Ebionite Davar Torah: Wayyishlah
Shemayah Phillips

⁴Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in Seir, the open country of Edom,⁵with these instructions, ‘Say this to my lord Esau, “Here is the message of your servant Jacob: I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed there until now,⁶ and I own oxen, beasts of burden and flocks, and men and women slaves. I send news of this to my lord in the hope of winning your favour.” ’⁷The messengers returned to Jacob and told him, ‘We went to your brother Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you; there are four hundred men with him.’⁸Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people with him, and the flocks and cattle, into two camps,⁹thinking, ‘If Esau comes to one of the camps and attacks it, the remaining camp may be able to escape.’¹⁰Jacob said, ‘God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh who told me, “Go back to your native land and I will be good to you,”¹¹I am unworthy of all the faithful love and constancy you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, and now I have grown into two camps.¹²I implore you, save me from my brother Esau’s clutches, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me, mothers and children alike.¹³Yet it was you who said, “I shall be very good to you, and make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which is too numerous to count.” ’¹⁴Then Jacob passed that night there. From what he had with him he chose a gift for his brother Esau:¹⁵two hundred she–goats and twenty he–goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,¹⁶thirty camels in milk with their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male.¹⁷He put them in the charge of his servants, in separate droves, and told his servants, ‘Go ahead of me, leaving a space between each drove and the next.’¹⁸ He gave the leading man this order: ‘When my brother Esau meets you and asks, “Whose man are you? Where are you going? Whose are those animals that you are driving?”¹⁹you will answer, “Your servant Jacob’s. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And Jacob himself is just behind us.” ’²⁰He gave the same order to the second and the third, and to all who were following the droves.‘That is what you must say to Esau when you find him.²¹And you must add, “Your servant Jacob himself is just behind us.” ’ For he thought,‘If I conciliate him by sending a gift in advance, perhaps he will be well inclined towards me when I face him.’²²The gift went ahead ofhim, but he himself spent that night in the camp.

Ya`aqov had been chosen by Elohim, obtained the birthright, his mother had worked Yahweh's will by wresting the blessing from her husband. Yahweh had given favor to Ya`aqov at Bet-El. But Ya`aqov was immature, perhaps spoiled, and even at Bet-El his comprehension of Yahweh seems to have been little more than primitive awe. Slowly he begins to understand Yahweh as a material benefactor in Haran.
Ya`aqov starts to return to his own land after seeking his fortune where his brother `Esaw waited. At first it looks like the proverbial "high school reunion" in motive. Ya`aqov would "wow" `Esaw with his new found wealth and show brother how well he had done for himself. Perhaps `Esaw would see how blessed he was and have to concede that Ya`aqov was truly the one meant to have the blessing. We get mixed signals that Ya`aqov was both afraid of seeing his brother again indicated by his sending of buffer groups if `Esaw should exhibit hostility. But also he was trying to impress, yet placate `Esaw with all of these "gifts." He would walk in proud. But it is all gesturing.

What is the reason he stays behind alone? He is worried, and afraid. He knows that even with his wealth and new found status, other than that promised to him in the future by Yahweh, may not save him from the hands of his brother. We all know that the more you have, the more you can lose, especially where there is no established standard of right or wrong.

If we are able to rely on absolutes, standards by settling at what is righteous or evil behaviour, then we can find security and peace against the unknown and the unpredictableness of the world. Avraham and his sons were learning these absolutes of Yahweh's Purpose. But would `Esaw recognize and acknowledge what Yahweh wanted? Did Ya`aqov know? He was indeed acting true to his name, an opportunist. He had taken advantage and now afraid it had caught up with him

There is a little difference between an opportunist and a victimizer. A victimizer will take advantage, take opportunity to place himself above others to manipulate them, and the ones who support him and his ego are devalued as humans. The victimizer uses them in the same way a farmer uses his livestock. But humans are not livestock who exist for the agrandizement of the few. The opportunist need not have a grand design in mind, but takes advantage of a situation to get "on top" for a change. Where there is an absence of Yahweh's Purpose we are left to opportunities, and opportunists or victimizers.

