Genesis 34-36; massacres, cheating and the slow delineation of the People of Israel

Chapter 34 starts very interestingly with the brief story of Dinah. I had wanted to combine writing about this with the novel The Red Tent, but Genesis has bowled along a lot quicker than I expected, so I'll have to blog about the latter in a while.
So, Dinah, daughter of Jacob and Leah, is 'taken and defiled' by Shechem son of Hamor, a prince of a land also Shechem.
As with Rebekah, but with more drastic consequences, it is never really made clear whether Biblical 'taking' in a sexual sense is an act of rape or simply any form of copulation. Is Dinah 'defiled' because she is raped, or simply because the act of sex has not been sanctioned by her fathers and brothers? Dinah, of course, has no voice in this, so we can never really know.
Shechem, however, seems very keen to marry her:

"And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give" (chapter 34 verse 11).

And, in accordance with that promise, Shechem and his father agree to have their entire male population, inclduing themselves, circumcised, and appear to be regarding Jacob and his descendants as future neighbours and residents.
Some of Dinah's brothers, however, have other views on the subject and butcher the entire population of the city:

"v25 And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore [from being circumcised], that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and they slew all the males.
v26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out.
v27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.
v28 They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field."

And, of course, they take all the women and children captive.
Obviously with my usual tendency towards bias on the issue, one of my reactions is to think that this seems like a pretty standard reaction of Israelis towards Shechem, which is modern Nablus, one of the worst battered cities of the West Bank, where military incursions and checkpoints seem to replicate this indiscriminate violence and economic despoilation.
But in chapter 35, we move briskly on, with no apparent judgement or comment from God as to whether this wholesale slaughter was an OK thing to do. Unsurprisingly, though, there is a note that Jacob and his sons start to be feared from this point. No shit, since they seem to be behaving like a great big gang of bandits, wandering round Canaan doing pretty much as they fancy (any more parallels with what Israel gets away with in the modern era, anyone?)
Interestingly, though, it is at this point that Jacob seems to start consolidating his extended family's religious identity within the worship of the God he has allied himself to:

"v2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
v3 And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
v4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hands, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem."

And, in a statement which is going to cause all kind of trouble over the next few millenia, God tells Jacob and his sons that the land is theirs:

"v10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
"v11 And God said to him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
"v12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land."

Rachel also dies giving birth to her final son and is buried near Bethlehem, at a place still called Ramat Rahel. There is now a nice little settlement and some archaeological sites there, with a huge and very scary-looking concrete wall (predating the even huger and scarier wall round the whole of the West Bank) and military watchtowers. On my second stay in Bethlehem with ISM I managed to get a bit lost looking for the long road with the cashpoints on it which skirts the bottom of the hill where Manger Square is situated, and nearly walked myself and two friends into the Ramat Rahel checkpoint, which given that the soldiers were very jumpy due to an imminent invasion would not have been a fab idea. Scared the hell out of me, anyway.
Chapter 36, given how far behind I am on this project, is fortunately mainly a list of the sons of Esau and their descendants, the kings of Edom. Edom is one of those myriad Old Testament kingdoms which warrant brief mentions in the act Bible because they aren't in the bloodline which will form the people of Israel, but which were actually very interesting and in some cases powerful regional polities in their own right. Edom itself was situated in what is now Southern Jordan and part of Southern Israel and the Negev, mainly desert areas which contains such natural and architectural wonders as Wadi Rum and Petra and the historically significant Via Nova Traiana, or King's Highway, built by the Romans to maintain control over this part of their empire. Although archaeological evidence for the start date of the Edomite empire is hazy, it certainly lasted a thousand years, often warring with Israel and allying with Babylon to sack Jerusalem.

Genesis 46-47: feast then famine...

Chapter 46

So on the long journey to Egypt, Israel/Jacob hears voices again. Apparently a good thing, rather than cause for a different psychotropic prescription.

And another of those big lists of names that give the Old Testament its bad reputation. Interestingly though, only sons seem to count as worth of mention...

