Numbers 20: Israel on the Move

Numbers 20: The Death of Miriam / The Waters of Meribah / Passage Through Edom Refused / The Death of Aaron

After some statutes and commandments, we shift into narrative. The story flashes forward some 38 years, to the 40th year of wandering in the wilderness. The generation that did not trust in the Lord has died out. As commanded by God, it is their children that will enter the promised land. What happened during those missing 38 years was probably some more doubting of God, birth, death, and plenty of eating of manna. Don't take my word for it. Use your imagination instead.

The Death of Miriam: Numbers 20.1
A brief formulaic verse informs us that Miriam (Moses' sister) dies and is buried in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin. This is in the "first month" and though the year is not given, commentators assume it is the fortieth year of wandering.

The Waters of Meribah: Numbers 20.2-13
Deja vu. This scene has already happened before, in Exodus 17. But the tale here takes a strange twist.

The people complain against Moses and Aaron that they were taken into the wilderness for the sole purpose of dying of thirst along with their livestock. They consider those previous complainers, their parents, lucky: "Would that we had died when our kindred died before the Lord!" (Num. 20.3). Some things never change - the apple doesn't fall far from the tree - like father like son - you get the point. The Israelites complain and lose faith in God.

Aaron and Moses approach God, who gives them a plan for procuring water from a rock, an old trick used for the previous generation. Moses takes his staff, addresses the "rebels" strikes the rock twice, and water flows out abundantly. The people and livestock drink.

Here is where it gets weird. The Lord tells Moses and Aaron that they will not lead the assembly into the promised land "because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites" (Num. 20.12). What? The mistrust is never explicated, so exactly how Aaron and Moses doubted the Lord is a mystery. Moses was not punished when he previously consulted the Lord - so why would it be a problem now? Moses is the Lord's intermediary, after all.

This means that the only two people of Moses' generation that will enter the promised land are Caleb and Joshua. This exception makes the Moses mystery all the more confusing. Moses was a reluctant leader, but is never shown as doubting the Lord. Why, then, is he lumped with all the other Israelites? This is a question to keep in mind as we continue to read through Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Passage through Edom Refused: Numbers 20.14-21
Here begins Israel's diplomatic and military struggles as they near the promised land.

Edom has a strange relationship with the Israelites. The nation of Edom is descended from Esau (also called Edom), who of course is the brother of Jacob (later named Israel). The brothers had something of a strained relationship, and Jacob stole his brother's birthright and the blessing of the father. There might be a little residual bitterness a few generations later. Perhaps. But the refusal of the king of Edom is given without explanation, so the real reason for this is unclear. [This section is a terrific example of the bible's at-times-frustratingly laconic nature]

Moses sends messengers to the king of Edom to request passage through his territory. The message begins by bring the king up to date on the history of Israel, recounting the migration to Egypt, oppression, escape from Egypt, and wandering in the wilderness. The message then asks for safe passage, stating that the Israelites will not not pass through (and thereby destroy) fields or vineyards, and that they will not drink the water of Edomite wells; the Israelites will stay on the King's Highway.

The message allows the reader to quickly be brought up to date on the Exodus story, and reveals the intentions of the Israelites to travel through Edom peacefully.

The king does not allow the Israelites to pass. Even when they promise to remain on the highway, their request is denied.

The Death of Aaron: Numbers 20.22-29
The Israelites set out from Kadesh and come to Mount Hor, which stands on the border of Edom. The Lord reminds Moses that he and Aaron will not enter the promised land for "rebelling" at Meribah. The Lord then gives instructions that Aaron and his son Eleazar are to go up to the top of Mount Hor. Aaron must be stripped of his vestments, which will be given to Eleazar. Aaron shall be gathered to his people and will die there.

When the congregation learns that Aaron has died, they mourn thirty days.

Think back to Numbers 19's command that Eleazar is to sacrifice the red heifer. All of a sudden, God's specificity about the sacrificier makes a lot more sense. Since Aaron will not be around to sacrifice the heifer, his son must do it. The bible is interesting in this way - the reasons for seemingly inexplicable actions are sometimes revealed much later.

Exodus 1.1-2.25

Genealogy / The Israelites are Oppressed / Birth and Youth of Moses / Moses Flees to Midian / Parallel Encounters and Typology / Closing and Parallelism 

Genealogy: Exodus 1.1-7

Exodus begins with a recap of the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt, the total offspring of Israel numbering 70, as per Genesis. The names are: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher. These all die after Joseph, with the rest of the generation, “But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them” (Ex. 1.7).

The Israelites are Oppressed: Exodus 1.8-22

A new king arises in Egypt, one that doesn’t know Joseph and has a deep distrust of the numerous and powerful Israelites. Fearing that the Israelites will join Egypt’s enemies in a war against Egypt, the king has the Israelites enslaved. The Israelites build the supply cities Pithom and Rameses (not pyramids!) for Pharaoh. This is particularly interesting because Rameses is where Joseph’s family settles in Genesis 47.11. The Genesis reference is an anachronism; clearly it had not been built yet.

The more the Israelites are oppressed, the more they multiply and spread, and the Egyptians become ruthless in their enslavement, with harsh work bricklaying and in the field.

The king says to Shiphrah and Puah, the (presumably Egyptian) midwives to the Hebrews, that they should kill every boy that is born. But because they fear God, they do not kill any children. Rather, they tell Pharaoh that the Hebrew women, unlike Egyptian women, are “vigorous” and give birth without a midwife.

For their fear of God, God gives the midwives families of their own. God also continues to multiply the Hebrews. Then Pharaoh (as he is named at this point) commands his people that every boy born to the Hebrews should be thrown into the Nile, though girls may live.

