Comparing Torah (Va-Yetsa) with Ancient Practices

Genesis 28:10-32:3

By Irv Jacobs, MD

Irv Jacobs

LA JOLLA, California — The parasha covers; Jacob’s escape to Haran; his stop at Beth El, where he had a dream of a stairway to heaven with angels on it; his  conditional vow to subject himself to God if he received certain survival measures; his arrival at Haran where he meets and falls in love with Rachel; his stay with his uncle Laban and a work deal for her hand in marriage; Laban’s deception, ending in a twice-long work period for both his daughters; the birth of eleven children over time between Leah and Rachel and their maids; a mandrake (aphrodisiac) dispute between the sisters; Jacob’s outfoxing Laban to accumulate herds; Jacob’s escape from Laban with a final peace agreement between them.

I have chosen three passages, for comparison, via the internet, with writings attributed to ancient Israel’s neighbors.

I. Genesis 28:12-13 “He (Jacob) had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it. And the Lord was standing beside him…”

The internet yielded no ancient records describing such a dream phenomenon. To my inquiry: “stairway to heaven in ancient writings?” the answer was: No results, representing a screen of 5,170,000 results.

However I came across a Sumerian myth, which described scattered locations of “Gateways to Heaven” or alternatively the “Stairway to Heaven” or “Ladder to Heaven,” for humans to climb via spiritual effort.

Ancient Builders created many tall pyramid-like Ziggurats to represent the Stairway to Heaven. These were stepped towers, built for the gods, like a terraced pyramid which had successively receding-sized  stories. [1]

II. Genesis 28:20-21 “Jacob then made a vow, saying, ‘If God remains with me, if He protects me on this journey that I am making, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safe to my father’s house—the Lord shall be my God.’”

Clearly this is a conditional commitment, not exactly a statement of faith. In my inquiry of the internet for “Any Conditional vow to an ancient god?” the answer was: No results, representing a screen of 5,690,000 results.

However, vows, and promissory oaths were an important category for people in the ancient Mediterranean. [2]

This is tangential, but I came across a Greek legend of Horkos, a god who was to be a “…a plague on those who take false oath.”

An Aesop’s fable concerned a man who had taken a deposit from a friend, only to skip town. A lame man he met was Horkos. The fugitive asked Horkos how often he returned to that city. Horkos replied, “I come back after 40 years…’ The fugitive, believing himself to be free of danger, returned to the city next day and swore that he had never received the deposit. Almost immediately, Horkos  arrived to execute the perjurer by throwing him off a cliff. Protesting, the man asked why the god had said he was not coming back for years when in fact he did not grant even a day’s reprieve. Horkos replied, “You should also know that if somebody intends to provoke me, I am accustomed to come back again the very same day.”

A similar story was told by Herodotus. It concerned a man who asked the Delphic oracle about dishonoring an oath. His received answer was that he would profit for the moment but that it would bring about the destruction of him and his heirs. [3]

III. Genesis 29:21-25 “…Jacob said to Laban, ‘Give me my wife, for my time is fulfilled”…Laban made a feast. When evening came, he took…Leah and brought her to him, and he (Jacob) cohabited with her…morning came, there was Leah!…(Jacob) ‘Why did you deceive me?’

In my inquiries of the internet for:

–“Bride’s father in ancient literature substituting another daughter for the bride?” The answer was: No results found, representing a screen of about 2,290,000 results.

— In a separate inquiry: “Ancient replacement of bride by bride’s father?” The result was: No results, representing a screen of about 3,670,000 results.

I found a Gypsy story which describes a paradoxical version to this story.

A young groom-to-be arrives at the faraway residence of his soon-to-be bride, eager to take her home. The bride’s father has other plans. He insists, before relinquishing his daughter, that the groom successfully accomplish a series of tasks in order to win her. The groom is reluctant to undertake the trials, upon which a substitute for him steps in and completes the tasks. The groom’s party then departs with his bride, to his home to celebrate the wedding. [4]

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[1] Global Brahma Kumaris- Pari’s articles and http://www.Brahmakumari.net/

[2] https://doi.org/10.1515/arege-2018-0016

[3] from Wikiipedia, the free encyclopedia

[4] Bessinger, Margaret H. “Spiritual Kinship, Incest, and Traditional, Weddings: Honor, Shame, and Cultural Boundaries in Romanian Marriage Songs.” Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies, 2016 http://nrs,harvard.edu/urn-3:essay:BeissingerM.Spiritual Kinship Incest and Traditional Weddings.2016