The story of Jacob and Esau is recorded in Genesis in three sections. The first concerns their birth and family life (25:19-24); the second, their rivalry (26:34-28:22), and the third, their reconciliation (32:1-33:17). The narrative contains a number of word plays and recurring words and phrases, some which are evident in English translations and others which are effectively untranslatable. This article highlights some of these lexical patterns and makes some suggestions about their narrative purpose.
Naming
Records of name-giving are common in the lives of the patriarchs, usually accompanied by an explanation of their significance. The Jacob-Esau narrative is no different, containing seven naming incidents. In each case, the occasion of the naming is recorded, not simply the significance of the name.
| Birth names | Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy [śê‘ār] garment; and they named him Esau [‘êśāw]. (25:25) |
| Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel [ba‘ăqêḇ], so his name was called Jacob [ya‘ăqōḇ] (25:26) | |
| Given names | “Please let me have a swallow of that red [hā’āḏōm hā’āḏōm] stuff there, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom [’ĕḏōwm]. (25:30) |
| He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel [yiśrā’êl]; for you have striven [śārîṯā] with God and with men and have prevailed.” (32:28) | |
| Place names | “[…]This is none other than the house of God [bêṯ ’ĕlōhîm] […] He called the name of that place Bethel [bêṯ’êl] (28:17,19) |
| Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s camp [maḥănêh].” So he named that place Mahanaim [maḥănāyim]. (32:2) | |
| So Jacob named the place Peniel [pənî’êl], for he said, “I have seen God face to face [’ĕlōhîm pānîm ’el- pānîm] yet my life has been preserved.” (32:30) |
The namings of Jacob and Esau have a clear proleptic function. Jacob’s heel-catching continues in his relationship with Isaac and Laban; Esau’s hairiness is a key part of Jacob’s deception. The naming of Israel and Bethel have particular significance in the history of the nation of Israel. The reason for recording the naming of Mahanaim and Peniel/Penuel is less clear; they appear later in the Biblical record, but no explicit links are made to Genesis. They do, however, both contain motifs (‘camp’ and ‘face’) which recur in the Jacob-Esau narrative.
The naming motif is especially prominent in 32:27-30:
So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
The patriarchal family have been “the namers”: Isaac and Rebekah (ch 25, 26), Leah and Rachel (ch 29, 30), Jacob and Laban (ch 31, 32). Now a nameless one bestows a name on Jacob, recalling the divine naming of Abraham and Sarah in chapter 17, and the accompanying promises.
Names, characteristics and places
The connection between name and characteristics mentioned above extends to place names. Esau is so named because he is hairy [śê‘ār], and then settles in mount Seir [śê‘îr] (32:3, 36:8). His other name, Edom, recalls his colour at birth, the red stew, but also becomes the name of the land where he and his descendants live (32:3, 36:1). Esau himself comments on the relationship between Jacob’s name and his character: “Is he not rightly named Jacob [ya‘ăqōḇ], for he has supplanted me [ya‘qəḇênî] these two times?” (27:36). Later, Jacob [ya‘ăqōḇ] wrestles [yê’āḇêq] with the angel at the Jabbok [yabbōq] (32:22-24).
Birthrights and blessings
The relationship between Jacob and Esau is first seen in the selling of the birthright:
When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (25:29-34)
The story of the birthright, in advance of Isaac blessing his sons, makes Jacob the legitimate heir, by indicating Esau’s contempt for the birthright, and by presenting a transaction through which Esau renounces it.
This incident is immediately followed in the narrative by God’s bestowal of the Abrahamic blessing on Isaac and his descendants (26:3-5); the blessing is confirmed by Isaac’s growing prosperity (26:12). After a second Abrahamic blessing (26:24), even the Philistines acknowledge that “You are now the blessed of the Lord” (26:29).
This sets the scene for the second section of the Jacob-Esau narrative. The twenty-three occurrences of ‘bless’ and ‘blessing’ make it clear that this is a key theme of this section.
Esau sees the birthright and the blessing as separate:
“Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright [bəḵōrāh], and behold, now he has taken away my blessing [bərāḵāh].” (27:36)
However, the birthright/blessing word-play may be used to suggest that the two are intrinsically linked. Either way, the blessing on Jacob fulfils God’s declaration that the older would serve the younger (25:23). That this blessing includes the Abrahamic promises is confirmed by Isaac when he blesses Jacob a second time (28:3-4) and by God himself in the vision at Bethel (28:13-15).
The blessing motif continues in the third section of the Jacob-Esau narrative. On his way to meet Esau, Jacob wrestles with an angel and demands a blessing (32:26). Decades previously, he had sought to gain the blessing through deception; now he tried to get it by force. Yet, as before, he succeeded and received the blessing (32:29, compare 27:23). The recurrence of the concept of ‘the blessing’ thus illustrates the angel’s comment that Jacob had striven with God (typified in his wrestling with the angel, and seen throughout his attempts to control affairs), and with men (typified in his holding of Esau’s heel, and seen in his supplanting of Esau in the place of the firstborn).
