my e-props to hannah, jewish sage
Assuming that Hanah would read this, I would like to thank her for all her elist Berkely/Jewish Voodoo skills in helping me write a pretty good essay. Here it is if you want to peep this shit out.
God’s renewal of His covenant with Abraham is not determined by either God or the fathers of the blessed ones; but rather, the matriarchs hold the key to ensuring their favorite son’s prosperity despite primogeniture, a ruling factor of that society in granting inheritance to the eldest. The stories of Isaac’s, Jacob’s, and Joseph’s success are not solely due to their own individual merits and talents. Their mothers: Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel, use all of their limited power in a male dominated society to direct the renewal of God’s covenant to Abraham to the son of their choosing. Therefore, I argue that Genesis is a female-driven text because the matriarchs play an active role in establishing their favorite or first born son as one of the founding fathers; consequently, they preserve their lineage, while using their husbands as mere instruments of their desires. These women are able to accomplish this manipulation well enough so that the patriarchs themselves came to believe that their “selected one” is entirely of their choosing instead of a product of affection towards their favorite wife.
The favoritism of God has shown to the younger male sibling over the older one is a trend that continues throughout the Bible. To best explain this anomaly, I focus on the merits, personality, and preferential treatment of the mother rather than look at the good deeds the male son has done before and after his encounters with God. For example, Rachel is the obvious favorite wife of Jacob because he serves a total of fourteen years to earn her from her father (Genesis 30.20). Naturally, he would feel the most affectionate towards the children born of her blood over the several older children he has with his concubines and her sister, Leah. Therefore, the eldest son of Rachel is blessed by default, meaning he does not have to do anything but to be conceived to receive his father’s preferential treatment and more importantly, a fortunate relationship with God. Joseph begins his ascent to power as soon as he is conceived. Even as a young boy, he receives an “ornamented tunic and dreams from God predicting his dominance over all his older brothers” (Genesis 37.3-8). Although Joseph is considered one of the main patriarchs of Israel because he comes from the seed of Jacob, his importance in the Bible is largely due to being the son of Rachel.
The story of Rebecca more strongly illustrates the argument of the importance of the Genesis matriarchs because she not only is the favorite wife of Isaac, she also had an active role in securing the blessings for the younger son, Jacob, of both God and his father despite many obstacles she has to overcome. God handpicks Rebecca from a crowd of potential wives for Isaac when Isaac’s servant goes to Nahor and prays for guidance (Genesis 24.12). This signifies that Rebecca is chosen by God due to her moral behavior, obedience, and beauty in contrast to her husband, Isaac, who seems to be a more passive character and is merely born with God’s favor.
To further illustrate this point, God personally speaks to Rebecca “about struggle between her twins where the older shall serve the younger”, although strangely He never talks to Isaac directly (Genesis 25.23). As predicted by God’s answer to Rebecca, Jacob, the younger of the twins, becomes the patriarch of His people. This occurrence did not happen automatically, however, because Rebecca has to overcome multiple obstacles to secure Jacob’s destiny. For instance, Isaac loves Esau more since he is the older son and “had taste for game in contrast to the mild mannered Jacob who stays at camp with his mother” (Genesis 25.27). This situation means that someone must take action in order for the prophecy to come true otherwise the older son will inherit most of Isaac’s belongings and blessings. Rebecca seizes the prime opportunity to ensure the posterity of her son when she sees Isaac preparing his final blessing to Esau, even when Jacob shows his hesitation at acting on this scheme by responding with “fears of a curse for his trickery”. Her reassurance that “your curse will be upon me” propels him to follow her orders thereby completing the prophecy made by God when Jacob was in her womb (Genesis 27.7). This shows that the favor of Rebecca is more important than having the favor of the Isaac since her favorite became the victor of the two. Thus, the text further illustrates the matriarchal importance since it seems the patriarchal figures are simply conductors of the matriarchs’ desires.
The first matriarch of Genesis, Sarah, begins the trend illustrated by the stories above, in which the women work behind-the-scene to manipulate their husbands to act as a middle man between God’s covenant and their wishes. She is the mirror image of her husband Abraham; whereas, she takes action to fulfill God’s commands that Abraham “you will give rise to a great nation” even though at the time they had no children, while Abraham seems to follow submissively to the words of both God and Sarah (Genesis 12.2). For example, Sarah sees that she is barren so she has Hagar cohabit with Abraham to ensure she has a child one way or another. To further illustrate the compliance of the patriarch versus the control of the matriarch, Sarah forces Hagar and Ishmael, Abraham’s first born son, out into the desert despite Abraham’s reluctance and distress (Genesis 21.11). Abraham is singled out by God to be the father of his chosen people but why does Sarah have to be the specific bearer of the next patriarch since Hagar’s child had the primogeniture advantage over Sarah’s son? This leads me to believe the importance of the female characters is understated since the focus on the surface seems to be placed on the male figures even though the females are the people who drive the plot.
The Bible is written in the patriarchal format because most of it is written by male priest in the time where males dominated society. Even the text describing the family members of important figures of the Bible are all male with the females born largely unmentioned or ignored since the sons are the ones who carry the tradition. The men are supposed to be the important personality to take action for their destiny, but they turn out to be passive characters where events occur to them rather they making things happen. Taking a deeper look into the actual stories taken place, the female characters are the ones who take the more prominent role in the formation of chief lineage of the founding fathers of Israel. These matriarchs are the foundations for their sons’ greatness but are overlooked for the underlying measures they took to guarantee the prosperity of their children and their descendants.
