Tag: Genesis
Rachel envied her sister, Leah, and Leah hated Rachel because Ya’akov (Jacob) loved her. The names of the his 12 sons reflect this tug of war between the sisters and contain prophecies to be fulfilled hundreds of years later.
Ya’akov (Jacob) is sent away to find a wife and finds God first at the bottom of a ladder to Heaven. Then he finds Rachel and ends up with her sister and two slave women. There seems to be something prophetic about Rachel.
The “transaction” for the firstborn birthright, which Esau sold to his brother, Ya’akov (Jacob) for a bowl of lentils in Genesis 25 is completed in Genesis 27 with a second ruse devised by their mother, Rivkah (Rebecca), to get Yitskhak (Isaac) to bless the correct son. This pattern of switching blessings at the last minute appears repeatedly in the Bible and has ramifications for the modern-day descendants of these two sons.
After Sarah’s death Abraham had other children as well and we learn how his estate was divided up between his heirs. We also learn how Yiskhak (Isaac) deals with his status as a wealthy patriarch in a hostile land and how his two sons start fighting over Yiskhak’s estate before they are born and continue fighting over it when they are adults. The fight appears to end with Esau “despising” his birthright. But does this really end the dispute?
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Yitskhak meets his wife (Genesis 24)
We learn about the Near Eastern customs of how to find a wife for a prominent family. From Abraham’s request to Rivka’s acceptance, Isaac is not a part of this story until the very end when Isaac greets Rivka as acknowledges her as the wife God has chosen for him.