THE STRUGGLE IN THE WOMB

THE STRUGGLE IN THE WOMB

The story of Jacob begins with his mother Rebekah’s initial inability to conceive. Rebekah's barrenness confirms upon her a line of succession to her late mother-in-law - Sarah (Gen. 24.67). Although the story of Rebekah is much more compressed and less complex than the corresponding story of Sarah (Gen. 16) the parallel is obvious and intentional.

As her pregnancy advanced, Rebekah felt vigorous movements of what turned out to be two children in her womb (Esau and Jacob). She inquired of the LORD about this intense struggle that she felt going on inside her. The babies’ movements in her womb were but a sign, a foretelling the relationship they would have as siblings, which indicates their separate, but related purposes in God’s plan. We have already seen that the Hebrew word for struggle used in the text speaks of a struggle that is very intense, harsh, even crushing battle. When Rebekah petitioned the Lord about her situation, He answered her: “Two nations are in your womb, two separate peoples shall issue from your body; One people shall be mightier than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.” (Gen 25:23)

We can appreciate how the translators saw what we also see, i.e. the literal and ambiguous meaning, but struggled in how to best to translate the intricacies of Hebrew for the greatest benefit of their readers. They sought to keep two very important factors in balance: the accuracy of the text translated, and its readability.

To find an equivalent to Hebrew in another language is not always easy and sometimes not possible. Therefore the translators used dynamic equivalence method – that is, instead of translating word-for-word, they translate thought-for-thought. Some English language translations adopt this method even when it was possible to translate word-for-word, preferring the increased readability (with essential meaning preserved) to a more literal translation (with original wording preserved).

Often it is very helpful to see a literal translation in order to appreciate that the vast majority of Bible translations, such as the one above (JPS), use dynamic equivalence rather than a strictly literal method of translation. It is important to keep in mind that a more literal translation does not necessarily mean it is a more faithful one. The meaning can be diluted and easily lost by preserving obscure grammatical structures of another language. Nevertheless, reading a text translated from Hebrew literally can enrich our understanding of the text (especially if we know some Hebrew).

This practice always safeguards us from thinking that translations are free from interpretive errors and can be trusted uncritically. When translated literally we see this idea: “Two peoples are in your womb/stomach’. Two people will separate from you” and one people from another will exercise effort/strength.

It is the last portion of this verse that introduces a considerable ambiguity – ‘verav ya’avod tzair’.

Traditional translations render it as “the older will serve the younger”. However, there is problem with such translation. If the phrase is to be translated as “the older will serve the younger” than the word (et) is missing before. Without (et) it is not clear which word is the definite direct object.

It is not clear if the younger will serve the older or as liturgical Jewish singing practice implies the other way around! The text without the directive marker (et) can work both ways. The second feature alerting us to ambiguity is that the opposite of “young”  (tzair) is “old” but not (rav) “great” as the Hebrew verse actually says.

Yet our English translations set the sentence up as if the two opposites are in view (younger vs. older).

We don’t need to rewrite the Bible but we do need to reread it!