Anyway, it's all family reunions

Verse 29-30 “And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him: and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.”

And Joseph coaches his family on what to say in the job interview with the Pharaoh. So much for the strength of weak ties hypothesis, eh?

Basically the line to take is “We but simple shepherd folk, yurr m'jesty.” Can't say pharer than that...

Chapter 47

Pharaoh talks with them. Israel/Jacob rabbits on like the seriously Old Man that he is. And it ends well, for now (in the sequel, I believe it's called “Xbox, or Xrayspecs” or something like that, all has not gone swimmingly well in Egypt. Sequels eh, so derivative)

Verse 11 “And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, and the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh has commanded."

But the crop crunch becomes a credit crunch

Verse 15 “And when the money failed in the land of Egypt,and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? For the money faileth.”

So Joseph accepts barter- cattle, horses, flocks and stuff.

But next year folks come back and say 'we really don't got nothing now, no word of a lie.'

Verse 10 “Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh, and give us seed that we may live and not die, that the land be not desolate.”

Thank god (no, really) we've moved on from such barbaric conditions and there aren't billions hungry and semi-starving, and Indian farmers topping themselves in huge numbers. I mean, that would be a damning indictment, wouldn't it?

So via Joseph, the Pharaoh becomes rich in deed.

Verse 20 “And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh: for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's.”

and he ethnically cleanses-

Verse 21 “And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.”

And Joseph is like a smug Monopoly player, with hotels on those green and blue spaces. And devises a 20% flat tax, which is of course very regressive...

Verse 24 “And it shall come to pass in the increase that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.”

And these craven capitalist running dog lick-spittle ragged trousered philanthropist lilly-livered black leg freeloading scabs from Nottingham say

Verse 25 “... Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.”

And so it goes. Anyhow...

Verse 28 “And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen: and they had possessions therein and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.”

And Israel/Jacob hits 147 and makes Joseph promise to bury him (once he's dead of course) in his burying place, which is not in Egypt.

Genesis 43-45:Joseph's technicolor melodrama

Chapter 43

Things are not going well for the Jacob and co.

Verse 1-2 “And the famine was sore in the land. And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, “Go again, buy us a little food.”

Yep, famines sharpen wealth inequalities. The rich get richer and the poor get the picture...

Judah reminds Jacob of the deal with the weird guy in Egypt- no youngest son, no more food for sale.

Israel/Jacob is not happy, but Judah says he'll “be surety for him”

Israel/Jacob says oh alright, pack some gifts and twice the money [always good advice for travellers].

When they get to Joseph's, they have second thoughts

Verse 18 “And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house: and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in: that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondsmen, and our asses.”

Asses? Did they take the Last Exit to Sodom by mistake? Oh, donkeys, I'm with you...

Joseph tells them to chill, gives them back Simeon, asks after their (and his) dad. Joseph almost loses it when he sees Benjamin

Verse 30 “And Joseph made haste: for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep: and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.”

And goes back out and breaks bread with 'em. But...

Verse 32 “And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews: for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.”

And it's one of those mythical scenes of impossible plenty. All Pantagruel and stuff...

Chapter 44

But Joseph wants to yank their chains some more, and gets his steward to frame them by planting a silver cup in Benjamin's ass.

Verse 3 “As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses.”

He chases 'em, “finds” the evidence, has wrecked 'em. Or has he? Da-da-daa-da....

Jacob's sons aren't happy Benjie's in trouble. Poetically now...

Verse 13 “Then they rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass and returned to the city.”

Judah begs for mercy and says, explains the trip back last time, the haggling. In summary- 'my dad's ancient, this'll kill him, take me instead.'

Chapter 45

Joseph can't live a lie any longer.

Verse 1 “Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him: and he cried. Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.”

'Hey guys, it's me, the brother you dumped in the hole and sold into slavery. But chill, it's cool, all part of the plan.

Verse 7 “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”

Ah, the heroic redeemer who must suffer greatly to do his job. I wonder if they'll use that archetype later on in this grotesquely over-written novel?

But hang on, this is really dodgy from a free will/determinism side of things.

