TheSong of the Dove

 

Rebecca's Twins Are Born

Earlier, in the story of Esau, we looked at the simmering conflict of two brothers who are already locked in mortal combat within the womb of their mother Rebecca. In this panel we examine the family relationships of the twin brothers Esau and Jacob from the perspective of the younger brother, Jacob. We begin with the birth of these twins who enter the world so much in conflict with one another:

When her term reached completion, there were twins in her stomach. The first one came out red colored, completely hairy, like a coarsely-woven mantle, and they called his name Esau. And after him, came out his brother, his hand grasping at the heel of Esau, and he called his name Jacob. And Isaac was 60 years old when they were born. (Genesis 25:24-26)

Esau is the first to come into the world, and his name in Hebrew reflects the fact that he came out hairy all over, like a completely-formed adult. His brother Jacob, however, was hot in pursuit, and grabbed for the heel of his twin as if to assert his right to be the leader. Jacob's name is from the Hebrew word for heel, or 'he will track after.' Clearly, the struggle for succession that dominated the relationship between Isaac and Ishmael is playing itself out again in the next generation.

Jacob comes into the world striving. Aware of who he can be, he struggles with his brother for leadership. Note that though Esau from birth looks to be the stronger, more worldly of the two brothers, Jacob too possesses points of strength. At the moment of the twins' birth, we are witness to the snapshot finish of the first stage of their rivalry. Yes, Esau emerges first; but Jacob's response, nearly dragging his brother back into the womb by the heel in order that he, Jacob, should preceed him, signals within him a powerful will to challenge and prevail.

[Click here for a parallel Bible story of struggling twins - the children of Judah and Tamar.]³⁶

It was only later in his life that we see that Jacob's strength, though not as aggressively obvious, was no less then his older brother Esau's. In fact, it was greater. The struggle to succeed of their father Isaac was to accompany Jacob and Esau throughout their lives - and that struggle is today being played out by their descendants, in our own age, in the Middle East and the whole world.

Jacob Buys the Birthright from Esau

Here we see the first indication that Esau might not retain rights due him by virtue of his birth position. Tradition places the selling of the birthright of Isaac's son as occuring immediately after the death of the boys' grandfather, Abraham.³⁷

Jacob is cooking for his father Isaac a dish of lentils in a red sauce, a traditional food for the consolation of mourners:

Jacob was cooking a stew, and Esau came from the field, and he was tired. And Esau said to Jacob, "Fill me up, please, with this red, red [adom, adom] stuff, because I am exhausted." Therefore, they called his name Edom.

And Jacob said, "Sell me, right now, your rights as first born."

And Esau said, "Here, I am about to die; what do I care about being first born?"

Jacob said, "Swear to me now, as clear as day." And he swore to him; so he sold his first born rights to Jacob.

Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate, he drank, he stood up and he walked out.

So Esau scorned his rights as the first born. (Genesis 25:29-34)

Here the account points out to us an origin of an alternate name for Esau: Edom, "red." Esau, as a warrior and a trapper, often dealt with blood, whose word in Hebrew (the source language of the Bible and the language in which the brothers actually conversed) is also related linguistically to the word red.

Also, we see here that when Esau feels the physical pangs of hunger and thirst, he is compelled to relinquish his spiritual privileges in order to meet his immediate needs. The first born rights include a double portion of the estate of the father; but in this case, they also involve the responsibilities of serving the Lord in the manner of the Patriarchs Abraham and Isaac, whose entire lives were devoted to walking in His ways.

In fact, tradition understands the brothers' conversation here as being about Esau's belief in an afterlife. This has a direct bearing on his worthiness for being the spiritual successor of Abraham and Isaac.³⁸

It is this obligation of service to the Lord that the account is referring to when it states:

So Esau scorned his rights as the first born. (Genesis 25:34)

Rebecca Instructs Jacob to Get the First Born Blessing

As we have seen, Esau has willingly given up the privileges due to him as the first born child of Isaac. Now we see that the his father's coveted blessing which is given to confirm and validate those rights, is also not destined for him:

When Isaac grew old, his eyes darkened from seeing. He called Esau his older son, and he answered him, " I am here."