Taking and receiving an opportunity had treated Ya`aqov well. But perhaps he realized that `Esaw could take the advantage now also.

²³That same night he got up and, taking his two wives, his two slave–girls andhis eleven children, crossed the ford of the Jabbok.²⁴After he had taken them across the stream, he sent all his possessions over too.²⁵And Jacob was left alone. Then someone wrestled with him until daybreak²⁶who, seeing that he could not master him, struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with him.²⁷ He said, ‘Let me go, for day is breaking.’ Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’²⁸The other said, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Jacob,’ he replied.²⁹ He said, ‘No longer are you to be called Jacob, but Israel since you have shown your strength against God and men and have prevailed.’³⁰Then Jacob asked, ‘Please tell me your name.’ He replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ With that, he blessed him there.³¹Jacob named the place Peniel, ‘Because I have seen God face to face,’ he said, ‘and have survived.’³²The sun rose ashe passed Peniel, limping from his hip.³³That is why to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh sinew which is at the hip socket: because he had struck Jacob at the hip socket on the thigh sinew.
33Looking up, Jacob saw Esau coming and with him four hundred men. He then divided the children between Leah, Rachel and the two slave–girls.²He put the slave–girls and their children in front, with Leah and her children following, and Rachel and Joseph behind.³He himself went ahead of them and bowed to the ground seven times, until he reached his brother.⁴But Esau ran to meet him, took him in his arms, threw himself on his neck and wept as he kissed him.⁵Then looking up he saw the women and children. ‘Who are these with you?’ he asked. Jacob answered, ‘The children whom God has bestowed on your servant.’⁶ The slave–girls then came up with their children, and they all bowed low.⁷Then Leah too came up with her children, and they all bowed low. Finally Rachel and Joseph came up and bowed low.⁸Esau asked, ‘What was the purpose of that whole camp I just met?’ ‘To win my lord’s favour,’ he replied.⁹‘Brother, I have plenty,’ Esau answered, ‘keep what is yours.’¹⁰Jacob protested, ‘No, if I have won your favour, please accept the gift I offer, for in fact I have come into your presence as into the presence of God, since you have received me kindly.¹¹So accept the gift I have brought for you, since God has been generous to me and I have all I need.’ And he urged him, and Esau accepted.

Ya`aqov is set upon by a man. Who was this man wrestled with Ya`aqov all night? We are not told, and so we
speculate. Some say it was a messengerof `Esaw sent to accost Ya`aqov. Some would have us believe it was Yahweh Himself. Christians would have think it was their mystery "man-god" who fills in for every mysterious unnamed character in the Bible. I believe Ya`aqov came to grips with himself, a man in a violent psychological episode. Yahweh makes no qualms about announcing himself elsewere, but this person will not name themselves. I say he did not name himself because it was actually Ya`aqov. It is not impossible that it was a messenger of Yahweh.
But what happened is of importance. After Ya`aqov came to an understanding, and in fact becomes a new person because of it, he lets the man go. Before this incident Ya`qov's life revolves around opportunism and even his name reflects this nature. In his struggle he comes to understand that there is a purpose for his life other than himself. And to signify that he becomes Yisra'el --he who struggles and overcomes with El, not against Him or in spite of Him. Then he can indeed let the man, Ya`aqov, go to become Israel.

His pride procession with his worldly wealth has been replaced with a limp. The man who once succeeded by grabbing the heel of another wrenching the situation to his on favor now walks onhis own leg wrenched out of place. He learns humility, and he understands teshuvah is the proper purpose of his return.

Ya`aqov had gotten by with a good deal, and had received favor from Yahweh. Why be sorry for anything? That is the primitive, immature understanding of some faiths. A true Yahwist doesn't cut a wide swath and never looks behind while proclaiming what "God has done for me"! What a waste of a god. The true Yahwist knows he is responsible for the actions of their life, and the balance has to be restored. Ya`aqov had wronged his brother, and as a Yahwist he now realized the importance of making amends. He who had been an opportunist began to understand that for every opportunist there is a victim. Ya`aqov was no longer Ya`aqov and no matter who he had wrestled with, this psychological change had come to his consciousness. And Ya`aqov did "see" Elohim at Penu'el.

