Crumb's GENESIS: Jacob and Esau

[jlroberson]

From Robert Crumb's absolutely excellent GENESIS(which is, btw, over 300 pages), a short excerpt from the story of Jacob and Esau, one portion from the start of the tale and one jumping to much later, when they are both old. Some who might not be familiar with this story might find it striking that (a) Jacob is such a dick, (b) God rewards the undeserving, and (c) Isaac sure gets it coming & going, doesn't he? (he's the same Isaac with that crazy dad with the voices telling him to sacrifice his son). It's not really so strange if, instead of looking at it as a religious text, you look at it as a typical Bronze Age mythology. And in those? People are very, very tricky and deceitful, and the concept of "justice" really has no bearing on any of the gods. This is nothing; try the House of Atreus sometime.












(c)2009 R. Crumb.

Comments

[jlroberson]

Another question: not too long before this Jacob gets Esau to sell his "birthright" mentioned here for some stew. (It must be admitted, Esau isn't the brightest bulb in the box) So, was that birthright essentially the same as whatever he'd have gotten from this blessing("when Dad blesses you, remember, you then sign it all over to me, all for delicious stew"), and if so, why the shenanigans? Unless it's yet another example of doubling of plot points via bad compilation and editing.

I also get the feeling, reading it, that the audience was meant to be impressed at Jacob's resourcefulness and to see Esau as a figure of fun, and laugh at how Jacob continually tricks him as we would such a figure in a comedy. Jacob shows some heavy Trickster-figure characteristics.

[halialkers]

True. There's some Values Dissonance as well, as the values acceptable to the nomadic ancestors of at least part of the Israelite tribes are not exactly going to be the values acceptable to a 21st Century urbanized post-industrial society. Would that more people bothered to understand that.

[jlroberson]

And now for some reason I can't help but see them as Reggie and Moose. Or Tom and Spike.

However, though craftiness is valued in some in Genesis, we also have the example at the end of Joseph, whose very lack of guile is presented as one of his signature exemplary qualities. Frequently, at least as a youngster, being fooled and taken advantage of. But rather than laughing at how often he's everyone's bitch like with Esau, we feel badly for him; first his brothers and then the pharoah's wife, who, rejected by Joseph, simply claims Joseph assaulted her and gets him put in jail--where he has the chance to interpret his first dreams, however, which gets him out and propels him to glory. But Joseph doesn't even lie when it's to his advantage. The only time he does, when he delays letting his family understand it's him, it's to teach them a lesson. Not out of revenge, though he is having a little bit of fun with them. More in fact to force them to consider their love as a family, and thus preventing bitterness when he does his reveal. He's a very rare character for the OT.

And then of course, there's Job, just as saintly but a far simpler character. And the victim of a bet.