Toldot (generations)
Gen. 25:19 - 28:9

The Webster's Dictionary defines the word "paradox" as a statement that seems contradictory, absurd, etc. but may be true in fact. The Bible contains a number of paradoxes. For example, there are statements in Scripture that teach that God is completely in control of all circumstances while at the very same time there are statements that speak of the free will of man. This paradox seems almost insurmountable to our western thinking mindset. However, to the oriental mindset of the writers of Scripture this is very understandable. Marvin Wilson, in his book, Our Father Abraham says 'the Greeks often used a tightly contained step logic whereby one would argue from premises to a conclusion, each step linked tightly to the next in coherent, rational, logical fashion.By contrast, the Hebrews often made use of block logic. That is, concepts were expressed in self-contained units or blocks of thought. " With this understanding, the evident paradox between God's sovereignty and human free-will can be better understood.

This week's Torah portion contains such a paradox. This week we come to the well known narrative about Jacob and Esau. Jacob receives the birthright as well as the blessing from his father, Isaac. Although there is not one word in the bible where God condemns the actions of Jacob, many well meaning scholars - Jewish and Christian alike - have taken Jacob to task based on the text. The Torah portrays Jacob as a great man of faith as well as someone who lied to his father. In our usual way of thinking about this we have difficulty with such a great man being portrayed in such a way. It seems illogical to us that one of the patriarchs of Israel would buy the birthright from his brother and then, at his mother's insistence, lie to his father. Using the block logic of the Hebrew thinkers, we see in Jacob a paradigm of human life. For many of us, our own lives are very paradoxical. There is the constant war between the flesh and the new nature. One day we are walking with the Lord and on another day we rationalize a wrong action for the sake of the good (and sometimes for the sake of the not so good!).

The Hebrew thinkers had a very good idea of how life is really lived! Remember that the bible was written all from a Jewish point of view and we need to do our best to understand it from that perspective. By doing so we will see great men like Jacob in a much more positive and correct light.

Shabbat Shalom!

Ps. In my own personal opinion, Jacob was a man who would do anything for a blessing from God. I see him not as a conniving person of ill will but rather as a man desirous of the things of God