Verse 9 “So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharoah, and lord of all his house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”

Great. But if God did it, it wasn't their fault, and so why all this elaborate hoax to yank their chains and put them and Israel/Jacob through so much misery?
And if God's micromanaging, does that mean I can tell my wife that those triplets she catches me with next week aren't my fault, but the Man Upstairs? Hmm? Theodicy schmeodicy...

So anyhow, Pharaoh hears of Joseph's situation, says “bring the family and I'll make ya happy.”

So they schlepp back to Canaan, tell Jacob/Israel that the long lost son is alive and kinging.

Verse 26 “... And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not.”

But he soon perks up, and then he does believe them. Aah.

Genesis 39-42: Crying Rape, Interpreting Dreams and Yanking Chains

Chapter 39
Meanwhile, back to the kidnapped Joseph

Verse 1 “And Joseph was brought down to Egypt: and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh,captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites , which had brought him down thither”

But he has God on his side and becomes prosperous. And in true Calvinist style, other folks spot he is wealthy and therefore one of the Elect. So the guy who bought him (and this isn't transatlantic slavery, red in tooth and claw, more sort of Greco-Roman slavery. There's a difference) hands over lots of autonomy/responsibility. And you know how these things end...

Verse 7 “And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Jospeh: and she said, Lie with me.”

Don't do it Joseph, don't get laid where you get paid!

Verse 8 “But he refused, and said unto his master's wife. Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickendess and sin against God?”

And she persists, and he resists, and she really persists and he has to run out of the house, leaving his “garment”. And she Cries Rape, hell having no fury like a woman scorned. Oh, and she throws in some anti-Semitism, just to add to the charm of it all...

Verse 17 “And she spake unto him [hubby] according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me...”

Joseph gets banged up in chokey, but God is Still On His Side, and gets the chief warder on Joseph's side.

So by not screwing, Joseph gets well-Screwed, virtue being its own reward and all that...

Chapter 40
The Pharaoh bangs up his butler and baker and Joseph serves 'em. Joseph interprets their dreams. (Cue flowery stuff about vines and birds and so forth)

The butler is gonna be back in favour- Joseph asks to be remembered.

The baker is gonna hang- and Dead Men do no favours.

And so it comes to pass, but the butler forgets his mate wot he did porridge wiv. Like always.

Chapter 41
Two years go by. And Pharaoh has some weird dreams involving seven fat and thin cattle, and likewise ears of corn that no-one can interpret. But then t'butler fesses up to having forgotten that nice young Hebrew lad with the talent for dream interpretation.

Verse 14 “Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.”

Joseph lets God take the dream interpretation credit and says

Verse 26-7 “The seven good kine are seven years: and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them are seven years: and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.”

So unlike our current bunch of clowns, Pharaoh listens to the best scientific advice of the day and makes preparations. He appoints Joseph, who's pushing 30, as his Preparer-for-Famine-in-chief.

Verse 47 “And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. And he gathered up all the foods of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.”

Verse 49 is cute-“And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering: for it was without number.”

Reminds me of Marvin Harris' point again- that centralised power is possible when leaders can store food. No long-term storage, no credibility as saviours from famine, no authority...

Joseph has two kids before the predicted bad years hit.

Verse 56 “And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians: and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.”

Chapter 42
Jacob, peckish up north, sends his sons to buy corn, keeping his youngest Benjamin (the one he re-named despite Rebekkah dying in childbirth) at home.

They turn up in Egypt...

Verse 8 “And Joseph saw his brethren, but they knew not him.”

And accuses them of being spies. “Nah, just merchants” they say.
And Joseph creates a hostage situation, and can overhear Reuben and the others arguing, (because he has been pretending not to speak their lingo, using an interpreter subterfugily.)

Verse 24 “And he turned himself about from them, and wept: and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.”

And Joseph sends the rest away with bags of corn and their money hidden inside, which they discover on the way back to Canaan and get weirded out by.

Verse 28 “...and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying on to another What is this that God hath done unto us.”

