Sermon Tone Analysis

Backdrop: Jacob

FEAR

DISTRESS

to be cramped … restricted … locked up

The story of Jacob in Genesis is rich in humanity.

JACOB: A TRICKSTER

The story of Jacob in Genesis is also a richly human story.

His story is the single richest repository of humor in the Bible.

Much of the humor stems from the fact that Jacob is an archetypal trickster.

When he gets together with his uncle Laban, who belongs to the same type, the sparks fly in a battle of wits.

Trickster = someone who attempts to improve his/her situation by tricking another person.

In fact, Jacob is the primary trickster in the Bible.

A trickster is a person who attempts to improve his or her situation or simply to survive by tricking others.

Jacob is the prime trickster in the Bible.

His trickery is first seen when he takes advantage of his brother’s hunger and buys his birthright for a bowl of soup ().

Then he cooperates with his domineering mother to deceive the blind Isaac and steal the blessing intended for Esau ().

Fleeing the wrath of his understandably angry brother, Jacob goes to Haran, the ancestral homeland, where he falls in love with Rachel, daughter of his uncle Laban, who proves a worthy opponent for him.

In the incident of the substitute bride, Laban tricks Jacob into thinking he is marrying Rachel, only to find in the morning light that he has married Leah instead ().

We are to see in this an element of justice for Jacob’s earlier exploiting a family member’s appetite for his own advantage.

The duel between the two tricksters continues when they agree that Jacob is to receive the less common speckled or striped animals from the flock for his wages, only to have Laban send all such animals away.

In retaliation, Jacob resorts to some quack animal husbandry in an effort to increase the offspring of speckled and striped animals ().

The final trick he plays on his father-in-law is to steal away with his family and possessions while Laban is gone shearing sheep ().

We need not suppress the latent humor in this story of tricksters who try to outwit each other and who richly deserve each other.

Jacob is the prime trickster in the Bible.

His trickery is first seen when he takes advantage of his brother’s hunger and buys his birthright for a bowl of soup ().

Then he cooperates with his domineering mother to deceive the blind Isaac and steal the blessing intended for Esau ().

Fleeing the wrath of his understandably angry brother, Jacob goes to Haran, the ancestral homeland, where he falls in love with Rachel, daughter of his uncle Laban, who proves a worthy opponent for him.

In the incident of the substitute bride, Laban tricks Jacob into thinking he is marrying Rachel, only to find in the morning light that he has married Leah instead ().

We are to see in this an element of justice for Jacob’s earlier exploiting a family member’s appetite for his own advantage.

The duel between the two tricksters continues when they agree that Jacob is to receive the less common speckled or striped animals from the flock for his wages, only to have Laban send all such animals away.

In retaliation, Jacob resorts to some quack animal husbandry in an effort to increase the offspring of speckled and striped animals ().

The final trick he plays on his father-in-law is to steal away with his family and possessions while Laban is gone shearing sheep ().

We need not suppress the latent humor in this story of tricksters who try to outwit each other and who richly deserve each other.

A couple of examples of his trickery:

He takes advantage of Esau’s (brother) hunger & buys his birthright for a bowl of soup ().

Then he cooperates with Rachel, his domineering mother, to deceive the blind Isaac and steal the blessing intended for Esau ().

He cooperates w/ Rachel, his domineering mother, to deceive the blind Isaac & steal the blessing intended for Esau ().

Jacob meets his match:

Flees the wrath of Esau, to Haran, ... he falls in love w/ Rachel, daughter of his uncle Laban, who proves a worthy opponent for him.

Fleeing the wrath of his understandably angry brother, Jacob goes to Haran, the ancestral homeland, where he falls in love with Rachel, daughter of his uncle Laban, who proves a worthy opponent for him.

SUBSTITUTE BRIDE: Laban tricks Jacob into thinking he is marrying Rachel, … later fins out, in the morning, that he has married Leah instead ().

In the incident of the substitute bride, Laban tricks Jacob into thinking he is marrying Rachel, only to find in the morning light that he has married Leah instead ().

When he gets together with his uncle Laban, who belongs to the same type, the sparks fly in a battle of wits.

The duel between the two tricksters continues when they agree that Jacob is to receive the less common speckled or striped animals from the flock for his wages, only to have Laban send all such animals away.

In retaliation, Jacob resorts to some quack animal husbandry in an effort to increase the offspring of speckled and striped animals ().

The final trick he plays on his father-in-law is to steal away with his family and possessions while Laban is gone shearing sheep ().

We need not suppress the latent humor in this story of tricksters who try to outwit each other and who richly deserve each other.

In retaliation, Jacob resorts to some quack animal husbandry in an effort to increase the offspring of speckled and striped animals ().

The final trick he plays on his father-in-law is to steal away with his family and possessions while Laban is gone shearing sheep ().

We need not suppress the latent humor in this story of tricksters who try to outwit each other and who richly deserve each other.

When he gets together with his uncle Laban, who belongs to the same type, the sparks fly in a battle of wits.

When he gets together with his uncle Laban, who belongs to the same type, the sparks fly in a battle of wits.

JACOB: WHAT’S IN A NAME

In the ancient world, names often indicated people’s identity & was something had either to live up to or live down.

Jacob received his name, which can be loosely translated “Grabby” (literally, “he grabs the heel”).

When Esau learns of how Jacob has stolen his blessing, he asks, “Is he not rightly named Jacob?

For he has supplanted me these two times” ( RSV).

The hero’s name also becomes the focus of the wrestling scene when the angel asks, “What is your name?” and then gives him a new name (“he who strives with God”) that redirects but does not obliterate Jacob’s essential identity as the one who strives and overcomes.

Results:

Jacob began to do what many of us do … CREATE DIVISION

He took the things that had value … assets … and he began to split them into two groups

Perhaps even more disturbing, he began to split the people into two groups.