What is Jacob The Son about?

Favouritism and rivalry in the original Biblical family?

The power of women in a patriarchal society?

Tensions between immigrants and the long-settled community?

The guidance and promises of God to fallible people?

The great dream of the father who gave Joseph his technicolor dreamcoat?

Jacob The Son is about all of these, and more.

Hard to sum up. Hard to categorise.

Expanding the familiar. Breaking fresh ground.

https://www.laddermedia.co.uk/jacob-the-son

Some readers have said the Introduction explains well:

Many people know that Jacob dreamed of a ladder to heaven. Most do not know the message of that dream and whether Jacob heeded it. Many people know that Jacob cheated his twin brother, Esau, out of his blessing. Most do not know whether or how they were ever reconciled. Many people know that Jacob wrestled with God. Most do not know why God was determined to pin Jacob to the ground. Many people know that Jacob had his name changed to Israel. Most do not know how Jacob connived in the first genocide. Many people know that Jacob gave his son Joseph an amazing coat. Most do not know how Jacob angered Joseph in blessing his sons. Many people know that Jacob was promised blessing in the land we know as Israel / Palestine. Most do not know how he came to die an alien in Egypt.

As well as recounting and explaining the lesser-known times in Jacob’s life, the three parts of Jacob The Full Story portray his thoughts and feelings, his conversations with others, and the background to the Bible account.

Jews have long filled out their Bible stories in a tradition called midrash. Myjewishlearning.com explains: ‘Midrash is commonly defined as the process of interpretation by which the rabbis filled in “gaps” found in the Torah. It is a literature that seeks to ask the questions that lie on the tips of our tongues, and to answer them even before we have posed them.’

Jacob The Full Story carries on and extends the Jewish midrash tradition in a fresh way. Some of the filling out comes from drawing on other parts of the Bible story, for instance the impact of Jacob’s twin brother Esau choosing to marry two foreign wives compared to their father Isaac holding steadfastly to one wife, recounted earlier in Genesis. What would Jacob, and others, have thought about this double marriage? Imagination supplies the answers, creating dialogues of different points of view.

One filling-in, which you will read, is that, when Jacob had to leave his parents’ home, he took servants with him. Jacob’s father, Isaac, is called a very wealthy man. Would his son travel entirely on his own? Jacob’s companions each provide a fresh, prophetic, perspective on his journey.

The words of the companions help to explain the story. Genesis is a ‘show, don’t tell’ book. Genesis shows blessing coming to Jacob after he received the promise of blessing. The writer does not also specifically tell us that each blessing was the fulfilment of the promise. Genesis shows blessing being withdrawn from Jacob. The writer indicates reasons for the withdrawal of blessing within the story, but does not specifically tell us these reasons. In Jacob The Full Story Jacob’s companions comment on the story from within the story. There is more telling as well as more showing, the telling expressing different points of view.

Among the voices we hear more than in Genesis is that of Rebecca, Jacob’s mother. She is one of the great Jewish matriarchs, founding mothers. A long-standing Jewish tradition sees all the matriarchs as prophets, people who could hear God speaking and pass on what they heard to the people. At the beginning of Jacob’s life, before he was born, Genesis tells us that Rebecca was able to go to God, question him, and hear an answer. Jacob – The Son brings out more of Rebecca’s prophetic wisdom.

One question has been how to refer to the God of Jacob. Genesis mostly writes God’s name as YHWH, unpronounceable letters which have long been replaced with the euphemism ‘The LORD.’ (Like saying ‘Her Majesty’ rather than the Queen’s name.) But we are also told that this ‘name’ was first given to Moses, generations after Jacob. ‘The LORD’ is also now a characteristically Christian rendering of YWYH. Many Jews use ‘Ha Shem’ ‘The Name.’ The modern French Bible uses ‘L’Eternel’ ‘The Eternal One.’ I have chosen to focus on the distinctive belief in a single God held by Abraham’s family, including his grandson, Jacob. Instead of ‘the LORD’ or ‘Ha Shem,’ you will read ‘The One.’ In a world where people believed in many gods, each behind one of the many powers in nature, Jacob and his family dared to believe that behind the manifold, sometimes competing, powers of nature, was One God.

In the Bible this God is known as ‘the God of Jacob’, more than ‘the God of Abraham,’ much more than ‘the God of Moses.’ This God has chosen to make himself known through the life of this man. Jacob had his name changed to Israel. ‘The God of Israel’ is the God of the same man.

As Jacob and Israel are the same person, how much is the story of the nation Israel the story of the man Jacob? Is the life of Jacob echoed in the life of ancient Israel, in the life of modern Israel?Read Jacob – The Full Story and decide for yourself.

The God of Jacob is the God of Christians as well as Jews. How are people of all cultures to relate to Him? The Full Story shines light on these questions for all people.

Available at https://www.laddermedia.co.uk/jacob-the-son and on Amazon UK

Roger Harper

Israel Nullifies God’s Promises

‘I have chosen Abraham that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.’ Genesis 18:19

This verse was part of my Bible reading for today. As Abraham and his people do righteousness and justice, God will be pleased to fulfil His promises to them. As Abraham and his people do oppression and injustice, God will be saddened by not being able to fulfil His promises to them.

These Bible words come in the context of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. A stark warning for those who see the connection. See also Isaiah 1:10-17 where the rulers of Judah are addressed as the rulers of Sodom.