The sons explain to Jacob what's gone on, and he doesn't want to lose Benjamin too.

Verse 37 “And Reuben spake unto his father saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.”

But Jacob it too risk-averse...

Genesis 37-8: Beastly behaviour, onanism

Chapter 37

Verse 1 “And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.”

Which is pretty poetic.

But he plays favourites with his sons (“loved some more than others” as Paul Kelly sings in his wonderful mournful dirge “South of Germany").

Verse 3 “Now Israel [Jacob] loves Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.”

Ah, the technicolour yawn- sorry, overcoat....

Hated by his brothers, but seemingly oblivious (or just insufferably smug?) 17-year old Joseph makes himself even more popular by telling of dreams which are interpreted (by the others? And himself?) of them bowing down to him.

Even his dad is pissed. He tells him to flock off and tend the sheep with his other brothers in Shechem.

He goes “out of the vale of Hebron”,- and it would be nice if more people would do that- and meets a stranger (God again?) who helps him narrow his search.

They see him coming and are going to kill him and frame a “wild beast”, but are moderated by Reuben, who says “nah, get all Saddam on his ass”

Verse 22 “ And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness and lay no hand upon him, that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again."

So they do it.

Verse 24 “And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.”

But along comes a trader with camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

And brother Gilead sees a chance to make them some cash from this Ker-azy Scheme, so they sell Joseph to the Ismeelites for twenty pieces of silver.

And Reuben comes back (gone where? Like Pam Landy's sidekick at the climax of Bourne Ultimatum, his absence is unexplained and inexplicable)

Anyway,

Verse 31-2 “And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood: And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father, and said This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.”

Which is pretty damn cruel.

Jacob gets it. The language is so poetic- this is why we've plumped for the King James version, ya see...

Verse 33 “And he knew it, and said It is my son's coat an evil beast hath devoured him: Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned his son many days.”

Australians of a certain age will be thinking Azaria Chamberlain. Readers of Barbara Ehrenreich's “Blood Rites” will be going “aha”.

Blood Rites

And Joseph has to learn to walk like an Egyptian.

Chapter 38
Erm, on that cliff hanger, they decide to go for a (comic?) interlude. Nice sense of pacing. No, but seriously, this seems to be an utterly interpolated chapter.

So Judah knocks up a woman called Shuah. It's a shuah thing.

And she has a son named, er... Sorry “Er.” No, really.

And she has another son named... drumroll please... Onan. Some of you will see where this is coming... I mean, going.

And a third son called Shelah. I hope you're taking notes, there's going to be a short quiz next period...

So Judah gets Er a wife, called Tamar.

But there is trouble ahead...

Verse 7 “And Er, Judah's first born, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD slew him.”

Which puts Judah's plans for a big family back a bit.

Verse 8 “And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her and raise up seed to thy brother.”

The order seems to be confused here- 'start shagging her, marry her, ejaculate in her'. That's one long public shag. I don't think you'd find a registrant willing to marry a couple coupling...

(Yes, I know the third bit means 'raise the kids as if they were Er's, but that's not nearly as funny.)

Verse 9 “And Onan knew that the seed should not be his: and it came to pass when he went inn unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.”

So Onanism, as many a pedant will have pointed out is not a five knuckle shuffle/taking Captain Picard to warp speed/burping the worm/a menage a moi/making love to Mrs Palmer and her five daughters etc. It is coitus interruptus.

And God doesn't like disobedience.

Verse 10 "And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also."

That's my God! Forgiving and compassionate, oh yes.

Tamar, the unimpregnated wife gets told to cool her heels till her brother-in-law (the living one) is grown.

Verse 12 “And in the process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died, and Judah was comforted and went up to his sheepbearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.”

So, close family then...

So Tamar puts on a veil and plays the harlot.

Judah, not knowing who she is says “How much for t'business?”

And she says not just a baby goat but the following as a surety...

Verse 18 “...Thy signet and thy bracelets and thy staff that is in thine hand.” And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him”

No safe sex there then. But Judah completes what sons Er and Onan didn't. Has anyone thought of this as an Eastenders plot? Or maybe for the Bold and the Beautiful??

