PRESCRIPT: As a theological student, it was quickly apparent that the nature of academic study and assessment would mean that I would be able to approach very few of my assignments as creative projects. One such, however, was an assignment which I submitted as part of my study of the Book of Genesis. It’s a short play entitled “The Victim” and was inspired by two sources. The first was Walter Bruggemann’s exegesis of Genesis 32: 22-32, published in the Interpretations series of Biblical commentaries (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982). The other was a tapestry entitled “Israel” by Tamar Fishman and Pat Jones (Bethesda: Temple Beth El, 1997), which depicts Jacob wrestling with God. I was in particular struck by Bruggemann’s notion of blessing as a kind of wounding, and the tapestry strongly suggested the element of dancing, which subtly subverts the notion of wrestling so that it is not so much about contention as engagement. I also wanted to explore the dark and often overlooked/misunderstood humour that is frequently a part of the Old Testament. Anyway, I hope I have done both justice and that you get something from this. Enjoy.
***
The set of a television studio. Three people are seated around a low, round coffee table, obviously gathered for a discussion. From left to right they are: JACOB, SAMUEL, and GOD. JACOB, who is in his late twenties, looks like a finance executive enjoying very good times: his trim, well-manicured appearance and casual yet stylish clothes bespeak a person of wealth and power. He wears thin, wire-framed spectacles that add an air of bookishness to his appearance; but this is offset by a somewhat weathered cast to his features, as though he has also spent a good deal of time working outdoors. SAMUEL, the studio host, is an urbane man in his early forties attired in a neat though neutral suit; he is tanned, with styled hair, and an air of genial approachability – but we sense this is largely an act, and that an undercurrent of superciliousness lurks in his persona. GOD is a striking woman who could be aged anywhere from her late forties to early sixties. She wears an immaculate pin-striped skirt-suit; she is not conventionally attractive, but has broad, handsome features, and shoulder-length brunette hair in which a touch of grey shows at the temples.While the stage is still in darkness, we hear rather overblown theme music and applause, which fade out when the stage lights come up. A slight pause, then SAMUEL looks up at us and begins speaking:
SAMUEL
Good evening, and welcome to The Victim, the show in which people who have been hard done by get to face their oppressors. I’m Samuel, your host, and tonight we’ll be asking the question: what happened at Peniel? Did God turn bully, or did Jacob get his just deserts?
(He turns to JACOB)
Jacob, welcome to the show. You’re looking well.
JACOB
Thankyou, Samuel. Although you might have thought otherwise had you seen me the morning after the night before.
SAMUEL
The night you wrestled with God?
JACOB
You mean the night I was attacked by God.
SAMUEL
Well, that’s what we’re here to discover.
(He turns to GOD)
Elohim Adonai, welcome.
GOD
Thankyou, Samuel. Nice to be here.
SAMUEL
(Hint of sarcasm)
I must say, your appearance differs somewhat from my expectations.
GOD
Really? And what were you expecting?
SAMUEL
(slightly embarrassed)
Oh, well, something more…impressive.
GOD
(Hint of coldness)
You mean a grey haired old man with a flowing beard and a look of thunder in his eyes?
SAMUEL
(Embarrassed)
Um, well, yes, I suppose – something like that.
GOD
(Not amused)
It’s a good thing for you I’m not a bully, Samuel. I might take exception to that kind of stupidity.
SAMUEL
(Discomfited)
Yes, well, we’re here tonight to discuss whether you took exception to Jacob for any reason at all, or just because you felt like it.
(He turns to JACOB)
Jacob, give us the story in a nutshell.
JACOB
It’s pretty simple, really. I was on my way to meet my brother Esau – I’d been living with my uncle Laban in Mesopotamia – and was camped by the River Jordan at the ford of Jabbok. The night I camped by the river, God came and attacked me. I managed to hold God off until morning, but because God wasn’t winning, God shifted from wrestling to all-in brawling. As a result, I received a dislocated hip.