He said, "Here, please - I have become old. I don't know the day of my death. Now, if you will, take your equipment - your snare and your bow - and trap me some game. Fix me delicacies like I love, and bring it to me so I may eat it, so that my soul can bless you before I die."

Rebecca heard Isaac speaking to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to trap and to bring game.

Rebecca said to Jacob her son, "Here, I heard your father speaking to Esau your brother. He said, 'Bring me game, and fix me delicacies so I may eat them, and I will bless you before the Lord before I die.'"

"And now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I am commanding you: Please go to the flocks and get me from there two good goats, and I will make them into delicacies for your father like he loves. Bring them to your father, and he will eat, so that he will bless you before his death."

And Jacob said to Rebecca his mother, "Yes, but Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am smooth. What if my father touches me? I will be like a schemer in his eyes, and I will bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing!"

His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son; just listen to my voice, and go and get it for me!" (Genesis 27:1-13)

Here is revealed a central principle regarding the Matriarchs. According to tradition, the Matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah possess a very high level of sensitivity to spirituality.³⁹

The Matriarchs are thus said to have been times capable of receiving actual prophecy from the Lord.⁴⁰

We see that Rebecca was sensitive all along to the divine directive that Jacob, and not Esau, was the individual worthy of both the birthright, which was the basis for his leadership, and the blessing of his father, which was the actualization of that basis. Here, Jacob balks at the idea of tricking his father into giving him the blessing. It is through Rebecca's urgings, stemming from her prophetic understanding of the true situation, that he is persuaded to participate.

Jacob Prepares a Meal for His Father

In the following narrative, there are a number of elements that resonate deeply with our present day society's connections to the distant past, and to the future as well:

So he went and he took it to his mother, and his mother fixed delicacies like his father loved. And Rebecca took the clothes of Esau her older son, the special ones that were with her at home, and she dressed Jacob her younger son. And the skins of the goats she dressed on his arms, and on part of his neck. And she gave the delicacies, and the bread that she had baked, in the hands of Jacob her son.

And he came to his father and said, "Father!"

"Here I am. Who are you, my son?" he said.

And Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your first born, and I have done as you told me. Get up, please, and eat from my game, that you soul may bless me."

Isaac said to his son, "What's this, you hurried so much to find, my son!"

"Because the Lord your God was with me."

And Isaac said to Jacob, "Please, come closer, let me feel you my son. Are you my son Esau, or not?" Jacob approached Isaac his father, and he groped for him.

"The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau!" he exclaimed. He didn't recognize him, because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother. So he blessed him.

"Are you he, my son - Esau?" he asked.

"I," he said.

"Serve me, and I will eat from the game of my son, in order that my soul will bless you," he said. So he served him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. (Genesis 27:14-25)

Tradition reveals the special nature of Esau's clothing, which Rebecca gives to Jacob so that he might receive a blessing from Isaac.⁴¹

As we see below, the clothes bestowed powerful energies to those who wore them.

Isaac Blesses Jacob, Thinking He is Esau

And Isaac said to Jacob, "Come forward and I will feel you, my son. Here, are you my son Esau or not?"

And he stepped up and kissed him. He smelled the odor of his clothes, and he blessed him, saying, "See, the scent of my son is like the fragrance of the field that the Lord has blessed."

"The Lord will give to you of the dew from the skies, and of the fats of the earth, plentiful grain and new wine. Peoples will serve you, and nations will bow down to you. You will be a master to your brothers, and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. 'Those who curse you I will curse, and those who bless you will be blessed'." (Genesis 27:26-29)

We see that until now, Isaac, though blind, definitely senses that something is amiss. Several times Isaac asks Jacob to identify himself, and he seems unconvinced - until he smells Esau's clothes. Tradition describes these clothes as having the smell of the original Garden of Eden, and it was their smell that tipped the scale conclusively for Isaac, opening the way for him to give the blessing to the son whom he now believed was indeed his first born, Esau. It is the Garden of Eden to which Isaac is referring in his opening blessing to Jacob: ⁴²

'See, the scent of my son is like the fragrance of the field that the Lord has blessed.' (Genesis 27:27)

Here, Isaac is sealing for all time Jacob's position relative to his brother Esau, and indeed, to the rest of the nations of the world. Note that Isaac echoes the blessing given to his father Abraham by the Lord Himself, when He called Abraham to journey to the land He was to promise to Abraham and his successor descendants, until the end of time.

