Vayeshev- Jacob's Legacy

Eileh toldot Yaakov Yosef ben shva-esrei shanah haya roeh et echav batzon vhu na’ar et b’nei Bilhah v’et b’nei Zilpah n’shei aviv vayavei Yosef et dibatam ra’ah el avihem.

These are the generations of Jacob; Joseph, 17 years old, was a shepherd with his brothers, still a lad, with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s women, and Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father.

Eileh toldot Yaakov, these are the generations of Jacob. We expect the names of his sons and daughter. We expect to hear of the twelve tribes. But these are the generations of Jacob. Jacob grows; he becomes Israel, and from Israel come the twelve tribes, but from Jacob comes another world. 

This is a fascinating way to begin the parasha. Eileh toldot Yaakov, these are the generations of Jacob. One would assume the verses to follow would tell us of lineage, but rather they, and the subsequent parasha, speak of the dissatisfaction and jealousy within the family. The story of Jacob’s generations is so famous Andrew Lloyd Weber felt it would make a great show. It has. It is a favourite of young and old. It is this story, the story of jealousy, the story of anger, but eventually the story of forgiveness, love, and redemption that is the descendant of Jacob.

Joseph, Jacob’s favourite is put to work at an early age. Seventeen seems an appropriate time to be shepherding, but the text tells us he was still a lad. He had not yet come into his own as a young man. In Jacob’s family there is a difference between the sons of Rachel and Leah and the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. Of them, Joseph brings tales.

Questions abound. Why is Joseph with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah? Where are his other brothers? Why is there this distinction? What evil tales could Joseph be spreading? Whatever the answer, we know that Joseph’s actions were enough to turn all his brothers against him; to anger them enough to consider killing him, and to eventually sell him into slavery. While most siblings probably fantasize about this at some point, Joseph’s actions must have been extreme to force their hand in this manner.

All of this is the inheritance of Jacob. Joseph was 17 years old. Joseph was his father’s favourite. At his father’s knee he learned favouritism. He learned tale-bearing, and he learned deception. He fills his father’s place.  Jacob’s parents had favourites. Jacob lived by deception. Only when he comes to Egypt as Israel have both he and Joseph moved beyond their past to redemption. As Tim rice wrote for Andrew Lloyd Weber, once in Egypt there are “bright colours shining, wonderful and new.”  They have moved beyond the generations of Jacob to the generations of Israel.