GOD
(Amused)
Why don’t you ask Jacob why he was living with his uncle?
SAMUEL
(Annoyed glance at GOD)
Yes, well, that’s something I’d like to flesh out a bit, Jacob. Because things weren’t exactly great between you and your brother Esau, were they?
JACOB
Not great, no. He sold his birthright to me for a bowl of food, then forgot to tell our father Isaac. When Isaac thought he was dying, he wanted to bless Esau, when that right had been sold to me. So I took steps to ensure I got my due.
GOD
You tricked your father, Jacob. A blind old man.
SAMUEL
Well, that’s one reading of the situation. Although you have to admit, Jacob does have a point: the blessing was his by right.
GOD
I’m not arguing about who was owed a blessing or not, or who was entitled. I’m merely pointing out that Jacob resorted to subterfuge – that’s why he and Esau were on bad terms.
JACOB
(Discomfited)
Well, what else was I supposed to do? Let Esau receive the blessing? He would have lorded it over me and made my life miserable.
GOD
Probably. But you wouldn’t have deceived your father.
SAMUEL
In any event, it’s while staying with your uncle Laban that you meet your wife.
GOD
Wives.
SAMUEL
Wives?
JACOB
Yes. Rachel, Laban’s youngest daughter. And her sister, Leah.
SAMUEL
So you have two wives?
JACOB
(Embarrassed)
Yes. I wanted to marry Rachel – but Laban tricked me into marrying Leah, too.
GOD
(Amused)
And his wives talked him into taking two not-quite wives as well.
JACOB
(Embarrassed)
My wives gave me their maid-servants to have children on their behalf. After God made them infertile.
SAMUEL
So you have a sizeable family. One it’s not possible to support on a shepherd’s wage?
JACOB
No. So I made an agreement with Laban to take all the spotted sheep and goats from his flock. But he took all the spotted sheep and goats and hid them away.
SAMUEL
So what did you do?
JACOB
(Slightly embarrassed)
Oh, I, ah, I took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane and peeled them so that the white inner bark was exposed and set them up in front of the troughs where the animals drank. And every time the sheep and goats mated in front of the rods, they produced striped and spotted young.
SAMUEL
How did that work?
GOD
(Amused)
Yes, tell me how that worked, Jacob. I’ve been trying to figure it out for ages.
JACOB
(Embarrassed)
Ah, well, it could be, you know, that Laban might have overlooked some of the spotted sheep and goats…or that I took precautions.
GOD
(Delighted)
I knew it! You got there first and hid some of the spotted sheep and goats, knowing that’s exactly what Laban would do! Then you passed off the result of their mating as my doing!
JACOB
Possibly…
SAMUEL
Well, regardless, you end up with a large family and a large herd. You’re a wealthy man. What happened next?
JACOB
I decided it was time to go home.
SAMUEL
Just like that?
JACOB
Well, no…I also remembered the promise God had given to my father Isaac, and to his father Abraham. The promise that was part of the birthright Esau sold to me. And besides, God told me to go home.
SAMUEL
I see. So tell us what happened next.
JACOB
Well, I had just entered the land of my fathers when I saw this company of angels – so I called the place Mahanaim, because there were two camps: God’s and humanity’s.
GOD
(Drily)
Not that he got the hint.
SAMUEL
What hint?
GOD
The hint that he was about to get a visitor. Afterall, if you name a place to recognise that it’s God’s camp as well as yours, the odds are God’s going to pay you a house call, right?
SAMUEL
Well, that’s something I’d like to explore further. Because, Jacob, you knew you were about to receive a visitor, didn’t you?
JACOB
Well, yes, I knew my brother Esau was on his way with four hundred men.
SAMUEL
Did this concern you?
JACOB
(Unconvincing)
Somewhat.
GOD
(Amused)
Somewhat? You were terrified. That’s why you sent your servants on ahead of you with all those droves of livestock: to present as gifts to Esau, so that by the time he finally caught up with you, he’d be appeased and would welcome you home.
