Able and atonement(continued)

Adam and Eve try to cover their "nakedness" with plants(fig leaves). God removes the leaves and uses animal skins. Cain raises produce(plants) to continue his father Adam's work. Able raises sheep to continue God's work of covering man with animal skins.

Love creates

It is for love that we compose our greatest works of art. Love of the Divine is not only the greatest love of all, it is the source of all true love. When that love is lost we begin to loose our ability to not only create art but even recognize beauty.

Abel and atonement

In an earlier post I said that perhaps the reason Abel became a shepherd was to escape the curse. I believe that it is generally assumed that Abel raised sheep for food and clothing. But man was not given the right to eat meat until Noach left the ark(Gen 9:3). Abel must have been raising sheep for clothing(covering). After God hands out his punishment to the three culprits he makes coverings for Adam and Chava out of animal skins replacing the fig leaves that they had provided for themselves. Abel was not only working outside the curse, he was helping to continue what God had started namely covering our naked/fallen bodies. Cain on the other hand, chose a vocation within the bounderies of the curse. He is connected to the cursed ground. Abel is working outside of the curse to make a covering for mans "fallen" state.

Jacob as King and Priest

"Then Isaac trembled in very great perplexity, and said, 'Who then is the one who hunted game, brought it to me, and I partook of all when you had not yet come, and I blessed him? Indeed, he shall be (remain) blessed!'" (Genesis 27:33)


When Izaak wants to give Esau his blessing is he intending to continue God's choosing process? If so, why wouldn't he recognize the spiritual one, God's choice? What would give him the audacity to continue what only God had done up to this point?

It seems logical that Izaak believed that at some point a whole family had to be chosen in order to become a nation and since both his children came from the same mother Rebeca, in fact they were twins, both sons would carry on the chosen (bechira) line. As opposed to the two sons of Abraham with whom only one was chosen by God.

Izaak understood God's choosing process. Perhaps he believed that his two sons were bechira-chosen to propagate the nation. He did not receive the prophecy that Rebeca had and apparently she did not tell him. Esau was "a man of the field” - a man of physicality in charge of the physical needs of the family (food, protection, business, etc.). He would naturally be the king of the clan. It is worth noting that the blessing (beracha) that Izaak intends to bestow on Esau has similar elements to the blessings that Jacob later bestows on Judah and Joseph (Gen. 49:8, 22ff) who were to be present and future leaders/kings.

Though Jacob's blessing is a bit more complicated, there are also similarities with the levitical roll (Deut. 33:10) and comparable word usages that Jacob later says to Shimon and Levy in his blessing/curse to them (Gen. 49:5). Although Izaak gives an Abrahamic Blessing to Jacob, he does not grant him bechira but says, "May He grant you the blessing of Abraham". Perhaps at this point Izaak is now beginning to understand what Rebeca has known all along that the two sons are two nations.

Clearly, Jacob is the natural spiritual leader. He is a man "abiding in tents"1. He represented the priesthood, study of scripture - the clergy. In consequence of having stolen Esau's blessing, Jacob is forced to become dual natured - a man of the field and a man who abides in tents. He becomes both King and Priest. When Jacob is complete, it is then his progeny that become the bechira (chosen) nation.

“Summing up our thesis: the division of the three pillars of spirituality in the world of the 'might have been' would have resulted in separating the spiritual roles of Esau and Jacob along the fault line that separates olam hazeh, this material world that we inhabit, from olam haba, the World to Come. Jacob would have been assigned the duties that call for separation from the material world and total immersion in the spiritual realms of Divine service and Torah study, while Esau would have been assigned the responsibility of supporting Jacob's spiritual efforts through his control of the material world. In effect Esau would have been assigned olam hazeh as his lot, while Jacob would have taken charge of olam haba.”(Rabbi Noson Weisz)

Perhaps this is the reason why Jacob retains both of his names (Jacob and Israel) throughout the Scriptures (unlike Abraham and Sarah). Each name is an indication of his two natures.

CONCLUSION

“O profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose time of punishment has reached its climax, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Take off the turban, remove the crown. It will not be as it was: The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low. A ruin! A ruin! I will make it a ruin! It will not be restored until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs; to him I will give it.” (Ezekiel 21:25-27)

Ezekiel foretells the combining of the turban (priesthood) and the crown to be given to Him, the one to whom it rightfully belongs, the coming Messiah. The King/Priest will usher in a new era, a new covenant and a new kingdom.

But if you are willing to look deeper into the Holy Scriptures, you will find that God has been revealing his plan of salvation from Genesis all the way through the Prophets. Long before Ezekiel prophesies of this King/Priest, the book of Genesis briefly lifts the veil and gives us a glimpse of the coming King/Priest.

Just as the Akaidah (the Binding of Izaak) was a glimpse into the death and resurrection of Christ, the story of Jacob tells us something of the two natures of the future Messiah.