Birth and Youth of Moses: Exodus 2.1-10

A Levite man marries a Levite woman and the two have a son. The mother hides the child for three months before placing him in a papyrus basket sealed with bitumen and pitch, which she puts in the reeds on the river bank. Notably, this particular word for “basket” only appears one other time in the bible: in the story of Noah (Gen. 6.14). That too was sealed with pitch. That too was placed in water. What happens hear is a little echo of the flood narrative. As all other Hebrew boys are drowning, the child is kept safe in his little ark.

The child’s sister stands at a distance, watching for what happens.

Pharaoh’s daughter comes to bathe in the river, and sees the basket. She sends a maid to retrieve it. When she opens it, Pharaoh’s daughter finds a crying boy inside. Correctly identifying it as a Hebrew, she takes pity on him.

The child’s sister approaches Pharaoh’s daughter and asks if she should get a nurse from among the Hebrew women. Of course, she returns with her own mother, but Pharaoh’s daughter does not know this. Pharaoh’s daughter tells the woman she will pay for the woman to nurse the child. When the child grows up, Pharaoh’s daughter takes him in as her own son. She names him Moses (Hebrew Mosheh, saying “I drew him out of the water” (Ex. 2.10). However, Mosheh literally means “the one who draws out.”)

By this fortuitous trick, the mother is able to raise (and not murder) her own son. Moses, like Joseph, soon finds himself an Egyptian. There is quite a difference in their status, however.

More Envelope Structure

Oh, and check out the envelope structure. Here it is not the same phrase demarking a section (as explored before), but successive phrases. Pharaoh commands the Egyptians, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile” (Ex. 1.22). The following section, which focuses on the boy who was saved, ends with Pharaoh’s daughter saying, “I drew him out of the water” (Ex. 2.10). The envelope structure advances the plot, moving from Pharaoh to his daughter and from throwing into the Nile to drawing out.

Moses Flees to Midian: Exodus 2.11-15a

A grown-up Moses goes out to see what his people suffer. He sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, “a kinsfolk.” Then he seeks (an unequal degree of) revenge for his kin: “He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand” (Ex. 2.12).

The next day he goes out and sees a variation of the scene: two Hebrews fighting. He asks the one who is in the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow Hebrew?” The answer comes, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” (Ex. 2.13-14). Moses realizes that his murder is known, and when Pharaoh hears of it, he seeks to kill Moses. 

The man who replies to Moses raises a few interesting points regarding Moses’ future. Who made you ruler and judge over us? Well, no one, yet. But in the next scene we will see that it is God that makes Moses the leader of the Hebrews, a “ruler and judge,” if you will. His next question, Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian, raises the question of how murder shall be dealt with. This will be answered in the sixth commandment in Exodus 20.13: “You shall not murder.” And then there is the whole thing about conquering the land of Canaan…

Parallel Encounter and Typology: Exodus 2.15b-25 

This section parallels an earlier story from the Bible: the marriage story of Jacob and Rachel. Compare these two encounters [Remember: when last we left our hero, Pharaoh sought to kill him…]

Moses

But Moses fled from Pharaoh. He settled in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well. The priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. But some shepherds came and drove them away. Moses got up and came to their defense and watered their flock. When they returned to their father Reuel, he said, ‘How is it that you have come back so soon today?’ They said, ‘An Egyptian helped us against the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock.’ He said to his daughters, ‘Where is he? Why did you leave the man? Invite him to break bread.’ Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage. She bore a son, and he named him Gershom; for he said, ‘I have been an alien residing in a foreign land.’

Jacob

Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the people of the east. As he looked, he saw a well in the field and three flocks of sheep lying there beside it; for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well’s mouth was large, and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well, and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well.

Jacob said to them...[here follow many words] But they said, ‘We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.’

While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she kept them. Now when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, and the sheep of his mother’s brother Laban, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of his mother’s brother Laban. Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and wept aloud. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s kinsman, and that he was Rebekah’s son; and she ran and told her father.

When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him; he embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things, and Laban said to him, ‘Surely you are my bone and my flesh!’ And he stayed with him for a month. [Joseph ends up working for Laban 7 years and receiving Leah for his efforts. He must work another seven for Rachel. And then...well, it would be silly to recount here the epic son-begetting fest that follows.]

So What?

The narrative similarities are as follows: A man travels to a foreign land and finds himself at a well where shepherds are gathered. The man does some task to prove himself to his potential wife - and in the process waters her flock. The woman runs home and tells her family. The dominant male in the family goes out to the man and invites him home. The man agrees to stay with the family and marries the daughter. The daughter bears a son and names him ritually.

These two stories are the same type of story, containing many similar elements. I will explore this phenomenon more in later entries, but for now it is just important to note that these two stories contain a number of similar details, styles, and events. The encounter at the well, which is quite long-winded in Genesis, is fairly laconic in Exodus because the audience is already familiar with the story. Essentially both of these stories are the same, with different characters. Those encountering the stories chronologically within the bible will notice that the stories are very similar. Because of this, the narrator does not have to be quite as specific the second time around - the reader can fill in the details for himself.

Closing and Parallelism: Exodus 2.23-25

The king of Egypt dies, but the Israelites still cry out from under their slavery. Their cries are heard by God.

God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

(Ex. 2.24-25)

There is something special about the way this is written. It has a parallel structure of cause and effect, with a passive action of God (the cause) creating some specific change in God (the effect). When God hears the groaning, it causes him to remember his covenant. When God looks upon the Israelites, it causes him to take notice of them. The passive actions of hearing and looking create the active actions of remembering and taking notice. The effect is poetic:

God heard their groaning,

and God remembered his covenant...

God looked upon the Israelites

and God took notice of them.

