Jacob, the Patriarch
But Laban said, “It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me for another seven years.” Genesis 29:26-27 NASB
The other – Leviticus 18:18 presents us with a problem. “You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.” But this is exactly what Jacob did, with the predictable result of rivalry between the wives. Clearly Jacob violated Torah. How are we to account for this in the life of one of the patriarchs, especially since his wives (and their handmaids) become the source of the twelve tribes?
You might be inclined to claim, “But Torah wasn’t given yet. The rules only applied after Sinai.” Ah, wouldn’t that be an easy solution? But it doesn’t fly, does it? Sin enters earlier. That assumes an awareness of what it means to disobey. And, of course, we know that punishments for murder, lying, theft and even the concept of kosher foods are found in the Genesis accounts. If we suggest that Sinai is the beginning of Torah, we will be hard pressed to explain all of these other situations. But if we suggest that Torah existed from the beginning (however it might have been revealed), then we seem to be forced to say that the twelve tribes were the result of sin. Not a very good option either.
Is Torah a permanent ethical standard, fixed before the foundation of the world? Or is it a progressive revelation, subject to historical circumstances? Does Jacob sin or is his act simply ignored because the prohibition wasn’t known yet? Is Torah culturally dependent? If you think Jacob just didn’t know yet, then how do you know we have it all revealed now? Is there more to come later? Did God intend that a man should not marry two living sisters, but He ignored Jacob’s decision? Or did God intend that a man should not marry two living sisters after the revelation to Moses, but it was acceptable before? Of course, this isn’t the only case where we seem to have culturally dependent discrepancies with Torah revelation. These cases raise issues about the integrity of Torah. Since Torah includes all of the material between Genesis 1:1 and Deuteronomy 34:12, we expect it to have internal consistency. Contradictions raise significant problems.
Frankly, I don’t know how we ultimately resolve these issues. It isn’t possible to exclude the accounts. Jacob does marry both and establishes the twelve tribes. How YHVH engineers Jacob’s decision seems unexplainable based on Moses’ revelation. But there it is. Fact. Hard fact. We believe Torah reveals YHVH’s directions for living, but Jacob seems blessed for doing what cannot be allowed. How does that work? We can’t accept a progressive Torah now for that would mean we really don’t know all that YHVH wants. We would be left with some sort of general principles (like “love”) and cast adrift to figure out how these principles apply in our world. Ethics demands more than universals. But then there is Jacob. Why does YHVH choose Jacob in spite of Jacob’s sexual “sin”? Or was it sin? Ah, it’s so wonderfully convoluted, just like life.
Maybe the solution is this: we live according to what has been revealed thus far. There might be more, but that doesn’t matter now. What matters now is what we know has been revealed to this point. When Jacob took two wives, even if Torah as a universal construct existed, he either didn’t know or he didn’t care. But his situation doesn’t excuse ours, does it?
Topical Index: Jacob, Torah, Leviticus 18:18, Genesis 29:26-27
NOTE on Today’s Word material
Recently one of our community notified me that Mr. Harold Smith of the ministry He That Has An Ear was using my material without giving me credit or citing me as the author. I wrote to Harold. He apologized and said that he would let his readers know about his plagiarism. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened and I am sure it won’t be the last. You as faithful readers can help me with this problem by letting me know if you find something like this out there on the web. Thanks, Mary, for helping to correct this one.
Is Torah ‘made up’? Is Torah the rules of a game of pawns? Is Torah something that is invented After The Fact? Is Torah evolutionary?
What in heaven and the cosmos IS Torah?
But if Torah is simply a DESCRIPTION of Something Else, then all the problems vanish, don’t they?
IF Torah is a description, or, mirror image, if you like, of a Real Thing, then what would that be?
I take Torah to be a transcript of G-d’s character, revealed in the context of the circumstances that prevail on this particular planet. Torah, as far as I can make it out, anyway, is how G-d’s character would be played out HERE.
Torah, after all, is nothing more (or less!) than Love-in-the-flesh, is it not?
And if that is so, then Torah, like the One whom it mirrors, will surely be progressively REVEALED as eternity rolls, and we progressively see Him more and more as He is, for forever, as we have been promised, and as to be expected.
