Signs and Wonders (12 page)

“You may not utter my name,” said the voice. “Do not ask it.… But you are still holding me. Let me go.”

“I have wrestled with you all night long, whoever you are, bright stranger,” cried Jacob. “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

The stranger smiled, and his smile had the beauty of the dawn. “I bless you, Israel,” he said.

He vanished. And Jacob sank to the ground again, and slept. When he awoke, he thought it had all been a dream. But he was lame.

The next morning Jacob crossed the river and waited there for Esau. He no longer feared him. After wrestling the angel, he feared no man. Nevertheless, he was careful; he had his family to protect. He had separated his family into three parts, putting the handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah, in front with their sons. Behind them he had placed Leah and her sons. Last he had put the little Joseph and Rachel, who was big with another child. Jacob stood before all of them, awaiting his brother.

Esau came like the wind, with four hundred horsemen. Their horses were swift, their spirits like eagles. Their swords flashed in the sun.

Esau reined up his horse, pulling it back onto its hind legs so that it stood very tall over Jacob, snorting and foaming. Looking down from this height, Esau watched his brother bowing to the ground. Seven times Jacob bowed to the ground. Esau leaped off his horse, pulled Jacob to his feet, and swept him into his embrace. They held each other in their arms and kissed each other’s face, and both wept.

Esau saw the hordes of women and children and said to Jacob: “Who are they?”

“The children that God has given me,” said Jacob, and beckoned. Bilhah and Zilpah came near, bringing their sons, and they bowed to Esau. Leah came near with her six sons, and all bowed to Esau. Then came Rachel, smiling, leading one beautiful child by the hand and thrusting out her big belly with great pride.

Esau watched her with admiration, for she was a beautiful woman. Rachel bowed to the ground; Joseph bowed. Esau raised them, and embraced them, and kissed them both.

Then he said to Jacob: “Coming here I met drove after drove of fine cattle, and the men tried to give them to me. What did they mean?”

“The cattle are yours,” Jacob said. “Cows and bulls, sheep, goats, she-camels with their foals, and donkeys. All yours. They are my gift to you.”

“I have enough, brother,” said Esau. “Keep what is yours.”

“No,” said Jacob. “If I have found grace in your sight, if you have forgiven what I did to you, O brother, please show your forgiveness by accepting this small gift. God has dealt graciously with me, and I have great herds and flocks, more than enough.”

“I thank you,” said Esau. “And know this: My old rage is forgotten, and the youthful trick that caused it. And what is not forgotten is forgiven. All I feel now is love for my brother, my twin, who departed this land twenty years ago, and has come again.”

The brothers stood looking at each other, trying to see beyond the courtesies into each other’s heart. The twenty years had barely touched Esau. He had thickened and coarsened somewhat, but his face was as red as his hair, which was as red as in his youth. And his beard sprang like flame from his face. He was a stallion of a man, flashing with rage and laughter. Jacob marveled at his youthfulness.

Esau, looking at Jacob, could scarcely believe how his brother had aged. Hair and beard had gone quite gray. Jacob was very thin, and he limped. But his eyes, which had been so small and prudent, now glared out of bony sockets with a wild visionary light. Esau felt those eyes looking through him and beyond him, and knew that within his brother’s meekness dwelt a weird power. And Esau shuddered as if a cold wind had touched him on this hot noon. He was not afraid; he had never known fear. But he was confused. For his twin brother, Jacob, had grown beyond his knowledge.

Esau said: “Between us, brother, we own too many cattle for this country to feed. I shall drive my herds to the southeast, crossing the river again, even into the red hills of Edom. And you stay here in Canaan. Graze your herds and flocks here in this land that our father gave you.”

And Jacob knew that his brother spoke wisely; that their newfound friendship would flourish best if there was distance between them. “So be it,” he said.

They embraced again. Esau’s men gathered the gift of cattle into one herd, and the brothers parted.

Jacob’s Daughter

Jacob journeyed westward from the river to a wide grazing land. There he built a house and made booths of leafy branches to shelter his cattle against the sun. Thereafter the place was called Succoth, or “booths.”

