Pgs. 108-119

Ch. 32-36

SECTION VIII.

VAYISHLACH.

 

AND Jakob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir,[1] in the region of Edom; and he instructed them, saying, So shall you tell to my lord, to Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jakob, With Laban I have dwelt, and have tarried, until now. And I have oxen, and asses, sheep, and servants, and handmaids, and have sent to show my lord, to find grace in thine eyes. And the messengers returned to Jakob, saying, We came to thy brother, to Esau; and he cometh also to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. And Jakob feared greatly, and it distressed him. And he divided the people that were with him, and the sheep, and oxen, and camels, into two hosts, and said, If Esau come to the one host and smite it, the host that is left may escape. And Jakob said, God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Izhak, the Lord, who didst say to me, Return to thy country and to thy native place, and I will do thee good; less are my righteousnesses than all the mercies and all the benefits which Thou hast performed unto Thy servant: for alone I passed this Yardena, and now I have become two bands. Deliver me now from the hand of my brother, from the band of Esau; for I am afraid of him, lest he come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And Thou hast said, In doing good I will do good with thee, and will make thy sons many as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for number. And he housed there that night, and took of that which came to his hand, an offering for Esau his brother; goats two hundred, rams twenty, ewes two hundred, and rams twenty, camels giving milk and their young ones thirty, cows forty, and bulls ten, she‑asses twenty, and colts ten. And he gave them into the hand of his servants, herd by herd separately, and said to his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd. And he commanded the foremost, saying, If Esau my brother meet thee, and ask thee, saying, Whose art thou? and, Whither goest thou? and, Whose are these that are before thee? thou shalt say, They are an offering of thy servant Jakob, which he hath sent to my lord, to Esau; and, behold, he also cometh after us. And he instructed also the second and the third, and all of them who followed the herds, saying, According to this word you shall speak with Esau, when you find him; and say also, Behold, thy servant Jakob cometh after. For he said, I will quiet his anger by the offering that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me. And the offering went over before his face, and he himself lodged that night in the camp. And he arose in the night, and took his two wives, and his two concubines, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jubeka; and he took them and made them pass over the torrent, and made what was his to pass over.

 

And Jakob remained alone; and a Man wrestled with him till the morning ascended. And he saw that he prevailed not with him, and he touched the hollow[2] of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was dislocated[3] in wrestling with him. And he said, Let me go;[4] for the morning ascendeth. And he said, I will not let Thee go, unless Thou bless me. And He said to him, What is thy name? And he said, Jakob. And He said, Thy name shall be no longer Jakob, but Israel; for a prince art thou before the Lord, and with men, and thou hast prevailed. And Jakob asked Him, and said, Show me now Thy Name! And He said, Why dost thou ask My Name? And He blessed him there. And Jakob called the name of the place Peniel: because I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face, and my soul hath been saved! And the sun arose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he went lame upon his thigh. Therefore the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day, because He touched the hollow of Jakob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

 

XXXIII. And Jakob lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men; and he divided the children with Leah, and with Rahel, and with the two concubines. And he set the concubines and their children first, and Leah and her children after, and Rahel and Joseph after them. And he passed over before them, and bowed to the earth seven times, until he came nigh to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him,[5] and embraced him, and fell upon his neck, and kissed him; and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children, and said, What are these to thee? And he said, The children whom the Lord hath given to thy servant. And the concubines approached, they and their children, and bowed. And Leah also approached and her children, and bowed; and afterward Joseph and Rahel approached, and bowed. And he said, What to thee is all this troop which I have met? And he said, To find mercy in the eyes of my lord. And Esau said, I have much, my brother; let what is thine own profit thee.[6] And Jakob said, I pray thee, if I have now found mercy in thine eyes, that thou wouldst accept the present from my hand, because I have now seen thy face as the vision of the face of the Great, and thou art pleased with me. Receive, I pray, my offering which is brought to thee, because the Lord hath been merciful to me, and because I have all. And he was urgent on him, and he took it. And he said, Let us journey and go, and I will go along with thee. And he said, My lord knoweth that the little ones are tender, and the sheep and kine giving milk are with me; and if they overdrive them one day, all the flock may die. Let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will lead on quietly, according to the foot of the little ones, according to the foot of the work that is before me, and according to the foot of the sucklings, until I come to my lord at Seir.[7] And Esau said, Let me leave with thee of the people who are with me. And he said, Why should this be? Let me find grace in the eyes of my lord. And Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. And Jakob journeyed to Succoth, and builded him an house, and made tabernacles for his cattle; therefore he called the name of the place Succoth.[8]