The method of parallelism has remained an effective one through the years Check out this selection from John F. Kennedy’s inauguration speech:

[Note: The ellipses indicates that the paragraph continues, but I have cut out the majority of the paragraph to emphasize the parallelism that begins each paragraph, creating a link between all of them] 

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, 

we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends…

To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, 

we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny…

To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, 

we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required…

The repeating structure is denoted by the phrases “To those / we pledge.” The structure is useful and effective in linking and presenting ideas. In a way, the repeated phrases function as bullet points around which information is arranged. Consider that the next time you are being inaugurated. Or giving a Power Point presentation. Or writing scripture.

Genesis 49.1-50.26

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons / Jacob’s Death and Burial / Joseph Forgives His Brothers / Joseph’s Death

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons: Genesis 49.1-28

Jacob calls his sons and says, “Gather around, that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father” (Gen. 49.1-2). Jacob’s last words to his sons consist of prophetic blessings and curses. These pre-date the bible as old tribal blessings and curses.

Reuben

Curse. Though the first born, “first fruits” of Jacob’s vigor, Reuben is “unstable as water,” and will lose his prestige for having sex with Bilhah on his father’s bed (way back in Genesis 35.22). Israel heard of Reuben’s actions then, but waited until he was on his deathbed to deliver the curse.

Simeon and Levi

Both cursed. The brothers committed a mass murder in the city of Shechem to avenge the rape of Dinah. “Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel” (Gen. 49.7).

Judah

Blessing. Judah is given a grand blessing. He will defeat his enemies and his brothers will bow down to him. He is mighty like a lion. The scepter will not depart from him until he gains tribute. People will be obedient to him. Then something different:

Binding his foal to the vine 

and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

he washes his garments in wine,

and his robe in the blood of grapes;

his eyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth whiter than milk.

That is quite a piece of poetry!

Zebulun

Neither curse nor blessing. He will settle by the see and be a haven for ships. He will border Sidon, a Phoenician port.

Isaachar

Curse. Though he is “a strong donkey,” he settles in a pleasant land and becomes a slave.

Dan

Blessing. He will be a judge among the Israelites and as fierce as a snake.

…and then there is an interpolation in the middle of the blessings:

I wait for your salvation, O Lord.

…the blessings continue: 

Gad

Short statement, neither curse nor blessing. He “shall be raided by raiders, but he shall raid at their heels.”

Asher

Short blessing. He will be a culinary masher, providing rich food and royal delicacies.

Naphtali

Short blessing. His speech and/or children will be beautiful: “Naphtali is  does let loose that bears lovely fawns” (alternative: “that gives beautiful words”).

Joseph

Extended blessing. He is a fruitful bough (though he has only two children). He remains strong in the face of battle. His strength in battle comes from God. Well, why don’t I just put down the blessing in its entirety?

Joseph is a fruitful bough,  

a fruitful bough by a spring;

his branches run over the wall. 

The archers fiercely attacked him;

they shot at him and pressed him hard. 

Yet his bow remained taut,

and his arms were made agile

by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,

by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 

by the God of your father, who will help you,

by the Almighty who will bless you

with blessings of heaven above,

blessings of the deep that lies beneath,

blessings of the breasts and of the womb. 

The blessings of your father

are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains,

the bounties of the everlasting hills;

may they be on the head of Joseph,

on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

Quite an extensive blessing with quite an extensive collection of epithets for God. Joseph is quite set apart from his brothers.

Benjamin

Short statement, neither curse nor blesseing. Poor Ben has to feel pretty badly, receiving a short statement after the grand one that Joseph received. He is a ravenous wolf, devouring pray by morning and dividing the spoil by evening.

The section closes, “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, blessing each one of them with a suitable blessing” (Gen. 49.28).

Jacob’s Death and Burial: Genesis 49.29-50.14

Envelope Structure

Envelope structure is a literary device in which text is bracketed by a certain phrase. In this way, a narrative unit is differentiated from what is outside the “envelope.” One appears hear, stretching from Gen. 49.29 to 49.33:

Then he charged them, saying to them, ‘I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors—in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave in the field at Machpelah, near Mamre, in the land of Canaan, in the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried; and there I buried Leah— the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.’ When Jacob ended his charge to his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

Notice that the repetition of the phrases charge and gather to [my/his] people. These set off the narrative unit of the description of the burial site.

Aftermath

Joseph weeps over his father and kisses him. Then he has his father’s body prepared in the Egyptian way. Israel is embalmed – a process that takes forty days. The fact that this is allowed – and that the Egyptians wept a total of seventy days over the body, demonstrates tremendous Joseph’s prestige in Egypt. The rest of the narrative only highlights this fact.

Joseph asks and is granted Pharaoh’s permission to bury Israel in Canaan. A huge party follows him with chariots and charioteers. Present are all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of Pharaoh’s household, and the elders of Egypt, as well as all of Israel’s household. Only the children, flocks and herds are left in Goshen.

The party laments Israel seven days at the threshing floor of Atad. When the Canaanites see this, they dub the place Abel—mizraim (mourning/meadow of Egypt). It is likely that this portion comes from a different tradition of Israel’s burial, as Israel is not actually buried here.

Rather, he is buried in the cave of the field at Machpelah, the field that Abraham bought. After this, the party returns to Egypt. 

Joseph Forgives His Brothers: Genesis 50.15-21

Joseph’s brothers are still afraid that Joseph will seek revenge after all these years, so they play one final trick. They tell Joseph that Israel asked on his deathbed that Joseph forgive his brothers’ crime. Joseph then weeps; his brothers still do not understand that he does not seek vengeance. The brothers weep too, fearing for their lives.

Joseph, as usual, chalks it all up to God “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today” (Gen. 50.19-20).