Concealed in this blessing may be the solution to thousands of years of conflict in the Middle East. (This is discussed further in detail in the section entitled "Conclusions.")

Isaac Confirms Jacob as the Leadership Successor

Isaac, as we know, is a Patriarch to all the world's believers in the Lord. As an exemplary figure, he possesses character traits that make him a timeless example for all human beings who wish to walk in the way of the Lord.

One of the qualities he exhibits is the maturity to admit when he is wrong, and to alter his direction based upon new information. This is one of the essential components of Return, the all-powerful concept that has been taught throughout the ages in all religions, that a human being can correct what he has done by returning to the Lord.

All faiths teach that there exists the possibility that a person may to some degree repair the damage caused by his improper behavior. The repentant person, according to this model, can line up his feet on a new, corrected path, and move ahead, and with the help of the Lord, he can redefine himself and his environment.

The Bible shows us that this is what Isaac was prepared to do. Tradition says that when he realized that he had been fooled, and saw that all his assumptions concerning the identity of the true successor to his lofty heritage were completely off base, he felt the ground under him open up, and he had a vision of the fires of Hell burning under his feet.⁴³

This is what he was experiencing when the Bible says:

And Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" And he answered, "I am your son, your first born - Esau."

Isaac shuddered a tremendous shudder ... (Genesis 27:33)

Isaac came to accept that he had judged the situation incorrectly. After the shock wore off, he understood that the blessing really belonged to Jacob all along, and that his wife Rebecca's intuition, from the time of the birth of the twins, was correct, and inspired by the Lord.

In the wake of these events, Isaac and Rebecca saw Esau's fierce anger at Jacob, and they felt that Jacob should go away for a while until Esau's fiery temper would die down:

And Isaac called to Jacob, and he blessed him. And he commanded him, saying to him, "Don't take a wife from the women of Canaan! Get up, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Betuel, your mother's relative, and take a wife for yourself from there, from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

"And the Almighty Lord will bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and you will become a crowd of nations.

And he will give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants with you, to inherit for you the land where you live, that the Lord gave to Abraham." (Genesis 28:1-4)

The Biblical narrative is quite clear here. Isaac not only has accepted the events - he validates their correctness, by means of his own free will and intellect, by voluntarily blessing Jacob again. This time all the cards are on the table; now, there is no longer any need for a ruse.

Note the echoes of the Lord's blessings to Abraham and Isaac in Isaac's blessings to Jacob. And note, most importantly for our geopolitical analysis of today's Middle East, what he has to say about the land. For the legacy of Abraham is far more than just a spiritual responsibility - it involves a very desirable piece of real estate, and the responsibility for managing that plot of earth known as the Holy Land for the welfare of all of humankind. Such is the inheritance of the Lord's servant, Jacob.

At this point, Jacob has reached a level high enough to be worthy of prophecy, that special gift of direct communications from the Lord Himself, just as his father and grandfather had done before him.

Beth El: The Lord Appears to Jacob in a Dream

We can only imagine the thoughts that go through Jacob's head as he leaves his home, the place of his parents and everything he knows, for a unknown life, in a strange land. Certainly, they must echo the thoughts of Abraham his grandfather, as he took his family and everything he owned and traveled by the word of the Lord to a nameless place that He was to show him. Jacob felt vulnerable, and he did what his father and grandfather did before him - he drew upon an internal faith that all believing persons possess, knowing that the Lord is always ready to hear the prayer of those who believe in Him:

Jacob left from Beer Sheba, and he walked towards Haran. And he arrived at a certain place, and slept there, because the sun was setting. And he took from the stones of the place, and put them by his head, and he lay down in that place.

And he dreamed that there was a ladder, standing on the ground, with its head touching the skies. There were angels of the Lord, ascending and descending it.

Suddenly, the Lord was standing over him, and He said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your ancestor, and the God of Isaac. The land that you are lying on, I will give it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will burst outward, westward and eastward and northward and southward. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants." (Genesis 28:12-14)

From the Biblical account, we know that Jacob was heading northward to the city of Haran in today's Iraq, towards the city that his grandfather Abraham had left many years before. The most well-traveled route to that area from Beer Sheba was over the mountain range that spreads northward, east of the Mediterranean Sea. This path, even in our day a major artery of traffic from the south of the Holy Land toward the North and vice versa, took him directly through - Jerusalem.

