Two Blessings: Jacob's and Moses'
TWO BLESSINGS: JACOB’S AND MOSES’ I. EMBARKING ON A DIALOGUE Comparative charts lay open before me. For some reason, Jacob’s blessing of his sons [Genesis 49] and Moses’ blessing of the tribes of Israel [Deuteronomy 33] were hard to reconcile. The difficulty lies not only in their formal difference – Jacob’s addressing sons, and Mose’s the tribes – but in the fact that they reflect different stages in the development of Israel’s tribal structure. Jacob’s blessing preserves a more fluid and formative horizon, whereas Moses’ presupposes a more defined and organised configuration. The tension between them is therefore socio-political as well as literary. I was about to give up when, to my relief, Theophil materialised in front of me. “Peter’le,” he said firmly, “your intention of comparing the two texts is commendable. Why do you want to give up...