in comparing apples to oranges, lawyers employ the “straight face” test. if you can argue a point with a straight face, you go for it! when successful lawyers employ their mental swiss army knife of arguments, even the toothpick must be able to draw blood! the torah portion vaysishlach’s events offer fruitful comparisons to both the exodus and the ten commandments.
in vayishlach, jacob’s daughter dinah’s sexual encounter with one of canaan’s locals- shechem son of hamor, draws ire from some of jacob’s sons. while the torah, is ambiguous as to nature of the relations-rape or romance- dinah’s brothers- jacob’s sons- simeon and levi- seek vengeance and kill the city of shechem’s male residents in an act of deception. [note: the individual schechem, a royal, has the same name as the city.] the sons also despoil the city of schechem. simeon and levi’s rationale was that “they had defiled their sister.” genesis 34:2
responding to his son’s actions, jacob exclaimed “you’ve caused me anguish, making me odious to those who live in the land…and i’m few in number, and they’ll be gathered against me and strike me, and i’ll be destroyed, i and my house.” genesis 34:30. in response, the sons replied “shall he treat our sister like a prostitute?” genesis 34:41.
this portion of the story compares to moses’ murder of the eqyptian task master in exodus. moses acted when no one was looking and hid the body. he did so because he felt that a hebrew slave was being mistreated by the eqyptian. further, the actions created fear that there would be retribution. thus, moses fled. further, moses was also descendant of levi, one of the sons involved with the schehem massacre. vvayishlach shares notions of vengeance, repercussions and relations with exodus.
after the schehem massacre, in vayishlach, god tells jacob “get up, go up to beth-el and live there and make an altar there to god, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from esau, your brother.” in exodus 3:12, moses, after fleeing, he encounters the almighty at the burning bush and receives instruction that “when you take the people out of egypt, you will worship god on this mountain.”
jacob, in vayishlach, says to his house and “to everyone who was with him, ‘put away the foreign gods that are among you, and be purified and change your clothes; and let’s get up and go up to beth-el, and i’ll make an altar there to god, who answered me in a day of my trouble, and he was with me in the way that i went.'” genesis 35:3. after this announcement, jacob stashed the idols and rings [which had been most likely taken from the city of shechem] under an oak tree. [note: the additional individuals may have been women and children from shechem.]
in exodus, chapter 19:10, before the receipt of the ten commandments, the people are instructed to wash their clothes before the event. both of these events included an expression of monotheism and the belief in the ancestoral god. both moments reflected upon a time of deliverance. while the children of israel received safe passage out of egypt from their bondage to return to their homeland, jacob also received safe passage as well to return to his homeland.
both valishlach and the exodus reflects on the challenges to maintain monotheism in exodus, there is idolatry relating to the golden calf. with jacob, he buried the items of idolatry rather than destroying them; this symbolized idolatry’s remaining in the land. also, when the hebrews left egypt, the children of israel received jewelry which was used to make the golden calf. with jacob, the rings- from schehem- were buried with the idols. again, materials to be employed for the future of manufacture of golden calves in the promised land.
vayishlach then notes that jacob and his entourage traveled and god’s terror was on the cities that were around them and they did not pursue the children of israel. upon reaching beth-el with all of the people who were with him and he built an altar. this has similar bearings to the protections the almighty offered to the children of israel when they wandered in the wilderness.
in sum, the children of israel’s ability to survive in canaan as a small group was an unlikely affair. their offspring were likely to be attracted to the land’s other residents, i.e. dinah. there was the likelihood area’s idolatry would have infiltrated his family and would have assimilated to idolatry and away from monotheism. further, jacob realized that he lacked the infrastructure to establish a nation or city state as the other residents; he understood that at the time he was a mere tent dweller. thus, at this particular moment, and perhaps earlier, the master of the universe understood that his goal of nation building would require numbers; thus, the growing the children of israel into a multitude was a necessity.
the more immediate ten commandments’ issue of vayishlach, is the theme of deliverance and its connection to the almighty. both individuals and groups, in their times of need, seek assistance to extricate themselves from dire circumstances. thus, jacob’s deliverance and protections by the master of the universe were both venerated and celebrated. thus, long before the “actual” exodus, the master of the universe, as part of his covenant, had taken on the task of deliverance.
be well!!
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