Yes. Tradition places the location of Jacob's dream as Jerusalem, the spot where his father had nearly been sacrificed, and the same spot where the Lord had created the first man, Adam.⁴⁴

Surely Jacob had been to this spot, and knew of its significance. But it seems that until he dreamed his dream, he wasn't aware of its true nature and importance in his, Jacob's, life.

The Jabok River: Jacob Prays For Deliverance

Many years pass. Jacob has worked hard, and has made himself a family in Haran, but the time has come for him to return home.

On the way back to the land of his birth, Jacob is informed that his brother is waiting to greet him - with a force of 400 armed men! Jacob knows that every step he takes, the Lord has always saved him from harm. Just as he prayed as he left the land, so too he prays again as he prepares to cross the river that will place him back in the land, and back in the physical presence of his hostile twin brother Esau:

And Jacob said, "Lord of my ancestor Abraham, and Lord of my father Isaac, the God Who has said to me, 'Return to your land, and to your birthplace, and I will be good to you.' I am too small for all the acts of loving kindness and all the truth that you did for your servant. Because with only my staff I crossed this river Jordan, and now I have become two camps."

"Save me please from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, because I am afraid of him, that he will come and strike me, mother and children together. And You said that You would surely do good with me: 'And I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, that is uncountable in its vastness'." (Genesis 32:10-13)

Jacob is the working combination of those qualities that set Abraham and Isaac apart from all of the other people of the world. Yet here, Jacob is fully aware of a deep truth - no matter how great he is, and how much success he finds, he is nothing when compared with the Master of the Universe. Furthermore, he owes everything that he has and every accomplishment he makes, to the loving kindness of the Lord of his forefathers.⁴⁵

Jacob Wrestles With Esau's Guardian Angel

Jacob, like his forefathers the Patriarchs before him, is constantly being tested. Jacob encounters a mysterious stranger as he prepares to cross into the land of his birth:

And he got up that night, and took his two wives, his two handmaidens, and his eleven sons, and he crossed the Jabok crossing point. He took them and passed them over the river, and he sent over what he had.

And Jacob remained by himself; and a divine being wrestled with him until the morning rose. And he saw that he could not overcome him, so he smashed him in the palm of his calf. Therefore the palm of the calf of Jacob was injured in his struggle with him.

And he said, "let me go, because the morning has arrived," and he said,

"No, I will not let you go unless you bless me."

He said to him, "What is your name?"

"Jacob," he said.

"No longer will your name be said Jacob, but rather Israel (prevail-the-Lord), because you have struggled with the Lord and men, and you have prevailed."

And Jacob asked, saying, "Tell me please your name!" and he said, "Why do you ask this, my name?" And he blessed him there.

And Jacob called the name of the place, Peniel (face-of-the-Lord), because, 'I saw the Lord face to face, and my soul has won out.' (Genesis 32:23-29)

As was mentioned earlier, tradition explains that this stranger was none other than the guardian angel of Esau.⁴⁶

Note that Esau himself had strong backing. Tradition holds that the guardian angel of Esau, like those of each of 70 nations that came from Noah after the Great Flood, is the celestial advocate of those interests of the nation he represents in the Lord's court on High. Only one nation does not have such an advocate, the nation of Israel. The interests of the nation of Israel are represented before the heavenly court by the Lord Himself.

In his blessing to Jacob, the angel states clearly what has happened. Here, in this fierce test of Jacob's physical and spiritual strength, Jacob has prevailed. He is now worthy of a glimpse of the future, when he will be given a new name: Israel. Note that the name is given to him after he has stood up against powerful men (Laban his scheming uncle, in Haran, as well as his brother Esau), and the Lord himself, or rather a messenger, an angel of the Lord.

Shechem: Jacob Purchases Land from the Hivites

Upon entering the land, the first tangible step that Jacob takes is the purchase of a plot of land to call his own:

And Jacob came to Shalem, the city of Shechem, that is in the Land of Canaan, in his coming from Padan Aram, and he set up camp east of the city. And he bought the parcel of the field where he pitched his tent from the hands of the sons of Hamor, the founder of Shechem, for 100 kesitas. (Genesis 33:18-19)

But this is not any old plot of land. This is the same spot that Abraham first came to when he made his fateful journey to the Promised Land. It is here that Abraham taught about the existence of the Lord, and it is here that he built an altar to the Lord. Furthermore, this is the spot that Jacob is to will especially to his son Joseph for a burial place. This very parcel of land is known today as Joseph's Tomb.

Beth El: Jacob's Blessing in the Holy Land

Jacob, upon his triumphant return to his Homeland, begins to function like his grandfather Abraham and father Isaac before him. He knows well to Whom he owes everything; and he is now ready to make his faith a public issue:

And the Lord said to Jacob, "Get up, and go up to Beth-El, and stay there, and make there an altar to the Lord who appeared to you when you fled from Esau your brother."

The Lord appeared to him again upon his coming from Padan Aram, and He blessed him. And the Lord said to him, "Your name, Jacob - no longer will your name be called Jacob; rather Israel will be your name."

And he called his name Israel.

And the Lord said to him, "I am the limitless God. Be fruitful and increase. A nation and a crowd of nations will be from you, and kings will emerge from you.

And the land that I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, I will give to you; and to your descendants after you, I will give the land." (Genesis 35:1, 10-12)

Here, the Lord Himself bestows a new name, Israel, on Jacob. And here, the Lord echoes back to the joy he had in creating Adam, the first human. The Lord gives Jacob the same blessing that he gave to Adam, and all of His creatures, in the first six days of the process of Creation.

Beer Sheba: A Blessing as Jacob Goes Down to Egypt

Here begins the saga of Israel in Egypt, the first Exile of the nation known as Israel. Jacob, at the end of his days, is informed that his long lost favorite son, Joseph, whom he was sure had been killed by a wild animal, was alive and well and as chief advisor to Pharaoh, had saved the famine-wracked empire of Egypt from complete disaster.

Joseph beckons to his father, come, come to Egypt. But Jacob is again afraid - shall he leave the land of his Forefathers, the Land of the Lord for which he has struggled so much, so that he may live together with his family in peace? The Lord has an answer for him:

And Jacob traveled, along with all that he had, and he came to Beer Sheba. And he offered up offerings to the Lord of his father Isaac. And the Lord spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and He said, "Jacob... Jacob!"

"I am here," he answered.

And He said, "I am the Lord, God of your father. Don't be afraid to go down to Egypt, because I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and will bring you back up as well. And Joseph will cover your eyes with his own hands."

So Jacob got up from Beer Sheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their children, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They took their flocks and their possessions that they had acquired in the Land of Canaan, and came to Egypt - Jacob and all his descendants along with him. (Genesis 46:1-6)

Jacob's Spiritual Return

The defining quality of the Jewish People, the physical and spiritual descendants of the Patriarch Jacob, can be described in one word: faith. Through thousands of years of persecutions, and after countless souls tortured for practicing the faith of their forefathers, the Children of Israel have clung to their particular faith in the Lord. Whole communities of Jews have valued practicing the laws of the Bible, as given to them by Moses the Lawgiver and interpreted by the Sages of Israel, more than life itself.

Yet one must admit to a great paradox: though the Jewish People is legendary for its tenacity in clinging to the Lord, it is equally infamous throughout the ages, and no more so than today, for its attempts at throwing off the bonds of the pact that the Lord made with the generation of the Exodus from Egypt. Any casual reader of the Bible, particularly the section called the Prophets, is keenly aware of this fact. Time and again, the Jewish People, having been redeemed from slavery and brought to the land promised to their forefathers, could not resist the temptation to adopt the idolatrous practices of the nations bordering on the Land of Israel. Moses, in his prophetic discourse before the Jewish People as they prepare to enter the Land of Israel, passionately warns the nation that the land that the Lord promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a privilege that can be taken away:

When you have had children and grandchildren, and become accustomed to the land, and you become corrupted, and you make an idol of any image, and you do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God to anger him - I call to witness for you, today, the Heavens and Earth: you will surely and quickly be lost from the face of the land that you are crossing the Jordan to inherit there. You will not lengthen days on her, but rather you will be shattered. And the Lord will distribute you among the peoples, and you will remain small in number, there, among the nations where the Lord has directed you. (Deuteronomy 4:25-27)

The Biblical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and all the Prophets are filled with a dialectic hinted at above: time and again, the Jewish People stray from their mission in the land, and the Lord sends messengers, in the form of prophets and military threats from neighboring countries, to knock them back in line. Over and over this process continues: the people stray from the terms of the pact, the Lord sends them all sorts of troubles, and the people return to the pact between the Lord and the people, and disaster is averted.

