Esau Sells His Birthright. You can think of this scenario as one of a drug dealer dealing drugs to an addict. The addict, although perhaps willingly delusional about the severity of the situation, convinces themselves that they need to escape the momentary pain they are in immediately. Esau is ripe for the taking, and Jacob takes advantage of him by stealing his birthright. Neither Jacob nor Esau are justified in their actions, and both eventually face consequences for them. Instant gratification is the opposite of what a sacrifice should be. Sacrifice is giving up something in the present, so that one may improve their future. Esau sacrifices his future for the present, and it leads to the worst of resentments. Eventually, he vows to kill his own brother.
Isaac and Abimelek. We emulate our parents to some degree even if our parents’ behavior is a bit peculiar. History repeats itself as Isaac tells the Philistines that his wife is his sister for fear that they might kill him. Abimelek notices the obvious relationship between Isaac and Rebekah. We cannot hide for long. The piper always gets paid.
It is very difficult to “break the chain.” We are almost destined to have similar tendencies or to repeat the behaviors of our ancestors. The first step into overcoming this might be to simply be aware that this is what it is. Our “prarabdha karma,” or allotted karma.
I’m not sure what the genesis of the phrase “going back to the well” is, but it might be found in this story. Isaac returns to the wells that sustained his ancestors before him. We are miniature versions of our parents, but part of the journey is determining what aspects we wish to keep and which we wish to shed. It’s not as if we have a choice in our genetics, but it doesn’t matter. It is our responsibility to take that on that blessing – or burden.
Isaac Blesses Jacob. There isn’t mention of this in the Bible, but it doesn’t appear that there is a lot of respect left in the marriage between Isaac and Rebekah. That happens sometimes with parents when they have kids. Their entire existence becomes their favorite child, and they lose interest in the marriage. In turn, the parent can behave rather irrationally in regard to the son or daughter, which might mean turning a blind eye to the wrongdoing of the child or manipulating people to get them ahead. Rebekah has invested one hundred percent of her existence into Jacob, leaving nothing left for Isaac and Esau. You could say the same thing in reverse. Isaac’s favorite son was Esau. He lived vicariously through him, which did not leave a whole lot for Rebekah or Jacob.
Jacob Escapes from Esau. Rebekah compounds an original lie with another. The truth is no faucet. We can’t just turn it on or off whenever we choose. It is more like quicksand. When we behave deceitfully, we have to cover up the first lie with another, then another, until we are immersed in painful dishonesty. Esau becomes understandably resentful, descending into the pits of nihilism, and even goes as far as plotting to kill his brother. He becomes a contrarian of sorts, going against the grain on anything his family values and loves, and what or who do they love more than the favorite son? This happens, you know? I’m sure that we have all been there. Maybe not to the extent of wanting to murder, but the frame of mind in which we say to ourselves, “Well, fuck it, fuck them, and fuck everybody.” Even if we have our reasons for falling into this line of thinking it is in no way productive, and it certainly does not get us out of the aforementioned depths of nihilism. The consequences of Esau’s resentments, however reasonable, are too grave. God protects Esau from himself.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel. What are dreams? A possible definition might be that a dream is something that is attempting to express to us through imagery what we already know deep down but are not yet able to articulate. The question becomes what exactly is that something? The dream happens to us involuntarily. We have not a clue where it comes from. Some might call that something God, and I don’t have any reason to disagree. God reveals the future to Jacob by way of the dream. Ever had that happen before? This isn’t a great example, but I can remember before I had ever taken my first drink or smoked my first bowl that I had a dream the night before of doing exactly that. Voila. The next night it happened. You might say that engaging in these activities had been on my mind prior to the dream, but I don’t recall ever imagining that. A better example might be that when I was in my teens, I had a dream about “partying in Oregon.” As fate would have it, the genesis of alcoholism took place in Oregon years later.
Jacob Meets Rachel. “I dress this way and put on this make-up for me. Not for men.” “I don’t try to impress girls.” Both of these statements, or any equivalent statement, are of course lies. Maybe they aren’t, but in that case, what is it that they’re really saying? “I am way more into myself than I am anybody else.” Fair enough. Let me know how that goes. It’s not just human nature; it is universally natural to try to impress, or attract might be a better word, a potential “mate.” Hell, the entire first chapter in “12 Rules For Life” is dedicated to how lobsters do this.
Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel. Well, Jacob gets swindled by Laban here, doesn’t he? That’s how it goes. I just wrote about something similar to this in my latest piece, “The Trap of the Stolen Tennis Ball.” It goes something like this: Whether you are the perpetrator or the victim, at some point you will inevitably become the other, or feel an equivalent pain. This is what happens to Jacob. Some people call it “karma,” but people have misunderstood what karma is, as did I. Karma is what we came into this life with. We did not choose to be born a certain way, have certain character defects or features, or look the way we look. What karma means is to accept these things the way they are, and to take personal responsibility to either live with or change these things. When one receives their comeuppance, that is not karma. Anyway, I suppose that is a bit of a tangent, but Jacob certainly receives his comeuppance, as tends to happen in life. Be thankful if you receive your comeuppance for you have been given a way out.
Jacob’s Children. This is difficult to say, but God takes pity on the less attractive. In this case, He definitely does, but I suspect this to be true in many cases. We see quite often lesser attractive men wind up with more attractive women. Thank God for that. However, it is not often that we see lesser attractive women winding up with more desirable men. Leah is in a very sad, and unfortunate predicament. God looks favorably upon her, though, and gives her everything she could ever want before her archrival does. It’s kind of like the Anaheim Ducks winning the Stanley Cup before the Kings. The Ducks did it first and we Kings fans can’t take that away from them, but the Kings had “Joseph,” so to speak. Unfortunately, you have to be a hockey fan to understand that analogy.
The story of Leah and Rachel is virtually the same as Jacob and Esau’s. Leah trades her “mandrakes” (synonymous with Esau’s birthright) with Rachel in exchange for what appears to be a night with her husband. Judging from these passages it would seem that Jacob neglected Leah. Rachel takes advantage of Leah’s unmitigated desire to be loved. Since I am using the trade analogy quite a bit in this section it must be said that, in some cases, neither side wins a trade. That is especially true on this occasion. Leah finds herself pumping out kids for no other reason than to procure Jacob’s love. Rachel attempts to circumnavigate God’s plan by putting more faith into the mandrakes than God himself. In the end, all this achieves is more pain and resentment. It dawns on me that these are just supposed to be notes, so I’ll wrap this paragraph up with the following question: Is it true that, generally speaking (I’m sick of hearing people come up with some obscure, rare, anecdotal case that they think disproves a pattern), due to men being so willing to tell attractive women whatever they want to hear, that they have to wait longer to find a love that is indeed “true?”
Lastly, I discovered something amazing on speakupministries.org. Here are the names of Jacob’s sons and their meanings:
Reuben: Behold, A Son
Simeon: One who hears
Levi: Attached
Judah: Praise the Lord
Dan: He Judged
Naphtali: Struggle
Gad: Good fortune
Asher: Happiness
Issachar: Reward
Zebulun: Honor
Joseph: He will add
Benjamin: Son of righteousness
Which comes out to: Behold, A Son is born unto us, one who hears us and became attached unto us. Praise the Lord; He judged our struggle and brought us good fortune, happiness, reward, honor; He added to his family and called us the sons of righteousness.
Wow. Again, that is speakupministries.org.
Jacob’s Agreement with Laban. While I wish it were, life is not like a video game. It does not give us notifications to let us know when we have “leveled up,” if you will. There is no loading screen telling us that we are ready to move on to the next chapter of our lives. That realization seems to come intuitively. From my experience, I believe that “notification” comes by way of frustration or complacency. A sort of thinking that says, “I have accomplished everything that I was supposed to. Possibly more.” Jacob worked as hard as he possibly could have for the things he wanted. This is the major takeaway for me in regard to Jacob. I *think* I want a lot of things, but there is no easy way out to get them if it is indeed something that I truly want. God practically says to Jacob (and us), “Okay. You really want that? Prove it to me, and I will make it so.” Of course, it is possible that He won’t, but that probably depends on what one’s motivations are.
I am having a hard time interpreting the story about Jacob’s breeding method with the goats, sheep, the speckled, and the spotted. The only thing that I can come up with is that Jacob had a bit of an outrageous idea, but he believed in it anyway. “Let’s see if this works. Might as well go for it.” A lot of ideas tend to work out with that reasoning behind them. God blessed the idea, and he was on his way. If you believe that there is a possibility that your idea is any good, go for it.
Jacob Flees from Laban. Jacob essentially walks off the job without putting in his two weeks. Hey, when it is time to go, it is time to go. “Who’s coming with me, man?” asks Jacob. It turns out that his two wives, Leah and Rachel, decided to go with him. Maybe this is the first time they have agreed with each other in quite some time. They would rather pack up and skip town than stay with their father Laban.