 

And Jakob came in peace to the city of Shekem, which is in the land of Kenaan, in his coming from Padan Aram, and he abode near the face of the city. And he bought the possession of the field where he had spread his tent, of the hand of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shekem, for a hundred lambs. And he raised there an altar, and offered service upon it before God, the God of Israel.

XXXIV. And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bare to Jakob, went forth to see the daughters of the land. And Shekem bar Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, and took her, and lay with her, and humbled her. And his soul took pleasure in Dinah the daughter of Jakob, and he loved the damsel, and spake to the heart of the damsel. And Shekem spake to Hamor his father, saying, Take to me this damsel for a wife. And Jakob heard that he had polluted Dinah his daughter. And his sons were with his flocks in the field; and Jakob was silent until they were come. And Hamor the father of Shekem came forth to Jakob to speak with him. And the sons of Jakob came up from the field when they heard. And the men were indignant and very angry, because shame had been wrought in Israel by his lying with the daughter of Jacob; for so it should not have been done. Hamor spake with them, saying, The soul of Shekem my son hath pleasure in your daughter; give her now to him to wife. And marry with us, and take our daughters to you; and the land shall be before you; inhabit and do business in it, and possess it. And Shekem said to her father and to her brethren, Let me find favour in your eyes, and what you shall tell me I will give. Multiply upon me dowry and present, and I will give as you may tell me; but give me the damsel to wife. And the sons of Jakob answered Shekem and Hamor his father, and with subtlety they spake, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. And they said to them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man uncircumcised; for that (would be) a reproach to us. Nevertheless in this we will agree with you, if you will be as we are, by circumcising every male among you, and we will give our daughters to you, and your daughters will we take to us, and will dwell with you and be one people. But if you will not consent to us to be circumcised, we will take our daughter and go. And their words were pleasing in the eyes of Hamor, and in the eyes of Shekem the son of Hamor. And the young man delayed not to do the thing, because he delighted in the daughter of Jakob, and he was more honourable than all his father's house. And Hamor came, and Shekem his son, to the gate of the city, and spake to the men of the city, saying, These men are friendly[9] with us, and they may dwell in the land, and do business in it,[10] and the land, behold, it is wide (on both) hands before them; their daughters we will take to us for wives, and our daughters we will give to them. Only in this will the men agree with us to dwell with us, to be one people, in every male of us being circumcised, as they are circumcised. Their flocks, and their possessions, and all their cattle, will they not be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us. And every one who went out of the gate of his city received of Hamor and of Shekem his son, and they were circumcised, every male, every one who went out of the gate of his city. And it was on the third day, when their pains were strong upon them,[11] that the two sons of Jakob, Shemeon and Levi, the brothers of Dinah, took each man his sword, and came upon the city, which dwelt in security, and slew every male, and Hamor and Shekem his son they killed with the edge of the sword. And they brought Dinah out of the house of Shekem, and went. And the sons of Jakob came up to the spoil of the slain, and sacked the town, because they had defiled their sister. Their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and all that was in the city and the field, they took. And all their substance, and all their little ones, and their wives, they captured and spoiled, and all which was in the house. And Jakob said to Shemeon and Levi, You have troubled me, in putting strife between me and the inhabitants of the land, the Kenaanites and the Perrezites, and I a people (few) for number; and they will gather against me, and smite me, and I shall perish, I and the men of my house. And they said, As with an outcast should he deal with our sister?