Joseph’s Death: Genesis 50.22-26

Joseph lives one hundred ten years, seeing his great-grandchildren by both of his sons. When he is about to die, Joseph tells his brothers of the divine blessing, that God will bring the Israelites out of the land into the land he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joseph has the Israelites swear that when God comes, his bones should be carried to the promised land. Until that time, however, he is embalmed and placed in a coffin.

It is remarkable how utterly Egyptian Joseph is. As the black sheep of his family he made a name for himself in Egypt (not entirely his fault), married Egyptian women, and is buried there. He is not brought back immediately to his ancestral homeland. Joseph, so important to the Genesis story, seems more an Egyptian than an Israelite. yet because he maintains his faith in the God Elohim, he is an honorable and just character.

Tomorrow: Genesis recap!

Genesis 47.13-48.22

The Famine in Egypt Worsens / The Last Days of Jacob / Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons

The Famine in Egypt Worsens: Genesis 47.13-26

The famine is so bad that there is no food at all, except for what Joseph stored in Egypt. The people of Egypt and Canaan spend all their money on food. After this, Joseph exchanges food for livestock. That food lasts for a year of the famine. After that the people are broke and without livestock, so Joseph buys the land the people live on, making the residents of Egypt slaves to Pharaoh. The priests, who live on a fixed income from Pharaoh, kept their land, but the rest of Egypt is enslaved. In exchange for their enslavement, Joseph gives seed to the Egyptians, who must give one-fifth of the harvest to Pharaoh. “So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. The land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s” (Gen. 47.26).

In this passage Joseph, who is the favorite of his father, the former favorite of Potiphar, the former favorite of the jailer, the current favorite of Pharaoh, is characterized as having even greater power. Now he does not simply exchange food for money, but cattle and land as well. He even enslaves all of Egypt! With control over the people’s food, Joseph is the strongest political figure in Egypt, at least as strong as and perhaps stronger than Pharaoh himself.

Of course, the Joseph’s power is predicated on a supportive Pharaoh who approves his actions. This sets up a bitter irony for the following chapter, Exodus, in which the political situation of the family of Israel is completely reversed.

The Last Days of Jacob: Genesis 47.27-31

“Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; and they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly” (Gen. 47.27).

Jacob/Israel dies at the age of one hundred forty-seven, having spent seventeen years in Goshen.

But before that happens, Israel has Joseph make a patriarchal pledge to him. The method is similar to Abraham’s command to his servant in Genesis 24: Joseph is to put his hand under Israel’s thigh and swear to him, an act which conveys the power of the patriarch in both a figurative and literal (by proximity) sense. Israel’s request is that he is not buried in Egypt: “When I lie down with my ancestors, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place” (Gen. 47.29-30). Joseph swears it. Then Israel bows himself on the head of the bed.

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons: Genesis 48.1-22

Hinted at in the last verse of Genesis 47, Israel is ill. Joseph is told this, and takes his two sons with him to Jacob. Jacob summons the strength to sit up in his death bed and tell Joseph of the blessing of progeny and land that he received from God at Luz: (In part) “I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for a perpetual holding” (Gen. 48.4).

Jacob then adopts Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph’s sons, as his own. This way they might be tribes of Israel, like Reuben and Simeon. Their offspring, instead, will be Joseph’s. The reasoning for this is a bit strange. Jacob refers to the death of Rachel, so perhaps the children are adopted to compensate for the children that Jacob never had with her. If that is the case, Jacob could have taken Benjamin’s sons instead. After all, Rachel died delivering Benjamin. If that were the case, though, there would be a lot of children being blessed in this scene. And future verses listing Ephraim and Manasseh as members of Israel would not make much sense. Likely the adoption is related to Jacob’s favoritism towards Joseph.

Joseph feigns blindness, but has one last trick up his sleeve. He is a trickster even on the death bed. The scene plays well off of Jacob’s other deathbed blessing trick, in which he tricks his father Isaac, lying on his deathbed, into bestowing the blessing of the firstborn on him instead. Even dying and blind like his father, Jacob has a trick up his sleeve. After Jacob kisses and embraces Joseph’s sons, he (ironically?) tells Joseph, “I did not expect to see your face; and here God has let me see your children also” (Gen. 48.11).

Joseph then places (the younger) Ephraim at Israel’s left hand and (the firstborn) Manasseh at his right. The blessing should favor the firstborn, and therefore be given with the right hand. But Jacob pulls the old switcheroo, crossing his hands to that he places his right hand on Ephraim and his left on Manasseh. Jacob the blesses Joseph:

The God before whom my ancestors Abraham and Isaac walked,

the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, 

the angel who has redeemed me from all harm, bless the boys;
and in them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my ancestors Abraham and Isaac;

and let them grow into a multitude on the earth.

(Gen. 48.15-16)

Joseph is displeased by his father’s crisscrossed hands. He grabs Jacob’s right hand to put it on Manasseh’s, correcting him so that he may bless the first born. Jacob refuses, telling his son that Manasseh will have a great nation, but Ephraim will be greater. Jacob knows a bit about the second son being greater than the first; in fact, it is a very common theme in Genesis.

Israel tells Joseph that he is about to die, but that the blessing will be fulfilled. He then gives his favorite son one more portion than his brothers receive, “the portion that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow” (Gen. 48.22).

Tomorrow: More blessings.

Genesis 46.1-47.12

Israel Brings His Family to Egypt / Jacob Settles in Goshen

Israel Brings His Family to Egypt: Genesis 46.1-27

Israel heads with all his possessions to the sacred Beer-sheba, where he offers sacrifices “to the God of his father Isaac” (Gen. 46.1). This is the territory Jacob knew in the last days of his father, when he stole his brother’s blessing. It was where God commanded Isaac to settle. Now Israel receives a command from God to settle elsewhere: “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again; and Joseph’s own hand shall close your eyes” (Gen. 46.3-4). In addition to the patriarchal blessing of progeny and protection, God also offers a new blessing: that the man will live long enough that his favorite son will witness his death.

