Jacob's journey completed, + parts 9 & 10  

The last couple posts summarized the beginning of a journey Jacob was taking. Only now, after seeing the journey as a whole, can I see how it's all structured literarily. His journey away from home and back is a sort of chaism: the second half of the story is a sort of reflection of the first half, with the center piece being a critical turning point.

Recap

The setup: Jacob, the deceiver had just stolen his brother's blessing. His father and mother send him to uncle Laban's house because Esau wants to kill him.

A. Jacob leaves his father to go live with Uncle Laban.

B. On the way there, Jacob has a dream in which he sees the majesty of God, who passes on to hiim the Abrahamic promises.

C. A lot of adventures with Laban and Jacob tricking each other, along with Jacob having 12 kids

Today's Synopsis

D. Jacob hears that Esau is on his way with 400 men and freaks out scared, sending gifts to Esau to please him.

E. Jacob sends everyone ahead, stays behind and wrestles a man who turns out to be God, showing a lot of humility; he overcomes the man, the man blesses him and renames him Israel ("he struggles with God").

D1. Esau embraces Jacob in love; they weep together.

C1. A story of how Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi kill a whole male population of a village because one of them rape their sister, making Jacob afraid of revenge.

B1. Jacob's family throws out foreign gods, and God appears to Jacob again and reaffirms the Abrahamic promises.

A1. Jacob arrives back at his father's house.

As you can see, the As, Bs, Cs, and Ds corrospond, while the E is the centerpiece of the whole story.

After this, Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamam, completing Jacob's family. Isaac dies at the age of 180, and Jacob and Esau bury him. This is the end of part 9.

Part 10 is simply a list of Esau's three wives, and one of each of their kids. Esau and Jacob separate because their is not enough room for all of their possesions to stay together. So Esau settles in Seir.

Part 11 is a longer list of Esau's successful family line. Meanwhile, Jacob is living in Canaan.

Analysis

I almost forgot about Chiasms. I had briefly learned about them in my Biblical survey classes,
but this one just jumped out at me so much that I was able to catch it and research chiasms again (who knows how many I've already missed). It seems that Hebrew writers could better make a point by writing in this literary style, and the point is not at the end, but in the middle. And that part is Jacob physically struggling with God.

Response

I see a connection here between Jacob and Abraham, because God uses their circumstances to develop a trust of him in them. They are both promised God's promises for no apparent reason but over time are brought to a point of strong relationship with God.

Genesis has flowed from complete harmony to utter disaster, a reboot, and now God working and making covenants with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I don't know how they'll get the land, and I don't know how they'll bless all nations, but judging by how much God has blessed these men, I'd guess he'll come throught on these other promises as well.