Judah tries to get his stuff back, but the harlot is vanished... And he says “better keep schtum in case anyone finds out I've been kerb-crawling.

Verse 24 “And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah , saying Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot: and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.”

At which point Tamar brings out the signet and bracelets. And one of Judah's staffs. He still had another, which had gotten him into this mess...

And Judah goes “Yup, my bad. I shoulda had my third son, Shelah, schtupp her.”

“And he knew her no more.” That's not agnosia following a stroke, that's “knew” as in “shagged.”

So after Er and Onan and finally Judah, Tamar gets her reward- twins.

Verse 28-9 “And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying This came out first. And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said How has thou broken forth? This breach be upon thee; therefore his name was called Pharez."

Make a good write up as a case study in the Babylonian Medical Journal...

Scarlet thread boy gets called Zarah, but who was first??

So, more using women's bodies without their consent and weird family dynamics. That's Genesis all over.... Family values? You're having a laugh...

Genesis 35-36: no outstanding acts of depravity this time

Chapters 35

Monotheism versus polytheism- God tells Jacob to go to Bethel and Him an altar. Jacob tells his family to leave their phony gods behind.

God lays down some suppressing fire

Verse 5 “And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.”

Rebekkah dies in new labour and Jacob can't even be bothered to honour her dying act of naming the kid... You can say I'm applying today's values, but misogyny is misogyny, whenever.

But Jacob is now finally rebranded Israel, by the Big Bearded PR Man in the Sky.

Anyway, son Reuben "lay with" (shagged) one of his dad Jacob's concubines (Billah). So it goes.

And we get a list of Jacob/Israel's sons, but not daughters, who are worth nuffink, it seems.

Jacob/Israel meets up with pa Isaac, a mere 180 years old. The meeting is brief.

Verse 29 “And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.”

Chapter 36

A little of the family tree of Esau
[I looked up my family tree once, and found I was the sap]

And he and Jacob split

Verse 7 “For their riches were more than that they might dwell together : and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle.”

[Normally I'd toss off some glib eco-comment about carrying capacity, but I read an article by Adrian Wilding called “Ideas for a Critical Theory of Nature” in Capitalism Nature Socialism Dec 2008 the other day. And there was a footnote to an intriguing sounding article by on Nathan Sayre, “The Genesis [ho ho], History and Limits of Carrying-Capacity” in the Annals of the Association of American Geographers Vol. 98, No 1, 2008 pp. 120-134. I will let you know what it says and if it's, IMHO, any good..]

And there's some begatting and “duke”-ing and a little bit of smiting and the eyes run down the page like two egg yolks in a tipping saucepan.

But hark, a name! In Verse 39 we have “and Hadar reigned in his stead, and the name of his city was Paul and his wife's name was Mehetabel.”

Geddit? Archy and Mehitabel? Don Marquis? One was the cockroach (Archy I think) and the other the cat. They're really funny books!

And more duking, which suits me fine, since it's late and a school night...

Genesis 25-33: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob

Despite his advanced age, Abraham somehow manages to remarry after the death of Sarah, and fathers yet more children (as if the first two hadn't resulted in enough troubles). Fortunately - since there's quite enough internecine bloodshed in this book as it is - they seem to be happy enough to be sent away with 'gifts' on Abraham's death, as befits the sons of a mere concubine.
Ishmael also dies at a great age, bestowing on us the phrase "gave up the ghost" (Ch 25 v 17).
There is also a certain sense of repetition in many of the themes. Rebekah, like her mother-in-law, proves to be barren, necessitating more prayer from Isaac before the Lord relents and 'opens her womb' (interesting how the bodies of women are such potent tools of men's relationships with their God, despite the fact that many of the women concered don't even seem to believe in the same deity. In a similar manner to Robert Graves' interpretation of way in which different versions of the Greek Myths reflect the shift of power from women to men in Bronze and Iron Age societies, could all of this be a reflection of the declining power of female deities in the region and concomitantly of women in increasingly patriarchal societies?)