Ya`aqov says, 'to see your face is like seeing the face of Elohim . . .' Was this exaggeration, a "kissing up"? If Ya`aqov was struggling mighty struggles with himself, as I believe, remember that `Esaw was indeed his twin brother! But it was that Ya`aqov did see this reunion as a manifestation of Elohim's Purpose; he saw it working its way before him. `Esaw was no longer an adverary to best and take advantage of like he was some brutish animal. He now saw instead theface of his own brother not dissimilar and perhaps a mirror image of his own face. He realized that his brother was wronged, and was to submitted to with honor due him as a brother and not an opportunity. This is the only way we see Yahweh that we look at life according to His Purpose and act accordingly. And this is the difference in seeing between Yahwists and those who must objectify Him into a piece of stone, wood, or flesh fashioned by primitive imagination. He is not a thing that we can see as a source of advantage or income. If we struggle through life with El's Purpose always in sight, and this will be illustrated again and again by scripture, we see Yahweh's face everywhere, and we realize that there are can be no winners or losers to our satisfaction, no victimizers and victimized. We want everyone to receive blessing and opportunity as children of Yahweh. We are in the image of God, and our fellow man is the mirror image of ourselves and God.

Some people might find it strange to hear me talk of "brotherhood" and everyone as children of Yahweh. I am admittedly critical of non-Yahwistic religion, to say the least. But it is just the subject of this passage that explains it, the ongoing relationship between two types of brothers we see elsewhere in scripture. There is no denying that all men are brothers, belonging to Yahweh. But their understanding of life can be so very different that it is necessary for one to avoid and resist the other.

When there is no commonality of understanding Yahweh's purpose, one will become the opportunist, the victimizer. When there is no understanding of Yahweh's purpose, we are left to a world of dogs and acting as dogs ourselves. In the world of dogs, the victimizers become the alpha dog and by taking every ungodly opportunity they are free to manipulate not only history but society through a religion that recognizes the ascendance of dogs as righteous. They have won a struggle against Yahweh and sit at the throats of any who do not acknowledge them.

Without Ya`aqov's new sight of Yahweh and an opportunity of `Esaw's anger to be put aside, the story would be a different one indeed. It would have been a godless story in which Ya`aqov could continue to manipulate the brutish `Esaw or `Esaw could have wiped out Ya`aqov and his household. The winner would have been declared the righteous, the one favored of Yahweh in the manner Christianity seeks to wipe out Israel to elevate itself as the alpha dog.

Was the ideal situation reached here between brothers? Probably not. `Esaw had not been enlightened by Yahweh as had Ya`aqov, and Ya`aqov is still living and struggling through his own life with the help of Elohim.

¹²Esau said, ‘Let us break camp and move off; I shall go beside you.’¹³But Jacob replied, ‘As my lord knows, the children are weak, and the sheep and cows which have calved make it hard for me. If they are driven too hard, even for one day, the whole drove will die.¹⁴May it please my lord to go on ahead of his servant. For my part, I shall move at a slower pace, to suit the flock I am driving and the children, until I join my lord in Seir.’¹⁵Esau then said, ‘At least let me leave you some of the people who are with me.’ ‘What for?’ Jacob asked. ‘Please indulge me, my lord!’¹⁶ So that day Esau turned back towards Seir,¹⁷but Jacob made his way to Succoth, where he built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was given the name of Succoth.

There would be an unequal development of faith between the brothers, and even though Ya`aqov recognizes the ties between them and honors him, he also realizes that it would be better to not yoke themselves together. We have to realize that although we have brothers, we may be at dfferent stages of development and to mingle would hinder that growth. `Esaw was still unstable and unpredictable, and while perhaps Ya`aqov had been the opportunist by wit, `Esaw had the power to take the advantage forcibly if Ya`aqov, now Yisra'el, left himself in the hands of `Esaw. `Esaw who was also associated as 'Edom, the red, signifying not just red earth, and redness of `Esaw, but also violence if not blood, came to be a code word for the Romans and later the Romans who would adopt Paulism and extend it throughout the world by bloodshed, opportunism, and victimization.
Christians today are indeed `Esaw/'Edom who, while indeed may be brothers of Yisra'el, are the opportunists trying to wrest the birthright from Yisra'el. They are still brutish and in development, not yet Yahwistic, and without absolutes making them semi-pagan and unpredictable. For our own good, while we may consider them brothers, we must separate our camps because they are dangerous among us. We cannot ever be sure what they will do next. We cannot leave ourselves and what we hold dear in the hands of 'Edom.