JACOB
(Embarrassed)
I merely took proper precautions. Besides, when you come home after a long trip abroad, people expect you to bring back presents. I just didn’t want anyone to be disappointed.
GOD
(Drily)
Uh-huh. And that’s why you sent your family back across the stream and waited for Esau on your own?
JACOB
I did that because there was no point in the women and children suffering if Esau was still angry with me.
SAMUEL
It does seem like a sensible measure.
GOD
Sticking them alone and defenceless in the desert? Yes, very sensible.
SAMUEL
(to JACOB)
And this is when God attacked you? When you were alone, waiting for Esau?
JACOB
Precisely.
SAMUEL
(to GOD)
And now we’ve come to the nub of the issue. God – why did you attack Jacob?
GOD
Because Jacob asked me to.
SAMUEL and JACOB
What?
GO
Because he asked me to.
SAMUEL
God – let me get this straight. You’re saying that Jacob asked you to attack him?
GOD
Exactly. I believe you humans call it “praying”.
JACOB
Now just a minute! I asked you to deliver me from Esau’s anger.
GOD
Oh, yes, I remember your humble petition, Jacob. You started off by bragging about your place in the lineage of Abraham and Isaac, and how I had made a promise to them which I was obliged to deliver to you.
JACOB
I was only placing myself in context. Besides, you must admit the next part of my prayer was very humble.
GOD
Oh, yes, a model of humility. For once in your life, you ‘fess up to the fact that you’re utterly unworthy of any generosity on my part. Strange how that only happened when you thought Esau was going to beat you to a pulp.
JACOB
I was coming before you empty handed, showing you how utterly helpless I was.
GOD
Really? I thought you were trying to leverage my sympathy.
JACOB
It was a prayer of deliverance! Okay, there may have been some boldness there – but you can’t say there wasn’t deference, either.
GOD
Oh, there was deference, alright. Much though I would have preferred sincerity.
JACOB
But I was desperate. I needed to be delivered from my brother’s anger.
GOD
What? In the same way that I supposedly delivered Laban’s flocks into your hands?
JACOB
I was begging you.
GOD
(Sternly)
No you weren’t! You were trying to be as clever with me as you were being with your brother.
SAMUEL
That, I take it, is a reference to Jacob’s preparations for meeting Esau?
GOD
Well, yes, if that’s what you call bribery.
JACOB
You don’t understand! I had to placate Esau – otherwise, I would have lost face before the people. I could never have held my head high, I could never have looked Esau in the face. That’s why I petitioned you.
GOD
And that’s why I came. To get a good look at you, Jacob. To see you, face to face.
SAMUEL
By wrestling him?
GOD
(Satisfied)
At night, an unnamed and unknowable opponent. A pretty good test of his mettle, wouldn’t you agree? Especially since he was expecting his brother.
SAMUEL
(to JACOB)
Is that who you thought was attacking you?
JACOB
I hadn’t the faintest idea. Esau, Canaanite gods, water spirits. They all crossed my mind as possible suspects.
SAMUEL
But it never occurred to you that it might be the LORD?
JACOB
Why should it? Afterall, the LORD usually sends an angel. And never appears like…(gesturing to GOD)…like this.
SAMUEL
Indeed, not.
(To GOD)
So, you wrestle all night, and despite the fact that Jacob is a mere mortal, he holds his own against you. Tell me, God: what kind of God can be held to a draw by a human being?
GOD
Well, for starters, a God who likes to get a good long look at the people to whom promises have been made.
SAMUEL
By wrestling with them?
GOD
How else?
SAMUEL
But surely, you should have overwhelmed Jacob. Afterall, you’re God.
GOD
That’s right, Samuel, I AM. But you’re assuming my wrestling with Jacob was a contest, a trial of strength.
SAMUEL
It wasn’t?
GOD
Of course not.
SAMUEL
But that’s ridiculous! Why just wrestle with Jacob? What’s the point of that?
