Sermon Tone Analysis

Chronology and Literary Analysis of the Jacob Saga

The story of Jacob covers a large amount of material in the Old Testament.

It may be to highlight his importance.

It may also be to aid in teaching a wilderness generation the truth of their beginnings.

The Jacob saga starts with the one of the toledot - clauses that signal a division in the book of Genesis.

“This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son.

Abraham begot Isaac.

Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian.

Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.”

(Genesis 25:19-21).

[1]Here we see Abraham begetting Isaac, the long awaited promised child.

Abraham was to father a multitude of descendants, and already his firstborn is childless.

The book of Genesis is presenting us with a good start of a story.

“The problem of the barren matriarch will not go away.”[2]The

obvious need and expectation is that Isaac will father a son and carry on the promised line.

Isaac is 40 years old and only after 20 years of marriage does Rebekah conceive.

The hearer of this story would harken back to Sarah’s turmoil of a barren womb, and would feel the anguish of this narrative.

So much drama is a few verses.

“ Once we become aware of the distinctive elements of both biblical narrative style and biblical poetic style, we can appreciate with fresh eyes the rich literary artfulness of the Old Testament.

Moreover, having knowledge of and appreciation for the literary style and conventions of the Bible may well facilitate a deeper engagement with the ethical and theological dimension of the text.”[3]So

our chronology of Jacob starts here “ Isaac’s wife conceives” (verse 21), and is accompanied with sophisticated literary style – and this is often overlooked in the English language due to translation restraints.

Interesting Structure

In the book of Genesis, we see a literary arrangement of separate patriarchal narratives, rather large disparate units artistically organized: the Abraham cycle or material (Gen.

12-22), the Jacob material (Gen.

25-35), and the Joseph story or novella (Gen.

37-50).

They all have an underlying palistrophe, or symmetric structure.

This is also called chiasm, and it operates in a big and small way.

We will look at the macro first.

All three of these structures work the same way

1.

The story builds from its onset with a series of episodes in the life of the individual hero (the patriarch).

2. The story reaches a climax, or focal point, halfway through the narrative, on which everything turns.

3. The cycle (or story) concludes with another series of episodes, each of which matches, in reverse order, the episodes in the first half of the narrative.

This shows chiastic structure: a-b-c-b’ (b prime) –a’ (a prime).

This overarching unity seems to be a deliberate literary move, guiding the reader theological conclusions.[4]The

Jacob Narrative, more so than any other portion of Genesis, is constructed this way with its artful chiasm shown below.

The Jacob Cycle

A Oracle sought, struggle in childbirth, Jacob born (25: 19-34)

B Interlude: Rebekah in foreign palace, pact w/ foreigners (26:1-34)

C Jacob fears Esau and flees ( 27:1-28:9)

D Messengers (28:10-22)

E Arrival in Harran (29:1-30)

F Jacobs Wives are fertile (29:31- 30:24)

FOCAL PIONT: a) Rachel gives birth to Joseph

b) Jacob decides to return to Canaan

F’ Jacobs flocks are fertile (30:25-43)

E’ Flight from Harran (31:1-34)

D’ Messengers (32:1-32)

C’ Jacob returns and fears Esau (33:1-20)

B’ Interlude: Dinah in foreign palace, pact with foreigners (34:1-31)

A’ Oracle fulfilled, struggle in childbirth, Jacob becomes Israel (35:1-22)

The Jacob Cycle above (25:19-35:22) has matching episodes.

In the two halves, for example, Jacob’s dream about the angels in chapter 28, (D in above example), and his encounter with an angel in chapter 32, (D prime), and after the focal point in 30:22-25, where Joseph is born and Jacob decides to return to Canaan, the themes and stories are repeated in reverse order.

Lexical links or key words in D and D prime are present also.

For example, the Hebrew word paga, is used in both 28:11 (came to) and 32:2 (met).

The reader would be reminded of the earlier link word phonically or by sound.

This would enhance the enjoyableness and strength of this literary masterpiece.

Like I pointed out earlier, we miss this beauty in our English Bibles.

Wordplay as a literary device is used in the Jacob saga quite well as I will point out.

Wordplay is a literary device, which plays off variant possible meanings of a word, or play off sound similarities.

For example in verse 21 when Isaac pleaded with the Lord for a child, the Lord granted his plea.

Arnold points out that this is the only place in the Bible that the verbal root ‘tr, “pray, plead, entreat,” is used in both the active and passive voices in such a deliberate word play: Isaac entreated.…. and Yahweh was entreated.

They are linked phonically.

“Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?|”

So she went to inquire of the LORD.

And the LORD said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.”

So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there weretwins in her womb.

And the first came out red.

He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau.

Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob.

Isaac wassixty years old when she bore them.”

(Genesis 25:21– 26).

At breathtaking speed, the text moves through barrenness, answered prayer, conception, and troubled pregnancy.

Rebekah feels she cannot survive this pregnancy and prays herself to the Lord.

God has good and bad news for her: Rebekah has two nations are within her but there will be conflict.

Yes, she will have twins, but the younger will prevail over the older – Jacob will prevail over Esau.

This is a theme in Genesis and will reoccur in the Biblical record- in fact it is the story of the nation of Israel in general, and the hearers would relate.

Jacob and Esau

The wordplay with these two names is complex but most scholars agree on the descriptions.

Esau’s description as “red and hairy” (“red”: admoni; 25:25) connects him in the readers mind to Edom (“red”), one of Israel’s enemies.

Seir, “hairy”, is a pun on Seir, Edomite territory (Gen.

32:3).

He appears animal- like, brutish.

He is introduced through physical features rather than action; there is little subtlety.

Jacob, taking ahold of Esau’s heel at birth, is seen by action.

This action makes him seem appear subtler, less easy to read.

He is “grasping” by nature.

His name, “one who supplants” portends that he raises himself up by pulling others down.

Is this appropriate for Israel’s (the nation) ancestor?

Our story is getting better.

Hebrew literature was not boring.

The reader was expected to pick up on these features and questions arising from the text.

When the boys grew up, Esau was a skilled hunter, an outdoorsman and Jacob was a homebody.

Isaac loves Esau because of his hunting prowess, but Rebekah favors Jacob.

This family dynamic is presented in one short verse leaving the reader to ask questions about the parent’s motives.

People can relate to these feelings.

In the craft of ‘form criticism’, where scholars search out the genre or form of the text they are reading, taking notice of what the writer tells us is very important.

Thoughts (and to some extent, moods) are conveyed by means of language.[5]

This literary analysis observes the effect of description, names, and authorial remarks.

It also wonders about motive and dialogue.

We will see a unique descriptivedialogue in the conclusion our first scene of the life of Jacob.