The dynamic between Jacob and Laban is very much “you can’t bullshit a bullshitter.” However, it seems that for twenty years or so that Jacob laid to rest bullshitting people. Now, that does not mean that he has forgotten how to bullshit. Laban, after changing his wages on Jacob ten times over, leaves enough wiggle room for Jacob to bring out the master manipulator when the situation called for it. That is if you can even call this “manipulating.”
An interesting part of this story is Rachel stealing the “idols” of her father Laban. One of two reasons, probably, 1) Rachel did not want Laban to continue his idolatry, or 2) Rachel believed in these idols the same way that Laban did and did not want Laban to use them to track her down. Hopefully the first one.
Laban Pursues Jacob. Your (our) past is Liam Neeson. It will track us down, and it will find us. Laban is representative of the past, I believe. Jacob responds rather cold to Laban, and rightfully so. Laban, the past, is trying to prevent Jacob from moving forward, but what was meant to be accomplished has been accomplished. This is the proper way to respond to the past, particularly if it is indeed something that could indeed hold you back. The relationship between Jacob and Laban had run its course. They choose to remain cordial, but for the most part, it is finished. A lot of people can relate to that, or should relate to that. Unfortunately, if you need a personal example from me, I think I’ve been more Laban than Jacob as of late.
As mentioned in the prior fragment, there is something to the part of the story where Rachel hides Laban’s “idols,” and Laban not being able to find them. Maybe there is a part of the past that is still with you. You might even have a certain affinity for that thing of the past, but this does not mean that you should let it be discovered. This is especially true it will pull you backward rather than forward.
Laban’s Covenant with Jacob. In the “Big Book” it says that “we will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.” Something like that is taking place here with Jacob and Laban. Laban’s “concession” is hardly a concession. “All of this is mine,” he says, but he cannot find what he was looking for. God only knows how far back Laban would have pulled Jacob, Leah, and Rachel if he had. They make some kind of amends with each other, though, which I think is important as “resentment is the number one offender.” It’s particularly important for what is yet to come. Jacob had to learn how to quell any resentments of his own before his upcoming encounter with Esau.
Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau. Jacob finds himself in the “Trap of the Stolen Tennis Ball.” He knows how it feels to be a victim of manipulation, and now the consequences of his prior actions are about to rear their ugly head yet again. An equal amount of suffering must be felt akin to the suffering one inflicted. Jacob is petrified of his upcoming encounter with his brother Esau for obvious reasons. Hell, he might be killed. His mind is racing in several different directions without knowing what is about to happen, or how Esau feels toward him. The pendulum rapidly swings back and forth between putting full trust in God and taking matters into his own hands. That happens to us. We pray, and almost immediately fall victim to our fears and our own will. When Jacob tries to take matters into his own hands, offering Esau gifts to buy his mercy, he only inflicts more fear and anxiety unto himself. If Jacob were to fully surrender himself to God, he could have avoided this suffering. What will happen is what will happen. Nothing happens in God’s world by mistake.
Jacob Wrestles with God. My favorite section of Genesis. I suppose I am caught in two minds with the story. Originally, I thought that it was a story saying that if you want something, truly want something, prove to God and to yourself that you actually want it. Don’t just lie in bed thinking about what you want, or what you could be. If you are willing to wrestle with God for it then maybe He will let you prevail and maybe He will make it so. However, Genesis 32 makes clear that a “man,” or that God, came to wrestle with him. Maybe God came to Jacob in order to wrestle out every last drop of self-reliance that Jacob was so desperately clinging on to. Maybe that’s why the fight lasted so long – because Jacob so badly wanted to do things his way – to get his way. Finally, the “man” dislocates Jacob’s hip. At this point, Jacob clutches on to God with everything he has and refuses to let go, but perhaps not because he still has fight left in him; perhaps this is because Jacob knew he had been defeated by God, and this is more of a situation of Jack and Rose telling each other they will never let go. Of course, those two eventually did let go, but Jacob probably realizes that he cannot fight his battles without God. “This is how I fight my battles!” In the end, Jacob’s name is changed to Israel, which could either mean “he who wrestles with God,” or simply, “God rules.”
Jacob Meets Esau. “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” – Mark Twain. Jacob puts himself forward as the first one to greet Esau. A transformation of sorts due to the prior events. He doesn’t hide. Esau greets him, and they weep together. God had worked in both of their lives, and it is beautiful proof that people can and do change. Although Esau doesn’t necessarily need or want the gifts, he accepts them anyway as a way to let Jacob know that he had been forgiven. Although Jacob (and Esau) underwent a transformation, Jacob decides to sojourn away from Esau, perhaps because he is still afraid. Hey, we claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
The Genesis Notes Pt. 3.
