Tag: son

All Things

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Abraham was now old, advanced in years, and יהוה had blessed Abraham in all things.
Genesis 24:1 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

I sometimes wonder if the Hebrew gematria (the system for finding numeric values of words based on the letters) is merely a helpful aid for memorizing scripture, or if it is also a part of the story.

ברך את אברהם בכל [THE LORD HAD] BLESSED ABRAHAM IN ALL THINGS — The numerical value of the word בכל is equal to that of בן (a son) — suggesting that God had blessed Abraham with a son and since he had a son he had to find him a wife.
Rashi on Genesis 24:1

For Abe to be blessed with “all things” and “a son” is fascinating.

Conversation with God

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
Genesis 22:2 (NASB)

Genesis 22:2 is written in a strange way. The rabbis suggest that it is written like a slowly unfolding conversation, with an implied back-and-forth between God and Abraham.

The Midrash breaks it down like this:

God: Please take your son.
Abraham: Which son? I have two!
God: I mean your only son.
Abraham: But each son is the only son of their mother!
God: I mean the one you love.
Abraham: But I love both of them!
God: I mean Isaac.

And they point out that this narrowing of focus from broad to specific is nearly identical to the way God calls Abraham back in Genesis 12:

Now the Lord said to Abram,

“Go from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you.
Genesis 12:1 (NASB)

“From your country… from your relatives… from your father’s house.”

Genesis 12 is referred to as the לֶךְ־לְךָ (Lech-Lecha) in Hebrew. This is the “Go!” instruction that kicks off Abraham’s amazing journey.

Further linking the two passages, “Lech-Lecha” shows up only twice in the Torah: Genesis 12, and again here in Genesis 22.

In some ways, both stories are BEGINNINGS. Not that anything resets, or starts over, but perhaps this kicks off a repeated theme that God will make all things new.

Or perhaps they are telling the same story: Leave everything – your known past and your expected future.

10

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Now Jared lived 162 years, and fathered Enoch…
Now Enoch lived sixty-five years, and fathered Methuselah…
Now Methuselah lived 187 years, and fathered Lamech…
Genesis 5:18, 21, 25 (NASB)

Now Lamech lived 182 years, and fathered a son. And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will give us comfort from our work and from the hard labor of our hands caused by the ground which the Lord has cursed.”
Genesis 5:28-29 (NASB)

For the Rabbis, 7 is “perfection,” and 10 is “completion.”

Tenth from Adam, we have another oddity. It’s the first time the name of the son is not immediately shown. Everywhere else, it would have said, “and fathered Noah.” Instead, it pauses. So we, too, must pause.

An Echo

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 4 is not merely the consequence of Genesis 3. It’s a retelling of it. The stories have an echo that get louder every time.

In Genesis 3, we have:

Adam: A tiller of the ground -> fruit -> broken relationship -> a curse of death -> God’s protection (covering) -> the man has a son.

In Genesis 4, we have:

Cain: A tiller of the ground, -> fruit -> broken relationship -> a curse of death -> God’s protection (a mark) -> he has a son.