(GOD gives SAMUEL a meaningful look, then produces a postcard sized copy of Israel by Tamar Fishman and Pat Jones[1] and drops it on the coffee table in front of SAMUEL and JACOB. They look at it for a moment, then look at GOD. An image of the painting is projected onto the back wall of the stage.)
SAMUEL
And this is?
GOD
Israel by Fishman and Jones. What do you make of it?
SAMUEL
I haven’t the faintest idea.
GOD
Then look. Tell me what you see.
SAMUEL
Well, I assume that jumble of calligraphy on the left is Jacob; and the flame of light on the right is you.
GOD
Okay…and what are we doing?
SAMUEL
I assume you’re wrestling.
GOD
Perhaps. Or maybe we’re dancing.
(JACOB and SAMUEL look at GOD again.)
SAMUEL
Sorry, did you say you were dancing?
JACOB
(Darkly)
It didn’t much feel like dancing to me.
GOD
(Standing to demonstrate)
In every form of dancing – at least, in those forms where the participants actually touch each other – one person leads and one person follows. But there’s always a tension, a certain resistance. The person leading, and the person being lead, don’t do so entirely of their own accord. But the two come together in the dance, in the space that is the tension between leading and being lead. That’s what the dance is: a relationship of tension, of resistances meeting and engaging one another.
(Points)
And you can see it going on there, in that picture.
SAMUEL
Hang on, hang on – that doesn’t follow. Afterall, at one point in this – dance – Jacob has the upper hand; he won’t let go and you can’t break his grip. So he extorts a blessing out of you. What kind of God allows a human being to extort blessings out of them?
GOD
(Sitting)
Well, if you believe Jacob’s prayer, the kind of God who also allows blessings to be flattered out of them. But what makes you think I couldn’t break Jacob’s grip?
SAMUEL
Well, because you couldn’t. Morning was coming and you had to go. But Jacob wouldn’t let go of you, so you were forced to give him a blessing.
GOD
I was not forced to do anything of the sort.
SAMUEL
Excuse me?
GOD
Yes, morning was on its way. Yes, I had to be out of there. But that was to prevent Jacob seeing my face and being destroyed by the sight. No-one can see the face of God and live.
SAMUEL
So you were doing Jacob a favour?
GOD
In a manner of speaking. But at a deeper level, I AM revealed as the One who is hidden: I AM precisely because I MYSELF am beyond all human conception.
SAMUEL
But if that’s true, it still doesn’t explain why you allowed Jacob to wrestle – or dance – with you the whole night. As I said: what kind of God allows that to happen?
GOD
The kind of God who wants to enter into relationship with the beings which that God has made in their own likeness and image. The kind of God that thinks they’re interesting enough and acceptable enough – despite all their trickery and stupidity and evil – to be worth wrestling with. The kind of God who says: “Let’s dance!”, let’s enter into the relationship of tensions and see what we discover about one another.
JACOB
But you wouldn’t even tell me your name! What kind of God won’t tell their followers their own name?
GOD
I’ve already answered that question, Jacob: to see God is to be destroyed, because God can only be revealed to humanity as mystery. To be told the name of God is to see the face of God. Either way, the result for you would have been extremely unpleasant.
SAMUEL
But we’re seeing you now!
GOD
No, Samuel, I’m seeing you. I’m here at my own initiative, not yours. And that’s another thing, Jacob: you might have named the spot we wrestled Peniel, but you were wrong. As I said, it was I who saw you, up close and personal.
JACOB
And yet I still got my blessing out of you. You can’t deny that.
GOD
And nor would I want to. Because that, too, was my own initiative.
SAMUEL
So you’re actually saying you gave Jacob his blessing – he didn’t force it out of you?
GOD
Well, you could say it was an exchange of sorts. Jacob had been good enough to turn and face me and let me engage with him all night, so I gave him his blessing. And everything that went with it.
SAMUEL
Such as a new name?
GOD
That – and power.
