

Jacob's response to the brother's revenge is odd. His fear is for himself and his household, not for the honor of his daughter. His sons obviously disagree with Jacob's sentiments.

God appeared to Jacob again at Bethel in 35:9-12. He again pronounces the name change from Jacob to Israel and speaks the promise which was given to Abraham.

The death of Rachel in 35:19 also marked the birth of Jacob's last son. The boy Rachel had called Ben-Oni, meaning "son of my trouble", his father renamed Benjamin, or son of my right hand. A marker was set up to mark Rachel's grave on the road to Bethlehem. How horrible it must have been for Jacob to see his beloved die, especially in childbirth. The other women of the promise lived to old age, but Rachel would not.

Jacob is finally called Israel by the narrator in 35:21. Has Rachel's death changed the deceiver?

A strange story of Reuben sleeping with his father's concubine, assumedly either Zilpah or Bilhah, is mentioned in passing at 35:22. Jacob mentions it again at the time of his blessings to the family in 49:4.

Finally Isaac dies at the age of 180 and is buried by both Esau and Jacob. In the passage where Jacob steals his father's blessing, Isaac is portrayed as old and feeble (and indeed blind) at that time. Yet he lives at least another twenty years more -- probably many more years than 20.