Vayishlach (Part 2) - Genesis 32:4-36:43

Disclaimer:

(Before beginning, I want to clarify my position on the E/J/P/D hypothesis, which I do at this link.)

Duality within the Torah

Just as we have two Creation stories, two "rescuing Job" stories, and two (or three) "don't tell the King that you're my wife, say that you are my sister" stories, you also have two "Jacob gets a new name" stories.

These stories have some important differences. In one, Jacob is renamed "Israel" (ישראל) by a man whom he wrestles with and we are told what it means, and the other, Elohim physically appears to him and gives him a new name, without telling us what it means. In one case, Jacob has to steal the blessing by promising to let the man go only after he give it to Jacob, and in the other, God simply gives Jacob a blessing.

This is important because there is only one story of Abram being renamed Abraham, and the result is that every reference to him after that, he is only referred to as "Abraham". There is even a halachah that one should not refer to him as anything but "Abraham". (Of course, "Avraham Aveinu" - Abraham, our father, is certainly permitted).

With Jacob and the two stories, we find that the stories that follow will sometimes refer to him as "Jacob", and other times as "Israel". I am suggesting that just as "Elohim/YHVH" can sometimes signal a difference in writers, so too will "Jacob/Israel"sometimes signal such a source. And just as "Elohim/YHVH" can signal a different view of the nature of God, so too can this signal a different view of the patriarch of the 12 tribes. 

This has become such a sticking point that that are countless interpretations about what is so symbolic about each. 

The irony of this is that I think that the people who are interpreting significance to the name difference are often right on target. However, they see it as God telling us how to frame our view of Jacob, and I am saying that it is really a dual view by different authors on how they each held Jacob in different ways.

In the first version (Genesis 32:25-31) we have the following descriptions (I am simplifying all verses to expediency. For literal translations, look them up.)

• Jacob wrestled with a man until dawn (nobody else was there).
• When the man saw he wasn't going to win, he cheated a bit, dislocating Jacob's thigh.
• Man wants to be let go because of dawn (?!). Jacob demands a blessing (see Gen/ 27:28)
• Man wants to know Jacob's name (?!). Jacob tells him.
• "You will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel for you wrestled (SARta) with ELohim and men and prevailed". 
• Jacob: "What's your name?" Man: "None of your business" and he blesses him.
• And JACOB called the place PENI-EL for "I have seen ELohim face-to-face (PENI) and my soul (nefesh) survived!.

The story ends with "And this is why Israelis don't eat the sinew of the thigh-vein to this day." This seems to make this story as an insert during a later period to explain a halachah: "Why we don't eat this part of the meat".

Now, here is the second one (35:9-13):

• And Elohim appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-Aram, and blessed him.
• Elohim: "Your name will no longer be Jacob anymore, but Israel will be your name" and He called him "Israel".
• And Elohim said, "I am EL SHADDAI, be fruitful and multiply...a nation of kings shall come from your loins".
• He promises Jacob and his descendants the land.
• And Elohim went up over him from that place where He spoke with him.

Story problems

• There is no angel in the story. None.
• The first story is obviously put in there to explain a rule about "why we don't eat that part of the meat from kosher animals." It's an odd justification, to be sure.
• Why the man needs to leave before sunrise is never explained. Some commentaries say that it's an angel who needs to sing praises to God at sunrise since all of the other angels will be doing that. Again, there is no description of an angel. It's someone who can't beat a human in a wrestling match without a bit of cheating!
• Both forms say, "You will no longer be called Jacob". And in both versions he is called "Jacob" by the narrator right away. And all the stories that come later, he is called "Jacob" more often than "Israel", and they occur in clusters, not in single-sentence alternations.
• One form tells us why he is called "Israel", and the other does not.
• The stealing of a blessing also seems to be a common thing here with Jacob.
• The name "El Shaddai" is always used to infer God as a God of fertility and/or protection. That is the name Elohim uses after Jacob is done having children! Is it possible that this version should have appeared earlier on? With all of the confusion earlier as to where he was and where he was going before he finally arrived at Laban's house, it's possible.

There are several anthropomorphisms here:

• "Elohim appeared" - he does that a few times.
• "I have seen Elohim face-to-face"
• "And Elohim went up over him" - "ma'al" indicated above and over, like one who leaps over a fence. In this case, to wherever Elohim dwells, which appears to be "up". It is a physical being.
• The Targum Onkelos has problems with each of these three verses, which should cause one to pay more attention to them!

Conclusion

The first story of Jacob getting a name change is very anthropomorphic ("I have seen Elohim face to face") and the text calls the person a man. Jacob often sees God who appears to him, awake and asleep, but only after Jacob leaves his parent's home. This appears to be an insert to explain why Israelis (b'nei Yisrael) don't eat certain parts of kosher animals.

The second verse also has a name change, but this is given by God who appears to Jacob, who also gives him a blessing before rising up to the heavens (or atop a mountain). The fact that there are two versions of this story where both refer to God in a physical form, and as giving Jacob a blessing, and making similar promises ("you shall nevermore be called Jacob") that do not come to pass.

These are interesting points to keep in mind while reading these two versions of the same story.