(Cont.)
Then the Volcano said unto Jacob: “You have amassed great wealth; now leave this place. I will give you a smooth departure.”
So Jacob sent and called his wives and concubines into his office, and he said to them all: “Let us take our speckled livestock and go away. I would like to find a new place to live.”
And Rachel and Pyrite and his other two wives all answered and said unto Jacob: “OK.”
So Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives and concubines upon camels; and he carried away all his cattle, his sheep, and his goats, and all his goods which he had gotten. And they headed in the direction of Padanaram, a coastal village in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
Thus they left the estate of Chokmah in the wilderness; and they did not tell her that they were going. (For Jacob feared that she would beg them again to stay.) Yet, unawares to Jacob, Rachel had stolen Chokmah’s images: the golden deities, the voodoo figurines and statuettes, the Catholic relics, and all the other household idols that belonged to her mother.
Thus they tried to sneak away from Chokmah.
So Jacob fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the Land of Oz.
Then, when three days had passed, someone from her household informed Chokmah that Jacob had fled. So Chokmah pursued after him seven days’ journey; and she overtook him at Beech Mountain in North Carolina.
And the Volcano visited Chokmah the Midianite in a nightmare, and said unto her: “Take heed that you speak not to Jacob either good or evil. Remember, you and I have an agreement; and if you ruin my plan, I will ruin your plans.”
Then Chokmah overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount: and Chokmah came around the mount and said to Jacob: “What is the meaning of this!? Why have you stolen away from me without saying goodbye, and carried off my daughters and their personal attendants, as if they were captives taken in warfare? For what reason did you sneak away so secretly, and sidle off like a guilty thing? How come you didn’t tell me – I would have sent you away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret and harp. You have not allowed me to kiss my grandsons and granddaughter! This was a foolish way to act. I have the power to do you much hurt: but your mother Sarah’s deity appeared to me yesternight, in a terrifying vision, saying: ‘Touch not mine anointed. This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.’ ‘Alright, OK,’ I answered; ‘fine! I’ll curb my wrath.’ Therefore, fear not: I’m unable to hurt you. I only want answers. I understand that you felt the need to go out and make a life for your family, and find a house of your own; but just tell me one thing: Why did you have to go and confiscate my gods?”
Then Jacob answered and said unto Chokmah: “I only left furtively because I was afraid: for I thought to myself ‘What if she takes back her daughters by force?’ For, you must admit, you tend to drive hard bargains. But, as for your idols being gone, I had nothing to do with that. Go ahead and search every one of our tents: if those relics turn up anywhere, then whoever you find them with, take that person’s life.” For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.
So Chokmah searched through Jacob’s tent, and through Pyrite’s tent; then she ransacked the tents of the two concubines; but she found them not. Then she went and entered into Rachel’s tent:
Now Rachel had taken the idols, and put them in the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them. And Chokmah searched all the tent, but found them not. Then Chokmah turned to where her daughter Rachel was sitting, and Rachel said to her mother: “Do not be displeased if I remain seated upon these last few traveling cases that you have not yet had a chance to search; for it is that time of the month with me, if you know what I mean, therefore I would rather not get up.”
And Chokmah narrowed her eyes, and answered her daughter, saying: “Your fib might work on a foolish man – say, if I were your father or uncle – but why would you think that your own mother would fall for such an unconvincing excuse? No, get you up, now: I want to check through every case! Don’t worry: if I find that you have lied, I will be merciful.”
Chokmah then gently but firmly shifted her daughter Rachel aside, and opened the first piece of luggage: and there were the relics.
“I stand by my words,” Chokmah reassured her daughter: “Forget what Jacob said; I am not going to slaughter you. I simply needed to find my gods. What a relief that they are here! I just want them back, for they really work. All these idols are effectual. Especially the golden cross with the image of Jesus suffering in agony upon it: that one brings the best of luck – you can rub it all over your body.”
Then Jacob and Rachel were penitent, and they apologized to Chokmah; and she forgave them.
Then they all feasted together: they drank wine, and grilled meat, and ate bread; and they tarried all night in the mount.
And early in the morning Chokmah rose up, and kissed her grandchildren, and blessed them: and then she began to depart, aiming to return to her domicile; but Jacob came out and stopped her, and said: “Continue with us.” So Chokmah embraced Jacob and wept; and she turned and remained with her daughters and Jacob, and they went onward together. And she shared her gods with them.
Chokmah was noticeably kinder to the whole family from that day forward; and she permitted Jacob agency. Thus did everything turn out well.
