Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net>]

Dear Jim,

The section regarding Jacob and Esau is about the following:

1.    God's predetermine will that the "elder will serve the younger."
2.    Both of Jacob's and Esau's characters cast in negative lights.
        a.    Esau's despising of his rights as Firstborn and the Blessing.
        b.    Jacob's conniving.
3.    Isaac's and Rebekkah's favoritism toward Esau and Jacob, respectively.
4.    Esau's continual unbelief versus Jacob's growing belief in the God of
Abraham and Isaac.

True, Esau was the hunter and Jacob was the shepherd, the text does not say 
any
more than that. Both Esau and Jacob were extremely selfish to the point of
despising (Esau) and deception (Jacob). It appears that eisegesis is raising 
its
head again.

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <JimStinehart AT aol.com>
To: <nir AT ccet.ufrn.br>; <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 1:15 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] gen. 25 (tam?)


>
> Scholar Gerhard von Rad uses the term “community” in explaining TM at
> Genesis 25: 27:  “The adjective (‘tam’) means actually belonging to the
> solidarity of community life with its moral regulations, a solidarity that 
> the
> hunter does not know because he is much more dependent on himself.”  
> “Genesis”
> (1972), at p. 266.
>
> In my opinion, however, university scholars have been unable to understand
> the characterization of Esau at Genesis 25: 27.  For example, von Rad says
> the following at pp. 265-266:  “As they grew up, the boys lived completely
> separated from each other, for they personified two ways of life typical for
> Palestine, which at that time was more wooded:  that of the hunter and that
> of the shepherd.”  But that is clearly not true, because (a) the boys grow 
> up
> together in the same household, and (b) even more importantly, after they
> do indeed separate, Esau is a shepherd of sheep and goats!  “6Then Esau took
> his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household,
> his livestock [MQNH, which can mean “sheep and goats”, especially when 
> viewed
> from an economic perspective], all his beasts [BHMH, which can mean “
> livestock”, and in context here cannot possibly mean “wild animals, 
> beasts”],
and
> all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan.  He went into
> a land away from his brother Jacob. 7For their possessions were too great
> for them to dwell together.”  Genesis 36: 6-7.  Just as Abraham and Lot each
> has a large flock of sheep and goats and they separate (Genesis 13: 5-6), so
> also do both Esau and Jacob have large flocks of sheep and goats.
>
> In a long chapter on Esau’s pluses and minuses, scholar R. Christopher
> Heard incredibly only has the following single sentence regarding Genesis 
> 25:
> 27:  “Some readers may suppose that the (presumably Israelite) narrator is
> already trying to slight Esau in the first sentence [Genesis 25: 27], with 
> an
> implicit valorization of Jacob’s settled, pastoral-agricultural lifestyle
> over against an implicit denigration of Esau’s hunting lifestyle (so, e.g.,
> Dillmann: 197;  Gunkel: 291;  Kunin: 107, 113-14;  von Rad: 266;  Skinner:
> 360-61;  Speiser: 195), though readers who perceive an implicit criticism 
> here
> are by no means bound to agree with it.”  “Dynamics of Diselection” (2001),
> at p. 103.
>
> But as noted above, Jacob and Esau will soon enough live the same
> lifestyle.  Scholars cannot figure out on what precise basis Esau is being
compared
> unfavorably to Jacob here.
>
> E.A. Speiser, “Genesis” (1962) at p. 195 is no better:  “The over-all
> contrast, then, is between the aggressive hunter and the reflective
semi-nomad.”
>  But who is “aggressive” in the very next lines of text?  “31Jacob said, ‘
> Sell me your birthright now.’  32Esau said, ‘I am about to die; of what
> use is a birthright to me?’  33Jacob said, ‘Swear to me now.’”  Genesis 25:
> 31-33.  And do Jacob’s actions out at Naharim in eastern Syria lack
> aggressiveness?  “31He [Laban] said, ‘What shall I give you?’  Jacob said,
‘You
> shall not give me anything.  If you will do this for me, I will again 
> pasture
> your flock and keep it: 32let me pass through all your flock today, removing
> from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the
> spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages.’  …  42but
> for the feebler of the flock he [Jacob] would not lay them there.  So the
> feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.”  Genesis 30: 31-32, 42.
> Jacob does not lack for aggressiveness!  Scholars cannot figure out the
> meaning of Genesis 25: 27.
>
> Robert Alter, “Genesis” (1996) at p. 128 is similarly at a loss to explain
> what is going on here:  “The Hebrew adjective ‘tam’ suggests integrity or
> even innocence.  …There may well be a complicating irony in the use of this
> epithet for Jacob, since his behavior is very far from simple or innocent in
> the scene that is about to unfold.”  Jacob ain’t no innocent, that’s for
> sure!  This unconvincing explanation immediately precedes the following
> unbelievable attempt at explaining the next line of Biblical text:  “It is
> unclear whether the idiom suggests Esau as a kind of lion bringing home game
in
> its mouth or rather bringing home game to put in his father’s mouth.”
>
> Finally, here’s Gordon Wenham, perhaps the #1 Genesis scholar in the world,
> at p. 177.  “Jacob, unlike his activist outgoing brother, is a
> self-contained, detached personality complete in himself, hence ‘quiet’.”  
> No,
Jacob is
> not “quiet”.  See above.  “‘Who lived in tents’ contrasts him with his
> wild hunting brother and may well suggest he would become a herdsman (cf.
> 4:20) like his father and grandfather (cf. 13.5).”  But Esau as well 
> becomes a
> herdsman just like Jacob, per Genesis 36: 6-7 quoted above.
>
> None of these various scholarly explanations works, in light of the
> following two key facts:
>
> (1)  Jacob is every bit as aggressive as his older twin brother Esau.
>
> (2)  Esau ends up being a herdsman just like Jacob.
>
> Isn’t it clear that the scholarly community is clueless as to what is going
> on at Genesis 25: 27?  What precise aspect of Esau’s behavior in hunting
> with a bow is the Hebrew author castigating, and why?  That’s the key issue
> here.  As I have been saying, if we can understand Genesis 25: 27, we can
> understand the bulk of the Patriarchal narratives.
>
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.3/696 - Release Date: 02/21/2007 
3:19
PM