So, despite her initial barrenness, Rebekah conceives, accompanied by predictions of yet more familial strife:

"And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger" (Ch 25 v23)

And this prediction is brought about by the younger - Jacob - very sneakily cheating his starving brother out of his birthright in exchange for "a pottage of lentiles" (actually I'm not convinced that this is such a bad deal, if you've got a really good lentil soup recipe).
In yet another sense of deja vue, Isaac imitates his father's weird shenanigans by telling poor old Abimelech, King of the Philistines, that Rebekah is his sister not his wife, again apparently in fear that having a good-looking wife will get you killed. This is despite the fact that Abimelech proved himself perfectly honourable last time, and does so again, although he must be getting pretty confused about hsi repeated bizarre guests who go around apparently getting jiggy with their sisters.
Unsurprisingly, relations with the Philistines start to deteriorate somewhat, although the whole weird sister/wife thing is just a sideline to the growing economic (read: sheep) power of Isaac. In yet another disturbing precursor to modern strife in the region, Isaac and the Philistines get aggro over water supplies, with some proper conflict (Ch 26 v16-22) and a bit of extra well-digging and negotiation, leading to the establishment of the modern city of Beersheba.
Having cheated him of his birthright, Jacob and Rebekah now collude to make sure that when Isaac is dying, Esau is also deprived of his father's blessing. This is achieved by Jacob dressing up in the skins of a couple of young goats, which just goes to show the amount of blood and killing that goes into keeping these internecine conflicts going, and even the poor livestock get hauled into it all.
And, just so that history can repeat itself yet again, Jacob gets sent away to marry "outside the land of Canaan" (more exogamy), as Rebekah and Isaac have already been angered by Esau marrying some local Hittite girls:

"34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the duaghter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
35 Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah."

In order to find a wife from outside Canaan (but not very exogamous - he's gone to find his uncle Laban to marry one of his daughters), Jacob heads off to Haran, now in modern Turkey. He falls sufficiently madly in love with Rachel, Laban's second daughter, that he's prepared to work for seven years to earn her, and is therefore somewhat understandably miffed when he gets given Leah, Rachel's older sister, instead. As usual, Laban is calling the shots and the women aren't obviously getting much of a look-in here (however, as I'll be writing about later, we could put some of this down to the male authors, not entirely to events themselves, and there are some attractive literary alternative versions of this story.)
But to stick to official version for the moment, once Jacob has done two lots of seven years labour in return for Rachel, she turns out to be barren as well:

"And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren."

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be the LORD giving Leah some kind of consolation for the fact that she's stuck with a husband who's doing nothing to hide the fact that his is profoundly dischuffed to be married to her, or if he's just playing more nasty games with women's bodies. I have my suspicions.
In an attempt to address the fact that Leah has stopped bearing children (after four, which seems reasonable enough) and that Rachel's not having any at all, Jacob now also gets to sleep with Bilhah and Zilpah, Rachel and Leah's handmaids respectively. So yes, once again, the slavegirls get shagged, presumably without anyone asking their opinion on the matter. And have we learnt from all the bitterness and jealousy and people getting slung out into the desert that we saw with Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael? No we haven't. And, as with Sarah, Rachel finally gets pregnant after all that anyway and produces two sons to get all jealous and internecine with Leah's six and the several that the slave women have had forced on them too.
After all that, you'd think that Laban might actually be quite glad of the peace and quiet of a smaller family, but Jacob feels compelled to sneak off with large numbers of sheep and goats which he has legitimately earned. A bigger deal seems to be the fact that Rachel secretes the household gods in with the packing too, pretending to be menstruating when Laban asks where they are, which implies that there is still little unanimity on the subject of the LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but not apparently of their wives and other relatives.
However, on the way Jacob wrestles with a mysterious figure who might indeed be God himself and who renames Jacob Israel, just as he's about the cross over the Jordan River back into Canaan. This is a key moment in the consolidation of both a religious and ethnic identity amongst this branch of the descendants of Abraham. And, despite his general sneakiness a couple of decades before, Jacob finally comes home to Canaan to a warm and generous welcome from his brother Esau.