A well-known part of Jewish righteousness and justice is The Law of Equivalent Retribution, expressed pithily as ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ For Jews, and through them for all people, retribution has to inflict damage exactly the same as the damage inflicted by the original offence. A robust response, but no escalation.

Israel, currently, has abandoned The Law of Equivalent Retribution. Israel is intent on escalation of violence. I have written about this before: Israel and Gaza – Outlaws: 2 August | Rogerharper’s Blog (wordpress.com)

When Arab residents of Jerusalem protest against Israeli barriers to their night-time Ramadan congregating at the Damascus Gate, the Israeli authorities try to disperse them by force. Escalation. Eventually the Israelis agree to remove the barriers. In so doing they admit that the barriers were unjust. But the injury they caused in their escalation means that the conflict continues.

When Arab residents of Jerusalem protest against Israeli evictions of Arab families, and against a planned march through Arab Jerusalem by Israelis intent on evicting them all, the Israeli authorities try to disperse them by force, including rubber bullets fired at faces which blind a few for life. Escalation. Though the march was eventually banned, showing the justice of the Arab protest, the injury caused by Israeli escalation means that the conflict continues and grows. See The Storm Which Netanyahu Unleashed | Tikkun A Jewish Israeli writing for a Jewish American organisation.

When the blinding response of force takes place on ground highly sacred to Moslems, it is felt as an attack on Islam and Islam needs to be defended. Islam knows no Law of Equivalent Retribution. The Koran teaches that retaliation is good and Moslems are to fight until oppression against them is no more. No specified limits to retribution and no end to the fight short of deliverance. (See eg Surah 2:179, 2:191-194)

Israeli escalation is causing Arab protest more widespread than previously. As Robert Cohen points out (yes he too is Jewish), Arab citizens of Israel have joined in the protest as not before. Just as we need it most, the UK cracks down on BDS | Robert A. H. Cohen (patheos.com)  As Arabs in Occupied Jerusalem are evicted and Jewish Israelis call and plan for more evictions, Arab Israelis envisage that they will be next. Moslem holy ground was desecrated by Israeli Jews so Jewish holy ground, synagogues, have been desecrated by Israeli Moslem Arabs. The previous strained but workable relations between Israeli Jews and Arabs may never return.

(My Jewish cousin in Jerusalem likes to go to Arab shops on the Sabbath for fresh bread and the best houmus and tahini. When I joined him a couple of years ago, I enjoyed fresh mulberries too. Now?)

How more widespread will the Arab protest become? At the moment Israel has to contend with rockets from Gaza. How long before rockets come from other surrounding nations? Does the Israeli Iron Dome anti-rocket defence system have an inexhaustible supply?

Some Jewish Israelis are committed to fight for their ground and, if necessary, die. They honour the Jewish resistors to the Romans who died at Massada. Many Jewish Israelis are prepared to leave their resident country if necessary, as Jewish people have done for centuries. Israeli cousins of mine have dual nationality with Germany and France. The top choice now for emigrating Jewish Israelis is Berlin.

Israeli escalation causes Arab Moslem retaliation. Israelis know this cause and effect very well for they have experienced it for years. The Israeli authorities continue to escalate and threaten escalation. They seem to be following the teaching of the Koran more than of the Torah. Very sad. They are annulling God’s promises to the descendants of Abraham. With a heavy heart, God will remove blessing from Israel. God has said this clearly in the Torah and He cannot change what He has said.

Roger Harper

Leroy Logan: Prophetic Policeman

The beginning of the career of Leroy Logan in the London Metropolitan police has recently been dramatised on BBC1 TV: BBC One – Small Axe, Series 1, Red, White and Blue A good story, well told, well acted, with some dramatic licence and ‘look at my techniques’ shots.

A couple of months ago Premier Christianity magazine published my review of Leroy’s autobiography, ‘Closing Ranks.’ Closing Ranks – Leroy Logan – SPCK Publishing.

A moving, enlightening, account of one man’s calling to make the Metropolitan Police more servants of local communities and less an occupying force. Leroy explains how heavy handed police procedures breed mistrust in minority ethnic communities, making witnesses reluctant to speak to police, thus hindering the detection of crime.

Leroy’s first job was medical scientist. His manager suggested that Leroy would make a good policeman. Leroy’s immediate response was ‘Do I look like a white racist?’ Leroy had spent formative years in Jamaica. For him black policemen were more normal than for most Black British men. He recognised a calling and stuck with it for 30 years, retiring as Superintendent. Several times over the years Leroy was well aware of the support of Jesus and His Church as he stood up for justice within and against a ‘closing ranks’ culture.

‘Nigger’ scrawled inside his police station locker was the shocking, blatant, racism. Many other comments and actions showed the depth of racism in police culture. Leroy helped form the Met Black Police Association to support Minority Ethnic officers, to challenge and call for cultural change. Years later he became Chair of the Association. He describes the ridiculous length some senior police officers went to to discredit him as a leading black officer and, through him, his colleagues.

Leroy tells his story well. Interesting accounts of apprehending criminals, supervising officers, meeting Princess Diana, planning the Olympics, dealing with accusations of Christian homophobia, working with Sadiq Khan, receiving an MBE, and more.  Some readers may find too much detail of the Black Police Association, rather than of ordinary police work. All readers will benefit from coming to know this clear-thinking, courageous man and the culture he continually tried to change. His prophetic call may yet be heeded beyond his home country.

5 stars