 

XXXV. And the Lord said to Jakob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar unto Eloha,[12] who appeared to thee when in thy flight from before Esau thy brother. And Jakob said to the men of his house, and to all who were with him, Put away the gentile idols[13] that are among you, and purify; and change your raiment; and we will arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar unto Eloha, who heard my prayer in the day of my distress, and whose Word was my helper in the way that I went. And they gave Jakob all the gentile idols that were in their hands, and the jewels that were in their ears, and Jakob hid them under the terebinth which was near Shekem. And they journeyed; and fear from before the Lord was upon the peoples in the cities surrounding them; and they followed not after the sons of Jakob. And Jakob came to Luz, which is in the land of Kenaan, which is Bethel, he and all the people who were with him. And he builded there an altar, and called the place El Bethel, because the Angel of the Lord had appeared to him there when he fled from before his brother. And Deborah, the nurse of Revekah, died, and was buried below Bethel, in the declivity of the vale;[14] and he called the name of it, The vale of weeping.[15]

 

And the Lord appeared unto Jakob again when he had come from Padan Aram, and blessed him. And the Lord said to Jakob, Thy name shall be no more Jakob, but Israel shall be thy name; and he called his name Israel. And the Lord said to him, I am El Shadai; increase and multiply; a people and an assemblage of tribes shall be from thee, and kings who shall reign over the peoples shall come forth from thee. And the land that I gave to Abraham and to Izhak I will give unto thee, and to thy sons after thee, will I give the land. And the glory of the Lord ascended above him, in the place where He had spoken with him. And Jakob erected a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and outpoured libations upon it, and poured oil thereon. And Jakob called the name of the place where the Lord bad spoken with him Bethel. And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was yet a space of land[16] to come unto Ephrath; and Rahel travailed, and had hard (pain) in her birth-labour. And as she travailed in her labour, the midwife said to her, Fear not, for also this to thee is a son. And it was in the going forth of her soul, for she died, that she called his name The son of my woe;[17] but his father called him Benjamin.[18] And Rahel died, and was buried in the way of Ephrath, which is Beth‑Lechem. And Jakob erected a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of the tomb of Rahel unto this day. And Israel proceeded and spread his tabernacle beyond the tower of Adar. And it was while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, the concubine of his father. And Israel heard it.

 

And the sons of Jakob were twelve. The sons of Leah, the firstborn of Jakob, Reuben, and Shemeon, and Levi, and Jehudah, and Issakar, and Zebulon. The sons of Rahel, Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, the handmaid of Rahel, Dan and Naphtali; and the sons of Zilpha, the handmaid of Leah, Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jakob, who were born to him in Padan Aram. And Jakob came unto Izhak his father, unto Mamre, the city of Arba, which is Hebron; for Abraham and Izhak had dwelt there. And the days of Izhak were an hundred and eighty years. And Izhak expired and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and content with days; and Esau and Jakob his sons buried him.

 

XXXVI. And these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. Esau took his wives from the daughters of Kenaan: Ada, daughter of Helon the Hittite, and Ahalivama, the daughter of Ana, the daughter of Sibeon the Hivite, and Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth. And Ada bare to Esau Eliphaz; and Basemath bare Reuel; and Ahalivama bare Jehus, and Jaalam, and Korach. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Kenaan. And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his flocks, and all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gotten in the land of Kenaan, and went into another land from before Jakob his brother; because their substance was too great for them to dwell together, and the land of their habitation could not sustain them with regard to their cattle. And Esau dwelt in the mountain of Seir.[19] Esau is Edom. And these are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomai, in the mountain of Seir, these are the names of the sons of Esau: Eliphaz, the son of Ada, the wife of Esau; Reuel, son of Basemath, the wife of Esau. And the sons of Eliphaz were Theman, Omar, Zepho, and Gaetam, and Kenaz. And Thimna was the concubine of Eliphaz bar Esau, and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek. These are the sons of Ada, the wife of Esau. And these are the sons of Reuel, Nahath and Zara, Shamma and Meza. These are the sons of Basemath, the wife of Esau. And these are the sons of Ahalivama, the daughter of Ana, the daughter of Zebeon, the wife of Esau; and she bare unto Esau Jehus, and Jaalam, and Korach. These are the chiefs[20] of the sons of Esau. Of the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau, Rabba Theman, Rabba Omar, Rabba Zepho, Rabba Kenaz, Rabba Korach, Rabba Gaetam, Rabba Amalek. These are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Ada. And these are the sons of Reuel bar Esau: Rabba Nachath, Rabba Zarach, Rabba Shamma, Rabba Meza. These are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, the wife of Esau. And these are the sons of Ahalivama, the wife of Esau: Rabba Jehus, Rabba Jaalam, Rabba Korach. These are the chiefs of Ahalivama, the daughter of Ana the wife of Esau. These are the sons of Esau, and these are their chieftains. He is Edom.