In his reconciliation with Esau, Jacob acknowledges that God has blessed him: “Please take my gift [bərāḵāh] which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty” (33:11). Jacob had taken Esau’s blessing, but now he is able to offer him some of the fruit of that blessing as a present. Here, perhaps, was a taste of God’s promise to him that “in you […] shall all the families of the earth be blessed (28:14).
Angels and messengers
On his way to meet Esau, Jacob meets, apparently for the first time, the angels [mal’aḵim] of God who he has previously seen only in dreams (28:12, 31:11). Immediately afterwards, he sends his own messengers [mal’aḵim] to Esau (32:3, 6). This may be an illustration of Jacob’s striving with God: Jacob arranges his own messengers, rather than relying on those from God.
Camps, companies and presents
Nevertheless, Jacob seems to recognise in the angels a promise of divine protection. On his first encounter with the angels, God promised that “I am with you […] I will not leave you” (28:15). Here was evidence that this was still true. Recalling his words at Bethel, “This is none other than the house of God” (28:17), he says “This is God’s camp” (32:2). As Jacob had travelled from his father’s house, so God had ‘camped’ with him, travelling from ‘the house of God’. Thus, there were two camps (Mahanaim): the camp of Jacob, and the camp of God.
The camp [maḥănêh] of God is not sufficient to assuage Jacob’s fear, however. He divides his people and livestock, to make two companies [maḥănêh], “for he said, ‘If Esau comes to the one company [maḥănêh] and attacks it, then the company [maḥănêh] which is left will escape’” (32:8; maḥănêh also occurs in v. 10). The maḥănāyim established by God are supplanted by one established by Jacob.
Jacob then selects from his company a present [minḥāh] for Esau, and sends it in advance (32:13-20). Thus one of the maḥănêh (companies) becomes a minḥāh (present), while Jacob “spent that night in the camp [maḥănêh, i.e the other of the two companies]”. God’s company is not sufficient protection against the wrath of Esau. Jacob sends his own company as a present to appease him. When Jacob finally meets Esau, the word play appears again:
And he [Esau] said, “What do you mean by all this company [maḥănêh] which I have met?” And he said, “To find favour in the sight of my lord.” But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.” Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present [minḥāh] my hand” (33:8-10a)
Faces and favour
Jacob has reasons for sending a present in advance:
“I will appease him [Heb. cover his face] with the present that goes before [‘face’ used as an adverb] me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me [Heb. lift my face].” (32:20)
The encounter centres found the face of Esau and the face of Jacob. Will Esau’s face be covered by Jacob’s present? Will Jacob’s face be lifted when Jacob sees Esau’s face? But the next face in the narrative is not Esau’s but God’s. After wrestling with the angel, Jacob says “I have seen God face to face yet my life has been preserved” (32:30).
Jacob has relied on his messengers rather than God’s, and on his company rather than God’s. Yet Jacob had prayed that God would deliver him from Esau (32:11). If he can see God’s face and be preserved (the same word as ‘deliver’), he can see Esau’s face and be accepted.
And so it happens. Jacob meets Esau and is welcomed by him, and Jacob alludes to his encounter with the angel: “take my present from my hand, for therefore I have seen your face like seeing God’s face, and you have received me favourably” (33:10, NASB margin). The apparent flattery perhaps conceals Jacob’s claim to have already seen God face to face.
Conclusion
The lexical patterns discussed supplement the explicit message of the Jacob-Esau narrative, namely that Jacob and his descendants are the rightful heirs to the Promises, despite (or because of?) Jacob’s attempts to strive with God and man. The repetition of key words highlights dominant themes, and suggests contrasts between Jacob and Esau, and between the two brothers and God.
This is also a useful case study for considering approaches to translation. It raises the question of how idiom can be translated to preserve lexical patterns, while still being accessible to an English reader. Only hyperliteral translations such as Young’s Literal Translation succeed in conveying the face motif in Genesis 32:30, but do so at the expense of comprehensibility. The KJV translates bərāḵāh consistently as ‘blessing’, but maḥănêh variously as ‘host’, ‘bands’, ‘company’, and ‘drove’. The NASB does somewhat better with maḥănêh, settling for ‘company’ or ‘camp’, but translates bərāḵāh as ‘gift’ in 33:10.
Word-play, of course, is notoriously difficult to translate, and indications are usually only found in translations or study Bibles with detailed footnotes. The ESV Study Bible, for instance, discusses all of the examples above with the exception of the maḥănêh / minḥāh word-play.
Doubtless the plain meaning of a narrative will be clear in most translations, but more literal translations will preserve a higher degree of lexical patterning. Attention to footnotes, commentaries and original words may reveal an additional richness which enhances our understanding of Scripture.
The Solution