The sons of Israel carry their father, their children, and their wives to Egypt in Pharaoh’s wagons. What follows is a genealogy of the Israelites who came into Egypt.

Genealogy and Math

“All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own offspring, not including the wives of his sons, were sixty-six persons in all” (Gen. 46.26).

Children of Leah:     33 (34 according to the list of names)

Children of Zilpah:   16 (17 according to the list of names)

Children of Rachel: 14

Children of Bilhah:     7

Total Children =       70 (72 according to the list of names)

Leah’s total might be 33 because Shaul is the son of a Canaanite woman, and therefore may be subject to exclusion.

Zilpah’s total might be 16 because Serah is a girl. So it goes.

Since Joseph and his offspring did not come into Egypt, and Judah’s sons Er and Onan are dead, we can subtract 5, bringing us to 65. To bring the total to 66 we must include Joseph in the count, even though he is already there. Note also that this tally does not include the matriarchs: Leah, Zilpah, Rachel, and Bilhah.

“The children of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two; all the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy” (Gen. 46.27).

Presumably, then, this includes the four matriarchs, as 66 + 4 = 70. It excludes Jacob because it is his house.

Why 70 children? Because 70 is a number that represents completeness. Israel’s family is whole (=70) when they enter Egypt. It is symbolic and literal: a name corresponds to every member of the family to add up to a number that itself represents completeness.

Jacob Settles in Goshen: Genesis 46.28-47.12

Remember how Jacob sent his servants ahead of him bearing gifts for Esau when he was afraid his brother would kill him? (Gen. 32) He does this again, sending Judah ahead of him to meet Joseph and lead the way into Goshen. In fact, the scene plays out in much the same way. Joseph meets his father in a chariot: “He presented himself to him, fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while” (Gen. 46.29). Compare to Genesis 33.4: “But Esau ran to meet him [Jacob], and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” Apparently this is how you are supposed to greet Jacob after not seeing him for a long time.

Israel declares that he can die happy, having seen his son is alive. That is a pretty touching sentiment.

Joseph tells his father’s household that he will go to Pharaoh and tell him that the family has come. He will say that the men are shepherds, and when Pharaoh asks their occupation, they should answer: “Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our ancestors” (Gen. 46.34). The brothers are not to say they are shepherds; apparently shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians.

Huh.

In any case, it reveals a bit of the family history and helps to characterize them: these are a people who tend flocks.

Joseph tells Pharaoh about his family settling in Goshen, and selects five of his brothers to present to him. They tell Pharaoh that indeed they are shepherds, just like their ancestors. They continue that they have come to reside as aliens, for the famine has destroyed the pastures of Canaan. Pharaoh apparently does not have a problem with shepherds after all. He tells Joseph:

Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land; let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know that there are capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.

(Gen. 47.5-6)

Joseph’s service to Pharaoh is rewarded with the best of the land of Egypt for his family. This band of aliens receives, through diplomacy, the best portion of Egypt.

Joseph then brings Jacob before Pharaoh. Jacob blesses Pharaoh, and Pharaoh asks his age. Jacob answers truthfully, if a bit cynically: “The years of my earthly sojourn are one hundred thirty; few and hard have been the years of my life. They do not compare with the years of the life of my ancestors during their long sojourn” (Gen. 47.9). Jacob blesses Pharaoh again and leaves. Two blessings? These display Jacob’s superiority over Pharaoh. Normally it would be Pharaoh who blesses others, but Jacob, father of Joseph, instead asserts his authority with blessings, which Pharaoh apparently accepts.

Joseph then settles his father and brothers in the land of Rameses, the P-source equivelant to Goshen.

Joseph is apparently not only benevolent towards his family, but a good administrator as well. He provides “his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents” (Gen. 47.12).

Genesis 44.1-45.28

Joseph Detains Benjamin / Joseph’s Identity Revealed

Joseph Detains Benjamin: Genesis 44.1-34

Joseph’s brothers again head home from Egypt, still unaware of their brother’s identity. Before they leave, however, Joseph has a steward put each man’s money back into his sack, along with the food. In addition, Joseph has his silver cup placed in Benjamin’s sack. Joseph has his steward pursue his brothers shortly after they leave, with a message that one of them has done the Pharaoh’s governor a wrong by stealing his silver cup, the one he uses for divination.

The servant heads out and stops the party. The brothers say the money at the top of their sacks they brought themselves. Furthermore, they would not steal their lord’s gold; if any of them is found with it, let him die and the others become slaves. The steward, however, says that the one it is found with should become  slave, and the rest would go free. They are searched in order of their age, oldest to youngest. The cup is founding Benjamin’s sack. At this the brothers tear their clothes (the same action as their father at the discovery of Joseph’s “death.” The brothers load up their donkeys and head back to Joseph’s house.

The brothers again fall on the ground before Joseph. Joseph rebukes them: Why did you do this? Didn’t you know I can practice divination? Judah responds, “God has found out the guilt of your servants” (Gen. 44.16). Therefore all of them should be Joseph’s slaves. It is not God who is punishing the brothers for their guilt, but rather Joseph himself, a sort of intermediary of God. In any case, though, Joseph demands that only Benjamin should be his slave, for the cup was found in his bag only. The rest should return to their father. This should be even harder on them, as Judah has pledged his honor on the safe return of Benjamin.

Judah steps up to Joseph and recounts the entire history from the brothers’ first journey to Egypt to the present. In doing so he informs Joseph about his father’s sadness: 

Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die; and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol.

(Gen. 44.30-31)

Judah asks that he instead becomes a slave to Joseph, so that his father will not die of sorrow.