¹⁸Jacob arrived safely at the town of Shechem in Canaanite territory, on his return from Paddan–Aram. He encamped opposite the town¹⁹ and for one hundred pieces of silver he bought from the sons of Hamor father of Shechem the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent.²⁰ There he erected an altar which he called ‘El, God of Israel’.

34Dinah,who was Jacob’s daughter by Leah, went out to visit some of the women of that region.²Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, headman of the region, saw her, seized her and forced her to sleep with him.³He was captivated by Dinah daughter of Jacob; he fell in love with the girl and tried to win her heart.⁴Accordingly Shechem said to his father Hamor, ‘Get me this girl; I want to marry her.’⁵Meanwhile, Jacob had heard how his daughter Dinah had been dishonoured, but since his sons were out in the countryside with his livestock, Jacob said nothing until they came back.

⁶Hamor father of Shechem was visiting Jacob to discuss the matter with him,⁷when Jacob’s sons returned from the countryside and heard the news; the men were outraged and infuriated that Shechem had insulted Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter—a thing totally unacceptable.⁸Hamor reasoned with them as follows, ‘My son Shechem’s heart is set on your daughter. Please allow her to marry him.⁹Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves.¹⁰We can live together, and the country will be open to you, for you to live in, and move about in, and acquire holdings.’¹¹Then Shechem addressed the girl’s father and brothers, ‘Grant me this favour, and I will give you whatever you ask.¹²Demand as high a bride–price from me as you please, and I will pay as much as you ask. Only let me marry the girl.’¹³Jacob’s sons gave Shechem and his father Hamor a crafty answer, speaking as they did because he had dishonoured their sister Dinah.¹⁴‘We cannot do this,’ they said to them. ‘To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace for us.¹⁵We can agree only on one condition: that you become like us by circumcising all your males.¹⁶Then we will give you our daughters, taking yours for ourselves; and we will stay with you to make one nation.¹⁷But if you will not agree to our terms about being circumcised, we shall take our daughter and go.’¹⁸ Hamor and Shechem son of Hamor were pleased with what they heard.¹⁹ Theyoung man did not hesitate about doing this, for he was deeply in love with Jacob’s daughter. Moreover he was the most respected member of his entire family.²⁰Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their town and spoke to their fellow–townsmen as follows,²¹ ‘These men are friendly; let them settle in the region and move about freely in it; there is plenty of room here for them; we shall marry their daughters and give our daughters to them.²²But these men will agree to settle with us and become a single nation only on this condition: that all our males be circumcised like them.²³Will not the livestock they own, all their animals, become ours? Then let us give our assent tothis, so that they can settle with us.’²⁴All the citizens ofthe town agreed to the proposal made by Hamor and his son Shechem, and all the males were circumcised.

Continuing in the same parallel with the developments of Yahwism and Christianity, we see the mistakes of dialogue, pseudo-semitophiles, intermarriage and compromise.
First the gentile Shekem sees Dinah the daughter of the God of Israel and being without absolutes other than his own desire and the ability to take the advantage, he wants her and in the absence of right he rapes her. Christianity wanted Isra'el and so it raped Israel, forcing itself upon her. For hundreds of years Christianity has tried to use force or seduction to convert Jews to the religion of 'Edom. Israel has struggled to remain a virgin to Yahweh, while Christianity has held a knife to her throat with sweet lies and violent threats with the only option being mistreatment and death for those who will not spread their legs to receive the seed gentile religion.

Just as Shekem told himself he loved Dinah and wanted her to cherish, Christianity today would tell us that what they do is out of love. Shekem's father and Yisra'el/Ya`aqov become the Jewish and Christian proponents of dialogue looking at the points of commonality and benefit of such a union.

