The Book of Genesis 25.19-36.43

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S1E116: Introduction to the Jacob story (Genesis 25.19-35.22)

Some issues to consider in engaging the Jacob story (PDF)

Reading times for the Jacob story (PDF)

Shape of the Jacob story (PDF)

Genesis 25.19-35.22 chiasm (PDF, from Fishbane)

Jacob story map (PDF)

S1E117: Two nations are in your womb (Genesis 25.19-23)

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S1E118: Man of the fields, man of the tents (Genesis 25.24-28)

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S1E119: Birthright and "red stuff" (Genesis 25.29-34)

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S1E120: Introduction to Genesis 26.1-33

Genesis 21.22-34 and 26.3-6, 12-33 (PDF)

Genesis 26 keywords (PDF)

Patriarch timeline (PDF)

Genesis 26 and 1 Samuel 29 (PDF)

S1E121: YHWH appears to Isaac (Genesis 26.1-6)

Genesis 22.15-19 and 26.1-6 compared (PDF)

S1E122: "She is my sister," yet again (Genesis 26.7-11)

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S1E123: Isaac the farmer (Genesis 26.12-17)

Abra(ha)m and Isaac early parallels (PDF)

S1E124: Contending over water (Genesis 26.18-25)

Genesis 12.8 and 26.22a, 25 (PDF)

Genesis 26 chiasms (PDF)

S1E125: A covenant of mutual nonviolence (Genesis 26.26-33)

Genesis 21.22-32 and 26.26-33 (PDF)

S1E126: The blessing: introduction to Genesis 26.34-28.9

Genesis 26.34-28.9 shape and keywords (PDF)

Parallels between Genesis 26.34-28.9 and 1 Kings 1 (PDF)

Questionable assumptions to be addressed in the story of the blessing (PDF)

A few scholarly thoughts in the context of the blessing story (PDF)

Is Isaac a “weak” character? (PDF)

Genesis 25-28 structure and themes (PDF)

S1E127: Esau's women (Genesis 26.34-35; 28.8-9)

Esau’s women (PDF)

S1E128: Isaac sends Esau to hunt (Genesis 27.1-4)

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S1E129: Bring me two choice kids (Genesis 27.5-10)

“Listening to the voice” in Genesis (PDF)

Isaac’s and Rebekah’s commands compared (Genesis 27.1-4 and 27.5-10, PDF)

S1E130: Making goat stew for Isaac (Genesis 27.11-17)

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S1E131: Jacob plays Esau (Genesis 27.18-25)

Genesis 27.17-19 and 27.31-32 compared (PDF)

Isaac’s five senses tested by Jacob (PDF)

S1E132: Isaac blesses Jacob-as-Esau (Genesis 27.26-29)

Genesis 27.28-29 and 27.39-40 compared (PDF)

“Blessing” [Heb, brk] in Genesis outside ch. 27 (PDF)

S1E133: "Bless me, me also, father!" (Genesis 27.30-35)

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S1E134: Have you only one blessing, father? (Genesis 27.36-41)

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S1E135: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran! (Genesis 27.42-46)

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S1E136: Isaac sent Jacob away (Genesis 28.1-5)

Genesis 17.1-8 and 28.3-4 compared (PDF)

S1E137: Jacob/Israel in exile: introduction to Genesis 28.10-31.55

Reading Genesis 28.10-31.55: interpretive foci (PDF)

Genesis 28.10-31.55: structure and themes (PDF)

Laban and his daughters: an allegory of monarchy and exile (PDF)

Jacob and the wife-sister stories (PDF)

Bethel in Genesis and beyond (PDF)

Language of women’s relationships to men in Genesis 29-31 (PDF)

S1E138: Jacob's dream (Genesis 28.11-15)

Genesis 28.10-22 keywords (PDF)

Night, sleep and dreams in Genesis 28-31 (PDF)

YHWH’s promises to Jacob and echoes of earlier promises (PDF)

Matthew Michael’s chart on Babel (Gen 11) and Bethel (Gen 28) (JPG)

S1E139: Jacob called the name of the place, Bethel (Genesis 28.16-22)

Bethel in Genesis and beyond (PDF)

Jacob’s “place” naming in Genesis (PDF)

S1E140: Jacob encounters the shepherds of Haran (Genesis 29.1-6)

“East” in Genesis (PDF)

Genesis 29 keywords (PDF)

S1E141: Jacob meets Rachel (Genesis 29.7-12)

“Preoccupied Territory” piece on Jacob violating the shepherds’ union rules (JPG)

S1E142: Jacob and Laban negotiate over Rachel (Genesis 29.13-19)

Aspects of the Mesopotamian moon god, Sin, in relation to Genesis 29-31 (PDF)

S1E143: When morning came, behold, it was Leah! (Genesis 29.20-30)