Folks, I firmly believe that Torah, in its current written form, anyway, is merely a primer written for babies in one particular playpen. I think Torah shows us how G-d would act if HE WERE US. As such, I believe that there are unimaginable depths to that Torah, but that also, in an eternal sense, or perhaps even in a heavenly sense (how G-d would act in heaven), Torah, in surface actions, anyway, would look somewhat different given another venue. Why? Because love in another context would require a different manifestation. I mean, washing your hands after you use the toilet is a good idea given the realities of toilet use on a fallen world, but perhaps G-d wouldn’t be necessarily doing that particular action in another context?
Yeshua certainly showed us What Would YHVH Do? in the flesh, but then He went and did things no man had done before and surely had people scrambling to ‘find’ that particular ACTION in the Torah. Well, may I humbly suggest that even the actions He did that you will not find in any of the pages of that Tanakh were STILL Torah? I mean, deductively speaking, anyway, IF Torah is just a transcript of what His character would do in our shoes, and IF Yeshua came to show us Him, then it would follow that whatever G-d did would be Torah. At that point, you might even could say that Torah is simply a description of whatever G-d would do if He were us, which would be a mirror statement of the reality that we should do whatever He would do. Words. Sigh. There they go again, being opposite. I am going to quit!
No, I have one more thing to say before I do. People who seem to think that now that we “have love” we no longer need Torah really do need to stop washing their hands after they go to the toilet or else they are going to be finding themselves “back under that law” for sure and are going to risk losing that salvation! (You really can’t make up this stuff, ya’ll!)
Have You Seen This Man?
The Game Changer
“You have heard it said, but I say unto you..” What “blasphemer,” says things like this? The Law may say, “an eye for an eye”, but I say unto you- “love your enemies.” Who is this Man, the One “they” call (the) Christ? Progressive revelation? Absolutely. Why? Because this Man, born in a barn in Bethlehem, (of all places) is – may we say – “different?”
The Law was (still is, – always will be) our “schoolmaster” to lead us to Christ. The Law says “do” or “don’t” and as for our obedience or strict adherence to the Law? We ALL come up “short of the mark”- and we ALL err, sin, transgress, even sometimes out and out rebel. God says “do” – we don’t. God says “don’t” and we “do!”
Starting with “commandment” #1 – it seems the “fact” (just the facts ma’am) of our sinful state are already thoroughly established, the fact that we ALL (that little ol’ universal word)- we ALL (both Jew and Gentile, male and female) stand in desperate need of a Savior. And.. as the scriptures state (who am I to disagree with what God has said?)- “Without Me- you can do (what?) — “nothing.”
Now let me share with you – “what a good boy I am..” (NOT). Here is a written summary of the best five minutes of my life, when I was on my absolute “best behavior.” Isaiah knows.. and he writes — “For ALL of us have become like one who is unclean, And ALL our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.. (Isaiah 64.6)
So, you try your best to keep Kosher.. well, I’ll burn a few candles for you because neither your “proper” diet nor your kosher “day of rest” will provide access into a place called Heaven. Just look at all that Cain did, the “hard work” he must have done.. – the “blood, sweat and tears,” the creative way he must have presented unto YHWH the “work of his hands..” – “Here LORD, here’s the best that I can do..” And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell” – All that “hard work” for nothing! (Genesis 4:3-5).
“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain..” Oh? perhaps Abel remembered the “covering of skins” YHWH had provided for his mom and dad and somehow knew (by faith?) a blood sacrifice was necessary. Sorry Cain, -you can’t get blood out of a turnip.
Follow the red thread of redemption throughout the scriptures. From the first Adam until the Second, the Final Sacrifice, the One that paid all debts –in full and forever.
One and Done
~For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy ~ (Hebrews 10.14)
Horatio G. Spafford, (1873) has written these blessed words:
My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the LORD, praise the LORD, O my soul!
And? My dear friends, ~if the Son sets you free, — you will be free indeed ~ (John 8.36)
Dear Carl,
Abel offered a sacrifice to , seems his was accepted because it was according to God’s instruction (Torah)
Cain’s , it appears, was not.
Yes, many a paradox to be held in tension.
Perhaps Jacob marrying the two sisters was not sinful, as there is no indication that was the case, However, the fact that this practice led to rivalry between sisters made it wrong. If a man took more than one wife, he was not allowed to treat them differently, which Jacob obviously did. I believe God reveals more and more of his wisdom as we seek it, and things that are cloudy can become clearer. Fine tuning is not the same as switching gears, plans or people, which has led to 2,000 years of “freedom,” to persecution and murder of Jews and others. Torah is living and applicable to whereever we find ourselves in history.