Joseph’s Identity Revealed: Genesis 45.1-28

Overcoem with emotion, Joseph orders his servants out of the room and reveals himself to his brothers. He weeps so loudly that the Egyptians and even Pharaoh hear him. At first his brothers are afraid. When Joseph reveals, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” his brothers are dismayed and cannot answer him (Gen. 45.3). Joseph, after all, still has the power to get revenge for that ill-conceived transaction with the Ishmaelites years ago. Joseph beckons his brother’s closer and reveals his name again. He bids them not to be distressed or angry with themselves; it was an act of God that they should appear before him. Joseph will save them and their families from poverty and starvation. “So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt” (Gen. 45.8). Joseph is a very powerful man in Egypt, the father of Pharaoh himself!

Joseph asks his brothers to go up to Jacob and bring him down to Egypt for the remaining five years of the famine. Jacob’s family will settle in Goshen, near Joseph, who will provide for them.

So is it Joseph’s powers of divination or rather editorial insight that guides Pharaoh’s decision regarding Joseph’s brothers? Upon hearing that Joseph’s brother have arrived, he tells Joseph to move his family to Egypt, so that they may be given “the best of the land o Egypt, and you may enjoy the fat of the land…for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours” (Gen. 45.18-19).

Joseph’s brothers head out with wagons, twenty donkeys laden with goods and provisions for the return journey, and a new set of garments for each man. Benjamin, however, receives five sets of garments as well as three hundred pieces of silver and gold to compensate for the “stolen” silver cup. Presumably the brothers have learned their lesson and do not begrudge Benjamin for this favoritism. Nevertheless, Joseph tells his brothers as they leave, “Do not quarrel along the way” (Gen. 45.24).

The revelations of Joseph’s existence to Jacob parallels the revelation of Joseph’s identity to his brothers. At first Jacob is stunned and does not believe that his son is ruler over Egypt, let alone alive. After some explication and viewing the wagons of goods, Israel says in his classic pessimistic fashion, “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go see him before I die” (Gen. 45.28).

Tomorrow: Israel sees his son Joseph before he dies.

Genesis 42.1-38

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt / Joseph’s Brothers Return to Canaan

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt: Genesis 42.1-25

When last we left our hero, there was a severe famine in the land, but Joseph, appointed overseer of the land and guided by an interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams, wisely stockpiled grain before the famine. Now Egypt is a food bank for the area.

Jacob learns that there is grain in Egypt, and sends ten of his sons down to Egypt to buy grain. Benjamin stays behind. As Rachel’s only “remaining” son, he serves as a surrogate for Joseph, and Jacob wants to keep him from harm.

Joseph’s brothers arrive in Egypt and bow before Joseph, fulfilling the dream Joseph had of their sheaves of grain bowing down before his (see Gen. 37). The brothers do not recognize Joseph, and who would expect him to be in that position anyway?  But Joseph recognizes them, and deals with them harshly, perhaps seeking retribution for the transaction that occurred years ago.

Here is the conversation, featuring only the quotations, with the narration removed. This portion relies so much on dialogue that it is perfectly comprehensible without narration.

Joseph: “Where do you come from?”

Brothers: “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

Joseph: “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land!”

Brothers: “No, my lord; your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man; we are honest men; your servants have never been spies.”

Joseph: “No, you have come to see the nakedness of the land!”

Brothers: “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of a certain man in the land of Canaan; the youngest, however, is now with our father, and one is no more.”

Joseph: “It is just as I have said to you; you are spies! Here is how you shall be tested: as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here! Let one of you go and bring your brother, while the rest of you remain in prison, in order that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you; or else, as Pharaoh lives, surely you are spies.” 

The brothers are imprisoned for three days.

Check this out:

The brothers’ answers go from vague to specific. First they state their homeland and purpose. Next they state their subservience and purpose and family. Finally they state their subservience and state the specifics of their family. Joseph gets them to open up more and more. Each answer from the brothers intensifies the understanding of the previous one. Joseph, on the other hand, splits his initial accusation as a way to answer his brothers. First he accuses them of being spies who have come to see the nakedness of the land. Next, he accuses his brothers only of coming to see the nakedness of the land. Finally, he accuses them of being only spies. The brothers follow a logical pattern from broad to specific, whereas Joseph starts broad, and applies each part of his accusation separately in response to his brothers.

On the third day, Joseph has a change of heart, “for I fear God” (Gen. 42.18) (Not On or any other Egyptian god, but God himself). Nine of the brothers are allowed to return home with grain, but one is to remain imprisoned until the nine brothers return with Benjamin. The other brothers realize, “Alas, we are paying the penalty for what we did to our brother; we saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this anguish is upon us” (Gen. 42.21). Reuben, of course, points out that he told his brothers not to sell Joseph.

Joseph’s retribution is indeed appropriate, forcing his brothers to leave behind one of themselves, just as they left him. 

That irony is compounded by another irony; it is not until verse 23 that the text mentions Joseph is speaking through an interpreter. This whole time Joseph has been able to understand his brothers in his native tongue, but has not been able to speak with them. Joseph is so overcome he turns away and weeps, but when he returns he binds Simeon and puts him in prison.

Joseph has his brothers’ sacks filled with grain, and sneaks their money back into their bags.

Joseph’s Brothers Return to Canaan: Genesis 42.26-38

One of the brothers opens his sack to feed his donkey, and finds his money inside. Uh-oh. Now maybe the man who dealt so harshly with them will accuse them of stealing as well. “What is this that God has done to us?” they wonder (Gen. 42.28).

The brothers get back and tell Jacob of everything that has happened. As they empty their sacks, each discovers the money that Joseph slipped back into the sacks. Wait, hasn’t this already happened? Yes. That’s the E-source reiterating the early J-source story.