§
Now Jacob went on his way, and the gods met him: when he saw them, he said “I have stumbled upon an encampment of supernatural warriors.” And he named the place “God Camp.”
Jacob mingled with some of the goddesses from this divine army, and he sent a few of them before him with a message to his brother Esau, who by that time had conquered and settled all of Eurasia. And Jacob instructed the goddesses, telling them to deliver the following speech to Esau: “Dear Sir, your brother Jacob, who is your humble servant, sends you this report: I have sojourned with our Aunt Hagar’s Midianitish counselor in the wilderness; I married into this clan of Chokmah, I own four concubines, and they bore me eleven patriarchs among them, plus one daughter. These all now travel with me, as we are searching for a place to call home. I have acquired oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: all of them glowingly speckled or dappled of coat. The reason I am communicating to you in this way, by sending a troop of warrior angels, is that I hope it will help me to find grace in your sight.”
Later the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: “We reached your brother Esau. Now also he comes to meet you, and he has four hundred men with him.”
This news greatly distressed Jacob, and he was afraid. So he divided his multitudes, along with the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two distinct bands. For he reasoned in his heart, saying: “If Esau comes and slaughters one of the companies, then peradventure the other company shall escape.”
And Jacob raised his voice in agony of spirit, and he cried: “O volcano of potential, you who visited Hagar and Sarah my foremothers, who appeared before me as the god Yahweh, and spoke with me face to face, and said ‘Go away on a journey, and I will deal well with you,’ I am not worthy of your attention, but you have heaped riches upon me: When I first passed through this Great Basin, my only worldly possessions were the clothes on my back and a staff cut from the woods, but now I am become two multitudes. Remember when you promised to make my seed more than the sand on the shore? I ask you now to deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau: for I am afraid that he will slay me and then turn and murder all my wives and children.”
And Jacob lodged there that same night. Then he selected out many items from among his possessions, and he prepared a gift for Esau: two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, plus ten bulls, twenty she-asses, and ten foals.
Jacob delivered these things into the care of his servants, and said: “Pass over before me, and leave a space between each drove.” And he instructed the foremost, saying: “When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you ‘Whose livestock are these? And where are you going?’ then you shall answer ‘These belong to your servant Jacob: they are a gift sent unto his lord Esau; and, behold, also he is behind us.”
Likewise did Jacob instruct the servants leading the successive droves, saying: “In this manner shall you speak unto Esau, when you encounter him. And don’t forget to say ‘Behold, Jacob is behind us.’ For my hope is that these presents might appease my brother’s wrath, so that, by the time he sees my face, he will welcome me.”
Thus the gift went ahead before him, and Jacob himself lodged that night in the company. Yet, that same night, he rose up and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven patriarchs, plus his daughter, and crossed over the Potomac. And he took them, and sent them over the river, along with all their belongings.
Thus Jacob was left alone.
Now, did one of the gods escape from that encampment mentioned above? For a mysterious man, who had the image and likeness of Yahweh, ambushed Jacob in the night. He entered the tent where Jacob was staying. Jacob, being high-strung and having spent the night wakeful with worry, was ready for the attack: he leapt up out of bed and lunged at the intruder. The man shrank back. But Jacob eventually apprehended him, and they entered a physical struggle. This continued throughout the night.
Now, when the man saw that he could not withstand Jacob, he nipped at the hollow of his neck and said: “Let me go, for the day is breaking!” And Jacob answered: “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” And the intruder said: “What is your name?” And he answered: “Jacob.” Then the man said: “You shall no longer be called ‘Jacob’, which means Heel Clutcher, but I rename you ‘Israel’, which means God Fighter: for you have battled the Holy One and prevailed.”
Then Jacob asked the man, saying: “Now tell me your name.” And the intruder cried: “How dare you ask my name!” And he gave up his blessing.
The sunshine had begun to pour into the tent, through its sole window; out of which Jacob now attempted to shove his assailant, to force him into the morning light. But the man resisted.
Something seemed to blow him back . . .
It was the light of day which he could not enter.
Any more than I could enter the white-hot door of a blast-furnace.
He could not plunge into the daylight that streamed at the window.
It was asking too much of his nature.
[—from “Man and Bat” by D.H. Lawrence]
Finally, Jacob picked up a flannel blanket and managed to cover the intruder. Thus muffled, the man hardly stirred in the hands of his adversary. Carefully now, lest he should bite, Jacob tossed him out of the tent; and away the fiend flew, making a beeline toward the river.
And Jacob named the place where this happened Goddeface, “For I faced off against God, and lived to deface him.”
And while the sun shone, Jacob crossed the Potomac, rubbing his neck.
No comments:
Post a Comment