JACOB
(Nonplussed)
Power? What power?
GOD
The power of new possibilities, Jacob. Possibilities that, until I came to you, had been absent. Possibilities for a new future. Possibilities for reconciliation with your brother. Possibilities for your family to grow up in the land promised to their ancestors, instead of wandering around like nomads. And…possibilities for me, too.
SAMUEL
Such as?
GOD
Such as enabling my word to be worked through humankind, their tendency toward self-interest not withstanding.
JACOB
(Annoyed)
Oh, so is that why you dislocated my hip? Because I’m a selfish human?
GOD
(Amused)
Call that a bonus thrown in for good measure. With my compliments.
JACOB
A bonus? Are you kidding?
GOD
(Edge of darkness)
I have a profound sense of humour, Jacob. But no, about this I’m not kidding. You got that dislocated hip because it’s part of the blessing. Call it grace, if you like. Granted, it’s not the kind of grace you usually associate with me; but then, I’m not the kind of God you usually associate with me, either.
SAMUEL
(Snidely)
So you’re saying this is the grace of assault and battery?
GOD
Well, it’s an assault from God understood as God requiring the human to stand before the divine for the sake of engagement between the two. And it’s battery understood as being chosen out and set aside. And from this violent grace comes new possibilities, new names –
JACOB
And dislocated hips!
GOD
Jacob, you can’t encounter I MYSELF and not be changed by the experience. Yes, you have been victimised – but that’s because your victimisation is a blessing. You can’t be the People of God and expect you’ll have an easy time of it: I’m not peddling happiness, Jacob, or security from the disappointments of life, or protection from the dangers of being. But what I am offering is relationship; a relationship that is costly and difficult, but which makes knowing and encountering and engaging with God entirely possible. But if – and only if – you’re prepared for the consequences of the blessing.
SAMUEL
But that’s terrible!
GOD
I AM terrible, Samuel. And awesome. And beautiful. And terrifying. And uplifting. And anything else you want to call me. But most of all, I AM.
SAMUEL
So you do admit to victimising Jacob.
GOD
I victimise every person I call. That’s why I wrestled with Jacob. That’s why I forced him to give up his name and yet retained my own. That’s why the dislocated hip comes with the blessing. Because to be a person of faith is to be a victim: it’s to be a victim of my love; of my desire for creation and for humankind; and of my will that I and those whom I love wrestle with one another, that we dance the dance of engaging tensions. Israel is not just the name of a people; it describes a state of being: the one who wrestles or contends with God.
SAMUEL
So, what – you’ve blessed Jacob through combat?
GOD
Blessed and maimed and re-named.
SAMUEL
(to JACOB)
And how do you feel about that?
JACOB
Well, I asked to be delivered, not set upon. But the LORD did answer me in my distress, and has been with me ever since. So I can’t complain too much…
SAMUEL
But the cost?
JACOB
Well, that’s something I’m pondering. I’ve got wounds and scars a-plenty. I only hope my sons will ease my burden when I grow old.
SAMUEL
(to GOD)
Any last thoughts?
GOD
Jacob is a great man; he has scaled great heights. But only I AM. Therefore, the struggle of faith is the struggle of a holy vocation: to see me through the eyes of faith. But to see me is to be wounded into transformation. The blessing comes at a price. Humans have to decide how wounded – and how transformed – they want to be.
SAMUEL
Well, there you have it. Was Jacob victimised – or blessed? You can have your say by logging onto our website and recording your vote. Next week: Satan – servant of heaven or fiend from hell? See you then.
The overblown theme music comes up; the stage lights dim until the figures are silhouettes: SAMUEL appears to be talking to JACOB, ignoring GOD. After a moment, the lights fade to black.
THE END
[1] Fishman, Tamar and Jones, Pat, Israel, woven and dyed tapestry based on original painting, Temple Beth El, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, 1997.
(c) Copyright Brendan E Byrne 2018. All rights reserved.
Brendan E Byrne 