Vayetze “and he went out”
Descargar Vayetze porción de la torá
It is customary for religiously practicing Jews to read from an annual cycle of weekly Old Testament readings called Torah Portions. This is said to be the same reading schedule that was taught every Sabbath in the Synagogues during the times of Jesus in the first century.
As Christians exploring the Torah portion cycle we must maintain a balance of including the Old Testament, the prophets, and the gospels in our weekly bible study.
Torah Portion Name and Readings-
Vayetze is the Hebrew word for “and he went out”, this is the name for the weekly Torah Portion reading for the Genesis starting in chapter 28 verse 10 and going through chapter 32 and verse 2.
Prophets and New Testament-
It is also important to point out that along with the Torah portion readings and teachings, there are what are called Haftarah portions which are readings from the Bible in the books of the prophets. This week’s haftarah readings come from the book of Hosea in chapter 12 verse 12 through chapter 14 verse 9.
The gospel readings incorporated with the weekly Torah portion readings come from the book of John in chapter 1 with verses 41 through 51.
Torah Portion Overview-
In this Torah portion we see Jacob dreams of a ladder or stairs going to heaven in Bethel. There Yahweh reaffirms the covenant of Abraham and Isaac with Jacob. Jacob meets with his family and works for Laban for Rachel but is tricked into marrying Leah and then marries Rachel, serving for 14 years for them. The children of Israel, the ancestors of the tribes are born to Jacob’s two wives and two slave wives (except for Benjamin who had not been born yet and the later adopted sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh). Jacob serves for 6 more years for the spotted, speckled and black sheep during which Yahweh transfers the wealth of Laban to Jacob. Jacob loses favor with Laban and fleas with his family and herds. Laban pursues Jacob with armed relatives but Yahweh comes to him and warns him to not harm Jacob (not to speak against or for him). They make peace and a covenant. Jacob sees angels and calls the area “two camps”.
I want to focus on the flock of Jacob in this Torah portion. It starts with Jacob asking to be sent away now that he has his two wives and has served for fourteen years. Laban responds that he has learned through divination that he has been blessed because of Jacob. Jacob and Laban negotiate and Jacob gets the right to all the speckled, spotted, and brown sheep (about 25% according to the entry in the Genesis 12–50, Lexham Research Commentary). Laban agree believing that he will prosper much more than the fee.
“But Laban said to him, “If you will allow me to say so, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you; name your wages, and I will give it.” Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have fared with me. For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?” He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything; if you will do this for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it: let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and such shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.” Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.” But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black and put them in charge of his sons, and he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flock.
Genesis 30:27–36 (NRSVue)
We see later than Laban is dishonest and changes the agreement ten times (Genesis 31:7). Perhaps Laban planned to cheat him all along as he had done with his daughters Leah and Rachel, but we will see that Yahweh is with him. What interesting is what Jacob did next.
“But Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He made white streaks by peeling them, making the white inner wood in the branches visible. Then he set up the peeled branches in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. He set up the branches in front of the flocks when they were in heat and came to drink. When the sheep mated in front of the branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. Jacob removed these lambs, but he made the rest of the flock face the streaked and completely dark-colored animals in Laban’s flock. So he made separate flocks for himself and did not mix them with Laban’s flocks. When the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches. But if the animals were weaker, he did not set the branches there. So the weaker animals ended up belonging to Laban and the stronger animals to Jacob. In this way Jacob became extremely prosperous. He owned large flocks, male and female servants, camels, and donkeys.”
Genesis 30:37-43 (NET Bible 2nd Edition)
Scholars mostly agree from what I have seen that Jacob was trying to practice “sympathetic magic” by influencing what the animals saw during mating. This was supposed to impact what the offspring looked like (see the entry in the Genesis 12–50, Lexham Research Commentary). I want to stress this is what Jacob was trying to do, that doesn’t not mean he was successful. In fact, it was Yahweh that changed the offspring in order to bless Jacob.
Genesis 31:4-12 (ESV)
“So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.”
In my opinion, the ritual that Jacob performed did nothing, however his faith in Yahweh did. I believe this story can represent mankind’s attempt to make good things happen and Yahweh’s mercy in blessing us. How does this apply to us today.
Often in our lives we work hard at a career or job. We work for the next promotion, raise, or bonus. We do this to provide for our family and this is good! But we must realize that it is Yahweh who blesses and provides for us. Our actions themselves cannot bring us blessing that God does not want us to have. Indeed, we truly deserve nothing. It is in His mercy that He blesses us. We must offer up the work of our hands to Him and acknowledge that He is our source. He is our provider.
Deuteronomy 8:18 (NKJV)
“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for [it is] He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as [it is] this day.”
When we are blessed we should look to Him with gratitude and bless Him, for He has blessed us.
Torah Portion Scriptural Highlights-
Genesis 28:10 Jacob dreams of a ladder to heaven and Yahweh transfers the covenant to him
Genesis 29:1 Jacob works for Rachel but is tricked into marrying Leah and then marries Rachel, serving 14 years
Genesis 29:31 Leah bears Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah
Genesis 30:1 Bilhah bears Dan, Naphtali, Zilpah bears Gad, Asher
Genesis 30:14 Leah bears Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah. Rachel bears Joseph
Genesis 30:25 Jacob serves Laban for the spotted, speckled, and black sheep and performs a ritual to get more of that type
Genesis 31:1 Jacob loses favor with Laban and fleas with his family and herds
Genesis 31:22 Laban pursues Jacob but they make peace and a covenant
Genesis 32:1 Jacob sees angels and calls the area “two camps”
Haftarah (Prophets) Scriptural Highlights-
Hosea 12:12 Israel’s sin and idolatry
Hosea 13:7 Judgement from God for idolatry
Hosea 13:14 Yahweh will ransom Israel from death but judgement on Samaria
Hosea 14:1 Israel should return and Yahweh will heal
Brit (Gospel) Scriptural Highlights-
John 1:41 Jesus calls Simon, Philip and Nathaniel to follow Him as disciples
Bibliography
Douglas Mangum, Miles Custis, and Wendy Widder, Genesis 12–50, Lexham Research Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013), Ge 30:25–31:55.
To Watch an overview of this week’s Torah Portion CLICK HERE