Sunday, May 6, 2012

Yaakov's development in Prakim 33-34

IN perakim 33-34, we see some mixed signals about Yaakov's development. On the one hand, Yaakov finally meets up with Esav. This is the moment that he has been preparing for for so long. Everything went as well as it could have. Esav was not angry with him, they did not fight ,and they seemed to reconcile. Yaakov stood up to Esav, and it seems like his goal of becoming a non- passive person and a leader is finally accomplished. Later in, his daughter Dinah is captured by SHchem. Yaakov tries to reason with them, and they that if all the people of Shechem are circumcised, then Yaakov will accept them into his family and they can have Dinah. He is not very aggressive about getting his daughter back; in fact it looks like he is helping the process along. Shimon and Levi then attack the people of Shechem on the third day after the bris, when they were the weakest. They wipe out the city and rescue Dinah. When Yaakov asked them why they did it, they claimed that someone needed to stand up for their sister- implying that Yaakov wasn't, so they took it upon themselves. Yaakov is not confrontational about this at all .So this can be confusing. Why did Yaakov stand up to Esav but not Shechem? Has he really matured and developed into an active person and a leader? Or not?

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