 

These are the sons of Seir, the Chorites,[21] the inhabitants of the land, Lothan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Ana, and Dishon, and Etser, and Dishan. These are the chieftains of the Choraai, the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom. And the sons of Loti were Hori and Hemaim, and the sister of Lotan was Timna. And these are the Beni Shobal, Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. And these are the sons of Zebeon, Aya and Ana; he is Ana who found the giants[22] in the desert while he tended the asses of his father Zibeon. And these are the children of Ana, Dishon, and Ahalivania the daughter of Ana. And these are the sons of Dishan: Hemdan, and Eshban, and Jethran, and Keran. These are the sons of Etser: Bilan, and Zaavan, and Akan. These are the sons of Dishan: Huts and Aran. These are the chieftains of the Choraai: Rabba Lotan, Rabba Shobal, Rabba Zebeon, Rabba Ana, Rabba Dishon, Rabba Etser, Rabba Dishan. These are the chieftains of the Choraai, according to their principalities in the land of Seir.

 

And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before that kings reigned among the sons of Israel: Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhava. And Bela died, and instead of him reigned Yobab the son of Zerah of Botsra. And Yobab died, and instead of him reigned Husham, of the land of the south. And Husham, died, and instead of him reigned Hadad, the son of Bedad, who slew the Medianae in the fields of Moab; and the name of his city was Avith. And Hadad died, and in his stead reigned Simlah of Masereka. And Simlah died, and in his stead reigned Shaul of Rechovoth,[23] which is on the Ph'rat. And Shaul died, and in his stead reigned Baal‑Chanan bar Akbor. And Baal‑Chanan bar Akbor died, and in his stead reigned Hadar, and the name of his city was, Pau; and the name of his wife Mehetavel, the daughter of Matered, the daughter of a changer of gold.[24] And these are the names of the chieftains of Esau, after their kindreds, by their places, with their names: Rabba Timna, Rabba Alvah, Rabba Jetheth, Rabba Ahalivama, Rabba Elah, Rabba Phinon, Rabba Kenez, Rabba Teman, Rabba Mabzar, Rabba Magdiel, Rabba Iram: these are the chieftains of Edom, after their habitations in the land of their possessions. He is Esau, the father of the Edomites.

 

 

[1] Sam. Vers. gabla, (gebel,) "the mountain."

[1] Or, "the palm."

[1] Or, "moved."

[1] "Send me away."

[1] Or, "to prevent him."

[1] Or, "propser with thine own."

[1] Sam. Vers. "Gabla."

[1] 'Tabernacles."

[1] Shalemin.

[1] Yabedun ba sechorta.

[1] Sam. Vers. "when they were wounded."

[1] Sam. Vers. "the Most Mighty One."

[1] "The idols of the peoples."

[1] Shephuli misera.

[1] Misar bekitha.

[1] Literally, kerub araah, "an acre of ground." Some think that kerub araah means as much land as can be ploughed in a day; a tract of ground.

[1] Bar de-wai.

[1] "Son of my right hand."

[1] Sam. Vers. "Gabla."

[1] Ravrevee.

[1] Chor, "a cavern in a mountain."

[1] Ith gibbaraia. Hebrew, ha yemim, "the mules." The Sam. Vers. has am aimai, "the Emim people."

[1] Sam. Vers. "Pathe."

[1] Bath Metsareph dahaba.