We can gain insight if we look at Isaac’s words as he sends Jacob to Paddan-Aram “Up, go to Paddan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take a wife there from among the daughters of Lavan, your mother’s brother. When Jacob is not given what he rightly deserves, he uses all of his resources to take what he needs. Jacob is not a man who sits silently on the sidelines as history is made by others. This was the same Jacob that conned his brother out of his first-born rites and his blessing, who used genetics to win Lavan’s entire fortune (which was tied up in livestock), and who wrestled with and defeated an unknown assailant in the middle of the night. His behavior flies in the face of everything we have come to know about him. He says absolutely nothing.ĭuring his seven years of radio silence, Jacob had numerous opportunities to say something, to object, to steer the ship, and yet he chooses silence. When Jacob returns home from a long day at the office, he is greeted by Leah, who tells him “You are to sleep with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” Jacob obediently follows Leah into her tent. Rachel begs Leah for her son’s mandrakes and Leah agrees under the condition that Jacob sleep with her that evening instead of with Rachel. Rachel sees an opportunity to bear children when Reuven finds mandrakes in the field. In his third explanation, Rashi proposes that “ bagad” should be interpreted literally – “unfaithful” – as if to say “ proved faithless to me when married my handmaiden ”. Rashi, the most eminent of the medieval commentators, the grandfather of the Rashbam, who lived in France in the eleventh century, proposes three different explanations for the Hebrew word “ bagad”. When Zilpah bears a child, Leah says “ Bagad” and then calls her son Gad. Again, Jacob plays the part of silent bystander. When Bilhah bears Rachel two sons, Leah, suspecting that her child-bearing years are behind her, “gives her handmaiden, Zilpah, to Jacob as a wife”. Abraham is an active participant in Sarah’s plan while Jacob is entirely passive. Whereas Abraham first approves Sarah’s proposal and then marries Hagar, Jacob simply “cohabits” with Bilhah. Jacob apparently does nothing other than nod his head because the Torah continues : “So gave him her maid, Bilhah, as concubine and Jacob cohabited with her.” Compare Jacob’s response to Rachel’s plan with Abraham’s response to Sarah when she suggests that he take her handmaiden, Hagar, as a wife : “ heeded request. She pleads with him “Give me children, or I shall die.” He becomes incensed with her and he retorts “Can I take the place of G-d, Who has denied you fruit of the womb?” Rachel orders Jacob to marry her handmaiden, Bilhah, so that Bilhah’s children will become Rachel’s surrogate children. Even so, how could Jacob permit his sons to be given names that eternalized his own insensitivity to his wife’s needs? And yet, he says nothing.Īfter Leah bears Jacob four sons, Rachel concludes that her troubles bearing children are the fault of Jacob. She names her third son Levi, saying “This time my husband will become attached ( yila’veh) to me, for I have borne him three sons.” Leah’s pathos is raw. She calls her first child Reuven, saying “G-d has seen ( ra’ah) my affliction and now my husband will love me.” She calls her second child Shimon, saying “G-d heard ( shama) that I was unloved and has given me this also”.
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Apparently Jacob does not hide his feelings from Leah because she gives her first three sons names that openly air her troubled relationship with her husband. Jacob loves Rachel more than he does Leah and to compensate for the inequity, G-d blesses only Leah with children. Not only is Jacob’s communication blackout unanticipated, his sustained silence is nothing less than bizarre.
Does radio silence work free#
Only after his son, Joseph, is born, does he finally break radio silence, informing Lavan that his Aramean foray has come to an end : “After Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Lavan, ‘Let me return to my place and to my land.’” Rabbi Shmuel ben Moshe, known as the Rashbam, who lived in France in the twelfth century, explains that Joseph was born at the very end of Jacob’s second seven-year labour agreement and as the contract with Lavan had concluded, Jacob was now free to leave. Over the next seven years, he speaks only once. Immediately after Jacob extends his terms of employment, he enters radio silence. When Lavan swindles Jacob by switching his older daughter, Leah, for Rachel, Jacob agrees to work for Lavan for an additional seven years. After falling in love with Lavan’s daughter, Rachel, Jacob agrees to work for Lavan for seven years in order to marry her. He hides out in Paddan-Aram at the home of his uncle Lavan.
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Jacob flees from the wrath of his brother, Esav, whose blessing he has just appropriated under false pretences.