Bible Lectures – The Patriarchs

Abe, Isaac, Jake and Joe

Adapted from

Abraham

  1. According to Jewish tradition, Abraham was born under the name Abram in the city of Ur of the Chaldeans in Babylonia in the year 1948 from Creation (circa 1800 BCE).
  2. He was the son of Terach, an idol merchant, but from his early childhood, he questioned the faith of his father and sought the truth. He came to believe that the entire universe was the work of a single Creator, and he began to teach this belief to others.
  3. In the Midrash and Talmud we learn that Abram tried to convince his father, Terach, of the folly of idol worship. One day, when Abram was left alone to mind the store, he took a hammer and smashed all of the idols except the largest one. He placed the hammer in the hand of the largest idol. When his father returned and asked what happened, Abram said, "The idols got into a fight, and the big one smashed all the other ones." His father said, "Don't be ridiculous. These idols have no life or power. They can't do anything." Abram replied, "Then why do you worship them?"
  4. Abraham’s single Creator contacts him in Gen. 12:1 and presents a test to the future father of the faith.
  5. Genesis 12:5 tells how Abram, his wife Sarai, and Lot, his brother's son, came into the land of Canaan, the land that is now Israel. 12:6 is the line that reveals the source of the problems that still remain in the Holy Land: "And the Canaanite was then in the Land." The Canaanites are still in the land, only today they are Palestinians.
  6. "Palestinian" is the present form of "Philistine," the traditional enemy of the Hebrews. The Philistines, a Phoenician people, were not yet in Canaan when Abraham got there, and the Canaanites were not yet Arabs. Eventually the indigenous peoples of Canaan were conquered first by the Philistines, then by the Hebrews. The Hebrews absorbed some of the indigenous peoples through marriage, but not as many as the Philistines did since the Jews had strict laws against marrying foreigners.
  7. With the spread of Islam in the seventh century the inhabitants of what was then Palestine became Arabs, ethnicity being primarily a matter of language and religion. Most of the Jews were driven out of the Holy Land by the Romans, who burned the Temple in 70 AD, and drove the Jews into the Diaspora. The Jews did not return in large numbers until the Zionist movement of the Twentieth Century. The current state of Israel was formed in 1948, and expanded to its present size in the war of 1967.
  1. But Abram was concerned, because he had no children and he was growing old. Abram's beloved wife, Sarai, knew that she was past child-bearing years, so she offered her maidservant, Hagar, as a wife to Abram. This was a common practice in the region at the time. According to tradition, Hagar was a daughter of Pharaoh, given to Abram during his travels in Egypt. She bore Abram a son, Ishmael, who, according to both Muslim and Jewish tradition, is the ancestor of the Arabs. (Gen 16)
  2. God makes a covenant with Abraham, promising him that he will be the father of many nations. For their part, Abraham and his descendants will circumcise their male children. We will see in Exodus how Moses failure to do this causes God's wrath, and how Paul in Acts debated with Jesus's brother James over the necessity for Christians to be circumcised. (Gen 17)
  3. Gen 18 – Yahweh questions whether to hide his planned destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah from Abraham. Abraham, when hearing, puts forth a question to the Yahweh. (Shows Yahweh’s reverence for Abe and Abe’s compassion)
  4. Gen 21 – Sarah’s jealousy for Hagar shows Abe’s compassion for Ishmael
  5. Abraham passed the great test God set for him; he agreed to sacrifice his son Isaac. The final test (of ten) is to take Isaac to Mt. Moriah.
  6. We can all understand how painful the decision was for Abraham, but there was a dimension that modern readers probably don't recognize.
  7. The Canaanites and their pagan neighbors often sacrificed a child to appease their god, Moloch. The Jews at one time had apparently had sacrificial children also, but by biblical times they despised the practice as barbaric.
  8. God asked Abraham, the leader of the Jews, to do something his people would find shameful and disgusting as well as painful. A modern parallel might be if God asked a devout Catholic or evangelical Protestant woman to have an abortion

Isaac

  1. Isaac was the subject of the tenth and most difficult test of Abraham's faith: G-d commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. (Gen 22). This test is known in Jewish tradition as the Akeidah (the Binding, a reference to the fact that Isaac was bound on the altar).
  2. But this test is also an extraordinary demonstration of Isaac's own faith, because according to Jewish tradition, Isaac knew that he was to be sacrificed, yet he did not resist, and was united with his father in dedication.
  3. At the last moment, G-d sent an angel to stop the sacrifice. It is interesting to note that child sacrifice was a common practice in the region at the time. Thus, to people of the time, the surprising thing about this story is not the fact that G-d asked Abraham to sacrifice his child, but that G-d stopped him!
  4. Judaism uses this story as evidence that G-d abhors human sacrifice. In fact, I have seen some sources indicating that Abraham failed this test of faith because he did not refuse to sacrifice his son! Judaism has always strongly opposed the practice of human sacrifice, commonplace in many other cultures at that time and place.
  5. Isaac later married Rebecca (Rivka), who bore him fraternal twin sons: Jacob (Ya'akov) and Esau. (Gen 25).