Yet there comes a day when the promise that Moses outlines above is fulfilled to the letter, and the Jewish People are conquered, the Lord removes His protection from the House built for Him in Jerusalem, and the people, just as Moses promised, are scattered among the nations. Not once, but twice this process happens: first, some 2,500 years ago, Jerusalem and the Holy Land are conquered by the Babylonians, and many of the Jews are exiled to Babylon, where they languish in exile until receiving permission to return to the land and rebuild their lives once again in the land promised to them; and a second time, some 1,920 years ago, where again the Jews are expelled from the land, this time by the Legions of Rome, who burn the Lord's House to the ground and, just as the Lord promised, scatter the Jews to every corner of the globe.

For two thousand years, the Jews languished in physical exile. But also as predicted, the Lord sets a limit to the length of the punishment, and calls His children back to the land. When that time finally does arrive, says Moses to the People as they prepare to cross the Jordan:

..you will return to the Lord, and you will hear His voice, all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your hearts and all your souls. And the Lord will return your captivity, and he will have compassion for you, and He will return and collect you, from the midst of all the peoples there, where the Lord your God had distributed you. If it will be that you have been pushed to the ends of the Heavens, from there the Lord your God will collect you, and from there he will take you. And the Lord your God will bring you to the land that your ancestors inherited, and you will possess her, and He will do good to you and increase you more than your ancestors.: (Deuteronomy 30:2-5).

This generation and the one before it are witnesses to the fulfillment of Moses' last prophecy before the Children of Israel. Who can deny that the cataclysmic events of the past 50 and 100 years, going beyond the limits of our normal understanding of the process of history, do not fit the picture painted in Moses' words above?

But where does this leave the descendants of Jacob today? There is only one thing left to do - to return to the Lord, His Laws and His land, with all our hearts and all our souls - not from fear, as we have been doing for so many thousands of years, but out of Love, out of appreciation and gratitude for the Lord's infinite mercies towards His people, whom he takes to the brink of final disaster and from the last glowing embers that remain of His people, brings about the renewal that Moses foresaw above. And the Return of the Lord's people to the Lord of their forefathers will pave the way for the Return of all the nations of the Earth, which will usher in an age of harmony and completion not known on the planet since the days of the first humans, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden.

FOOTNOTES:

36 The Story of Judah and Tamar

Jacob's proclivity for struggle, even from birth, is carried over to another set of twins, Jacob's direct descendants, the offspring of Tamar and Judah. They are the grandsons of Jacob, and one of this pair of brothers is destined to be the forebear of David, the King of the unified nation of Israel:

And it was the time for her to give birth, and here, there were twins in her stomach. And here, at the moment she gave birth, one put a hand out, and the midwife took a piece of bright red thread, tied it around his hand, and said, "This one came out first."

Suddenly, he drew his hand back in, and his brother popped out instead! And she said, "what an opening you pushed open for yourself!" And he called his name Paretz (opening). Afterwards, his brother came out, with the bright red thread around his hand. And he called his name Zerach (shining). (Genesis 38:27-30)

This time, unlike Jacob, who tries and fails to be the first of the twins to see the light of this world, Peretz is successful in his bid to be born first. It is Peretz who squeezes his way out into the world before his brother, and it is Peretz, and not his brother Zerach, who merits the ancestry of the monarchy in Israel.

37 The Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), Tractate Baba Batra, 16, b:

From where do we know that Esau did not rebel during Abraham's lifetime? As it is written, "And Esau came from the field, and he was tired" (Genesis 25:29-34). It is taught, "That very day Abraham our forefather passed away, and Jacob our forefather made a stew of lentils, to console Isaac his father."