Jacob does not take the news so well: “I am the one you have bereaved of children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has happened to me!” (Gen. 42.36). Reuben offers that Jacob may kill Reuben’s two sons if he does not bring Simeon back. Essentially he is guaranteeing the return of Jacob’s son with two of Jacob’s grandsons. Think about that for a minute.

In any case, the pitiable Jacob refuses to let Benjamin return, as he is the last remaining son of Rachel. “If harm should come to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol” (Gen. 42.38). This is the second time he has made such a remark regarding mourning a son of Rachel.

Tomorrow: Back to Egypt.

Genesis 37.1-36

Joseph’s Dreams / Joseph Sold by His Brothers

Joseph’s Dreams: Genesis 37.1-11

Jacob settles in Canaan, land of his father, and lives there as an alien. This is the story of his family.

Seventeen-year-old Joseph shepherds flocks with his brothers, and one day brings back a bad report of them. Israel loves his youngest son Joseph more than any of his other children, and made him a long robe with sleeves (or if you’re reading the Greek translation, a coat of many colors). This causes some tension among the other brothers, who can no longer speak peaceable with him.

Favorite sons are a common theme in Genesis: Isaac is favored by Sarah over Ishmael, Esau is favored by Isaac and Jacob by Rebekah. Joseph is the youngest son of the favorite wife of Israel.

Surely it does not help that Joseph has prophetic dreams. In one he and his brothers are binding sheaves (of grain) in the field when Joseph’s sheaf rises and stands upright. The other sheaves gather around the standing sheaf and bow down to it. Joseph’s brothers do not care for this dream and the implication that he is greater than them. In another dream Joseph sees the son, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him. Neither Joseph’s sons nor his father care for this dream either – especially with the obvious symbolism. Israel rebukes his son: “What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?” (Gen. 37.10). The other brothers are jealous, but Israel stores the information in the back of his mind.

Note that Rachel appears to be alive in this narrative, represented by the moon.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers: Genesis 37.12-36

Though Joseph supposedly shepherds flocks, he is at home with his father. Israel tells Joseph to go to Hebron to check up on his brothers, who are with the flocks.

A man find Joseph wandering in the fields and directs him to Dothan, where his brothers are. The brothers see Joseph approaching, and say to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams” (Gen. 37.19-20). Ironically, the brothers will in fact see what will become of his dreams as a direct result of throwing him in the pit. Only they will not kill him. Reuben suggests simply throwing Joseph in with the intention of rescuing him later. The other brothers agree. They strip Joseph of his robe and throw him into a pit. That task finished, they sit down to eat.

A caravan of Ishmaelites comes near, headed for Egypt. Judah suggests that rather than killing Joseph, they should sell him to the Ishmaelites. He is, after all, their own blood and flesh. When the Midianite traders (the composite narrative creates the effect that the Ishmaelite caravan transforms into Midianite traders) reach the brothers, they pull Joseph out of the pit, selling him to the Ishmaelites (who have changed back, apparently) for twenty pieces of silver.

Apparently Reuben is away during this, as when he returns to the pit he tears his clothes in grief. The brothers then dip Joseph’s robe in the blood of a slaughtered goat to create evidence of Joseph’s death. They give it to Jacob/Israel, who tears his garments and puts on sackcloth, traditional signs of mourning. He mourns his son many days and cannot be comforted: “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning” (Gen. 37.35). Meanwhile the Midianites (or whoever they are) sell Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials.

A Tale of Two Texts

If you read through the biblical text, you can easily see the interplay between the two sources. Joseph has two defenders and is taken by two different groups of people. The interweaving of the narratives, however, creates a cohesive whole, much like the flood story, though with fewer contradictions. 

What is Sheol, exactly?

This reference to Sheol is the first reference to any idea of hell in the bible. Sheol is one ancient understanding of the afterlife. It’s pretty much just a long sleep with everyone else who has ever died, which isn’t much fun, because you’re sleeping. But it’s not horrible torture, either, because you’re not being horribly tortured. At this stage, the heavens is where God resides, a place inaccessible to humans (with the exception, perhaps, of Enoch). Every dead person, though, goes to reside in Sheol after death. So Joseph would in fact be joined by his father, but there would be no emotional reconnection. The identification of Sheol with a pit (etymologically) gives a tinge of irony to the story, for a pir is exactly where Israel’s son has been thrown.

Genesis 34.1-36.43

The Rape of Dinah / Jacob Returns to Bethel / The Birth of Benjamin and the Deaths of Rachel and Isaac / Esau’s Descendants and the Inhabitants of Edom

The Rape of Dinah: Genesis 34.1-31

Dinah is the daughter of Leah, the only daughter of Jacob. One day she goes out to visit the women of the region. But Canaan is a wild place: “When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force. And his soul was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the girl, and spoke tenderly of her.” (Gen. 34.2-3). The prince’s son then asks his father Hamor to get the girl for him to be his wife.

The violent lust of rape evolves into love for Shechem, but the bible gives no indication of Dinah’s own feelings – it rarely reports at all the words or actions of women. The bible is not only laconic, it is also androcentric. All we know is that Jacob does eventually hear of the rape.

When Jacob hears of the rape, he holds his peace until his sons come in from the field. Coincidentally, Jacob’s sons and Hamor arrive at the same time. The sons become understandably angry when they hear their sister has been raped. (Shechem “had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.” [Gen. 34.7] The reference to Israel is an anachronism by editors. The nation of Israel did not exist at this time.)

Hamor tries to defend his son by arguing for Shechem’s longing for Dinah. He proposes intermarriage between the two families and will allow Jacob’s family to live and trade in the area. Perhaps the audience is unimpressed, as he afterwards asks to find favor with them, and invites them to put the marriage gift as high as they like.

