Who Died?
At the beginning if this week's parashah, somebody who is considered quite important in the Bible had already died, and yet the Torah makes no mention of that...as least, not this week.
Six chapters previous, we read that Isaac died (35:29). But the author of that portion wrote it as a complete story, not as part of an ongoing narrative, which happens a lot in the Torah. As I mentioned earlier, the story of Judah and Tamar cannot have taken place in the 22 years period that Joseph was sold by his brothers and reunited with them. There wasn't enough time.
The Torah has a lot of these types of timeline jumps where it becomes exceedingly difficult to put them together in a linear way when the surrounding texts have problematic points with that piece.
So let's recall a few things.
First, as I pointed out, Jacob was 91 years old when Joseph was born. Joseph was sold into slavery when he was 17, and was a slave and in prison for a total of 13 years, since he was introduced to Pharaoh when Joseph was 30 years old. This means that Jacob was 108 when Joseph was taken by his brothers, and 121 when Joseph meets Pharaoh.
Isaac died when he was 180 years old (35:28). His son, Jacob was born to him when he was 60 when Jacob was born to him (25:26). This means that when Jacob was 108 (Joseph sold into slavery), that Isaac was 168 and had 12 more years left to his life.
I am using the first 14 verses of this week's parashah as the buffer period between Joseph sitting in jail, and when he is finally cleaned up and standing before Pharaoh.
At no point in the previous parashah or in this one is Isaac even mentioned.
Honoring one's parents
One of the problems that the Sages had with Joseph was that he let his father suffer for years, mourning the death of his son, while Joseph was in power, and could have sent for his father at any time. Even if he had thought that his father was in on the abduction (one opinion), that still doesn't preclude him from honoring his father, for which, later, the Torah tells us will give one long life.
But if you look as Jacob's relationship with his father, it was pretty much the same. Once he left the house, he had no interest in returning home. He left Esau to take care of their parents, while he was busy getting wives and material possessions. When God tells him to go to his father's home, Jacob goes in the other direction. When Esau find Jacob and tells him to come with him, Jacob, again, goes in the other direction. He lied to one person after another. It was only after Dinah is raped, that Jacob returns home. (There are some commentaries who assign this rape to one or more things that Jacob did, as a punishment).
And while the verses in chapter 25 has Jacob and Esau both burying their father, in the past two portions, there is no mention of any of that going on. In fact, this story of Jacob and Joseph takes place away from where Isaac lived. So, again, it is hard to reconcile these differences.
As for the relationship between Isaac and Abraham, let's just say that after the Akeida, Isaac was never quite the same. Furthermore, many of the stories assigned to him afterward appear to be stories of Abraham with name changes, such as the wandering around, the digging of wells, the arguments about ownership, and even the "don't tell King Avimelech that you are my wife" story.
Isaac was but an echo of his father, and Jacob, who had a history of lying to his father, and deceiving him, becomes the father to sons who lie and deceive him as well.
And perhaps, because of that, the idea of "karma" might apply here.
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