Family Feuds

The third of our patriarchs, Jacob,
produces some of the best drama in the narratives of Genesis! This
week’s parsha, Va-yetzei (Genesis 28:10-32:3) moves the reader from a
story of love and strength to shepherding and servitude, from the story
of progeny to that of fleeing, from one father (Laban the Aramean) to
another (Isaac). Jacob has fled his brother Esau for fear of his own
life since he received the blessing technically due to the firstborn.
Similar to his father and grandfather, Jacob receives a promise from G!d
that his offspring will be numerous – though he doesn’t yet have
children and isn’t married! He responds to this heavenly vision of
angels ascending a descending a staircase by setting up a monument of
the stone upon which he slept, blessing the place that has been promised
to him.

The
next few chapters describe how Jacob amassed his wealth, and what his
skills included. His offspring are born after he acquires wives and
concubines. It is easy to read this passage as a grand love story
between Jacob and Rachel, but that seems to be more of a dramatic
element within the purpose of these verses – to bring forth the nation
of Israel.

At
last, Jacob is overcome? fed up? exhausted? from his attested
mistreatment by his father-in-law, for whom he has worked twenty years
with inconsistent wages. He is ready to depart and return to his father
and his father’s land – and we need him to do that, so that he will
bring his family closer to fulfilling the promises the L!rd has given
them. So Jacob, after ensuring that he has the most healthy, sturdy of
the flocks, literally runs away from Laban without saying goodbye.
Little does he know, though, that his beloved wife Rachel has stolen the
household gods. The result of this secret is that Laban, when he
realizes their theft, chases Jacob’s camp until he overtakes them in
what will come to be known at the end of the story as Gilead (even
though it is called this earlier, this is the story in which Jacob names
the location). G!d is good – he warns Laban not to attempt anything
good or bad with his son-in-law. So an agreement is reached at the
encampment to part ways and divide lands.

The passages of this parsha are rife with rabbinic interpretation about the people and events. Walter Brueggemann recognized a sort of chiasm in the entire Jacob narrative as seen below:

 Hosea references these events in the haftorah:

“Then Jacob had to flee to the land of Aram;

There Israel served for a wife,

For a wife he had to guard [sheep].”