38 The Translation of Rabbi Yonatan (Jonathan) the son of Uziel (Targum Yonatan ben Uziel):

And Jacob said, "sell me like the day - like the day that you in the future will inherit [the world to come] - your rights as the first born."

And Esau said, "Here, I am going to die, and I won't live again in the next world; what are the rights of the first born to me, and a portion in the world that you speak of?"

39 The Great Exegesis (Midrash HaGadol), Genesis, 67, 9:

"And it was said to Rebecca ..." (Genesis 27:42): Who told her? Said Rabbi Hagai in the name of Rabbi Isaac: "The Matriarchs were prophetesses, and Rebecca was a Matriarch."

40 Women and Prophecy

It is explained that this quality is not restricted to the Matriarchs alone, but rather is an integral part of the potential in every woman. According to this view, women as a group were created on a spiritual level higher than that of men, and have an inherent capacity for developing a special, natural type of intuitive intelligence known in Hebrew as binah.

41 Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai, The Book of Radiance (Zohar), 142, 2:

"And Rebecca took the clothes of Esau her older son, the special ones that were with her at home, and she dressed Jacob her younger son" (Genesis 27:15). - These are the clothes that Esau gained from Nimrod. And these are the precious clothes that were from Adam the first [man], and they came into the possession of Nimrod, in which he would hunt prey, as it is written, "He was a warrior-hunter before the Lord" (Genesis 10, 9). And Esau went out to the field and ambushed Nimrod and killed him; and he took his clothes from him; and this is what is meant by, "and Esau came from the field, and he was tired" (Genesis 25:29).

Note that they were a set of clothes that Esau kept at his mother's home, away from his own wives, whom he did not trust with such a valuable possession. Yes, these garments were special - they were the original clothes worn by Adam, the first man, in which the Lord clothed him after the Fall. The clothes were passed down through the generations, and they came into Esau's possession when he confronted their previous owner, Nimrod King of Babylon, and killed him. That very day was the day that Esau sold his first born rights to Jacob upon returning exhausted from his homicidal triumph over Nimrod.

42 Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, Solomon the Son of Isaac), Commentary on the Pentateuch, Genesis 27:27:

"... He [Isaac] smelled the odor of his clothes, and he blessed him [Jacob], saying, 'See, the scent of my son is like the fragrance of the field that the Lord has blessed.'"

But isn't it so that there is no worse smell than the odor of goats? Rather this teaches that the scent of the Garden of Eden entered along with him.

43 The Tanhuma Exegesis (Midrash Tanhuma), Section Toldot, Paragraph 11:

When Esau entered, Hell was opened before him; therefore "Isaac shuddered a tremendous shudder" (Genesis 27:33). And Isaac was surprised in his heart; and said: "I see [a vision of] Hell, and Esau is stoking it!"

44 The Genesis Exegesis (Breishit Rabah), 68, 9:

What is another meaning of "va-yifgah" (Genesis 28:10)? "He prayed." "He prayed in the place" - where the Temple [in the future would stand].

45 What Does Jacob Have to Fear?

Jacob knows that he has business to finish with his twin brother Esau. Still, tradition poses a question: what does Jacob really have to fear from him? After all, didn't the Lord speak to him earlier in a vision, promising him that no harm would come to him?

"Here, I am with you, and I will guard you in all that you go; and I will return you to this Land, because I will not leave you until I will do what I said for you." (Genesis 28:15)

The answer: he has nothing to fear, at least not from Esau himself. What Jacob fears is the possibility that the sins that he has committed will diminish the merit that he has stored up, to the point where the evil that is always present in life, one step behind him, might just win out.

The prophet Jeremiah provides us with the Lord's answer to Jacob:

"And you - don't be afraid, My servant Jacob," says the Lord, "for I am with you. And even if I were to finish off all of the nations that have pushed you out to there - you, I will not make an end of. I may correct you with judgments, but I will never obliterate you." (Jeremiah 46:27-28)

46 The Genesis Exegesis (Breishit Rabah), 77, 2:

Rabbi Hama the son of Rabbi Hanina said, "He [the being that wrestled with Jacob] was the ministering angel of Esau, as [Jacob] said later [to Esau], 'Because I have seen your face, like seeing the face of the divine, and you have pleased me' (Genesis 33,10).

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