He journeyed onward and encamped before a city called Shalem, which was the chief city of Hamor, king of a powerful tribe called the Hivites. Hamor’s eldest son was a tall youth named Shechem, and he was a prince in Canaan.

Dinah, Leah’s youngest child, and Jacob’s only daughter, met Shechem in the field beyond the city gates. Now, Dinah was just budding into womanhood. She was more like Rachel than like her mother. She was supple as a young willow, fleet-footed, and of quick laughter. She helped her brothers drive the sheep. She delighted to follow the flock, carrying a staff and attended by dogs. Being the only girl among eleven boys, she had grown willful as a princess. And when she met the young prince Shechem in the field in the purple light of dusk, they came together as naturally as two young trees bending toward each other in a gale of wind. They lay together there in the spring furrows, and their love was like a spring torrent.

The next morning Shechem went to his father and said: “Father, I love a daughter of those strangers from the east who have pitched their tents beyond our gates. I want her and no other as my wife. Please go to her father and get her for me.”

Hamor, king of the Hivites, went to Jacob and spoke to him, telling him of the prince’s love for Dinah. Jacob called Dinah to him and spoke to her privately. He understood from her answers that she had already lain with this man in the field. Jacob was angered. But he spoke to Hamor courteously, saying that first he would speak with his sons concerning this marriage, and then he would return his answer. Hamor departed.

Then Jacob called Dinah’s elder brothers from the field, those sons of Leah who were old enough to consult. They were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Now, Simeon and Levi were angered by this tale, and Simeon said: “Levi and I are nearest to Dinah in spirit, and know her ways best. She drives the sheep with us, and spends her days with us, and we love her. Therefore, Father, let us be your spokesmen in this matter, and do what has to be done. We will stand in your stead and do as you would wish in all things.”

Reuben and Judah agreed, and Simeon and Levi went to seek their sister’s lover. These brothers were fierce-hearted young men, full of Damascus pride, who looked upon the Canaanites as savages. They were bitterly displeased by what their sister had done, but they showed nothing. They found Shechem walking in the field with Dinah. “Go to your mother,” said Simeon. “We would speak with this young man concerning your marriage, and we must speak with him alone.”

Dinah laughed with joy and embraced her brothers, and ran off. Then Levi said to Shechem: “Do you wish to marry our sister?”

“I do,” said Shechem.

“Even though she is not a virgin?” said Simeon. “Or do you not count that a virtue among the Hivites?”

“Your words call for swords,” said Shechem. “But we are to be brothers and must not fight. Your sister is a virgin to all the world but me, who shall be her husband, and shall be the only man who will know her. Let us arrange this matter without anger.”

“Truly spoken,” said Levi. “We offer no dowry. Do you offer a bride price?”

“I do. My father is king. I am his prince and shall be king. Dinah will be my queen and share all that I have.”

“Your reign lies in the future, which only God can read,” said Levi. “What do you offer now?”

Shechem raised his head proudly. “Please yourself about the details. My father’s treasury is open to you. And his herds and his flocks. Take the price you want. Your sister is a treasure beyond price.”

“Truly spoken,” said Levi.

“Arrange matters as you wish,” said Shechem. “I leave it all to you. But let the marriage be soon.”

“Not quite so soon,” said Simeon. “We follow a God you do not know, and have our own customs. We cannot give our sister to one who is uncircumcised.”

“What does that mean?”

“We sons of Abraham pledge ourselves to our God in a certain way, by cutting the mark of his covenant into our flesh. You must do that, too, and your father and all the men of the Hivites, before we can give our sister into your hands.”

“It shall be done,” said Shechem.

“You had better understand what you are agreeing to,” said Levi. “It is a bloody pledge, and painful. Among us it is done when the infant is eight days old. For grown men it is a more serious matter. We cut the mark of that covenant into the very fountain of our manhood, even our foreskins, which are cut away.”

Shechem stared at them, amazed. “A savage custom,” he whispered.

“Pardon me, prince,” said Simeon. “I do not mean to give you the lie, but we view this as the mark of a blood oath between us and God. And our God is all-powerful, maker of heaven and earth—not a stone idol squatting on its pedestal. To us this mark cut in our flesh is a caste mark, separating us from savages and idolators. If you hold other views, you cannot have our sister.”

