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VERSE: Gn46-01b

================ GOD OF FATHERS =================================

BACKGROUND
----------
When praying we frequently ask mercy from the GOD OF OUR FATHERS
In this posting we examine the prayers of the Patriarch, Jacob

THE TEXT
--------
In some verses Jacob prays to the GOD OF ABRAHAM & ISAAC
In some verses Jacob prays to the GOD OF --------- ISAAC

THE RASHI
---------
Rashi explains that
- if you chose to mention only ONE FATHER it is preferable
  to mention your immediate father, Isaac, rather than
  your grandfather, Abraham

This Rashi explains why we never see Jacob praying to the
GOD OF ABRAHAM but we do see him praying to the GOD OF ISAAC

THE LIST
--------
But Rashi does NOT explain why sometimes Jacob mentions
2 ANCESTORS (ABRAHAM & ISAAC) while at other times he
mentions 1 ANCESTOR (ISAAC).

This is one of the beauties of using the LIST method. It affords
us new insights. We conjecture below that
-- urgent prayers requesting change of the future use both
   ancestors while
-- thanksgiving and non-urgent prayers mention 1 ancestor
But this has problems. Here is the list: Judge for yourself
=================================================================
VERSE    GOD OF....       FROM   TO     CONTENT OF SPEECH
======== ================ ====== ====== =========================
Gn28-13  Abraham & Isaac  God    Jacob  Promise of Israel*1
Gn31-42  Abraham & Isaac  Jacob  Laban  God saved Jacobs wages
Gn32-09  Abraham & Isaac  Jacob  God    Prayer:Save me from Esauv
Gn48-15  Abraham & Isaac  Jacob  Joseph Blessing of Joseph*1
Gn46-01b -------   Isaac  Jacob  God    Thanksgiving sacrifice*1
Gn31-53  -------   Isaac  Jacob  Laban  Treaty with Laban

NOTES
-----
*1 Note that
   -- Prayers,Blessings for future actions were to Abe & Isaac
   -- Treaties & thanksgiving without future action were to Isaac
   This position however has some difficulties. See footnote *10.

---------------- LONGER FOOTNOTES -------------------------------

*10 If we look more carefully this is a bit conjectural
    There seem to be two counterexamples to which we can
    SUGGEST solutions

    - Gn31-53 describes a treaty between Jacob and Laban in
    which Jacob pledges not to hurt Labans daughters (his
    wives). This appears to be focused on the future.

    But actually this is focused on the past since Jacob did
    not want to have anything to do with Laban.  There was
    no real request on Jacobs part.

    A further thing to note in Gn31-53 is that
    -- Laban mentioned the God of Abraham and Nachor
    -- Jacob responded with an oath to the God of Isaac
    Thus Rashis point that
    ----------------------------------------------------
    If he was going to swear by one Patriarch he should
    preferably do it by his father, not his grandfather
    ----------------------------------------------------
    appears to have strong support in Gn31-53


    - Gn31-42 speaks about God saving Jacobs wages, a
    past event. But if we think about it, Jacob was still
    worried that laban would steal his wages and/or wives.
    This is explicitly stated in the verses (Gn31-31)
    Thus Jacob used strong Language (Abraham and Isaac)
    to scare Laban against taking anything.
=================================================================

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---------------------------------------------------
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Volume 12 Number 13


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