Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 32/0

Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 32

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Avraham and Yaakov and Name Changes

There are many points of contact between the narratives of Avraham and Yaakov, including the fact that each is granted a change of name by God.

Tools

• Makbilot Bamikra points out that Yaakov’s name change is one of many in Tanakh.  However, Avraham and Yaakov are the only two people whose names are changed by Hashem, perhaps pointing to some deeper connection between the two figures. 

Articles

• See Avraham and Yaakov for an exploration of this and other parallels between these two figures.
• In his article, The Parallel Between Yaakov and Avraham, Professor Yonatan Grossman notes how Yaakov, like Avraham, (but unlike Yitzchak) is tasked with creating the nation and not just continuing the line. Perhaps the Divine name change relates to this role.

Yaakov's Double Name Change

The text speaks of Yaakov's change of name twice, once when his name is changed by the "man" (perhaps, angel) in Bereshit 32:29 and once when it is changed by Hashem directly in Bereshit 35:10.

Tools

• Tanakh Lab – Compare the two episodes in the Tanakh Lab, here.

Articles

• See Vayishlach: From Yaakov to Yisrael by R. Menachem Leibtag for an exploration of how these two narratives describing Yaakov’s name change interact with each other and why it was necessary for Yaakov to receive a name change twice.

Yaakov and Esav, Moshe and Aharon There are parallels between the narrative of the anticipated reunion of Yaakov and Esav in Bereshit 32-33 and the reunion of Moshe and Aharon in Shemot 4.¹

Tools

• Concordance – The concordance demonstrates that the root "פגש" appears only four times in Torah, twice in each of these stories, perhaps a linguistic hint to compare the two.

Articles

• See Moses in Danger, by R. Alex Israel, for an exploration of these parallel stories, suggesting that both might relay to a character's avoidance of a mission and the repercussions of such delay.
• Alternatively, one might suggest that the harmonious reunion relationship of Moshe and Aharon represents a resolution of the tensions between brothers that were so prominent in Sefer Bereshit, and is a necessary precursor to the redemption of the Jewish people. 

¹ In both, a younger brother on his way to reunite with an older brother encounters an angel who attacks him or someone in his family (the only two such stories in Chumash). In addition, both stories have an association with a commandment: the prohibition of eating the sciatic nerve in the story of Yaakov, and the mitzvah of circumcision in the story of Moshe.