Jacob and Esau

  1. Jacob and his brother Esau were at war with each other even before they were born. They struggled within Rebecca's womb. Esau was Isaac's favorite, because he was a good hunter, but the more spiritually-minded Jacob was Rebecca's favorite
  2. Jacob cheats Esau out of his birthright and his blessing, and yet as the eponymous ancestor of the Jewshe is obviously expected to be a hero. One thing to remember is that the Jews, who wrote the Old Testament or, as they call it, the Hebrew Bible, were recording their history, good, bad, and indifferent. Christians reading it do not consider it their history, so they tend to view events in the Old Testament as moral exempla. The problem is that even with a good deal of mental and ethical gymnastics it is difficult to view Jacob's behavior as moral.
  3. Even Jews have a problem justifying Jacob. Prophets Hosea (12:4) and Jeremiah (9:3) disapprove of Jacob, and Isaiah blames the Babylonian Captivity on Jacob's sin. (43:27,28) One way to explain the reason that Jacob acts the way he does is that the early culture heroes of many peoples are tricksters. The trickster is one of the most widespread archetypes in the world. Every Indian tribe has a trickster as its major hero of folklore. Other famous tricksters include Odysseus, Renard the Fox, Jack (of beanstalk fame), and Br'er Rabbit. Traditionally tricksters are amoral. Their defining characteristic is that they gain their objectives by cunning rather than strength. They not only play tricks, they are frequently the victim of tricks. Generally they indulge every whim and satisfy every appetite, but despite their questionable behavior their people love them.
  4. Esau had little regard for the spiritual heritage of his forefathers, and sold his birthright of spiritual leadership to Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew. When Isaac was growing old, Rebecca tricked him into giving Jacob a blessing meant for Esau. Esau was angry about this, and about the birthright, so Jacob fled to live with his uncle, where he met his beloved Rachel.
  5. Jacob was deceived into marrying Rachel's older sister, Leah, but later married Rachel as well, and Rachel and Leah's maidservants, Bilhah and Zilphah. Between these four women, Jacob fathered 12 sons and one daughter
  6. After many years living with and working for his uncle/father-in-law, Jacob returned to his homeland and sought reconciliation with his brother Esau. He prayed to G-d and gave his brother gifts. The night before he went to meet his brother, he sent his wives, sons, and things across the river, and was alone with G-d. That night, he wrestled with a man until the break of day.
  7. As the dawn broke, Jacob demanded a blessing from the man, and the "man" revealed himself as an angel (although it could be both like in Abe’s case). He blessed Jacob and gave him the name "Israel" (Yisrael), meaning "the one who wrestled with G-d" or "the Champion of G-d." The Jewish people are generally referred to as the Children of Israel, signifying our descent from Jacob. The next day, Jacob met Esau and was welcomed by him. Gen 32:24

Joseph

  1. Jacob fathered 12 sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin. They are the ancestors of the tribes of Israel, and the ones for whom the tribes are named. Joseph is the father of two tribes: Manasseh and Ephraim.
  2. Joseph's older brothers were jealous of him, because he was the favorite of their father, and because he had visions that he would lead them all. They sold Joseph into slavery and convinced their father that Joseph was dead. But this was all part of G-d's plan: Joseph was brought into Egypt, where his ability to interpret visions earned him a place in the Pharaoh's court, paving the way for his family's later settlement in Egypt
  3. The story has been retold in many versions, including a long set of novels by Thomas Mann, Joseph and his Brothers, and a recent DreamWorks film, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.
  4. Although Joseph is obviously compassionate to his brothers, and proves his morality and competence in rejecting Potiphar's wife and handling the Pharoah's affairs, Joseph is hardly perfect.
  5. The most disturbing thing he does is deprive the Egyptian peasants of their land. According to Genesis 47:20-22, Joseph doled out the grain the Pharaoh had saved in the seven lean years in return for the peasant's land
  6. And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his fleod because the famine prevailed over them.And as for the people, he removed them to cities. . .
  7. Joseph is responsible for turning Egypt from a country of small land owners into a country in which the absolute monarch owned all the land. Perhaps the Egyptians remembered that when they turned on the Hebrew in the times of Moses.