Tidying up the bookshelves...

apart from being a good way to get rid of dust and cat-hair residues (wow, I am such a skanky housekeeper) is also a great way to be reminded of books you forgot you had.
So, I now have an excuse to include in here the first verses of a poem I've always loved, since before I had the faintest idea what he was going on about (I'm not guaranteeing that that bit's changed).
Franci Thompson was a "Victorian mystic... who trained as a priest but was found to have no vocation" and died in 1907, a poverty-stricken opium addict. The Hound of Heaven seems to me terribly evocative of both the sense of feeling that there is some kind of God out there, but being unable to come to personal and psychological terms with that feeling and its meanings, and also of the kind of terrible and vengeful God we seem to have been reading about in the Old Testament so far:

"I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I feld Him, down the arches of the years;
I feld him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated, Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy.
They beat - and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet -
'All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.'"

(The Hound of Heaven, Francis Thompson, Phoenix Paperbacks)

Genesis 32-4: The usual rape and pillage.

Chapter 32

Jacob wants to head home, but is worried Esau is still sore [Ed: you've used this one before]
Jacob reminds God of His promises of safety, sends a big fat bribe

Verse 24-5 “Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams. Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals”. And a partridge in a pear tree.

And Jacob sends his two wives and two womenservants and eleven sons (the daughters aren't mentioned) over some ford and is All Alone.

And Jacob does some Greco-Roman wrestling (alright, that's anachronistic) with an evenly matched stranger. It's a stalemate until Jacob blesses the guy, who says “Now you're called Israel”

Verse 28 “... for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed.”

Anyhow, because these two were touching each other up at the hollow of the thigh, this is why

Verse 22 “Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.”

[Of course, for the really loopy dietary restrictions, wait till Leviticus, some time in February]

Chapter 33

Esau ain't sore [Ed: what did I just tell you? You're fired] and

Verse 4 “And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him: and they wept.”

He tells Jacob/Israel to keep his prezzies. “No, I insist.” says Jake.

Esau heads home,leaving some of his flock. Jacob heads of to “Succoth” and builds himself a house, then to Shalem where he buys some land and builds an altar.
Doesn't he worry about all the work he is creating for Biblical scholars and archeologists? His carbon dating footprint must be massive!

Chapter 34

Dinah, Leah's daughter went out to see the daughters of the land.

Verse 2 “And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw here, he took her, and lay with her, and he defiled her.”

Not clear if she's a willing participant (see this great column by Dan Savage about rape), but he loves her and wants her as a wife. So his dad Hamor meets Jacob and asks for her hand (well, all of her actually) in marriage for his son. And wider than this-

Verse 9 “And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you: dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein.”

So, straightforward exchange-of-women-as-foundations-of-civilisation stuff. Stops you from splashing around in the shallow end of the gene pool.

No can do, says Jacob's lot, cos you have foreskins, and our kinship possibilities are quite circum... scribed.

So these clowns have a big spokescouncil/Samoan circle

Verse 20 “And Hamor and Schehem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed ith the men of their city, saying..."

Jacob and his lot are so worth having around that (male readers of a nervous disposition may want to look away now. Everyone will unconsciously cross their legs...

Verse 24 “And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his cityl and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.”

And you feel like yelling out, “It's a trick, don't do it”, like in a horror movie “Don't go down there!!”

And sure enough

Verse 25 “And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldl, and slew all the males.”

It's nice to know that such barbaric collective punishment isn't done anymore by soi-disant Chosen People of God. Oh, wait....

Anyhow, they go on a looting binge

Verse 28 “They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city ,and that which was in the field. And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.”

Because two wrongs make a right, you see.

And Jacob worries about the perception management dilemma they know face

Verse 30 “...You have troubled me to make me stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me and slay me: and I shall be destroy, I and my house.”

“WTF, pa” say Simeon and Levy;

Verse 31 “Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?”