Watching the tragedies unfolding in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, God is weeping; Abraham is weeping; even my deceased daughter Leah, named after Jacob’s first wife, is weeping. It is fratricide. The offspring of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and Esau are murdering each other.
This is what Jacob feared would happen to him at the hands of his older twin Esau when at God’s command, Jacob leaves Haran (Gen. 31:20-22) to return to Canaan, the land of his birth, to confront the brother whose birth-right blessing he stole from their father Isaac. Fearing that Esau will “kill us all, the mothers with the children” (Gen. 32:11), Jacob, nonetheless, puts his trust in God and decides to reconcile with Esau
That night, after sending peace offerings across the river Jabbok, but before crossing the Jabbok himself, Jacob wrestles with an unnamed divine figure, whom he does not release until he’s blessed and given a new name: “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” Gen. 32: 28-29. Only when he decides to reconcile with and pay reparations to Esau, does Jacob, the supplanter, become “Israel,” the victorious and blessed god-wrestler.
The next morning, Israel crosses the Jabbok, limping from injuring his hip wrestling, and comes face-to face with Esau. Before greeting him, Israel bows seven times. Esau embraces his brother, and they both weep. Initially, Esau refuses his brother’s peace offerings, saying what he already has is enough. Israel insists, however, replying: “No, please; if I find favor with you, then accept my present from my hand; for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God….” Gen. 33:10. Jacob, now Israel, finally sees “the face of God” in the face of the very brother who had sworn to kill him.
Until the people of Israel can look into the faces of their Palestinian brothers and sisters and see that they too were created b’tzelem Elohim (“in the image of God”), the State of Israel betrays its name. It remains a nation of Jacobs, a nation of supplanters. Only when the people of Israel end the occupation and reconcile with and embrace their Palestinian neighbors, will this nation of Jacobs be worthy of the name “Israel”. Then the people of Israel and Palestine will live in peace, and both will be blessed by God.
NOTE: This is the opinion of Charlie Pillsbury, a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence in Dispute Resolution; Co-Director, Center on Dispute Resolution; and Co-Director of the International Law and Policy Concentration at Quinnipiac University School of Law. This is NOT the opinion of the University, the Law School, or the Center on Dispute Resolution.
Quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Christian Bible. See generally Genesis 25:19 – 33:17; and see alsoJACOB’S RECONCILIATION WITH ESAU: A SACRED STORY OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE