Where does our intergenerational trauma originate? How far back do we have to go to get the healing going? Who are the ancestral role models of the nation - even as they carry closets full of skeletons?
Hosea takes us back in time, linking the Kingdom of Israel’s fall from grace to its founding father’s fault - Jacob, also known as Israel.
In his 12th and almost final chapter, Hosea, speaking on behalf of YHWH laments both Israel and Judah’s bad behavior, and links it to their history and myth, rooted in the stories of Jacob, known to us, and on some level to him, from the Book of Genesis:
בַּבֶּ֖טֶן עָקַ֣ב אֶת־אָחִ֑יו וּבְאוֹנ֖וֹ שָׂרָ֥ה אֶת־אֱלֹהִֽים׃
וַיָּ֤שַׂר אֶל־מַלְאָךְ֙ וַיֻּכָ֔ל בָּכָ֖ה וַיִּתְחַנֶּן־ל֑וֹ בֵּֽית־אֵל֙ יִמְצָאֶ֔נּוּ וְשָׁ֖ם יְדַבֵּ֥ר עִמָּֽנוּ׃
“From the womb he tried to supplant his brother;
Grown to manhood, he strove with a divine being,
He strove with an angel and prevailed—
The other had to weep and implore him.
At Bethel Jacob would meet him,
There to commune with him.”
Hosea 12:4-5
Some of the details Hosea mentions seem familiar from the chapters in Genesis but there are some surprising differences - the timeline is a bit different and a few key scenes central to the problematic depiction of Jacob in Genesis are missing - especially how Jacob got his birthright through soup and how he tricked his blind father and got the formal blessing. Why are these central tropes absent from Hosea’s retelling?
Noam Cohen offers some of the scholarship on this issue, and later on in this essay presents an option to reconcile the missing pieces of the Jacob saga in Hosea’s chapter. Cohen refers to the strands of the Hebrew Bible known by the world of biblical criticism as the Documentary Hypothesis, dividing the final product of the Hebrew Bible into its core historical segments, reflecting social-cultural norms and religious attitudes that are similar but not identical. Hosea’s reference to some of the Jacob material but not all that’s in Genesis may point at earlier versions that we later lost:
“It is likely that Hosea is using a different version of the Jacob cycle rather than what we are familiar with from Genesis. The bulk of Hosea was likely written shortly before or after the fall of the Northern Kingdom (720 B.C.E.), which would make the northern, E source, or perhaps E’s sources, the most likely candidate for a Jacob tradition Hosea may have known.
And indeed, most of what appears above is found in E, and much of what is missing comes from sources other than E. The author of Hosea 12 couldn’t reference Jacob’s acquisition of the birthright or his sneaky efforts to ensure he received the blessing if he was not familiar with those southern, J traditions.”
But as Cohen points out, there is more to the missing fragments in Hosea 12 than an earlier version of the story. Hosea or the editors of his book choose to offer Jacob as a flawed role model, nuanced and evolving -- perhaps as a way to give the people a current context that will echo their own reality and offer hope for change and return in the future - just as their glorified yet imperfect ancestor had done.
Cohen continues:
“In this nuanced reading, Jacob the ancestor is a dynamic character. He begins life in an aggressive manner, attempting to fight his way to the firstborn position. He then goes further down the path of arrogance, fighting an angel of God, even making the angel plea for release! However, after meeting God at Bethel, Jacob accepts God as his god... The Jacob stories in Hosea 12, unlike those in Genesis, are explicitly employed as part of an argument, specifically a complaint God has against Israel.,,it is likely that Hosea uses Jacob traditions for the purpose of portraying Israel’s eponymous ancestor as ultimately finding YHWH, despite his arrogance–exactly what the author of Hosea 12 wants Israel to do.”
As we learn to honor our ancestors, warts and all, while equally questioning their intentions, impact and continued influential literary role, it’s important to notice what Hosea is offering us here. Yes - our ancestors gave us our names and codes, troubles and traumas, legends and legacy - but they evolved, and so do we. Can we evolve the way we tell our tales, frame their moral purpose or problematic aspects to reckon with who we once were and chart a new path to a better future.
From Hosea, a prophet deep inside national despair, it feels that the only answer is yes — if we want to survive, and to change, and improve - we, like Jacob, must wrestle, and prevail, and limp on, hurt, blessed, evolved, and better positioned to be better for all.
Image: Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, Pietro Monaco, 1730
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