|
by
Doug Ward |
One day in the fall of 1994 I visited Crawfordsville,
Indiana, to give a mathematics lecture at Wabash College. At the beginning of
my lecture, I looked out at the audience and noticed something that initially
struck me as unusual: Every student in the classroom was male. "Where are
the female students?" I wondered.
Then
it dawned on me: "That's right! Wabash is a men's college. All of its
students are male." The mystery was solved.
You
might experience your own "Wabash moment" when reading Gen 46:8-27, a
listing of members of the patriarch Jacob's extended family at the time of that
family's migration to Egypt. Of the nearly 70 children and grandchildren of
Jacob named in these verses, only two-his daughter Dinah (v. 15) and
granddaughter Serah (v. 17)-are female. Where are all the women?
Unlike
the student body of Wabash College, the descendants of Jacob were not
exclusively male, of course. Other daughters and granddaughters were part of
the family (v. 7). However, the list in Gen 46 was not meant to be exhaustive.
Instead, 70 names (v. 27) were given in order to make a symbolic statement. The
number 70 in the Bible is associated with the totality of nations in the world
(Gen 10), so a group of 70 Israelites reminds us of Israel's mission to convey
God's blessing to all of the world's peoples (Gen 12:3). Relocating the family
to Egypt was the next stage in that mission (Gen 15:12-16).
For
all but one of the people in the selective list of Gen 46, it is easy to
understand why their names were chosen. Overall, the list concentrates on
Jacob's sons and grandsons because the future tribes and clans of Israel would
be named after these male descendants. Dinah's name is familiar as the only
daughter of Jacob mentioned in Scripture. Her inclusion in the list assures us
that she was still alive after the tragic events recorded in Gen 34, and that
she accompanied her family to Egypt. But the significance of the remaining
name, Serah (or Serach, as it is sometimes transliterated), is unknown. The
Bible reveals only that she was a daughter of Asher (Num 26:46; 1 Chron 7:30).
From
this tiny bit of information, a
rich body of legends has developed to explain Serah's possible
contributions to Israel's history.1 The
starting point for these legends seems to have been Numbers 26, which gives a
tribe-by-tribe census of adult males conducted in the final year of Israel's
wilderness wanderings. There are also a few parenthetical comments in the
census report, including a reminder that Asher had a daughter named Serah (v.
46).
The
mention of Serah in Num 26 led to the idea that Serah might have lived through
the entire period of Israel's sojourn in Egypt and survived to participate in
the Exodus. This idea, in turn, suggested that a person who enjoyed such great
longevity could have played a valuable role in preserving key traditions from
the days of Jacob to the time of Moses.
For
example, when Jacob's son Joseph reached the end of his life, he asked that the
children of Israel transport his bones to the Promised Land when God allowed
them to return there (Gen 50:24-25). Later Moses made sure to honor this
request (Exod 13:19). According to midrashic tradition2,
he was able to find the burial place of Joseph by consulting Serah, who quickly
provided this vital piece of information.
Joseph
also told his brothers, "God will surely visit you." (Gen 50:25). The
Hebrew for "surely visit" is pakod pakad'ti, an example of a
"doubled verb" construction. In the Bible doubled verbs are sometimes
used for emphasis. In this case, Joseph emphasized the certainty that God would
fulfill his promise to Abraham and bring the Israelites back to Canaan.
(Joseph's faith is extolled in Heb 11:22.)
Later,
at the burning bush, God instructed Moses to tell the elders of Israel that
"I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt" (Exod
3:16). The Hebrew for "have observed" is the same doubled verb
phrase, pakod pakad'ti. With his brother Aaron's help, Moses brought
this message to the elders of Israel, along with the special signs God had
given him (Exod 4:30). In response, the Israelites believed Moses and Aaron
"when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel" (v.
31). Again, "had visited" is pakod pakad'ti.
Putting
these verses together, ancient interpreters concluded that the distinctive
phrase pakod pakad'ti was a special password indicating that the time
for Israel's redemption had arrived. Joseph revealed the password to his
brothers, and Serah memorized it. Later when Moses and Aaron repeated this phrase
to the elders of Israel, Serah was able to identify Moses and Aaron as the ones
through whom God would deliver them, based on their use of the password. As a
result, the people believed Moses and Aaron.3
Further
legends about Serah claim that Serah lived on as the Israelites became
established in the Promised Land, and her wisdom continued to serve the nation.
One tradition identifies Serah as the wise woman of Abel Beth Maacah who
persuaded Joab to stop his siege of that city during the reign of David (2 Sam
20). Another story even asserts that Serah never saw death, but was instead
transported alive to the Garden of Eden.
The
Serah legends are fanciful, but they point to the importance of preserving
truth and passing along wisdom across the generations. Israel's success did not
depend upon the existence of a wise woman (or man) who would live for five
hundred or a thousand years. But Israel did need people who would keep faith
and hope alive. We know that many such people existed during Israel's time in
Egypt, because the Israelite population continued to grow even as the nation
suffered in slavery (Exod 1:12). Bringing a new generation into the world is in
itself an act of faith.
In
Heb 11:23 the parents of Moses are praised for defying Pharaoh's edict and
refusing to drown their infant son. They were just two of the faithful who
lived during Israel's years in Egypt. We know the names of some of them-the
midwives Shiphrah and Puah, for instance, and Moses' sister Miriam. Others,
like Jacob's unnamed daughters and granddaughters in Gen 46:7, are no less
essential for the progress of God's plan. Let us celebrate these anonymous
"sisters of Serah" along with other heroes and heroines of faith.
1One place to read
about these legends is the book Moses'
Women by Shera Aranoff Tuchman and Sandra E. Rapoport, KTAV Publishing
House, 2008.
2See for example Sotah
13a in the Babylonian Talmud.
3Moses'
Women, Chapter 25.
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On 25 Dec 2016, 15:06.