God’s renewal of His covenant with Abraham is not determined by either God or the fathers of the blessed ones; but rather, the matriarchs hold the key to ensuring their favorite son’s prosperity despite primogeniture, a ruling factor of that society in granting inheritance to the eldest. The stories of Isaac’s, Jacob’s, and Joseph’s success are not solely due to their own individual merits and talents. Their mothers: Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel, use all of their limited power in a male dominated society to direct the renewal of God’s covenant to Abraham to the son of their choosing. Therefore, I argue that Genesis is a female-driven text because the matriarchs play an active role in establishing their favorite or first born son as one of the founding fathers; consequently, they preserve their lineage, while using their husbands as mere instruments of their desires. These women are able to accomplish this manipulation well enough so that the patriarchs themselves came to believe that their “selected one” is entirely of their choosing instead of a product of affection towards their favorite wife.
The favoritism of God has shown to the younger male sibling over the older one is a trend that continues throughout the Bible. To best explain this anomaly, I focus on the merits, personality, and preferential treatment of the mother rather than look at the good deeds the male son has done before and after his encounters with God. For example, Rachel is the obvious favorite wife of Jacob because he serves a total of fourteen years to earn her from her father (Genesis 30.20). Naturally, he would feel the most affectionate towards the children born of her blood over the several older children he has with his concubines and her sister, Leah. Therefore, the eldest son of Rachel is blessed by default, meaning he does not have to do anything but to be conceived to receive his father’s preferential treatment and more importantly, a fortunate relationship with God. Joseph begins his ascent to power as soon as he is conceived. Even as a young boy, he receives an “ornamented tunic and dreams from God predicting his dominance over all his older brothers” (Genesis 37.3-8). Although Joseph is considered one of the main patriarchs of Israel because he comes from the seed of Jacob, his importance in the Bible is largely due to being the son of Rachel.
The story of Rebecca more strongly illustrates the argument of the importance of the Genesis matriarchs because she not only is the favorite wife of Isaac, she also had an active role in securing the blessings for the younger son, Jacob, of both God and his father despite many obstacles she has to overcome. God handpicks Rebecca from a crowd of potential wives for Isaac when Isaac’s servant goes to Nahor and prays for guidance (Genesis 24.12). This signifies that Rebecca is chosen by God due to her moral behavior, obedience, and beauty in contrast to her husband, Isaac, who seems to be a more passive character and is merely born with God’s favor.
To further illustrate this point, God personally speaks to Rebecca “about struggle between her twins where the older shall serve the younger”, although strangely He never talks to Isaac directly (Genesis 25.23). As predicted by God’s answer to Rebecca, Jacob, the younger of the twins, becomes the patriarch of His people. This occurrence did not happen automatically, however, because Rebecca has to overcome multiple obstacles to secure Jacob’s destiny. For instance, Isaac loves Esau more since he is the older son and “had taste for game in contrast to the mild mannered Jacob who stays at camp with his mother” (Genesis 25.27). This situation means that someone must take action in order for the prophecy to come true otherwise the older son will inherit most of Isaac’s belongings and blessings. Rebecca seizes the prime opportunity to ensure the posterity of her son when she sees Isaac preparing his final blessing to Esau, even when Jacob shows his hesitation at acting on this scheme by responding with “fears of a curse for his trickery”. Her reassurance that “your curse will be upon me” propels him to follow her orders thereby completing the prophecy made by God when Jacob was in her womb (Genesis 27.7). This shows that the favor of Rebecca is more important than having the favor of the Isaac since her favorite became the victor of the two. Thus, the text further illustrates the matriarchal importance since it seems the patriarchal figures are simply conductors of the matriarchs’ desires.
The first matriarch of Genesis, Sarah, begins the trend illustrated by the stories above, in which the women work behind-the-scene to manipulate their husbands to act as a middle man between God’s covenant and their wishes. She is the mirror image of her husband Abraham; whereas, she takes action to fulfill God’s commands that Abraham “you will give rise to a great nation” even though at the time they had no children, while Abraham seems to follow submissively to the words of both God and Sarah (Genesis 12.2). For example, Sarah sees that she is barren so she has Hagar cohabit with Abraham to ensure she has a child one way or another. To further illustrate the compliance of the patriarch versus the control of the matriarch, Sarah forces Hagar and Ishmael, Abraham’s first born son, out into the desert despite Abraham’s reluctance and distress (Genesis 21.11). Abraham is singled out by God to be the father of his chosen people but why does Sarah have to be the specific bearer of the next patriarch since Hagar’s child had the primogeniture advantage over Sarah’s son? This leads me to believe the importance of the female characters is understated since the focus on the surface seems to be placed on the male figures even though the females are the people who drive the plot.
The Bible is written in the patriarchal format because most of it is written by male priest in the time where males dominated society. Even the text describing the family members of important figures of the Bible are all male with the females born largely unmentioned or ignored since the sons are the ones who carry the tradition. The men are supposed to be the important personality to take action for their destiny, but they turn out to be passive characters where events occur to them rather they making things happen. Taking a deeper look into the actual stories taken place, the female characters are the ones who take the more prominent role in the formation of chief lineage of the founding fathers of Israel. These matriarchs are the foundations for their sons’ greatness but are overlooked for the underlying measures they took to guarantee the prosperity of their children and their descendants.