Table Of ContentJacob and the Divine Trickster
Siphrut
Literature and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures
Editorial Board
Stephen B. Chapman Duke University
Tremper Longman III Westmont College
Nathan MacDonald Universität Göttingen
and University of St. Andrews
1. A Severe Mercy: Sin and Its Remedy in the Old Testament, by Mark J. Boda
2. Chosen and Unchosen: Conceptions of Election in the Pentateuch and
Jewish-Christian Interpretation, by Joel N. Lohr
3. Genesis and the Moses Story: Israel’s Dual Origins in the Hebrew Bible,
by Konrad Schmid
4. The Land of Canaan and the Destiny of Israel: Theologies of Territory in the
Hebrew Bible, by David Frankel
5. Jacob and the Divine Trickster: A Theology of Deception and YHWH’s Fidelity
to the Ancestral Promise in the Jacob Cycle, by John E. Anderson
6. Esther: The Outer Narrative and the Hidden Reading, by Jonathan
Grossman
7. From Fratricide to Forgiveness: The Language and Ethics of Anger in Genesis,
by Matthew R. Schlimm
Jacob and
the Divine Trickster
A Theology of Deception and Y ’s Fidelity to
HWH
the Ancestral Promise in the Jacob Cycle
John E. Anderson
Winona Lake, Indiana
EISENBRAUNS
2011
© 2011 by Eisenbrauns Inc.
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
www.eisenbrauns.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Anderson, John Edward, 1981–
Jacob and the divine trickster : a theology of deception and YHWH’s fidelity to
the ancestral promise in the Jacob cycle / John E. Anderson.
p. cm. — (Siphrut : literature and theology of the Hebrew Scriptures ; 5)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-1-57506-219-8 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Deception in the Bible. 2. Truthfulness and falsehood—Religious
aspects—Judaism. 3. Bible. O.T. Genesis—Criticism, interpretation, etc.
I. Title.
BS1238.D42A53 2011
221.6—dc23
2011030414
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the Ameri-
can National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
ירכב ןבאל
To Evan, my firstborn.
You are truly a blessing from God.
I love you.
And Jacob erected a pillar on the place where He spoke to him,
a pillar of stone,
and he poured upon it a drink offering,
and he poured upon it oil.
And Jacob called the name of the place
where God had spoken with him Bethel.
Gen 35:14–15
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Divine Deception in Genesis: A Scholarly Gap 3
Precursors to Divine Deception: The Ancient Near East
and Anthropological Evidence 22
Toward a Theology of Deception 33
Assumptions and Methodology 33
The Ancestral Promise in Genesis 40
Definitions 44
A Brief Overview of the Book 47
2. A Trickster Oracle: Reading Jacob and Esau
between Beten and Bethel (Genesis 25–28) . . . . . . . . 48
Introductory Remarks 48
A Trickster’s Oracle (Genesis 25:19–34) 51
Fulfilling the Trickster Oracle (Genesis 27:1–45) 73
Divine Corroboration at Bethel: Genesis 28 and Deception 80
Conclusion: A Trickster Oracle and YHWH’s Preference
for a Trickster 85
3. Divine Deception and Incipient Fulfillment of the Ancestral
Promise (Genesis 29–31) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Introductory Remarks 87
The Trickster Tricked and YHWH’s Role (Genesis 29:1–30) 89
Children, the Ancestral Promise, and Deception
(Genesis 29:31–30:24) 102
Trickster as Blessing (Genesis 30:27–30) 105
The Great Escape and YHWH’s Deception of Laban
(Genesis 30:25–31:54) 108
Conclusion: Deception and Incipient Fulfillment
of the Ancestral Promise 127
4. Replaying the Fool: Esau versus YHWH and Jacob
(Genesis 32–35). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Introductory Remarks 130
Encounters: Preparations for Reconciliation
(Genesis 32:1–33) 132
Reconciliation and Deception (Genesis 33) 160
vii
viii Contents
Deception and the Ancestral Promise, Reprise
(Genesis 34–35) 169
Conclusion: Tricky Encounters 171
5. Concluding Remarks and Prospects for Further Study. . . . 172
Introductory Remarks 172
A Theology of Deception in the Jacob Cycle 172
Prospects for Further Study 186
Concluding Thoughts 188
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Index of Authors 203
Index of Scripture 206
Preface and Acknowledgments
This book is the result of a long and unexpected journey. It is nearly
impossible to acknowledge with thanks all those who have contributed
to this project. There are indeed many individuals to thank for their help,
encouragement, and support.
While perhaps unconventional, I must first thank my great-grand-
mother, Ann Anderson, who first introduced me to the Bible. I still vividly
recall her taking me on her lap and reading to me from the book of Gen-
esis. My journey began with her. She was the first theologian to incline my
mind and heart to the importance, beauty, and power of the Bible. I miss
her dearly.
A number of former teachers have been instrumental in shaping this
book in ways of which they are probably unaware. Murray Haar continued
this journey for me by opening up the academic world of biblical studies
and showing me that it is not the pursuit of answers but rather the asking
of thoughtful and probing questions that breathes life into the text. It is
because of him that I entered this field. Richard Swanson taught me always
to use imagination and creativity in interpreting biblical texts. The seeds
for this project were first planted in the spring of 2006 during a seminar
on Genesis with Anathea Portier-Young at Duke University. My proposal
to investigate the connection between deception and blessing in the Jacob
cycle was met with great interest. The present book is markedly different
from my original proposal nearly five years ago, and I thank Thea for her
engaging questions during that initial foray, which have been of tremen-
dous assistance in helping me to refine both my method and my argument.
This book is a revision of my Ph.D. dissertation, completed at Baylor
University (2010), and I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, W. H. Bell-
inger Jr. As a constant source of encouragement and confidence, he gra-
ciously and with great interest accepted the task of directing a dissertation
on the divine trickster! He has instilled in me a passion for the task of Old
Testament theology. He has exemplified encouragement, confidence, and
care in shaping both this project and me as a scholar. Always an important
advocate of my work, Dr. Bellinger has been both a mentor and a friend,
never allowing me to settle for easy conclusions and always pressing me
harder. I have learned from him the value and transformative power of
theological inquiry of the biblical text, but also so much more that tran-
scends academia. His interest in my scholarship and my family and me
during my time at Baylor have taught me more than books ever could.
ix