“So be it,” said Shechem. “I am a man of the sword, a man of the chase. I have no special insight into the ways of this god or that. But I have met a goddess, and her name is Dinah. And I would cut off my left arm for her, and shall surely submit to the small carving you propose.”

Simeon’s face and neck were swollen with blood. His fingers itched so for the hilt of his sword that his arm trembled. But he clenched his lips and said nothing. Levi, knowing that his brother could not speak for rage, said: “It is well. Go to your father and tell him what is to be done. And let each male of your tribe, every one from your oldest man to your youngest infant, be circumcised according to our custom.”

Shechem nodded and strode off. “Keep a rein on yourself,” said Levi to Simeon, “or you will show your intention and they will escape our vengeance.”

“You do the talking, then,” said Simeon. “And I shall stand by. For when I come close to him, I want only to take my sword and lop his pretty head off.”

“It may be that you will have the chance,” said Levi. “But not yet.”

Shechem went to his father and told him what had been demanded. “Must this be?” said Hamor. “It is a sore thing.”

“We must do it,” said Shechem, “or I cannot have her. We must do it, or I must attack them and take her by force. And we shall lose more blood through sword-cuts than through the small knives of their rite. Besides, they are a peaceable people. Skilled herdsmen, people of wealth. It will do us no harm to exchange daughters with them. It may improve our stock. They are full of a strange fire and see things that we do not.”

“You see things that I do not,” said Hamor. “I loathe these Israelites. I should like nothing better than to summon our horsemen and smite them in their tents and quench these strange fires once and for all.”

“Do not hate them,” said Shechem. “I am to marry their daughter.… But first we must circumcise ourselves, as they have instructed.”

“You must explain it to all the men,” said Hamor. “I am their king, their captain, master of revels, rainmaker. I cannot go to them with an edict concerning foreskins. You must speak for me and tell them what to do, and it shall be done.”

Shechem did so. Then he circumcised himself, and Hamor circumcised himself, and Shechem made sure that every man of the tribe, and every male child, was circumcised. And he sent word to Jacob that this had been done.

Now the men of the Hivites were weak from loss of blood, and in pain. Simeon and Levi watched at the gates until they saw that every man had been circumcised. Then they called a band of armed herdsmen, which they had posted at a nearby grove. Each man took his sword and entered the gates of the city, and went into each house and fell on the helpless men and slew them. Simeon and Levi stormed the palace where Hamor and Shechem lay on their couches in pain. Before the king and the prince could rise to defend themselves, Levi passed his sword through Hamor’s body. Simeon swept his blade like a scythe and cut off Shechem’s head.

They called together their men and left the city. Then the other sons of Jacob came with their herdsmen and sacked the city. They looted each house, put chains on the women and children, and took all the gold and silver and precious things that were in the city. The herds and the flocks they took, also, and drove them off. Then Levi and Simeon went in to tell Jacob what had been done.

“You have defiled our name!” cried Jacob. “You have made it stink throughout the land. You have acted like murderers and thieves. You promised to go in my stead and act as my spokesmen, and stand for me in all things. Is this what I have taught you—lies and treachery and murder? And have you used the sacred rite of circumcision for your foul ends? Will not that Hivite blood given in pledge to God call out to God for vengeance?”

“He treated our sister like a harlot,” said Simeon. “He had to die.”

“And his father? And all the men of the Hivites?”

“They would have been our enemies when we killed their prince. So they had to die, too, or they would have killed us.”

“We shall have more enemies than you can count,” said Jacob, “when the tale of this deed is spread throughout the land. For they are many and we are few. They will band together and wipe us out. Get out of my sight, you fools! Go to the altar I have built and beg God to show you how to erase your crime.”

The two young men left the tent, and Jacob was alone. Then he went out into the night and raised his face to the sky, and said: “Forgive them, Lord, for they were but the tools of my unuttered wish. They read my wrath and did what I myself could not have done. Forgive them, and forgive me. But I could not bear the thought of my daughter coupling in the field like an animal.”