And here the mistake is made by both parties making a compromise. Circumcision becomes the requirement of the union of the two peoples. This overlooks two things: the hostility of "obtaining" Dinah, the virgin of Yisra'el, and also that circumcision is just a sign of Yahwism, not Yahwism complete itself.

Hamor and Yisra'el meant well. But did they foresee the joining of two peoples on just a physical basis? Today we have people who now "love" Israel and the Jewish people. To some it means to convert Israel out their love for them and the belief they are saving them from invented terrors. To others, in addition to this, they love Israel so much that they play act as Israel singing Jewish songs, using Jewish words and rituals to worship Jesus of Nazareth. Others still, both Christians and Jews, reduce Yahwism to its most basic premises in order to maintain a commonality for dialogue and compromise and they seek the end of hostility between Jews and Christians. We usually associate such activities with intellectual clergymen, academics, and modern enlightened people. But we will see this also among those of us who have daily relationshipswith gentiles.

Whether it is a co-worker or a lover we want to look over the sticking points between our faiths and not get hung up on details. We make compromises.

Some would say that Dinah's brothers were ruthless and conniving by killing those men of the town who had undergone circumcision---who had made a dialogue and compromise. But perhaps they are prophets. Sooner or later the details, the differences will come up, and the points of faith can no longer be trivialized. The points of faith are the faith and not trivial. If they continue to be overlooked and put under a basket, the faith itself will be seriously altered and subsequently cease to exist. Compromises are never permanent. Something will always be killed. Either the faith will die or the points of difference will not be able to remain suppressed and they will re-emerge, causing fighting, hurt, and hate. They will return in a marriage to destroy it. They will return among friends or family to embarrass us and cause ill feelings. They will burst out between peoples to incite religious struggles. And all the past that the compromises tried to amend will return to haunt the perpetrators.

²⁵Now on the third day, when the men were still in pain, Jacob’s two sons Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and advanced unopposed against the town and slaughtered all the males.²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, removed Dinah from Shechem’s house and came away.²⁷When Jacob’s other sons came on the slain, they pillaged the town in reprisal for the dishonouring of their sister.²⁸They seized their flocks, cattle, donkeys, everything else in the town and in the countryside,²⁹and all their possessions. They took all their children and wives captive and looted everything to be found in the houses.³⁰Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have done me an ill turn by bringing me into bad odour with the people of the region, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I have few men, whereas they will unite against me to defeat me and destroy me and my family.’³¹They retorted, ‘Should our sister be treated like a whore?’

There are only three ways to deal with religious difference. You must like Yisrael and the Jews separate yourselves. Or the two parties must fully become one or the other religion and people. Otherwise, there will be eternal hostility if not the goal of total destruction of one or the other religion is undertaken. The other option is not one at all because it is temporary, and that is to lie to ourselves that we can coexist without conflict.
Dinah's brothers, for whatever personal agenda, chose the third option to simply not deal with the aspects of always being reminded of the rape and possibility of an incomplete joining of peoples---by killing all the men.

As the father of children in mixed marriages, I am reminded of the results of the problematic relationships that come from intercourse with gentiles. We do not have the option of killing the men of the town, and if we cannot create a life for our children where such men do not exist, then we have only an uneasy future concerning our own people. Perhaps after a time, the people of Hamor would have acculturated to Yahwism and the people of Israel. I have seen a fair amount of acculturation from the woman of my son. But will it last? This is the predicament that we find ourselves in, just as the situation that Shim'on and Lewi refused to accept forseeing an uneasy future.

The people of Hamor were not dissimilar physically from Israel's family. There was no distinct race of Israel different from the Canaanites or Mesopotamians, and the peoples of the region, if not the inhabited world, had contact through discovery and trade. What distinguished Yahweh worshippers was their struggle to be true to revelations made to them.

Love and sex are not the forces that create Yahwists. A mark is not enough. Yahwists are made by joining the whole soul, strength and mind of a person. A person who will not join in the Yahwistic struggle for life will always be separated from those who have joined themselves to it.

Shabbat Shalom,
Shemayah