Regarding the plagiarisim; this is rife in the evangelical world, in the same way fake Ph.D’s, fake Jews, fake ex-Muslim terrorists, pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, MLMs…..
BTW, I suggest checking up on Harold to see if he has followed through. In numerous instances, such as Chuck Missler, they claim they will rectify things and never do.
Could it be that the Torah was given in the Garden to the first priest (Adam). It wasn’t written though and only transmitted orally? Therefore things seem a bit, ‘goofy’ or ‘off’ prior to the giving of the written Torah. I know there is no mention of it, so I guess it would be difficult to prove or disprove for that matter. But you see (maybe by choice) hints of Torah through out all of Gen though. Levirate marriage (Abraham, Judah), offerings (Cain & Abel), first born blessings or incorrect ones with double portions (double coat for Joseph), punishment of lashon hara (Joseph going to get killed for speaking bad report about his brothers), lack of hesed (story of stone), clean and unclean animals (Noah) etc. They are always really ‘close’ to the protocol that is later given but never seems like a perfect 1 for 1 connection
It could be that the Torah was not given too. And it was that the reason why God gave the history to Israel was so they knew what not to do based off stories. Almost like the stories give a commentary to the later books in the Torah, “This is what your ancestor did, it was close but wrong”. Which would also be interesting because it would prove the point that we humans have a desire to have a relationship with a higher being, a desire to do ‘right’, and we will be very close to His protocol instinctively but without His instructions there is a high chance that even by being close, we will still be off by a bit and miss out on a connecting point with God.
I don’t know, it’s something that I’ve often wondered about. I’ve heard 50-50, “Plenty of indication Torah was given in the Garden”, or, “Show me where it says it, you’re just reading into the text”.
Too me, I think I would like to believe that the whole Torah was given in the Garden. It makes sense to me. There are things that God likes and dislikes and would want to transmit that somehow. Maybe it was just orally for a while…? I would love to hear other thoughts on the matter. It’s really much higher then my pay grade though
Arguments from silence rarely carry the day. However, the fact that there are Torah acts in Genesis is undeniable. Look at Victor Hamilton’s commentary on Genesis. He addresses the issue and provides references.
I remember a discussion a few years ago, where I was told that the Sages had said that God intended Leah for Esau, and Rachel was intended for Jacob. But when Esau went off and married outside the tribe, Jacob was left to marry both women so that YHVH’s intention for the nation of Israel would be born. I haven’t yet come across this story in Jewish literature, although you can find numerous variations on this theme in the writings of contemporary Jewish women. Has anyone else ever heard anything similar to this?
“Contradictions raise significant problems.”
If you take this section, or any other section, of this story and isolate it from the whole, I would suppose that it can be made to seem contrary and/or culturally dependant. Of course, it would also be largely dependent on what one was looking for and/or the lens one is looking through.
I, for one, don’t see a contradiction to Torah or cultural relativism in this section, but rather a working out of Torah (God’s nature) in Jacob’s life.
Here’s a question; how do you catch a beast?
Immediately after the offering (?) of the propagation of the Arahamic promise to Jacob, he responded with a conditional statement, “if is God with me and keeps me…….then shall YHWH become God too me.”
Answer; (one of many) give it what it wants.
I wonder what all those blessings (getting what he desired, ie, Rachel) were worth when Easu was standing across the river? Wealth gained, desires attained, dominance granted, but that’s not the end of the story.
Trap set and sprung, let’s wrestle you and me. Covenant reality, God is faithful to His promise, no matter what you decide to do. Torah in action, just like today.
YHWH bless you and keep you……..
Pardon the inappropriate spacing of the sentences and paragraphs, it was written different but when I posted it, something went wrong. 🙂
“but Jacob seems blessed for doing what cannot be allowed.” Seems like YHWH permits circumstantial situations, in this case where it was beyond Jacob’s control. He would not have known Leah was not Rachel, or he could have been drunk in the celebration, or, Laban could have gotten him drunk, or his heart was in the right place with YHWH working so hard for the one he loved, no complains. Reveals his patience too.