Jacob’s crafty sons figure out a way to get back at Hamor and Shechem. They propose painful circumcision (the sign of Abraham’s covenant) for every male member of Hamor’s family so that the two families can intermarry. Hamor and Shechem inform the city of the mass circumcision, which will guarantee the residents of the city will own the livestock and property of Jacob’s family.

Three days after the mass circumcision of all the males of the city, when the men are still in pain, Simeon and Levi take up their swords and kill all the male residents of the city, most importantly Hamor and Shechem. The other sons plunder the city in their anger, taking the livestock, and wealth and women and children. The city’s greed for the possessions of Jacob has been ironically reversed, so that Jacob’s family instead wins the wealth of the city (and they don’t even have to intermarry!)

Jacob is rather angry with Simeon and Levi:

You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.

(Gen. 34.30)

But his sons reply, “Should our sister be treated like a whore?” (Gen. 34.31).

This story serves to set up Israel as an underdog in the land of Canaan. It also goes a long way to characterize Jacob’s sons. They can be brutal, but are loving and united together. For them, the honor of the family is an important matter. They are also tricksters, just like their father. 

Jacob Returns to Bethel: Genesis 35.1-15

Think there is only one God? Jacob probably didn’t. In fact, a number of people at the time probably didn’t. Jacob was a monolatrist. Whereas monotheism is the belief that only one god exists, monolatry allows for multiple gods, though there is one specific god that is worshipped. Here is the story of Jacob the monolatrist:

God tells Jacob to settle in Bethel, where God first appeared to him after he fled Esau. Jacob tells his family to pack up:

Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes; then come, let us go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.

(Gen. 35.2-3)

Jacob buries the foreign gods and ear and nose rings under an oak near Shechem.

So what’s the big deal? The big deal is that up until this point, the worship of God alone was not even exclusive! It is probable that Jacob’s family members were polytheists, worshippers of multiple gods. Perhaps the God of Abraham would be a high god, but these other lesser gods were still worshipped for various reasons. Nowhere in the text does Jacob mention that these are false gods. The text indicates that these are simply gods that Jacob and his family are not to worship. Only one god may be worshipped, but this does not preclude the existence of other gods.

Let’s take a look at belief in the time of Moses. The first of the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20.2-3 and Deuteronomy 5.6-7, reads:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

Note that God is the “Lord your God.” This is the one God that you worship and brought you out of Egypt. The phrasing indicates that other people might worship other gods, and perhaps would not be incorrect in doing so. Furthermore, the phrase “you shall have no other gods before me” does not deny the existence of other gods. Rather, the God of Abraham is the sole god that should be worshipped. This is monolatry, not monotheism.

Back to the story. As Jacob and his family journey to Behtel, a “terror from God” falls upon the cities they pass, so no one (who might be angry about the slaughter of Hamor’s city) attacks them (Gen. 35.5). he comes upon a place named Luz/Bethel, and renames it El-bethel (roughly God of the house of God, el-beth-el). Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, dies there and is buried beneath an oak, which is called Allon-bacuth (oak of weeping).

That, above, was the E-source story. Here is the P-source story.

When Jacob arrives in Paddan-aram, God appears to Jacob and blesses him, renaming him Israel in the process. The blessing is the traditional blessing of land and offspring: 

I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.

(Gen. 35.11-12)

Finally this seems possible. Abraham had one son to fulfill the blessing, Isaac had one son to carry on the blessing, but now Jacob/Israel has 11, and it will soon be 12. After so much waiting, perhaps it is finally possible that this blessing will be fulfilled.

Jacob erects another pillar and pours a drink offering and oil on it, calling the place Bethel.

The Birth of Benjamin and the Deaths of Rachel and Isaac: Genesis 35.16-29

After leaving Bethel, Rachel experiences hard labor delivering a son. She dies shortly after childbirth, naming her son Ben-oni (son of my sorrow) as her soul departs. Israel changes the name to Benjamin (Son of the right hand/son of the south). Rachel is buried on the way to Ephrath/Bethlehem, and Jacob erects a pillar at her grave site, “which is there to this day” (Gen. 35.20).

Israel and his family settle down in Eder, where Reuben lays with Bilhah, Israel’s concubine. Israel hears of it, but that episode is not recorded.

The text then gives a recap of the sons of Jacob: 

Leah’s

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun 

Rachel’s

Joseph, Benjamin

Bilhah

Dan, Naphtali

Zilpah

Gad, Asher

Jacob visits his one-hundred-eighty year old father Isaac at Mamre/Kiriath-arba/Hebron. Isaac dies, and Jacob and Esau bury him.

Esau’s Descendants and the Inhabitants of Edom: Genesis 36.1-43

*ahem*

...

What might have been and what has been 

Point to one end, which is always present. 

Footfalls echo in the memory 

Down the passage which we did not take 

Towards the door we never opened 

Into the rose-garden. My words echo 

Thus, in your mind. 

                                But to what purpose 

Disturbing the dust on a bowl of rose-leaves 

I do not know. 

                        Other echoes 

Inhabit the garden. Shall we follow? 

Quick, said the bird, find them, find them, 

 Round the corner. Through the first gate, 

Into our first world, shall we follow 

The deception of the thrush? Into our first world.

...

                       - T. S. Eliot, “Burnt Norton” from Four Quartets

So here is the deal. Genealogies are getting way too convoluted to keep track of. It’s like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. Different genealogies come from different sources that are sometimes contradictory, so keeping track of them would mean creating diagrams with different paths based on different sources, which ideally would be colored and hyperlinked and made so that branches could disappear if desired. Right now I have neither the time nor software to do this, so I will only summarize the important parts of these genealogies.

Though Esau’s story ends here, his ancestors are named, as well as the various clans in Edom, where Esau lives.