Tuesday, February 7, 2012

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Genesis (Day Four: Chapters 25-28, 32-33)

AUCX 190: MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: Genesis (Day Four: Chapters 25-28, 32-33): Please answer at least three questions or bring up your own topics (and answers) for discussion. Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau (Chapters 2...

1) The story begins with the Lord saying the youngest will rule over the oldest son, Jacob will rule over Esau. Esau seems to be the strong brother and cares for Jacob greatly; he hunts game for him and always is nice to him according to the text. As soon as Esau is in danger Jacob steal's his birthright from him for now reason! What is Esau's birthright? After this act Esau seems greatful he is still alive, but bitter towards Jacob. Jacob them takes it a step further and steals his blessing also. At this point it is ridiculous and once again the youngest son destroys the older son for NO REASON. Why the same things keep repeating I am not sure and this family is not honorable or courteous towards each other at all.

2) Isaac and Rebecca do not help with the relationship between their sons at all! A perfect example of this is Rebecca heavily favors Jacob and has him lie to his father. This act makes me think that she dislikes Esau. She has Jacob tell his dying father that he is Esau so that he can steal his blessing. Jacob goes right along with it and shows how weak or deceiving his character is. Rebecca is very deceiving and is similar in many ways to Sarah. The same is seen for Isaac and is very similar to Abraham especially in the beginning of the story when he pretends his wife is his sister, sound familiar? It is very strange that this couple behaves so similar to the previous couple and there is the continuous issue with brothers, I am not sure what Genesis is trying to infer about ancient civilizations. All of the characters in this story are so deceiving towards their loved ones. They care little for one another when it goes to the end. Jacob steals everything from Esau, Esau wants to kill Jacob, Isaac doesn't seem to care about giving the blessing to the wrong son, and Rebecca makes her son lie to Issac.

5) The text states Jacob was 'left alone', this is meant alone in the sense of people. The text continues to imply Jacob is wrestling with God, which could mean metaphorically, in his head, or physically. If God appeared after Jacob was alone there is no need to mention in the text of his appearance. There are such little details in Genesis that this would not be included, we should be able to figure it out. Jacob is proving to God that he is still worthy of his protection and that he is still blessed and deserves to be saved.


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