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S1E144: Leah bears four sons (Genesis 29.31-35)

Genesis 29.31-30.24 keywords (PDF)

Exilic/post-exilic questions implicit in Genesis 29.31-30.24 (PDF)

Twelve tribes of Israel in Genesis and beyond (PDF)

“Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” from Genesis to 2 Kings (Table 7 from COMP; JPG)

S1E145: "Give me sons or I'll die!" (Genesis 30.1-13)

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S1E146: Hiring Jacob for mandrakes (Genesis 30.14-24)

Language of sexuality in Genesis (PDF)

US Forest Service page on “mandrakes” (JPG)

S1E147: "Give me my women and children!" (Genesis 30.25-34)

Genesis 30.25-31.18 key/rarewords (PDF)

S1E148: Jacob un-Labans the goats and sheep (Genesis 30.35-43)

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S1E149: "Return to the land of your ancestors" (Genesis 31.1-13)

Divine calls to return to the land in the Bible (PDF)

Jacob’s argument in Genesis 31.5-13 (PDF)

S1E150: "Are we not regarded by him as foreigners?" (Genesis 31.14-18)

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S1E151: Jacob steals Laban's heart (Genesis 31.19-24)

Genesis 31.19-55 keywords (PDF)

S1E152: "Why did you steal my gods?" (Genesis 31.25-30)

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S1E153: The way of women (Genesis 31.31-35)

1 Samuel 19.13-18 and teraphim (PDF)

S1E154: Jacob brings charges against Laban (Genesis 31.36-42)

Jacob’s argument to Laban in Genesis 31.36-42 (PDF)

S1E155: Jacob and Laban cut a covenant (Genesis 31.43-55)

“Cut a covenant” in Genesis (PDF)

S1E156: Jacob sends messengers to Esau (Genesis 32.1-6)

Genesis 32 keywords and chiasms (PDF)

Wordplays in Genesis 32-33 (PDF)

S1E157: Terrified, Jacob turns to prayer (Genesis 32.7-12)

Jacob’s prayer in Genesis 32.9-12 and earlier echoes (PDF)

Correspondences between Jacob/Esau and David/Edom (PDF)

S1E158: Jacob prepares to "face" Esau (Genesis 32.13-23)

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S1E159: A little night wrestling (Genesis 32.24-32)

Some interpretative issues in Genesis 32.24-32 (PDF)

Options for the identity of the wrestler in Genesis 32.24-32 (PDF)

S1E160: Reunion? (Genesis 33.1-7)

Genesis 33 keywords (PDF)

S1E161: To see your face is like seeing the face of God (Genesis 33.8-11)

Genesis 33.8-11 intratextual echoes (PDF)

S1E162: The brothers each go their own way (Genesis 33.12-17)

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S1E163: The end of the Jacob cycle: introduction (Genesis 33.17-35.7)

Genesis 33.17-35.7 keywords and shape (PDF)

Some issues in interpreting Genesis 34 (PDF)

Parallels between Shechem/Dinah and Amnon/Tamar (PDF)

Parallels in the land negotiations in Genesis 23 and 34 (PDF)

Links in Genesis 34 to earlier scenes in Genesis (PDF)

“City” in Genesis (PDF)

Parallels between Shechem’s taking of Dinah and David’s taking of Bathsheba (PDF)

S1E164: Jacob builds a house, then moves on to Shechem (Genesis 33.17-20)

Shechem in Genesis and beyond (PDF)

S1E165: Dinah goes out to visit the women of the land (Genesis 34.1-4)

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S1E166: Hamor's proposition (Genesis 34.5-10)

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S1E167: "Only on this condition ..." (Genesis 34.11-19)

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S1E168: Speaking to "all who go out at the gate of the city" (Gen 34.20-24)

The proposal by Hamor and Shechem, the counterproposal from Jacob’s sons, and Hamor and Shechem’s version to the men of the city (PDF)

S1E169: The sons of Jacob murder the males and plunder the city (Genesis 34.25-31)

“On the third day” in Genesis (PDF)

Violence death in Genesis (PDF)

S1E170: "Get up and go to Bethel and settle there!" (Genesis 35.1-7)

Parallels between Abram’s journey and Jacob’s journey from Shechem to Bethel (PDF)

Genesis 35 keywords and textual echoes (PDF)

S1E171: Jacob is renamed "Israel," again (Genesis 35.8-15)

Genesis 35 in conversation with Judges 19-21 and Ruth (PDF)

S1E172: Death of Rachel, birth of Benjamin (Genesis 35.16-20)

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S1E173: Jacob came to his father Isaac (Genesis 35.21-29)

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S1E174: The descendants of Esau (Genesis 36.1-43)

Genesis 36 keywords (PDF)

Ishmael’s and Esau’s genealogies compared (PDF)

Major situations involving Edom in the Hebrew Bible (PDF)